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They want the best position ahead of the knock-out stage

Both teams have mathematically confirmed the round of 16, and they are still struggling with injuries. Lowen are still without Du Rietz, Manaskov, Taleski and Steinhauser, Meshkov without all three middle-backs and Vukic

MT Melsungen

With the win in Sweden, Meshkov kept their chances to win the Top spot in the group, which leads them directly into the quarter-final. But it will not be easy to catch up with Vardar, who are only one point ahead, but also only one one serious test before the end, a game at Brest. But it does make difference if they end 2nd or 4th, if they are outside the Top 3, they will face Kiel, Veszprem or Flensburg in the round of 16, and 2nd and 3rd position bring them Wisla or some other weaker team. 

It took a while for Lowen to break the Swedes' resistance, because of a poor performance in defense, but when the game was being decided, Lowen pushed hard in defense and won the points. 

- In the end the change of defense and Appelgren gave us momentum - said Jacobsen.

Just like a few days ago, Jacobsen cannot count on Du Rietz, Manaskov, Steinhauser, Taleski (not eligible in the CL), with Abt who has been out a while. Baena had 8/8 in Sweden, and Schmid (7/12), Mensah (4/9) and Groetzki (5/5) took over the important roles. They will welcome Meshkov in the Fraport Arena, and their additional motivation is the defeat they suffered in Belarus. 

- We want to play better than in the first game - said Jacobsen. 

- They are physically strong, play aggressively. It will be important to play good defense, which is what we didn't do in the first game. 

Even though they only won a point at home against Zagreb, Meshkov have, with the results in other games, mathematically confirmed their advancement into the Champions League round of 16. It remains to be seen which position they will end up on, they want to be in the Top 3 teams in the group, but they are currently in the 5th position with 12 points, Lowen 2nd with 15, Kielce 14, Szeged 13. But Meshkov have a difficult schedule until the end (away games in Germany and Poland, at home against Vardar) and it will be hard to achieve that goal. 

Meshkov were without their three main middle-backs against Zagreb, and without Vukic, and the same will be today. With such a roster, they had a lot of problems in offense, and they missed a few chances to decide the game. 

- Logically, it was difficult against Zagreb's strong defense without a middle-back, we did what we could - said Bebesko. 

Meshkov defeated Lowen in their first head-to-head, but they were complete back then.

- They are one of the best German teams, which is confirmed by the Bundesliga standings. It is no secret that they have 2 great goalkeepers who complement each other great, they have experienced players - said Bebesko ahead of the game.