After a year-long break the time has come for Serbian champions to return to Nasice to play Croatian vice-champions Nexe (Tuesday, 19.15 CET). During previous seasons matches between these two opponents were usually given a ‘derby of mid-table’ title with Nexe and Vojvodina often delivering great performances followed by narrow-ending matches. Another reason for fans to gain optimism and hope for a quality duel is the fact both teams will look for redemption after poor opening of the season in which Nexe were unable to stun Zagreb and Vojvodina surprisingly fell short against League’s rookies Dinamo Pancevo.

Hrvoje Horvat, Nexe coach:
I don't want to look back anymore. We must deliver a good performance for all our fans who were there to support us in the opening round in Zagreb and who will surely be there for us once again against Vojvodina. I believe we’ll play better in all parts of our game but it is clear we’re still rising in form. We are still not able to finalize the signing of Marin Sipic which will be a problem as we’re still not sure whether Marko Mrdjenovic will be able to play or not. That means we’re clearly experiencing problems on line-player position but that must not be an excuse and I believe we will win all three points.

Marko Buvinic, Nexe player:
This will be our first match of the season in front of our fans and I hope many of them will be in the hall on Tuesday. It is always better to play in front bigger audience. Vojvodina also did not manage to win their premier encounter of the season but we surely won’t be relaxed ahead of the match because of that. We must have a quality approach, analyze Vojvodina and see where the danger is coming from in this one.

Bozo Rudic, Vojvodina coach:
Nexe are always a tough opponent to play against. We were under a lot of pressure ahead of the opener against Dinamo but now I believe we’ll prove we can play better. We have nothing to lose. We are also dealing with certain injury problems as we’re still not sure whether right back Stefan Ranisavljevic and pivot Goran Cagalj will make the match-day roster. 

Bozidar Nadoveza, Vojvodina player:
We are going to the Nasice to deliver best performance we’re at the moment capable of delivering. Unfortunately we did not open the season the way we wanted to. Nexe are absolute favorites with all the experienced players in their roster but we’re surely not going to Croatia with a ‘white flag’ but to fight and prove our worth. We played really bad in the season opener and the truth is we’re still getting to know each other. We have a whole lot of newly-acquired players and it will surely take some time to put everything together.  

Match will be broadcasted on EHF TV, Arena Sport channels as well as Sport TV (Slovenia) and MRT (Macedonia).