Kielce close to quarter-finals, Zagreb strike back in MOTW
In the opening round of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League play-offs, two former EHF Champions League winners were on the court in away matches. While Industria Kielce took a clear 33:25 win against GOG, Montpellier HB were put to the limit by HC Zagreb – and finally tied 27:27 after a thrilling Match of the Week.
They played good defence at the beginning, and we had a hard time finding the solutions. We had good chances but Andreas Wolff was in the game and we lost that period and didn't get the goals. We struggled in the first half and lost some confidence. We found some better chances in the second half but it wasn't enough.
It's only the first half and we got a good result. It was just the beginning, and it was amazing. We know that GOG's team is amazing, and we need full focus in the 60 minutes at home, and only after the 60 minutes can we be satisfied.
We opened the match poorly, but managed to catch the right rhythm moving forward. Some of our players were dealing with some injury issues in the days ahead of this encounter, and I believe that was visible in our performance in the latter part of the game. Of course, we've got a week now to prepare the best we can for what's waiting for us in France, in a game in which we'll be looking to improve in all aspects.
It is extremely challenging to play in front of this crowd here in Zagreb, and I feel like - considering everything we've seen today - we can be satisfied with the final outcome. Obviously, the match could have gone either way in those final few minutes but that wouldn't change much because everything will clearly be decided in a week in Montpellier.
