Metalurg Skopje won the third place in the group stage after the brilliant win at home over Barcelona, and in the L16 phase the draw conducted by the EHF got them matched against Danish KIF Kolding. Lino Cervar, Metalurg’s coach, is cautious as usual.
– Before the draw we had three difficult opponents, now we have only one – KIF Kolding. I had no desired opponent as I believe that KIF Kolding is as dangerous as both German teams. It’s a team of very experienced players, which are over the age of 30, a team that had the best defence in the group stage. The names of Kim Andersson, Lasse Boesen, Stefan Hundstrup, Kasper Hvidt, Torsten Laen, Bo Spellerberg, Albert Rocas and others, speak enough of the team we are playing against.
– I prefer to think positively, as it’s the pitch that everything is decided on. We have to be even more motivated and with greater fighting spirit than the game against Barcelona. What worries me is the condition of Pavel Atman, which is of great importance to us, as we have only limited amount of players on disposal.
– What I know is that the game in Skopje will be a real handball celebration, and I expect an invasion of fans on the gameday. I’m sure that the crowd will this time be our 8th and even 9th player, because people are proud of Metalurg and its successes, and handball is the national sport number one in Macedonia.
