Race for quarter-finals begins as Kielce host Berlin in MOTW
Four teams booked their Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2024/25 quarter-final tickets at the end of the group phase: Barça, Aalborg Håndbold, One Veszprém HC and Sporting CP. But in order to complete the line-up, four more teams will join them after the play-off confrontations.
None of the eight teams in the race for a ticket is a newcomer. While Füchse Berlin and Dinamo Bucuresti are the least experienced clubs at this stage of the competition — this season being their third — OTP Bank - PICK Szeged and Industria Kielce lead the pack with 17 and 16 previous participations, respectively.
With two teams each, France, Germany and Poland are the most represented countries, but OTP Bank - PICK Szeged have the chance to be the second Hungarian side present in the quarter-finals this season.
Magdeburg are one of the best teams in the world, but I believe that with good fans and good atmospfere in the hall we can have a positive result here in Bucharest. I am looking forward to that, we will do our job.
They have a very broad squad and great players. I think we can expect a very hot atmosphere. We simply have to put in a really strong performance.
We trained in good mood and you can see the concentration and self-confidence before the matches with Füchse Berlin. This team does not need to be introduced, we feel respect for them. Apart from Gidsel, there are other excellent players, we will have to tire ourselves out to advance to the next round. We will play the first match in Kielce, this can be our advantage. We are counting on our fans to carry us.
Kielce are a very strong team. Playing in their arena will certainly be a challenge, there's a heated atmosphere there. The fact that Kielce finished in sixth place was a surprise after seeing them before the season. But following the departure of Andreas Wolff, they had some problems in the goalkeeper position, which they tried to compensate for with the signing of Klemen Ferlin. It's a wide squad, but with the injuries it remains to be seen who can be on the pitch. We have to be ready to see what tactical ideas Talant Dujshebaev has in store.
We have been looking forward to this part of the season now for a long time. To play the decisive matches is what we all like the most. PSG are something extra, but we will give everything to not make it easy for them.
We are excited for the game. Finally, it's the knockout round and we're confident in our ability to win. However, we know we must play two exceptional games to achieve that, as Szeged have fantastic quality within their team. We hope to secure the victory and having the second leg at home in Coubertin is definitely an advantage for us.
HBC Nantes are looking really good at the moment and it is safe to say that they are one of the best teams in Europe. Anyway, just like two years ago when we played against them and yet we were able to beat them. The last period has shown us that we can beat anyone in the Champions League and we strongly believe that.
