Slovenian champions Celje Pivovarna Lasko will try to keep on flying on wings of a huge success of their national team on WCh in France. Celje PL had 6 of its players competing in France but they will tomorrow have to deliver once again in order to beat Meshkov in what might later prove to be a key encounter for securing SEHA F4 place. Belarusians are coming to Zlatorog sports hall with a clear goal - win which would put them in TOP 4 instead of Celje as they are at the moment fifth but with one match more left to play until the end of the regular part of the season than Celje.

Slovenian handball fans will have a chance to support their team and, in the same time, honor WCh medallists on Saturday (18.00 CET).

Branko Tamse, Celje Pivovarna Lasko coach:
We know who we’re playing against and are completely aware of the current situation. It might turn out quite positive and that’s what we’re hoping for. Six guys coming from WCh are flying after that medal boost and hopefully it will help them overcome tiredness in this match. The rest of the team prepared very well and we hope the combination will make us deliver a good match to open 2017 with a victory. It’s however much easier to say that than to do it. All three of our previous duels against them are a clear sign of how tight and exciting match we’re expecting but also a match in which we’d really like to reach a win.

Urban Lesjak, Celje Pivovarna Lasko goalkeeper:
We both have similar situation with players being part of WCh so that should not make any difference. We have played against them three matches so far and in first SEHA League match they’ve managed to beat us. The other two matches ended with a draw and our better performance. We count on that in this upcoming match as well. We know each other very well and we have to find their bad sides and prepare well for this clash to open the second part of the season in the right manner.  

Sergey Bebeshko, Meshkov Brest coach:
Match in Celje is very important for us. The victory would give us good Final 4 chances. However, in case Celje win they will have those good chances which is a reason why we’ve prepared well for this match. We’ve already played them three times this season and we did not lose in any of those matches so I feel like we should be positive and look for a good result.

Simon Razgor, Meshkov Brest player:
This will be an important and difficult match. Fourth game against Celje this season already. We are aware it'll not be easy - Slovenian players are in good mood after World Championship. But, we are aiming to win otherwise we'll face big difficulties getting into F4.