by Sascha Staat
His club’s situation is similar to the one of Vardar Skopje in 2019. Back then, Igor Karacic celebrated a FINAL4 win. Can he repeat the success with Industria Kielce? The Croatian champion looks forward to the match against PSG Paris.
On playing the FINAL4 yet again:
“It’s the same nervous feeling. It’s a dream of every player to be here, to play in front of 20.000 fans in
this arena. I train and practice hard every day during the season just to be here and trying to win the
Champions League. It’s a constant reminder, the way how we lost last year – now
I’m here again. I just want to enjoy playing handball and that’s it.”
On last year’s loss in the final match of the competition:
“When we started the season we spoke with each other, with coach Talant and the other guys. It’s
always on our mind, the way how we lost the last game against Barcelona. And, I know that we are the
underdogs because of the problems we had during the season. In front of us is Paris, one of the
richest clubs in the world with my former coach, Raul Gonzalez on the bench. They are the favorites. I’m just
looking forward to play on Saturday and to win the game against Paris. That’s the main goal. After that we can speak
about the next step.”
On being more than just the underdog:
“Well, if you read the interviews in the newspapers and the internet, you can check it. After the last
game against Wisla Plock in the final of the Polish Cup, we lost three, four players. It was a terrible
situation for us because during the practice sessions we didn’t have enough players. It was seven players on one
side and the other team included the second coach of the team, the assistant coach and even the goalkeeper’s
coach and the goalkeepers themselves. Now, we are fine, we have 14, 15 players. And, I hope everyone will stay
healthy. We have just one more day to prepare for Paris. Maybe we are not real underdogs,
but during the last two weeks, it was a terrible situation and that’s why.”
On sticking together because of the financial problems during the season:
“It reminds me a little bit of what happened in Skopje in 2019. It was a comparable situation with Vardar
and despite all the issues, we won the Champions League. We are one team now more than ever. Nobody wants to leave the
club. When we spoke with the president, he said everything will be okay. I trust him.
And, now we are here to enjoy. I believe in my team, in our president and in coach Talant.”
On why Kielce will make it to the final:
“Why? I don’t know if we win tomorrow, but I hope we will win because we are hungry more than ever –
like wolves. I just want to be calm and enter the court, play 60 minutes of handball and make our fans in Poland and around the world happy and proud.”
