Handball-Planet.com continues to provide you with interviews with some of the stars that will feature at the European Championship 2012 in Serbia. This time we talked to Hans Lindberg, the last seasons’ Bundesliga topscorer with the HSV, and also winner of Gold medal at the European Championship 2008 in Norway, where Denmark beat Croatia in the final with 24:20. He talks with us about the Bundesliga, Champions League and the big event coming up next month, the European Championship 2012 in Serbia, where Denmark plays in a group with Poland, Slovakia and the hosts Serbia, about which he was very optimistic.
HP: How do you estimate your chances to win the Bundesliga ? Do you have to beat THW Kiel in 10 days ?
Hans Lindberg:Good question. Right now it’s very difficult, we’re 4 points behind and Kiel are very strong this year so it looks like we have to beat Kiel there and then at home court.
HP: At this moment you are first in the Bundesliga in the topscorers list. You won it last year, can you win it again this year, so far so good?
Hans Lindberg: It will be very hard, but for me it’s important that my club wins its games in the first place, and I’ll do my best to help that, and then be the topscorer of the Bundesliga.
HP: In the Champions League you are undefeated, do you think you can make it to the F4 again ?
Hans Lindberg: Yeah, I think so, I think we have very good chances to reach the F4 again. We have a lighter group, you can say so. But, first we have to finish this first group phase and confirm our first place with victories, and then think about the future games, and I’m hopeful that we will have luck and get easier opponents in the future rounds.
HP: The Danish league is getting stronger every year. Have you been thinking about perhaps playing in Denmark in the following years ?
Hans Lindberg: (laugh) I have 6 years contract with HSV Hamburg, so that is really nothing I’m thinking about. At least not in near future.
HP: About the upcoming Euro 2012. You were very close to beat France in Sweden. Do you believe that it’s finally time for a new champion, someone to dethrone France, or are the French just too strong?
Hans Lindberg: I hope so, I hope that something changes. I’ll go with the win, and to do that we have to beat all other teams, and that includes France. We were very close, we played draw against France in regular time and then we were unlucky in the extra time. But we are a young team and we are getting more and more experience with every game, and I think this Euro 2012 we can show off even better performances.
HP: Can Denmark win the championship again like in 2008, and be defending champions at the Euro 2014 in Denmark?
Hans Lindberg: Yeah, I can say that Denmark can win this championship, and stop France’s domination.
Borjan Zafirovski
