Piedade: "Our time has come"

Five weeks without a competitive game. Hypo are a bit unaware of what form they currently have before the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Lada Togliatti in Russia. Therefore Eurohandball.com talked to Dani Piedade, captain of the Austrian champions.

Eurohandball.com: Five weeks break after the last game in the Main Round – what’s happened to you since then?

Piedade: We did a lot of hard work in training, especially physically.

We have a bit of heavy legs at the moment, but this will be away in time for the game against Lada. But I think five weeks are too much - we lost our rhythm...

Eurohandball.com: What do you expect from the opponents?

Piedade: Every player thinks positively, but we don’t underestimate Lada.

You cannot play a perfect game, but if we minimise the number of mistakes, it will be very tough for them to beat us...

Eurohandball.com: ...and you have already beaten them twice in Group Phase.

Piedade: Of course! If the whole team gets a superb day, no one will beat us. We just couldn’t manage to get such a day yet. I can assure you: we will fight like lions to reach the final.

Eurohandball.com: And there was a semi-final last year against Lada too...

Piedade: No one can forget that! We lost in the very last second because we couldn’t score from a 7-m shot. We still have that defeat in our hearts, everyone can remember it well. Last year it was not our time yet, but I feel that this year it might be different. We want to get revenge. I feel that we are stronger than last year.

Eurohandball.com: The journey to Togliatti is also special this year. Is it true that you will travel with a charter to Russia?

Pieadade: Yes, that’s right. The whole team will travel with a charter. The flight just takes three hours and thirty minutes. That’s okay, we don’t have so much stress compared to travelling with a normal flight. That’s very important for the team. In addition, we will have around fifty fans with us on the plane who will to support us in that difficult game.