This Friday we will know who are the finalists of Men’s European Champions League, after two semi final rematches: Fakel Gazproma Orenburg – AS Pontoise (March 22nd, 12h00 CET, 1st leg 3:0) and Borussia Dusseldorf – Chartres ASTT (March 22nd, 19h00 CET, l,
This Friday we will know who are the finalists of Men’s European Champions League, after two semi final rematches: Fakel Gazproma Orenburg – AS Pontoise (March 22nd, 12h00 CET, 1st leg 3:0) and Borussia Dusseldorf – Chartres ASTT (March 22nd, 19h00 CET, live and free on LAOLA1.tv, 1st leg 1:3).
Reigning champion Orenburg is 99 % in the final after 3:0 (9:3) win at Pontoise, especially knowing that two leading players of the best Russian team played very well on 2013 Asia-Europe All Stars Series at Qingdao: Vladimir SAMSONOV beat current Olympic and World champion ZHANG Jike 3:2, whilst Dimitrij OVTCHAROV overcame world’s no. 6 CHUANG Chih Yuan 3:0.
Unlike clash at Russia, it can expect a big fight at Düsseldorf’s ARAG center. The most successful European side ever, Borussia is in bad situation after 3:1 (11:5) loss at France. Two main players of The Lions, Timo BOLL and Patrick BAUM suffered 3:0 loss each from Singaporean GAO Ning. But, their coach Danny HEISTER does not loss a hope.
“We are prepared for Chartres. Our players are in a good shape. Especially Timo (BOLL) played excellent against Steffen MENGEL last Sunday who has beaten him in the final of German Individual Championships a few weeks ago. Patti (BAUM) has shown great performances against Ochsenhausen (beat Kirill SKACHKOV and RYU Seung Min) and Frickenhausen (defeated strong Japanese Koki NIWA) in German Bundesliga. If we are able to play our best table tennis everything could happen on Friday.”
Speaking about chances, Dutch mentioned one historical Borussia`s win, when Jörg ROSSKOPF, Steffen FETZNER and Thierry CABRERA managed to reach the Cup of Champions title although they had lost 5:1 in first final leg from Levallois. It was happened in 1990/1991 final.
“We know about the difficult situation and our minimal chances to reach the finals. Chartres has got a very strong team on one hand and on the other hand we have to come back after a 1:3 defeat in Chartres. But – Borussia Düsseldorf has got several matches in history in which we came back, for example the Cup-final in 1991 against Levallois (1:5, 5:0). Last season UMMC has shown it in ECL that it’s possible to reach next round after an evident defeat (0:3, 3:0). So we believe that we will have a little chance. We had a bad day in Chartres and we lost the close match between Christian (SUSS) and Pär GERELL. But we know that every Borussia`s player is able to do it better than in France. Furthermore it’s a home match. The spectators will help us to do the impossible.”
Regardless of how the battle will be finished, Danny HEISTER says that it is not a decisive moment for Borussia. “It’s an important moment for us on Friday but not a decisive one. We won already the German national Cup, our 60th title in club’s history, we reached the semis in MECL and German Bundesliga. It would be great if we could win another trophy but if not it’s not the end of the world.”
