We often regret the forced procession – Szilágy

Viktor Szilágyi (left) and Veszprém goalkeeper Árpád Sterbik were happier in Cologne (Photo: Imago Images)

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– How was the fourth Kiel Champions League celebrated?
“The only thing we were prepared for was to fly home immediately after the final in Cologne,” the 42-year-old Hungarian sports director from THW Kiel told National Sport. Viktor Szilágyi, who has won the Champions League, EHF Cup and KEK as a player, while participating in the Austrian national team more than 200 times. “We landed at three thirty in the morning, the siren firefighters were waiting for us and the club staff lit a Greek fire in our honor. I’m really sorry to the players because they used to be able to celebrate together with tens of thousands, but now they only got an impromptu bet. The fans, who couldn’t see the semi-final against Veszprém on the spot, were historic …

– After the final victory against Barça, what did Filip Jícha whisper in his ear?
“I don’t remember it anymore, but then a lot went through my mind.” It occurred to me when I became Kiel’s sporting director three years ago, and then-head coach Alfred Gíslason pointedly told me that he was tired, that he needed to rest. He asked me to arrange his replacement asap. Filip Jícha had just finished his playing career in Barcelona so we slapped him and he became Alfred’s right-hand man as assistant coach. Being a beginner, Filip knows a lot about the profession, already at the end of his playing career it seemed that he would also take his place on the sidelines. Our conceptions of handball are the same anyway, although I also have to look at the interests of the club. He is a highly prepared and determined professional who can react extremely quickly to a certain situation. Sure, I didn’t say that to him at this point, but they must have said “thank you.”

“SPORTS DON’T ALWAYS HAVE FAIR”

Filip JÍCHA and Kiel edzője: – All respect for Barça, because they reached the Champions League final with an excellent performance, but I felt that we would have something to win in the final, we could find the antidote for their game in sixty minutes. Unfortunately, sport is not always fair, it depends a lot on a match, despite the fact that the Spanish played handball all the time at a very high level. What does this trophy mean to me? I cannot put it into words. I am proud of everyone: my players, the team and the professional team.

Niklas LANDIN, the Kiel goalkeeper: “There was no problem with self-confidence, we went to Cologne to be able to defeat anyone in the world. Our defense was simply fantastic, not many teams can say they got less than thirty goals from Barça, we did it. We did not reserve, we gave everything, and when we were already leading by three or four goals in the final, we knew that only we could lose this match. We made fewer mistakes than the Spanish, and you cannot complain about our concentration, we focused until the last minute.

– How risky was it a year and a half ago to entrust an inexperienced professional to a team full of world stars?
– In that situation, Filip was the best option. His appointment may have seemed like a bold decision on our part, but life finally justified us. Regardless, you can see that he exudes confidence when it comes to time requests, so players are on top of every word. We are not a nervous team, nor are they too loose, thanks in part to that. He can draw new ones both in attack and defense, he has a wide tactical repertoire, although he still has a lot to learn. However, the most important thing is that we can talk about everything, our relationship is very good, which is based on honesty.

“Apparently the integration of Sander Sagosent, considered one of the best handball players in the world, was not a problem.
“We don’t just talk about our plans, our goals, we do it for ourselves, we actually row a boat. It doesn’t matter how we motivate our players, including the Olympic, World and European champions before the Champions League final four, but how to prepare them for the final four. It should be understood that all training and matches from start to finish must be taken seriously, even if there are no spectators, that is, there is no cheer. Anyway, we expected it to be an Olympiad, so we will have little time until the start of the Bundesliga, so we did not want a big change in the framework. Still, it’s not difficult to incorporate a Sander Sagosen-style gain on guard. We don’t have many outfield players, fourteen or fifteen, but we trust them one by one. We are sorry for the loss of our long-injured ball player Nikola Bylik. Fortunately, everyone in Kiel knows what his job is, and he doesn’t shy away from having to fulfill it. However, ninety-nine percent is not enough for us …

“What did you mean when the coronavirus hit you in early December?”
– First, Domagoj Duvnjak showed symptoms and his rapid test already came back positive. We isolated him immediately, but then the virus was detected in Magnus Landin and then in Pavel Horák. The Kiel Epidemiological Office immediately ordered a fourteen-day quarantine, which was reduced to ten days. Actually, for them, he was worried about the three of them and hoped that they would soon overcome the disease. In hindsight, it wasn’t bad for some players to be home because they were extremely exhausted both mentally and physically. On December 23, Duvnjak and Horák also gave a negative sample, followed by intensive medical tests. The former received a green light, while the latter was found to have inflammation in his body, for which he was only able to return in January. Magnus Landin produced his first negative test on December 26, so he was not in a position to play in Cologne from the start. It is not easy to go through such a state.

– Domagoj Duvnjak not only recovered for the four finalists, but was one of the leaders of his team. Is it mainly due to your resistance?
– I risk that we would not have won the Champions League without him. Two days before the final fair, we felt for the first time that we could help. We knew he was still out of shape, but he could make a difference for five to ten minutes at halftime. Also, with Domagoj, we solved our two defensive formations without any problem. Maybe now we are better at this, that we can not only defend ourselves in two systems, but we can also alternate them, at a high level.

– What is the reason that in the semifinal against Veszprém you came out of a four-goal deficit and won the match in extra time?
– We believed in victory all the time. I don’t like to talk about the referees, but they led the game in a rather strange way. At first they favored us, then in the second half they blew in a completely different style. Veszprém, for his part, became absorbed, defended himself more and more strongly, and what at first was a two-minute display is no longer after the break. We threw some balls unprepared, this was quickly taken advantage of by our opponent. Why did you manage to get up off the ground? Because we learned from our second loss in December, when we ran into a big slap at the Veszprém Arena, where we came out with eight goals. We didn’t want to give up again, experience that failure. Although the Hungarians were also affected by the coronavirus, perhaps better than us, David Davis still has a fantastic team. On the other hand, it seemed that when the people from Veszprém returned in less than a week, they mobilized a lot of energy, which also contributed to our success.

– Experts have rated Barça as the number one champion of the Champions League. How did you manage to surpass the Spanish?
“We may have tactically surprised Barça, but again, I am learning that we have learned from the past, because we left Xavier Pascual’s guard twice that long ago.” So our victory also required our players not only to be experienced, but also to be smart. This already had a poster against Veszprém, after we prevented the interaction between Petar Nenadics and Andreas Nilsson. The key is to recognize your opponent’s strength and respond to him as soon as possible. The other aspect is that we have the Bundesliga there. We often regret the forced race, but in a situation like this, where you have to play two fateful matches in two days, we have the advantage that the German league matches come on tape. We are used to having tough games every week, in which we lose several times. That is not the case with Barça, I do not even know when the disadvantage of the last five goals was. The Cologne scoreboard should not be looked at by the way anyway, not only the people of Veszprém, but we know it, although there is no doubt about the final result: we are currently the best men’s handball team in Europe.

– He raised his voice many times against the World Cup in Egypt. Did BL’s win change your mind?
“Not at all, although Kiel does not add a player to the German team.” We told everyone in the club to decide for yourselves if they wanted to participate in the Egyptian tournament. In my personal opinion, such a global competition does not fit the current viral situation at all, but we have not forced anyone to cancel. In any case, it’s strange that while I advise my kids to only be in contact with one friend at a time, they want to hold a thirty-two-team world championship in front of the spectators.