"Lions" together, Popović: The nuances will decide against Serbia, but we want to win

With matches against Serbia, the Montenegrin women's handball team continues qualifying for the European Championship.

"Lavice" gathered today in Podgorica, and they will play the first match against Serbia on Thursday (18) in Zrenjanin, while the second match is on Sunday (18) in "Bemax Arena".

The upcoming double match will decide the winner of the qualifying group for the European Championship, which will be held in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland in November. After two rounds played, Bojana Popović's team is at the head of the qualification group with four points, while Serbia has three. The group also includes Bulgaria and Turkey.

"That double match awaits us - it will be terribly exciting and interesting. It won't be easy. A full house awaits us in Zrenjanin. What Serbia did in terms of results at the World Cup may not be sound, but they had an excellent team and dealt with big teams until the very end Against Germany and Denmark, they were tied until the 55th minute, and we analyzed those games the most," said coach Bojana Popović.

Popović singles out two female handball players from Serbia.

"The two players I would single out are Janjušević from Rapid and Jovović from Debrecen. Both have improved and that is where the biggest danger will be. We have two training sessions to analyze and on Wednesday we travel to Serbia. There is not much time, we have to work quickly and get back to what worked at the World Cup both in attack and defense. Let's stick to it and just establish some more things in these two training sessions. It will be interesting, it will be a difficult week - everyone is coming tired, but I sincerely hope that they will find a motive." said the selector.

After the matches against Serbia, the Lionesses will play against Turkey (3) and Bulgaria (4) in April, and these will be the last tests before the qualification tournament for the Olympic Games, which is held in Ulm, which is scheduled from April 7 to 4. Montenegro is in a group with Paraguay, Slovenia and Germany.

"Before Ulm, we will have tests against Bulgaria and Turkey, but this can give us guidelines for what awaits us. Germany and Slovenia are also playing qualifiers, so we will also watch them. These are games that will be good for analysis, for the what's next. We have material from the World Cup. Not much can change, teams can lose one or two players or bring in someone new, but the bottom line remains the same. It's all about the current form of the players and how they feel. Did they play or they are not and whether self-confidence is at a good level. The most important thing for us when we get together is that the majority is healthy," said the coach.

Montenegro against Serbia will not be complete.

"This time, Nina Bulatović was on the list, she came for examinations, but she will certainly not participate in the first game, while she is a question mark for the second game. She has a hematoma that has been bothering her for two weeks. We are waiting for the results of the magnet on Wednesday to show if there is a rupture or not. Ana Popovic is not on the list, because she broke her nose in the last Champions League game. She will be out for three or four weeks. I hope she will recover by what comes later. For the rest, we will see. I hope everything will be as it should be," said the coach.

There is no calculation - the "lionesses" want both victories.

"The match must be played to the maximum. Serbia is a strong national team, there is no hiding, everyone should contribute and win the match - both there and here. We want it. The lineup has changed a lot, both with them and with us. There is a slight change. generation, so they also find each other and try to find a rhythm, at every gathering they want to try something new. It's the same with us - we are similar, the nuances will decide," concluded Bojana Popović.