"Strong enough to achieve our objective"

Alexandru Csepreghi has been one of the top scorers and most valuable players at the Black Sea team over the last four years. The 23-year-old left back is confident that his team can qualify from its group, even though HCM Constanta has lost three of its first four matches.

ehfCL.com: HCM Constanta and St. Petersburg HC have recorded only one win each up to now. How would you describe this week’s opponent?

Alexandru Csepreghi: St. Petersburg HC will be a difficult opponent, as the VELUX EHF Champions League is not a place where you find weak teams. Physically, they are a strong side and they have a very good coach. We’ve seen all of their games and we have identified some flaws in their game-play.

ehfCL.com: Would another defeat on Thursday ruin your chances of advancing to the next round?

Alexandru Csepreghi: We have no choice but to win this game against the Russian team. Constanta has had a tough schedule, but matches like this are more likely to decide which team will be the last to qualify for the final 16. We’ll try everything we can in order to qualify for the second year in a row in this phase, and I consider our team powerful enough to do the trick.



ehfCL.com: Will HCM Constanta try anything special in order to surprise the Russian side?



Alexandru Csepreghi: I don’t think that something special needs to be prepared in order to win this game. The key is the defence. If we manage to defend well and stop their attacks properly, we are the favourites. Moreover, the fast breaks are another important feature in our game. I dare to say that, if we commit ourselves in defence and our fast breaks are efficient, we can’t lose this match.

ehfCL.com: You have already said that you had a bad start in this year’s VELUX EHF Champions League. What are the main reasons for the lapses in your team's play?

Alexandru Csepreghi: Zoran Kurteš’ tragic death came as a big shock to all of us. It was difficult to recover mentally after this event, but we managed to overcome the problem before the start of the season.

Likewise, our new coach, Jovica Cvetković, completely changed our game-play and there were moments when we were really lost on-court.

Eventually, Mr. Cvetković was sacked and Eden Hairi was installed as coach. This change brought us back to step one, as we have the same style as last year.

We are trying to win every game, whether it’s against the last-placed team from Romania or Ciudad Real. I can only add that we have found our balance mentally and we are trying to be as good as we were last year.

The VELUX EHF Men's Champions League game of Group D, HCM Constanta (ROU) vs. St. Petersburg HC (RUS) on Thursday 18 November 2010 at 19:30 hrs (local time), will be broadcast live on our free-of-charge web stream on ehfTV.com.