No. 2 seeds in the ETTU Champions League Men, last year’s runners-up Borussia Düsseldorf, remain the most decorated club in the competition’s history with six Champions League titles and six European Cup of Champions trophies. Their campaign starts this week as they face No. 17 seeds Real Club Cajasur Priego TM in the knockout stage.
Coach Danny HEISTER emphasised the importance of the upcoming match.
“We will of course take the game very seriously, especially since we don’t even know who Priego will be playing. They have a lot of players on their list. We will play with the full team and try to achieve a good result. It is, of course, very exhausting for us right now with five games in ten days in the Bundesliga, the Cup… But the Champions League is very important to us, and we will give everything as always,” said HEISTER.
Borussia Düsseldorf’s line-up includes Dang QIU, ranked number seven in Europe; Anton KÄLLBERG, ranked tenth; Kanak JHA currently world number 29; Yongyin LI and Borgar HAUG ranked 23rd in Europe.
Their opponents, Real Club Cajasur Priego TM, earned their place in the knockout stage after a stunning performance in Novi Sad. The Andalusian club, seeded seventeenth, achieved one of the biggest surprises of the stage. Led by Hampus SÖDERLUND, Carlos MACHADO and Alejandro CALVO, Priego shocked the group favourites AS Pontoise Cergy TT of France, a team featuring Europe’s number 19 Liam PITCHFORD, Alexandre CASSIN and Flavio MOURIER. The Spanish team did it all without their top player Robert GARDOS.
