Leynaud aims for goodbye in style
The news has been out a long time, now the players have to deal with it. Vardar Skopje won’t continue in the same way next season.
Amandine Leynaud, the team’s French goalkeeper who turned 32 this week, is one of the players in the squad who has been around for long in Skopje.
Arrived in the Macedonian capital in 2013, she will move to Györ in the summer despite her current contract with Vardar running for another year.
“It makes me sad that I have to leave, I really love this city and this club,” she says. “So I try to enjoy my last moments here as much as I can. I tend to remain calm, but that is how I am, everybody go through this period differently.”
"Some players put themselves under a lot pressure"
According to Leynaud, some Vardar players “are really eager to win the Champions League, they are really emotional about the adventure coming to an end and they put themselves under a lot of pressure,” while others “think only about the event.”
What all players have in common: each one of them wants the title they failed to win over the past four years.
The title would crown an outstanding season for Vardar. They lost only once in their entire campaign - against Metz Handball. And that was the first match after the news of the club’s future broke. Otherwise, the players have showed they are mentally strong enough to deal with the circumstances.
“We played at a very good level during the first half of the season but when you hear the rumours about the future, and you can't completely keep them aside,” Leynaud says. “So we didn’t play as good in the second part of the season. But we still won, which was important to keep the momentum going.”
"I thought it was finally the right moment"
After winning all six group matches and finishing top of Group C, Vardar went on to also win their group in the main round and set up a quarter-final against Midtjylland.
Two victories against the Danish side gave Vardar a ticket for the EHF FINAL4 - for a fifth straight season. After stumbling three times in the semi-final, Vardar finally reached the final last season, only to be beaten by Györ 31:30 in extra time.
“I really thought that it was finally the right moment. The final was a very special moment, and we were all very, very disappointed about how things ended,” Leynaud says.
Experience, stability and players who knew each other perfectly, Vardar had the perfect mix last season to grab the trophy.
This time, however, things are a little bit different.
“It is hard for us to overcome all the problems we went through this season,” Leynaud says. “But we have to use all the enthusiasm and envy we have got left in us to qualify for the final and then maybe win the Champions League.”
French players on court in Budapest
Vardar will be up against Rostov-Don in the second semi-final in Budapest on Saturday, 12 May, at 18:00 hrs (live on ehfTV.com). Earlier, at 15:15 hrs, defending champions Györ will take on CSM Bucuresti (also live on ehfTV.com).
While Vardar have some French assets in Leynaud and Alexandra Lacrabère, the Russian side have some, too, with Siraba Dembélé and coach Frédéric Bougeant.
Also, Camille Ayglon-Saurina and Gnonsiane Niombla, playing with CSM Bucuresti, further raise the number of French players on court in Budapest.
“It is good to see that all of us have got roles to play at the best clubs in Europe. Work has paid off,” says the goalkeeper, who helped France win the World Championship 2017 in December. “To see that five players from the French national team are in the position to lift the Champions League trophy says a lot about how good our handball is right now.”
TEXT: Kevin Domas / ew
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