Foreshadow: Brest – Veszprém

 

HC Meshkov Brest will host Telekom Veszprém on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in the VLUEX EHF Champions League. The game will be broadcasted by Sport 1 from 2:30 p.m.

 

 

We have met Brest twice in the Champions League altogether, but of course, we have played against them many times in our SEHA League years. We were in the same group last year in the CL and we managed to win both encounters. The game was in away and we won 26:29, while the second leg in Veszprém was another victory in the bag for us, this time 34:22. On the first game Máté Lékai was the top scorer with 8 goals, while on the second game Momir Ilic was the most efficient with the same amount of goals. The last time we have met them was on the Eurotournoi preparation tournament, where we lost 27:26.

 

Meshkov finished the regular season of the SEHA League on the 4th spot last year, with which they qualified for the Final4 in Skopje. There they lost both games and went home on 4th place. First they lost to Vardar in the semi-final by 11 goals, then on the bronze game they lost by 3 against Celje, 28:31. Their top scorer last season was Petar Djordjic with 63 goals.

This year they are on 4th position as well with 3 victories and 2 losses. Last time they got a huge defeat when they faced Steaua Bucharest with their second team and suffered a 42:33 loss. Their top scorer in the SEHA League this season is Maxim Baranau with 23 goals.

 

Last year in the Champions League was a hard one for Brest. From the very strong Group B they qualified for the best 16 by finishing on 6th spot, but there the 8 goals loss against Nantes in the first game was a bit much for them and the 28:28 draw in the second game was not enough to see the Belarusians in the quarter finals.

This year they started with 2 victories, against Kristianstad and against the current title holder Montpellier, later suffering one defeat from Löwen. Their game is getting better and better. Their toő scorers are Sime Ivic and Alexander Shkurinskiy with 15 goals each.

 

 

Their game getting better is courtesy of the new head coach Manolo Cadenas and the new signings over the summer. Aliaksandr Bachko came from Cocks, Darko Djukic left from Kielce, Sandro Obranovic came from Chambery and Sime Ivic signed from Wisla Plock. Aleh Astrashapkin left to Csurgó, Rade Mijatovic left to FTC, Dzmitry Nikulenkau signed with SKA Minsk, Rastko Stojkovich left to Maccabi Srugo Rishon Lezion, while Konstantin Igropulo, Rajko Prodanovic and Ljubo Vukic are still looking for a team.

 

The ”Építők” played against Vardar last time in the Champions League and lost 25:27. Our top scorer was Dragan Gajic with 5 goals. Carlos Perez will help the work of István Gulyás interim coach on the bench this weekend.

 

There were a few changes this week at the Club, which makes Saturday’s game all the more difficult for everyone. The players greeted István Gulyás interim coach and they worked hard all week long to get back on the winning track. A total of 18 Fans will support Veszprém in Brest, huge thanks goes out to them, it means a lot for the Team.

 

Let’s go Veszprém!

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös