Comments on the CL draw

First reactions of the club representatives to the draw of the Last 16 of the Men's EHF Champions League.

KIF Kolding – Montpellier HB

Ingemar Linnell, head coach KIF Kolding: "It is an interesting challenge and not a bad draw for us at all. Ciudad Real would probably have been a bit stronger, and Veszprém is a very difficult place to play for any away team. Furthermore, we are really looking forward to presenting Montpellier, with the world’s best handball player, Nikloa Karabatic, to our spectators. I think we will be able to put pressure on them in our home game, and after that we will simply have to see, how far that gets us in the return match."

RK Gorenje Velenje - BM Ciudad Real

Luis Miguel Lopez, manager Ciudad Real: "We have respect for Gorenje Velenje and have to play highly concentrated, but we’re clear favorite. We won ten matches in the group phase and I hope we can extend this series, as we’re still unbeaten in Spanish League and Champions League. We want to go to the Final4 to defend our title, so we have to beat any opponent."

FCK Håndbold A/S - THW Kiel

Sabine Holdorf-Schulst, director THW Kiel: "We’re very glad with this draw, even as our coach Alfred Gislasson said before that FCK is the hardest of all four possible opponents. It’s a very short trip for us, we have good relationship to FCK, as three of our former players are there – and we’re the favorites in these matches."

Magnus Andersson, head coach FCK Håndbold: "We are not big favorites. Obviously we would not have been favorites against any of our possible opponents. All the three teams, we could have met, are extremely strong teams, but I believe that it is going to be fun to play against Kiel – at home as well as away. But of course it will be extremely difficult to go on in the tournament. Then again, as I said, it would have been against group winner."

HCM Constanta - MKB Veszprém

Lajos Mocsai, coach MKB Veszprém: "We received the most difficult opponent, I would have chosen one of the Danish teams myslelf. Constanta have beaten Montpellier with a convincing performance and caused a surprise in Valladolid too. I expect two big fights in tremendous atmosphere. Toma and Sabou are great wingers and they have a very good line player as well – not to mention their backcourt…"

HC Croatia Osiguranje-Zagreb - FC Barcelona Borges

Xavier O’Callaghan, manager FC Barcelona: "Now we really saw how much the draw in our last group match in Kolding hurts, as we lost the top position in our group to Kiel. Our chance to reach the quarterfinals is 50:50, in Zagreb 15.000 spectators will support their team, so we’re lucky to have the second leg on home soil. Everything’s open in those matches, and all spectators will enjoy two brilliant matches."

Ante Ancic, manager Zagreb: "We knew before that all possible opponents in Pot 2 would be of high class – but Barcelona is the best of all. We’ll have a great event in the sold out Arena in Zagreb and we give our best to reach the quarterfinals. Everything’s possible if we win the first match clearly."

KS Vive Targi Kielce - HSV Hamburg

Christoph Wendt, director HSV Handball: "You never have easy opponents in the last 16, but I think we’re the favorites against Kielce. It will be very special matches for our two Polish players, the Lijewski brothers. I hope that we can achieve the qualification for the quarterfinals in our home match."

Pevafersa Valladolid - Rhein-Neckar Löwen

Thorsten Storm, manager Rhein Neckar Löwen: "We know Valladolid, as we played the semifinals of the 2008 EHF Cup against them. Those were very tough matches and we’ll have very close games this season again. Our objective is to reach the quarterfinals, but this will be very hard work for us. I hope that our spectators cheer us to the victory on home soil. These two matches will be very interesting for our line player Carlos Prieto, who played in Valladolid before."

Reale Ademar - Chekhovskie Medvedi

Alexey Aravin, director Chekhovskie Medvedi: "Being a Spanish team they of course are going to be a tough opponent. But we have a very emotional team, and having positive emotions on our side, we can win against any challenger."