Champions League Men | 18 Mar 2019

Borussia’s pursuit of perfection against UMMC

Reigning TTCLM champion hosts Russian team in the second leg of the semi-finals (leg 1, 3:1 for UMMC) this Thursday, March 21st. Coach Danny HEISTER and manager Andreas PREUSS are very aware of the situation.

 

Reigning TTCLM champion Borussia Dusseldorf still believe they can continue its way to the 12th title, in spite of losing first semi-final leg 3:1 (10:6) in Russia, from UMMC, two weeks ago. It was one of those rare days when Timo BOLL lost both his encounters. First, he was defeated by Jonathan GROTH, then she suffered at the hands of former world Top 10 player FANG Bo from China.

 

"Kristian (KARLSSON) played very well against SHIBAEV. Timo (BOLL) had chances to win both matches in Russia but lost both. Anton (KALLBERG) didn´t play good against FANG Bo. Our chance is five percent to reach the final and we know that everything must fit perfect at Thursday to win. Our opponent has got a very, very strong player with FANG Bo and three very good players with GROTH, SHIBAEV and GACINA. It´s a team which can win the title. But if Kristian could repeat his success and Timo, Anton, Omar or Kamal will be more successful than in first round we will have a chance to beat UMMC," stated coach of German team, Danny HEISTER.

 

Manager Andreas PREUSS reminds that his side was successful in the similar situation in the past:

 

"In the first match in Yekaterinburg we played well but we had no fortune. If you want to win in the Champions League semis it´s necessary to have fortune, too. We lost 1:3 with 6:10 sets in Russia although we had good chances for a better result. It will be very difficult now to reach the finals in this season. But we will fight for it. We play in Düsseldorf and we had similar situations in the past which ended successful. Our spectators will help us, too. So, we still hope to win the duel."