"Cologne is always our goal," says Sjöstrand

Johan Sjöstrand knows how it feels to raise the VELUX EHF Champions League trophy. The Swedish goalkeeper won the title in 2011 with his former club FC Barcelona and now the number 1 of the Swedish national team is aiming to win this trophy again with his new team THW Kiel.

In Round 9 of the group phase, Kiel managed to secure first position in Group B with a draw against Kielce, mainly thanks to the 21 saves of Johan Sjöstrand, who is one half of the Swedish THW goalkeeper pair, together with Andreas Palicka.

In this interview with ehfCL.com 26-year-old Sjöstrand, who started his career in Skövde and later played for Flensburg, Barcelona and Aalborg, talks about his role at THW and the ambitions his team has for the rest of the season.

ehfCL.com: You have lived in and played for Kiel for six months now. Have you settled in the city and in the team already?

Johan Sjöstrand: I really enjoy playing for a great club with great organisation and a great audience. I think I found my place in the team, so it fits perfectly.

ehfCL.com: You share the position in the THW goal with fellow Swede Andreas Palicka – how does it work?

Johan Sjöstrand: We have so many top level matches with THW Kiel in the German league, the German Cup and of course in the Champions League – so you need two strong goalkeepers, who split the time between the posts.

Everyone must fully focus when he is on the court. I cheer for him, when he saves a shot, he cheers for me – simply brilliant cooperation. It is not a rivalry, but just working together for a common goal. He is happy with me, I am happy with him.

ehfCL.com: So Andreas Palicka must have been happy with your performance in your previous match against Vive Targi Kielce?

Johan Sjöstrand: Definitely, and so do I. It was a good game for me. It was crucial to take this point which we needed to finish on top of the group, but it was hard for us, as a huge number of players were out due to injuries. But finally we managed to take this point, and I am satisfied.

ehfCL.com: What is the significance of finishing on top of the group?

Johan Sjöstrand: THW Kiel always have high expectations, and one of them is every season to become winner of their Champions League group. Because we all know that it makes the path to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne much easier for us.

I am looking forward to the draw next week, as we all hope that our international journey continues until Cologne. To reach the FINAL4 is always one of our main goals. We are a top club in Europe, so we should aim high all the time. But this season there are a lot of teams aiming to reach Cologne, so it will not be easy.

ehfCL.com: Kielce were the only team so far, which managed not to get defeated even once by THW this season. Would you like to face them again in the quarter-finals or even in Cologne?

Johan Sjöstrand: Definitely yes, as then we hopefully have the full squad on our side and we play to win.

ehfCL.com: In your last match of the group phase you face Porto. How do you rate the relevance of the game?

Johan Sjöstrand: In every match we are aiming to provide our fans in the full arena with a strong performance. Indeed, we can test some new things as we have already reached our goal and some players, who regularly do not play that much will get the chance to show their strength and ambition.