Five times title winners in the European Champions Legue mighty club from Russia Fakel Gazprom Orenburg will travel to Portugal on their first encounter in top European club competition this year. The opening leg will be played in Lisbon against Sporting Clube de Portugal.
For Marcos FREITAS it will bring slight advantage of playing in his country but more important is that Dimitrij OVTCHAROV is fully recovered and ready to join him.
“We are looking forward to the knock out stage of the Champions League. All our players are healthy and in excellent physical shape. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV had a successful surgery in Munich. He practically did not stop training. He will already play in the TTCL opening leg in Lisbon ” TTC Fakel-Gazprom Vice-President and Head coach Victor ANDREEV shared good news with us.
OVTCHAROV is already back in playing mode.
“In the Russian Championship in Yekaterinburg Dimitrij played one match and won.”
In Russia National league holds the top of the standings.
“TTC Fakel-Gazprom is the leader in the Russian Championship after the first round of the competition. Our team won a convincing victory over the club UMMC with a score of 3:0. We are happy with this result.”
Coach ANDREEV praised the adversaries but has no doubt who is the favorite.
“Our club has played against Sporting Clube De Portugal several times. We met the Portuguese team in the semifinals of the Champions League in 2018. Our team beat Sporting 3:0. Vladimir SAMSONOV Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Jun MIZUTANI played then as part of our club. However we do not want to underestimate anyone. Sporting Clube De Portugal is a very good team. Our players are seriously preparing for the upcoming quarterfinal in Lisbon.”
TTC Fakel-Gazprom Vice-President was confident that the club’s stars will proved their worth once again.
“We believe in our victory. It is not a secret for anybody that three players from Fakel-Gazprom are among the ten best world players – Hugo CALDERANO LIN Yun Ju and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV. We managed to create a great team. We are proud of our team! We wish everyone to be healthy and have a good start in the knock out stage!”
Quarterfinal Opening leg
Tuesday 11/01/2022 20.00 Hennebont: GV Hennebont TT (FRA) – FC Saarbrücken TT (GER)
Wednesday 12/01/2022 17.00 Dzialdowo: K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo (POL) – Borussia Düsseldorf (GER)
Wednesday 12/01/2022 20.30 Lisbon: Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) – Fakel Gazprom Orenburg (RUS)
Thursday 13/01/2022 19.00 Neu Ulm: TTC Neu-Ulm (GER) – TTSC UMMC (RUS)
