All to play for in Hungary

Oltchim Rm.Vâlcea surprised Hungarian champions Győri Audi ETO with a comeback, winning the first leg of the EHF Women’s Champions League semi-final. Aurelia Brădeanu, one of the best Romanian players in the game shares her thoughts with ehfCL.com for the second leg, which will be played in the Veszprem Arena, Hungary.

ehfcl.com: Oltchim looked defeated after the first half in Vâlcea. What happened after the break with you and your teammates?

Aurelia Brădeanu: We knew it was going to be hard because the match was so intense. Unfortunately, we made a lot of easy mistakes in the first half; things that cannot be done in order to win such an important game.

During the break, our coach knew how to motivate us and did a great job to help us go with a positive mindset into the second half. We were magical in the last 30 minutes of the game. I think our opponents were already posing as winners and that helped our cause. Our ambition, our strength was there all along and we surprised them.

ehfcl.com: You were a Győr player for seven years, but this year you are playing for their opponents.  What How did your former team chang in the last few months?

Aurelia Brădeanu: Győr has always been a powerhouse in European handball. It’s a pity we have missed so many chances for silverware in the past few years. This team has lost finals in all the important competitions, such as EHF Women’s Champions League, Women’s EHF Cup and the EHF Women’s Cup Winners’ Cup. During the last summer, they made some great transfers and now they have more depth in their roster. That’s a great advantage at this stage of the competition.

ehfcl.com: You managed to win by a margin of four goals. Can this be enough for Oltchim to qualify for the final?

Aurelia Brădeanu: Nothing is decided yet. Győr is still a great team, with a lot of firepower in offence and with a great defence. We will prepare for this game as if it were the final. Of course, these four goals are very important, they could be the difference after the end of the second leg, but we’ll enter the hall from a 0-0 scoreline and that’s what we want to focus on.

ehfcl.com: The second leg of the semi-final will be played in Veszprem. Do you think that this change will affect your opponent?

Aurelia Brădeanu: Yes, I really think that this will be a big disadvantage for the Hungarian side. I played there in 2009 and I know what the atmosphere is like. Of course, there will be a lot more fans for Győr, they will be close to the team, but it’s not the same as the home hall.

The players know also better the home hall in Győr and they have to adapt to the Veszprem’s hall features.