Malovic: “We always play with hearts and emotions”

Both sides have had three days of rest, and Malovic is optimistic that her team will be ready to rumble.

“We are very fit, we had three hard games in Podgorica, really good to finish first, and had a lot of time to recover,” the right back said.

Despite France are Olympic champions and won silver at the last European and World Championships, and have won the last eight matches against Montenegro, Malovic expects a fifty-fifty match.

“I am not thinking about who the favourite is. We have equal chances. We know each other, we faced in the last World Championship when we missed Djurdjina Jaukovic and Milena Rajcevic, so now we are confident,” she said.

One of Montenegro’s biggest assets in the preliminary round on home ground were their fans, now in Skopje the situation will be different for the EHF EURO 2012 champions.

“Not so many fans will travel here, but we always play with hearts. We are on fire and have a special energy and emotions – so I do not think, we have a problem with playing without our fans. We still have reserves. We were happy to feel those emotions, and now we still have it in mind,” Malovic. said.

“In Podgorica, the fans were responsible for 50 percent of our success, we were flying on their wings. It was a really special feeling for the whole team. Thanks to them, we arrived in Skopje with a big confidence.”

The main round started in Skopje with victories for Germany and Romania, throwing the group wide open, leaving all six teams with at least a mathematical chance to reach the semi-finals.

But Malovic is not thinking that much about this constellation: “There were surprising results in the first matches, but we do not think about other teams, we do not calculate. We are only focusing on our tasks and not on anything else. And we do not think about what might happen in future, only about the next match.”

With 12 goals, Malovic is the third-best scorer of Montenegro this tournament, behind Jovanka Radicevic (20) and Djurdjina Jaukovic (17).

“We have more options in the back court as Djurdjina and Milena are back. They have experience and bring confidence”, Malovic said.

Another key to success for Malovic is the coach.

“Bojana Popovic is unique. I never met someone like her. She lives handball, she dreams handball, and she speaks handball all the day. I am honoured to be her player and get some advice from her. It is a huge advantage for us to have her in our side.”

Montenegro are on a special mission – steering Jovanka Radicevic to the final weekend in Ljubljana on her farewell tour, since the legendary right back will finish her national team career after the EHF EURO.

“Jovanka’s farewell is a special motivation for us. Jovanka is our queen, and we will give everything on court for her. I am sure we will bring her and us to Ljubljana.”