Croatian vice-champions NEXE Nasice have for the first time ever managed to start the season with 2-0 and on Sunday (20.15 CET) they will in Skopje have a solid chance to make it 3-0 playing Metalurg. It definitely however won’t be easy with hosts clearly being eager to snap the two-game losing streak and finally grab some points.

NEXE started the season off with a win over PPD Zagreb later also celebrating in a thriller in Ljubuski in which they surely discovered some weaknesses to their game. Encounter is on the other hand not coming at a good moment at all for Macedonians as one of their best players from the last few seasons Filip Kuzmanovski left Skopje signing with Eurofarm Rabotnik.

The match will be broadcasted on Arena Sport channels, MRT, Sport Klub Poland, Sport TV Slovenia and ehfTV. 

Danilo Brestovac, Metalurg coach:

We’ve already played two of the probably strongest teams in the league this season so the team is a bit exhausted. Preparations for the match against NEXE are still underway and I hope that we can, together with our fans, deliver a solid performance and fight for first points.

Milan Lazarevski, Metalurg player:

We hope to achieve a positive result against NEXE in what will be our first home-match of the season. I expect fans to come to the hall and support us against a team which deserves all the respect. They might not have the biggest budget but they are using it quite well and have quality players so it won't be easy at all.

Hrvoje Horvat, NEXE coach:

Metalurg have a great, young, ambitious team which will surely look to secure first points of the season playing against us. It's clear we'll have to play better than we did in Ljubuski because we know how good Metalurg can play, especially in front of their fans. We've got to play good as a team, no matter who is on the court at the certain moment.

Albin Eter, NEXE player:

Our matches against Metalurg are always narrow and interesting which is exactly what I expect from this one as well. It won’t be easy, especially after the match in Ljubuski where we’ve seen we mustn’t afford ourselves to slow down as it can prove to be costly in the end. Our score looks great after first two rounds but we must stay on the ground and prepare thoroughly for all the match that are ahead of us.