Spartak eager to reach their second SEHA League victory

Mikhail Vinogradov

This season's SEHA - Gazprom League rookies – Russian Spartak, will on Monday (20.00 local time) host Meshkov Brest. After a tough defeat in Zagreb in the last round it is clear Russian vice-champs will be looking to win new points and improve their position on League's table.

So far they've only managed to reach one win this season, at home against Metaloplastika, and it's certain home atmosphere and fans will motivate them to repeat a good performance and look for three new points against the team from Brest.

However, it will be a big challenge with highly motivated Meshkov team coming to visit, especially after last round's win. Two teams have already met this season with Belarusian champs grabbing a dominant 35:24 home win in the first part of the season.

Oleg Kuleshov, Spartak coach:
Meshkov have a very good, strong team and they are proving that in both SEHA and Champions League. They have some really good individuals but I believe we can deliver a solid performance against them especially because we’ll be playing in front of our fans. We really want to play our best handball whenever we’re playing in front of them.

Nikita Nikulin, Spartak goalkeeper:
We’re dealing with a very rough schedule at the moment but we’ll do our best to prepare for this one against Meshkov. Medical staff are really doing their best to help us prepare and I believe that despite of all the injuries, together, as a team we can defeat Meshkov.

Raul Alonso, Meshkov Brest coach:
We’ll be playing this one less than 48 hours after a tough match in Kielce and a long trip to Moscow. We won’t have a lot of time to prepare but we’ll do everything to deliver a good performance. If we play the way we did for the first 45-50 minutes against Kielce I believe we can defeat Spartak but we have to stay focused. They have way too many quality players for us to underestimate them.

William Accambray, Meshkov Brest player:
We’re expecting to play a good match after our most recent Champions League loss on Saturday. It’s always important to bounce back after a defeat, deliver a strong performance and get that win. Our only goal in Moscow is to win that match!