Hvidt with modest CL expectations

He has played in the Champions League for the Spanish top clubs Portland San Antonio and FC Barcelona. Now Kasper Hvidt is back in Denmark to play for FCK Håndbold in his native city Copenhagen – and ready for another Champions League adventure. Several time he has said that it was a dream coming true for him to play for a team in his home city – but the dream almost turned into a nightmare for 33 year Hvidt, as he and his team-mates were defeat 39-30 by Denmark´s other Champions League team KIF Kolding Saturday.

Eurohandball.com talked to Kasper Hvidt, who played 207 internationals and who is still first-choice keeper in the Danish national team.

Eurohandball.com: Why did it turn out so badly for your team against Kolding?

Kasper Hvidt: That is really good question, and if I had the answer, I would probably have tried to prevent it from happening! I think the match went as expected during the first 45 minutes, but in the last 15 minutes it was way too easy for Kolding to score!

Eurohandball.com: How much did it mean for your to be without suspended Norwegian international Erlend Mamelund?

Kasper Hvidt: Of course it meant something as Mamelund is important in our attacking play, while he can also cover all four central positions in the defence. But then again, Kolding were missing Mateo Garralda who was also suspended, so missing Mamelund should not be excuse for us. We will just have to work our way out of this misery!

Eurohandball.com: You played the Champions League with Portland San Antonio and FC Barcelona and got pretty far in the tournament several times. What will it be for you to play in the CL with FCK?

Kasper Hvidt: Our first match will be David against Goliath. We are going to play away against Ciudad Real, who have won the Champions League three out of the four previous years, so we really have everything to win, when we go to Spain! Against Kolding we saw an extremely weak FCK team – so we can only improve...

Eurohandball.com: What will it mean for you personally to start the Champions League campaign in Spain, where you have played for so many years yourself?

Kasper Hvidt: Of course it will be special for me, but more important than that I hope we will show decent performance down there.