Sole: “This is why we get up in the morning”

“Kiel is one of the places in Europe where it’s the toughest to win, so we are very happy with our result.”

The 30-year-old is too shy to say, but he is also quite happy with his performance. He was one of the four Paris player to score six in the Wunderino Arena, one of his best deliveries of the season.

“It is nice, but in the end, I am not the guy who is chasing goals just to say I am the best scorer of the team.”

He may not be looking with envy at the top scorers’ rankings but Ferran Sole is aiming high in terms of trophies. While the Spanish national player was a latecomer to the EHF Champions League, playing it for the first time when he was already 27, joining a team like Paris made him realise the importance of the competition.

“The first season I played the Champions League with Paris, I didn’t quite get the importance of it, in a way. But as time goes on, you find out that this is the one trophy that counts the most, that every major player in handball has won” says the two-time EHF EURO winner with Spain. “So I feel even more excited than ever about the prospect of maybe one day winning it.”

Nothing is done yet

Do not fool yourselves, though, Ferran Sole is well aware that there is a return game against THW Kiel to play before even thinking about Cologne. “My parents were talking about that during the weekend. I had to remind them to wait a little bit because nothing is done yet,” he laughs.

Nevertheless, while many predicted a downturn for Paris after they loss stalwarts like Nédim Rémili and Vincent Gérard last summer, they are still in the run for most trophies, both on the domestic or on the European stage.

“And you know what? I am not even surprised. I could feel the energy right from the first days in pre-season. I knew we could aim high,” says Sole.

And aiming high is exactly what his teammates and him will do in the next few weeks. While there are important games on the schedule every week, he is bouncing with excitement. “These are the games that you train to play in. I mean, everyone dreams about playing Kiel with a ticket for the EHF FINAL4 at stake. This is why we get up in the morning.”

And sure, Ferran Sole will be up like a rocket on Wednesday morning with the prospect that the ticket to Cologne might be just a couple of hours away. This season might be the Spaniards’ first chance to actually play in front of a packed LANXESS arena as the only time he was there was the 2020 edition played behind closed doors.

“It’s hard not to think about it, but I try to slow myself down. I’ve been telling myself since we left Kiel last week that the return game was the most important game of the season. Because there is no point in thinking about the EHF FINAL4 party if you’re not qualified, right?”