18.04.2016, 03:20
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg hope to celebrate 10-year anniversary with EHF Cup Finals

BACK TO NANTES: Coach Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen believes physical strength and speed in the defence in particular have brought the Danish side to the quarter-finals of the Men’s EHF Cup

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg hope to celebrate 10-year anniversary with EHF Cup Finals

So far, Bjerringbro-Silkeborg have celebrated the club’s 10 year anniversary by reaching the quarter-finals of the Men´s EHF Cup and find themselves the only Danish men´s team left in men’s European Cup competitions.

However, it is probably understandable that the Central Jutland club, which was formed as a merger between the clubs Bjerringbro fH and Silkeborg Voel KFUM in 2006 does not want to stop at that.

The club from the Lake-highlands, as the area around Silkeborg is known, has been flirting with the top of the Danish league throughout their 10-year existence, but still waiting for the first title, nationally as well as internationally.

Winning the EHF Cup this year would obviously be welcome, but they take it one step at a time in Silkeborg.

“Our goal for the season is to play in at least one final.

“Right now, we have two chances, as we are playing the play-offs for the Danish championship alongside the EHF Cup.

”If you look at the number of matches, you could say that the road is shorter in the EHF Cup,” head coach Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen tells eurohandball.com ahead of the quarter-finals against Fraikin BM. Granollers.

Silkeborg qualified for the quarter-finals in convincing style, securing the first place in Group C before the last match day.

“I think it has mainly been our physical strength and our speed, especially in the defence that has brought us this far and I was particularly pleased with our two wins against Saint-Raphael.

“It does not happen every year, that a Danish team defeats the second ranked team in France twice – at home and away,” emphasises the former assistant coach of the Danish men’s national team.

Gaining experience and self-confidence

“It means a lot to us to play these European matches as it gives our players, many of whom are very young, a lot of useful experience, while it also gives them plenty of self-confidence to realise that they can actually compete at this level.

“Our players can make use of that experience right away in the play-off matches in the Danish championship at the moment,” adds Bredsdorff-Larsen, who is in the second EHF Cup Quarter-final of his coaching career.

His first was with KIF Kolding Kobenhavn in the 2012/13 season, when they narrowly lost the all-Danish quarter-final against Team Tvis Holstebro on aggregate.

Bredsdorff-Larsen obviously hopes for more success this time, and many people in Denmark saw it as a clear advantage, when Silkeborg were drawn against Granollers.

Frisch Auf Göppingen would have been the only possible alternative, but Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen is not sure that the advantage is that big.

“Of course, I am happy that we earned the right to play the second leg at home, but I’m not sure we got the most fortunate draw.

“After all, Granollers defeated Magdeburg by five goals at home and Aalborg by six goals away.

“I was also impressed by the way they won their away match against Bucharest, and I am not even sure it will be a big advantage for us to play the second leg at home as I almost see Granollers as being better away than at home.

“Their squad may not contain any names that ring a bell for handball fans outside Spain, but the team mainly consists of the best Spanish players who are still not quite good enough to play for FC Barcelona and together, they form a very strong team, so I actually see our chances against them as 50-50,” admits Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen.

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg visit northern Spain for the first leg on Sunday at 17:30 CET (live on ehfTV) and play the return match in the Jysk Arena of Silkeborg the following Saturday.

TEXT: Peter Bruun / cor