Two top seeds of 2013/14 Men’s European Champions League will meet on Friday (January 31st, 12h20 CET) in returning quarter final leg: Fakel Gazpoma Orenburg – Borussia Dusseldorf. Russian club and reigning MECL champion has almost elusive advantage 3:0 (,
Two top seeds of 2013/14 Men’s European Champions League will meet on Friday (January 31st, 12h20 CET) in returning quarter final leg: Fakel Gazpoma Orenburg – Borussia Dusseldorf. Russian club and reigning MECL champion has almost elusive advantage 3:0 (9:4) and Borussia`s coach Danny HEISTER tries to be realistic: “We are proud that we played at same level with Orenburg. But we had so many chances to win sets or matches which we could not use. And also we have been very unlucky in several moments in the matches, especially in the single of Timo (BOLL) and Vladi (SAMSONOV) in decisive situations, with net- and rim-balls. We are very disappointed. Now our chance to reach the semis is near to zero”
Timo BOLL, who lost from Byelorussian in fours sets of opening game, stressed that he is not in his best shape: “Vladi played excellent and he showed why he is back in Top 10 of the world-ranking. Myself I’m on the way back to my highest level but I need more of this top-standard matches to reach it”
Former Borussia`s player Dimitrij OVTCHAROV beat Patrick BAUM in second encounter. Orenburg`s best ranked member says that he enjoyed very much in first game at Dusseldorf: “The audience was fantastic and all the singles have been on a very, very high level. Such games with such great spectators in sold out halls I’d like to have more often. We are lucky that we won this fight against Düsseldorf and we know that all matches have been very close. If Borussia would have had more fortune we could have lost the game also 0:3. Now it looks good to us”
Borussia`s manager Manager Andreas PREUSS agrees that the first game was excellent: “We have seen unbelievable table tennis. It was our best performance in this season and it was much higher than four weeks ago when we won the German Cup. But unfortunately our opponent is the best one in Europe at the moment and you can see why Orenburg is favorite to win the title again. It was a great fight for two and a half hours on one level with the unhappiness that we lost 0:3”.
