Niko doesn´t feel the pressure, at least not yet. He usually says: "Actually I feel the pressure within one or two hours before the games". But is it the dispute against Hamburg THE derby? "Yes and no. It is a kind of derby, but it can´t be compared with Kiel - Flensburg", means Nikola.
Anyway, this will be a confrontation between the teams with the biggest budgets in the German Handball League. Kiel "owns" a budget of 7, 8 million euro, Hamburg "attacks" with 6, 5 million euro. On the field will be many stars, most of them world class players whose teams need only the victory today. The hosts can´t allow themselves to lose points anymore after the draw against Balingen on the first round. The guests lost already 4 points in 5 games and even if they are one of the favourites for the domestic league title, in this moment they are only 9th in the ranking.
But who cares about the bad start of the season, as long as HSV´s officials are very optimistic. For example, the sporting director Christian Fitzek states in the newspaper "Hamburger Morgenpost": "Kiel is afraid of us. They weren´t able to beat us in the last two seasons in their own hall and they are afraid that we beat them now." If Niko and his teammates still needed extra motivation for the game, they got it. Kiel´s coach Alfred Gislason realistic. "The derby is, in any case, extremely important for both sides. I wait another game in comparison with that against Skopje on Thrusday. We must perform clearly better. " Hopefully, his boys will meet the expectations...
NK22.COM
