Our team will play the last match of the Group Phase of the DELO EHF Champions League at the home of Norwegian Vipers Kristiansand. The match against the defending champions will start on Saturday, 19 February 2022 at 18:00 and will be broadcast live on Sport1.
Ambros Martín's players will be looking forward to the meeting against defending champions Vipers Kristiansand as group leaders. Our team already met the Norwegian team in the first round, when they won to 35 - 29 at the Audi Arena Győr by six goals.
The Norwegians currently occupy 3rd place in Group B with 9 wins and 4 defeats and 18 points. In the first round of the 2021/2022 BL competition, Vipers beat IK Sävehof 34 - 25 at home after a defeat against us. In the third round they were away in France, where they were beaten to 23 - 18 in Metz. The defending CL champions then had two home games, first against Kastamonu (39 - 25) and then against CSZKA (24 - 27). After that, the Norwegian team has six wins in a row (Krim Mercator - Vipers 26 - 27, Odense - Vipers 27 - 32, Vipers - Odense 31 - 27, IK Sävehof - Vipers 23 - 42, CSZKA - Vipers 28 - 32, Kastamonu - Vipers 24 - 35). In round 12, Ole Gustav Gjekstad's team lost at home to Metz (25 - 31). Vipers tuned up for the meeting against our team with a 17-goal win against Krim (37 - 20).
"It's true that we beat them in the first round in the autumn, but we can't forget that Vipers Kristiansand are the defending Champions League champions. They also have their ups and downs, which shows how strong Group B is. The outcome of a match depends largely on the day the teams have and how they perform on the day. It makes absolutely no difference that we are undefeated, or with how many goals we win. For us, the most important thing is to put in a good performance, to control the meeting, to dictate the tempo and rhythm of the match and to be prepared for unexpected situations." - Ambros Martín said ahead of the match.
We talked with Viktoria Lukács before the game:
We also asked Silje Solberg what she expects from this weekend's clash: "Vipers are a very good team, it will be difficult to play against them at home. They are a good team from every point of view and we have to take them on. I'm looking forward to travelling home to Norway and playing against Vipers. It is always special to play against a Norwegian team. Our goal, as always, is to win the game, and of course it's no different this time. But I think we'll play a fast and running game, because that's the style of play of the home team. It will be very important for our defence to be composed. I think it will be a very good game!"
The match will be refereed by Slovakian duo Andrei Budzak - Michal Zahradnik and will be broadcast live on Sport1.
Matches from previous years:
2019.02.09. semifinal round 3 Győri Audi ETO KC - Vipers Kristiansand 33 - 29
09.03.2019 Semi-final Round 6 Vipers Kristiansand - Győri Audi ETO KC 26 - 33
11.05.2019 FINAL4 semifinal Vipers Kristiansand - Győri Audi ETO KC 22 - 31
11.09.2021 Group Round 1 Győri Audi ETO KC - Vipers Kristiansand 35 - 29
