Telekom Veszprém: Cupara, Corrales – Manaskov 3, Yahia 3, Moraes 4, Nilsson 6, Markussen, Ligetvári, Marguc 4, Lauge 4 (2), Strlek 3, Blagotinsek 1, Nenadic 4, Maqueda, Lékai 2, Borozan 5

 

RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko: Ivic, Vujovic – Cvetko, Mazej, Marguc 7 (6), Sarac 2, Groselj, Poteko, Cepic 1, Kodrin, Horzen 2, Grebenc 2, Kljun 5, Leban 2, Novak 1, Nacinovic 2

 

Penalties: 2/2 and 7/6

Suspensions:  6 min. and 4 min.

 

Telekom Veszprém hosted the Slovenian champion Celje in the Champions League. The red/black home team started the game and Yahia scored first, but Celje equalised right away. After a nice combination Nilsson scored, then Strlek was efficient after a fastbreak (4-1). After the Swedish pivot’s third goal the Slovenian coach called a timeout (8. min 6-2). From the guests mostly Marguc was dangerous. At the middle of the half Davis changed in the middle positions and Veszprém started run away (13-7). Both defenses were hard, but we could see nice goals. For the 23. minute Celje came back to 5 goals. Lauge got a big hit on his head, Groselj got a red card for his ugly move. In the endgame the guests’ attack was less efficient and Veszprém punished it. For the break the advantage was 7 goals.
 
The second half started with Borozan’s steal and goal. After Borozan’s huge goals and Marguc’ fastbreak goal the home crowd counted to 10 (35. min 23-13). The first two penalties were scored by Lauge, what was followed by another guest timeout. Celje’s goalkeeper saved two clear chances to keep the 10 goals difference. Another two Slovenian goals Celje came back to 8 goals (44. min 26-18). Moraes scored the 30. Veszprém goal. For the second part of the half the scissor started to open between the teams. Celje was getting tired, Veszprém scored easy goals. 8 minutes to go Építők was leading by 14 goals (34-20). At the end Veszprém players played for their fans. The home team easily won the game with a self-confident performance.
 

David Davis: Congratulations to my players. We were really strong in defense and I think this was the key to the victory. The result does not show what really happened on the court, because as Tomaz Ocvirk said, they were defending well. We managed to punish their technical mistakes. Good luck to the for the rest of the season. I tried giving time on the court to all my players, and fortunately everyone gave their best today. We prepare with good feelings for the group clash against Barcelona next week. Blagotinsek was the chief of the defense, not only today but the whole season. I hope he can continue like that this year.
 
Blaz Blagotinsek: First of all I congratulate to my team, we did a great job. The key of the victory was the defense, we got many balls and we scored a lot of easy goals. It is always special to play against Celje because this is my first club. I felt myself well on the court today.

 

 
Tomaz Ocvirk: Congratulations to Veszprém for the well-deserved victory. We lost by 15 goals but I am still satisfied with the energy my players put in defense today. They had a tough job with this tall and strong opponents. However, I am not satisfied with the offense. We made 19 technical mistakes, from which we conceded a lot of fastbreak goals. We played three games so far in the Champions League and we had the same problem every time. We continue working on these mistakes and maybe will be get a little confidence for the upcoming games in offense.
 
Gal Marguc: Congratulation to Veszprém for the deserved win. There was some positive part of the game, mostly our defense. Veszprém showed why they are one of the biggest favorite. They punished right away our every single mistake. Today they were too strong for us.

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös