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Lino Cervar came to Banja Luka without his most important players

After a great win over PSG in the Champions League, Metalurg are resting their best players: Vugrinec, Stanic, Atman, Velko Markoski, Jonoski, Dimovski, Zlatko Mojsoski and Naumce Mojsoski will not play today

Lino Cervar announced before the first round against Vardar that he will use SEHA league mostly for playing his young players and will be more focused on the Champions League and domestic league than the regional one. That means he will use a lot of rotations, give a lot of chances to his young players and one such chance is today in Banja Luka.

Last weekend Metalurg won against PSG 28-26 in a beautiful atmosphere of Boris Trajkovski Arena. Cervar again showed he knows the right formula and nobody will blame him too much for leaving practically the whole first team at home in Skopje and the fact he took "his children" in Banja Luka.

- What we did was great, but this match will be a test for us since we are coming with many young players and I expect them to show me what they know - said Cervar for the official site of the SEHA league.

That means Metalurg will play without injured Mirkulovski and other eight players, all of whom had significant role in the win over PSG: Vugrinec, Stanic, Atman, Velko Markoski, Jonoski, Dimovski, Zlatko Mojsoski and Naumce Mojsoski.

- We have to rotate a lot if we want to have players ready for such big matches. The new players today will be: Madjovski, Pesevski, Martin Manaskov, Kosteski and Taleski.

Cervar took a few players that played against PSG, but they had smaller roles. Those are wings Dejan Manaskov, Goce Georgijevski and left back Dejan Pecakovski. Last season Metalurg played with a similar line up against Zagreb and left back Marko Neloski, a player born in 1996, had a great match. It is expected that right back Nikola Kodzo who did not play so far and line man Petar Topic, who lino brought from Kastel.

Against a team such as Borac from Banja Luka that may be enough. They have a lot of problems at the start of the season and a team that plays with their younger team since the start.. They lost by 24 goals against Zagreb, at home by 7 goals against Lovcen and by 14 against Nexe in Nasice. But, the last week brought some positive changes in the team and these three defeats should no be taken into account so much.

Milorad Dodik, the first man of Serbian Republic, demanded that claims which Tax Administration has towards the club Borac be put on hold and club's account was unfrozen and they are able to continue with their work. Their former goalkeeper Mario Blazevic was immediately reintroduced into the team and he should help them a lot since they had young goalkeepers so far and they did not show too much.

Blazevic did not have clear papers yesterday, but that is expected to be finalized today and he will be allowed to play.

What will especially make coach Bojan Crnomarkovic happy is the return of their starting last back Branislav Obradovic (1979) who did not play since the last due to a bizarre injury. He fell in his bathroom, broke his jaw and the whole situation was even dramatic.

- I trained with the team, I am in shape and I am willing to play again. Mirko Mikic is also returning and I believe we can help this young team with our experience to play good game against Metalurg. We want to change the impressions we left in the opening three rounds and everyone will give all they have in this match - commented Obradovic.

Left wing Mikic (born in 1985) is another important player for Borac since they have young substitutions on that position (born in 1994 and 1995). 

- After a long time the atmosphere around the team is positive, everyone is healthy, including Mario Blazevic, the most significant player that returned, but we are not sure whether he will pay due to paperwork problems. I hope we will get the paperwork done in time - said Borac coach.

- The fact they won against PSG says everything about Metalurg. We decided to play SEHA league and we can not turn back. I will ask my players to play the best they can and to remove the "blockade" they had so far. We have to fight and give absolutely everything we have. We have to accept there is no turning back in this situation, we have to be positive and that is the only way can end this crisis. Nothing good will come from "crying" about the bad situation in the club, we have to play with ambition and give our maximum, fight for every ball and leave the arena with "bloody knees". That is how we end this crisis, nothing else can be done!

The team that won the match against PSG is completely different from the Metalurg team we will see on the court today against Borik. Cervar left 8 of his important players in Skopje, and young prospects will have their chance to play today. Borac is not a tough opponent for anyone, but they are stronger than they were in the last rounds. Their bank account suspension if finally over and their goalkeeper, important winger and the best player are back in the team. This Borac is not that much weaker than the very young Metalurg team and I don't think the difference between them will be greater than 10 goals in the end. This handicap is a very smart bet.