German reactions after the draw

Uwe Schwenker, manager THW Kiel: “We are very satisfied with the draw. We will be favourites in our group. I think we can achieve our next objective and will be able to reach the semi-final, but we have to show respect to all the teams.”

Piet Krebs, director of HSV Hamburg: “It’s not expensive to travel to Flensburg; this is the only positive thing in this draw. We were drawn to the most difficult group of all with four international top teams. There’s no real favourite, but Flensburg and Portland have more experience on this level than Hamburg and this might be an advantage for them. We want to play six good matches in front of our public and then we’ll see what happens. We play our first season in the Champions League – and now starts the real adventure.”

Fynn Holpert, manager SG Flensbrg-Handewitt: “This group is a real ‘hammer’. But as there are four top class teams, we can also reach the semifinals. For me, Zagreb are the favourites.”

Francois Xavier Houlet, sports director VfL Gummersbach: “Ciudad Real are not only the top favourites in our group, but also in the whole Champions League. This will be a very hard match, but it’s interesting for me to see my French mates in Montpellier. For Momir Illic and Vedran Zrnic it will be a great match to play against their former club, Velenje. The semi-finals seem to be very hard to reach.”