Bulatović: "We can handle any club"
On Sunday Budućnost not only gained a place into the semi-finals of EHF Champions League for the first time in nine years and for the seventh time in club’s history. Thanks to the victory over Itxako the Montenegrin champions finished on top of Main Round Group 1.
Now the handball fans in Montenegro are hoping that Budućnost will reach the final for the first time. But the task will be very difficult, as their next opponents are the Norwegian "Dream Team" of Larvik HK.
Katarina Bulatović, currently second in the EHF Champions League Top Scorer list, spoke to ehfCL.com about the victory against the Spanish champions and about the semi-final expectations against Larvik.
ehfCL.com: You got revenge on Itxako for the defeat in Spain, how difficult was it?
Katarina Bulatović: We entered the match a little nervous. Perhaps some players were thinking about the fact that we needed to win with a margin of at least five goals in order to win the group. But at the end all finished well.
Maybe the game was not nice to watch, but it’s important that gained a valuable victory that allows us to play the second semi-final match at home. I must thank our great fans, who supported us once more to get another victory. Now we have three weeks to prepare for the first game against Larvik.
ehfCL.com: Knowing the result of Győr againsts Larvik in Group 2, you had a chance to calculate and to "choose" the opponents for the semis.
Katarina Bulatović: For obvious reasons we didn’t want to calculate, as both Győr and Larvik are extremely strong teams. Instead we were chasing a victory with the biggest possible goal difference against Itxako. We wanted to finish first in the group.
ehfCL.com: What are you impressions after going to the semi-finals of the EHF Women’s Champions League?
Katarina Bulatović: It’s a great success for all of us, the players, the club, the city and the whole nation of Montenegro. We have proved that we can handle any club, and that we deserved first place in the group.
ehfCL.com: How would you rate your semi-final chances against Larvik?
Katarina Bulatović: We don’t have many days for celebration. We will focus on preparation for the games against Larvik and be as well-prepared as we were for all our previous opponents.
Larvik has an advantage with their national championship, we don’t have the same situation. In order to be well prepared we will try this reduce that gap with the games in Regional League or by maybe playing some friendly matches. We are all well aware that a longer break between matches is not very good for us.
ehfCL.com: Is Larvik a more difficult opponent than Győr would have been, because of the big difference in playing style compared to teams from former Yugoslavia?
Katarina Bulatović: No. So far we have played well against teams from Denmark, Russia, and Spain. Now it is time to show we can deal with a Norwegian team and by that prove that we can beat anyone.
TEXT:
Saša Jončić