06.11.2015, 11:50
Rostov remain humble, while Larvik want to play even faster

GROUP A PREVIEW: After away wins against HCM Baia Mare and RK Krim Mercator, Russian and Norwegian champions are obvious favourites in the reverse matches this Saturday.

Rostov remain humble, while Larvik want to play even faster

Rostov-Don and Larvik are obvious favourites, when Group A of the Women's EHF Champions League continues Saturday with the reverse matches of last weekend's meetings.

Having won 22:20 away against HCM Baia Mare, Rostov-Don will inevitably appear as favourites on Saturday afternoon, when the two teams meet again, this time on Russian ground.

After their 37:21 away win last Friday, Larvik are even bigger favourites, when they take on RK Krim Mercator later Saturday.

GROUP A
Rostov-Don (RUS) vs HCM Baia Mare (ROU)
Saturday 7 November 17.00 local time, live on ehfTV

Baia Mare were never in the lead, when the two teams met in Romania last Friday.

Last season's Romanian runners-up equalised twice during the 60 minutes, but for the rest of the time, Rostov-Don were leading by two or three goals.

This obviously make Rostov-Don favourites, when they have the home advantage Saturday afternoon.

Rostov-Don are virtually in the main round, so to them, it is a question of taking as many vital points as possible with them to the next stage of the competition.

Baia Mare will still have a good chance to reach the main round, but the Romanian side is in a great danger of entering the next round with zero points for the second year in succession.

Despite Rostov-Don's clear away win in the first meeting between the two teams, Rostov coach Jan Leslie remains cautious.

“We are humble towards this task. We are in for another difficult challenge and a tough fight throughout the 60 minutes,” says Jan Leslie who actually hopes for an improved performance from his players, compared to their efforts in Baia Mare last Friday.

“We hope we can play better than we did in Baia Mare, as we will need that, and I am sure that our fantastic fans will contribute to lifting us, so that we can take another win and take valuable points with us to the main round,” Leslie tells ehfCL.com.

His team is still without their latest newcomer, Danish international Lotte Grigel who is not eligible for Champions League matches for her new team until the main round.

Larvik (NOR) vs RK Krim Mercator (SLO)
Saturday 7 October 18.30 local time, live on ehfTV

The huge 37:21 win in Ljubljana last Friday obviously makes Larvik very clear favourites ahead of their second meeting with Krim within a bit more than a week.

“We must take the status as favourites on us, and of course, our big win in Slovenia was a further boost to our self-confidence, but we still have to remember, that this is a new match, and we will, of course, have to approach it with a maximum of concentration and focus,” Larvik coach Tor Odvar Moen tells ehfCL.com.

“I was a bit surprised that we could win that big in Slovenia on Friday, especially as Krim were able to follow Baia Mare and to a certain extent Rostov-Don for longer parts of their matches against those teams.

“However, from the start we had success with out fast way of playing, which they obviously could not follow,” adds the coach who sees pace as the key in the upcoming match too.

“In fact, we will try to play even faster than we did in the first match against them.

“We will try even more with fast breaks and fast middle for instance,” explains Tor Odvar Moen who can welcome a further player back from injury.
After Anja Hammerseng-Edin made her comeback in the away match against Krim, left back Tine Stange is now also available again after a one year long injury break.

TEXT: Peter Bruun / br