Källman: "The hardest task"

For nine years Jonas Källman (29) has been playing for the Spanish champions Renovalia Ciudad Real. With his team, the Swede won three EHF Men’s Champions League titles. The tall left wing arrived in 2002 from Skövde to the La Mancha Region, and since then he has been working together with coach Talant Dujshebaev.

In this interview with ehfCL.com, Källman talked about the current season and the upcoming Last 16 match at Chambery Savoie – which he sees as a very tough task for him and his club.

Jonas Källman: Yes I have. It took me one month to recover after the muscle injury had occurred in the Bronze final against Spain. I never expected to be out for such a long time – but in the end, this month without playing was good for me. I could rest and recharge my batteries for the crucial stage of the season.

Now I am in perfect shape for the last two months, which will be highly decisive for us, including the Copa del Rey, IHF Super Globe and of course the VELUX EHF Men’s Champions League. I hope that I can help my team in the best possible way now.

Jonas Källman: Yes, of course. We only lost one match in Flensburg in a game which was mostly equal. We won our group, which was highly important for upcoming stages. It is possible that other groups would have been harder to play, but our group for sure was no easy task. Maybe we will get different opponents next season.

Jonas Källman: Chambery was the hardest possible opponent for us. They are really strong especially when they play at home. Look, they beat Barcelona and Löwen on home ground and were close to a victory against Kiel. Those results say a lot about the strength of Chambery.

They also gained a lot of self confidence in their domestic league by beating Montpellier – at home and away. We have to be aware of their great fighting spirit, and have to focus completely on the first game. If we lose there this would really cause a problem for the second leg. I think we have to play our best match of this season to have a chance to win in Chambery.

Jonas Källman: Some say it is an advantage, some say it is not. In my opinion it is a small advantage which we should try to take advantage of.

Jonas Källman: It is a really extraordinary competition. When standing on court and listening to the sound of the official EHF Champions League anthem, it feels great and special. The VELUX EHF Men’s Champions League is the biggest competition that is there to be won. If you win the title, you as a player belong to the best team in Europe, which in my eyes equals the best team of the world. And only a small amount of players have the chance to win this title.

Jonas Källman: No, no, no! We don’t even think about the Quarterfinals, not to mention Cologne. It is so far away. At first we have to play the match in Chambery, then we will focus on the re turn match at home – and then we can start to look ahead to the next match. No thoughts about Cologne yet, really!

Jonas Källman: He is the best coach I have ever had in my whole career. He talks a lot with all players, he cares for them, he is really considerate with everybody in the team as he is a very open person.

In addition he has a great mix of tactics and physics in his training sessions. His sessions are usually physically challenging – but he knows exactly when he has got to reduce. I hope that he will remain my coach for a long time.

The duel of two big guns between the French league leaders and the Spanish league runners-up will be broadcast as a free-of-charge live web stream on ehfTV.com as our featured "Match of the Week", including English commentary of Tom O’Brannagain.

VELUX EHF Men’s Champions League, Last 16, First leg
Sunday 27 March 2011, 17:00 hrs (local time)
Chambery Savoie HB (FRA) vs. Renovalia Ciudad Real (ESP)

ehfTV.com is the official Internet TV platform of the European Handball Federation and offers free live streaming as well as a video on demand service.