Simon Möller: "It feels absolutely fantastic"

"It feels absolutely fantastic to have gone as far as the quarter-finals. It wasn't something we thought of ahead of time, but we knew we had the quality in the team. Our goal before the season was to get to the main round, but now we see no limits to how far we can go," says the 23-year-old goalkeeper from IK Sävehof.

The road to the quarter-finals has not been easy for the Swedes - but now they are here after a few intense matches against German TSV Hannover-Burgdorf.

"The games against Hannover were two games that we were very satisfied with. We lost the first game by four goals and after that we were happy with the performance, but not happy with the result. Then we said to ourselves in the dressing room that we must win this at home. In the second game, we played perhaps the best game of the season and won by nine goals. A fantastic match from our side," says Möller, before continuing:

"The second game against Hannover was one of the most fun games so far in my career. Great atmosphere in the stands and it took focus for 60 minutes to get us through. The second half from our side really woke up the crowd and we played fantastic handball.”

The goalkeeper himself had an impressive match, where he had 14 saves on 39 shots and thus a save percentage of 35.9 per cent in total.

“I had a lot of help from my defence throughout the match, which made it easier for me. We stuck to our game plan 100 per cent and therefore I was fully aware of what shots I could possibly get against me with the game we played in defence," says Simon Möller, who has been at the club for his entire senior career.

The mastodons from Northern Germany await

SG Flensburg-Handewitt are the next opponents that Möller and his team must try to defeat. Before the season started, the Germans were one of the favorites to win the tournament and Möller doesn't necessarily disagree with that either, even though he believes in his own team:

"My expectations for the games against Flensburg are that it will be a fantastic experience. Our home game has been completely sold out for several weeks and I expect 4,200 crazy Sävehof supporters.”

"Our chances are of course not that great, because SG Flensburg-Handewitt are one of the best teams in the world. But we are a young team and we set our own limits and we see no limits to how far we can go."

"Our goal for the EHF European League is to give Flensburg a fight to the finish line in both games and try to stress them as much as possible."

Whether Möller and the rest of IK Sävehof return home with smiles on their faces, time will tell. One thing is certain, however, and that is that Möller will be stopping handballs with his hands tied in tape - and there is a very special reason:

“One fact that not everyone knows about me is that I am actually allergic to resin. This is why I tape my hands. I get sores on my hands from the resin, but it doesn't really affect me much. But it's not a nice allergy when you're a handball player," he says with a smile.

Photos © Jan Guenther TSV/Hannover Burgdorf