European champs as a cherry on top of the birthday cake for Nexe

Halil Jaganjac

Nasice will on Sunday evening (17.00 CET) host a real handball spectacle with European champions Vardar coming to visit. Match against reigning both European and SEHA champs will be just a cherry on top of the cake for the club from Slavonia which is celebrating its 60th birthday and it’s clear they’ll do everything they can to celebrate their birthday in the best possible manner and with a win against such a European giant.

Except for the celebrating purposes, outcome actually won’t decide anything because Vardar have already secured the top spot in Group A and Nexe will finish the group phase of the season on fifth place. Despite of the fact Vardar are always favorites when they are out there on the court, Nexe have had some positive moments in previous encounters against favored North Macedonians.

Last season, hosts have managed to celebrate against Vardar (24:21) and they’ll definitely look to repeat that this season as well. 

Hrvoje Horvat, Nexe coach:
Winning on Sunday would really be a great thing considering we’re these days celebrating club’s 60th birthday. It would be a great gift both for ourselves and all of our fans. Goal is to prove everyone that this bad period is not behind us. We are looking forward to this match and an opportunity to get certain things to function better. Everyone except for Mrdjenovic and Srsen will be available to play. 

Halil Jaganjac, Nexe player: 
It is always an honor to compete against big clubs like Vardar, especially when they come to Nasice. It’s a great chance for us to deliver a good outing and I hope fans will once again be there for us. Vardar are current European champs and we could not have wished for a better opponent to celebrate our birthday.

Stojan Petrusevski, Vardar assistant coach: 
SEHA League is a great opportunity for our younger players to prove what they’re capable of. Now that we’ve secured the top spot in our group the time has come for them to seize the opportunity and prove their worth. Some of them already have both SEHA and Champions League experience but Nexe will be a tough opponent. Despite of the lack of experience we’ll on Sunday do our best to showcase our potential. 

Dimitar Dimitrioski, Vardar player: 
We’ll travel to Nasice with a combined roster with only a few players who have played in SEHA League in the past. However, we’ll do our best to deliver a good performance and I assure you that this team doesn’t lack motivation. We all know we have nothing to lose. Nexe are favorites but we believe we can surprise them.