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Today in the Lithuanian city of Klaipeda, HC Alkaloid will try to reach its first European victory on away field. In the first meeting in Skopje, HC Alkaloid celebrated a convincing victory by 11 goals (42-31), but the goal is not only to defend the difference and secure a place in the next round, but to get another victory over the fast team of Klaipeda Dragunas.

The team has been in Lithuania since yesterday, did a training session in the gym where the match will be played and got to know the atmosphere in the home of the Lithuanian „dragons”. The coaching staff and the handball players are optimistic about the outcome of the return match, despite the fact that they had a busy week in which they already played two matches, and now they are once again waiting for a competition with the Lithuanian team in their hall. The match starts at 15:00.

KIRIL LAZAROV, COACH OF HC ALKALOID:

I expect a tough match because in six days we will play three matches and not just any matches, but two matches from the European Cup and a derby match with Eurofarm Pelister, and we have a long journey. I know it won’t be easy. We have a handicap with the injury of Nikola Kosteski, we should mention that. I’m careful, because the audience in Avtokomanda saw that we have as our opponent a team that wants to play, that wants to compete for the whole match. We analyzed and saw that in the 48th minute there was only a six difference, and in the 54th minute it was a 13 difference. It could have been different, maybe the result is a little unrealistic.

We have a large stock, but that should not make us relax, we will go for victory, that is our goal. It will be very uncertain until the end, we want victory, but we will have to earn it. We will have to sweat hard to win, and it will not be easy, because, as I said, we play a third strong game in six days, and we also had a long trip. The boys are ready, but they are also exhausted, because they played two great games and are a little emotionally worn out after the joy they had after the two meetings. They will need to run a lot, we are aware of that in the coaching staff and we will do everything to look good and win in the end.

IVAN GALEVSKI, GOALKEEPER OF HC ALKALOID:

An 11-goal first-leg win is big, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything about who wins the second leg. Dragunas is a quality team that runs for 60 minutes and they will surely be extra motivated after the heavy defeat in Skopje. That is why we will be maximally focused, motivated and concentrated. We will not defend a difference, but we will go for victory, as always in this match.