Telekom Veszprém: Cupara – Manaskov 3, Yahia 6 (1), Moraes 1, Nilsson 3, Marguc 3, Lauge 4, Strlek 3, Blagotinsek, Shishkarev 4, Nenadic 5 (1), Mahé 1, Maqueda, Lékai, Borozan 4

 

HC PPD Zagreb: Jandric, Asanin – Cavar, Mandic 4, Bozic-Pavletic 2, Klarica, Buric 2, Srna, Vuglac 4, Stojnic 2, Bozovic 3, Laljek 1, Matanovic, Hrstic 6, Grahovac 1, Vlah

 

Penalties: 3/3 and 2/2

Suspensions:  2 min. and 8 min.

 

Telekom Veszprém hosted the Croatian champion on the first home Champions League game. The guests started the game and opened it with a quick goal. Also Veszprém started fast, with Nenadic’s goals and assists in the 5. minute the standing was 5-3. The young guest team played bravely and they were close to Veszprém after 13 minutes play (8-7). Cupara was the starting goalkeeper this time and showed some big saves. Croatians played 2 men down and Veszprém ran away by 4 goals, so Zagreb called a timeout. The guests played 7 against 6 but not too efficiently. Veszprém defense was very tough and warrior, Zagreb could not make clear chances. At the end Veszprém raised a tempo and made 6 goals advantage for the break.
 
Also the second half started with fast goals on both side, the goalkeepers could not show saves at this time. From the guest team Matanovic got red card for a terrible fault. Veszprém punished it with two quick goals, then came another Zagreb timeout (37. min 24-15) With Shiskarev’s goal the difference was 10 goals for the first time. Borozan was unstoppable again, he scored huge goals. For the middle of the half the Croatians came closer (30-22). Yahia played really good and scored his penalties with safe hand. 7 minutes to go the difference was 10 goals again with Lauge’s goal (33-23). Veszprém totally dominated the game and won it with a brilliant offensive play.
 

David Davis: I met Igor Vori a lot of times as an opponent during my playing career, and here we are now as coaches. I wish him good luck in his coaching career. The game was difficult, because we knew that they have injury problems, that they are a bit down mentally. We tried to prepare the best we can for them. Everybody got some minutes on the court, and we were strong mentally as well. I am satisfied with the attitude shown today. Congratulations to Rasmus Lauge for today’s performance. The first few months did not happen the way he wanted, but today he was back like a hurricane.
 
Rasmus Lauge: I am very happy because of the victory. We dominated all the 60 minutes, with good performance. We played as good as we planned. It was amazing to play in front of our fans. We try to avoid the virus and keep this good shape, but we will see what is happening in the close future.

 

 
Igor Vori: Congratulations to Veszprém. This is our second game of the season where we lose by ten or more goals. The situation is not good at all, because regardless of countless hours of training and watching videos, we are still in one place. Today, we had 24 turnovers, and conceded 10 goals from fastbreaks. This is not easy for the players, and for me neither. We continue the work we started and hope for a victory against Aalborg, because we need the two points very much.
 
Mario Vuglac: We lost too many balls and we did a lot of mistakes. Our defense was weak and that was why we could not run and score easy goals. The game was not like we planned before. Unfortunately, we lost the last two games, but now we are concentrating to the upcoming match.
 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös