Interview with Xavi Sabaté before the last 4 games

Every game is different. I think this one will be a close one as well. Their worst result is a 4 goals loss so far this season. It is clear that Szeged is a very good team. They lost by 3 goals against Paris at home, then played a draw in Paris and they played well. We are also playing very well since Christmas but before that was brutal. A lot of travelling, a lot of games and injuries. There are no words for what the team did in that period. It was outstanding, a miracle. The team is fitter and fitter, the rotation works well and I think we are arriving to our best form in the best possible time.

 

It gets harder and harder to win against Szeged every year. When I started working here there was a play-off, but there is no play-offs this year only back-to-back games of final and the second game will be in Szeged. We have a more difficult job every year. Every game against Szeged is a special one for me because the rivalry is fierce. The key that can decide for us will be the offense. If we have a better offense in both games I think we have a great chance to win the championship. Although as I have said before the most important thing is defense and the performance of the goalkeepers. I believe that we will work well in defense because that is how it has been so far. In offense the deciding factors will be the small details.

 

 

Their defense works well and Sierra is in a great form. They are very disciplined in offense. Everyone knows what to do and how to do it. Their offense is almost flawless. But I think our defense is the best in Europe without doubt. There is not many differences between the two teams. Szeged improves every year and I feel like this is the best Szeged ever in their history.

 

The fact that we have a bigger roster does not give us advantage. Both sides have sixteen players each in a game. Seven on the court and nine on the bench. We participated in 3 competitions this year and there were a lot of injuries before Christmas. Anybody who plays this many matches bound to suffer injury at some point. It is not an advantage that we have a bigger roster. Everyone said that we have a lot of players but out of 35 players 16 of them were youngsters. If we look at this side, every team can have a 30 player roster made up of young players. I think this is a unique opportunity for the young players here in Veszprém. They had more than 2000 minutes of play time. In our last game against Orosháza we went with 11 young players and we won by 7 goals. This is an outstanding performance that we have been working on a lot in the last two years. Veszprém has a lot of world class players and that is a difference between the two teams. Of course Szeged showed that they get better year by year and not just against us but against Paris or Vardar too. It is going to be a very hard final closing into the end of the season.

 

 

Yes it will be the last home game this season and it will be my own last game at home as head coach of Veszprém. I will be focused on the game 100% because I know that it is the most important thing for us. Always the upcoming game is the most important one and right now we are not thinking about the Final4. At the end of the game there will joy even better if we win. Also it will be good to remember back to all the great moments spent here. I would not like to speak or think about my case because the game is the most important thing now. Now comes what we tried to achieve and what the club expected from me that we play in the championship final and we will play in the Final4. We achieved both. Meanwhile we won the Hungarian Cup and we lost the SEHA League final. Now two weeks come and we will see what happens.

 

A lot. Nobody did what we did. We will finish this season with 72 games behind us. You always have to win here in Veszprém and if you win by 5 goals it is not enough, you need the 10 goals difference. If you win by 1 goal then you did something wrong, if you win by 10 then the opponent was too weak. Nothing is ever enough. But this is how a big club works and I know it very well. There is no excuse and no time. That is how it goes in Veszprém and I am happy about it because this is how big clubs are. There were hard periods in this season with lots of hurdles to tackle but we became stronger by every problem. I knew that the end of the season is the most important and I also knew that it will be even harder before Christmas. It is impossible to play well without time to train or rest because you have so many games. That is when injuries come. But as I said before there are no excuses. I knew that the last two and a half month will be the most important period because we have to fight for trophies and now we are here. We achieved what the club expected from us. I do not think a lot of people thought we would get this far.

 

 

I am very happy that I could be here. I spent 2 years as a head coach and 3 as assistant coach. So far I won 4 Hungarian championships, 5 Hungarian Cups, and 2 Hungarian Supercups. We qualified for the Final4 4 times in a row and even played in the final twice. I, personally, am very satisfied because I am a winner type of man and I always want more and more. This is why it is so important for me to win this championship again and I know how hard it is to win it. The Hungarian championship is not the same as it was 5 years ago when I got here. You can see difference of roster of Szeged now and 5 years ago. Naturally there will be some lack when everything is finished but it will only last for only a moment because I am professional. I always gave 100% and that is how it will be for the last seconds. This is the professional life: today here, tomorrow somewhere else.

 

We are there for 4th time in a row. We are the only one next to Kiel that could do it, not Barcelona, not Kielce, not Paris. It is very hard. People will only realize this when Veszprém will not be there in the best 4 teams. That will be the time to be optimistic, positive and to believe in the team. Not just now when the good moments are. The support is the most important in the bad times. There are a lot of clubs that do not play in the Final4. Only those can win it who get this far. We are there yet again. Our team can beat any team in Europe. Without doubt. This team always fought and the confidence was visible on them. I am here every day and I can see how much heart the players put into the trainings. I am very much satisfied with the performance of the guys. But this is only an opinion. The most important things are the results achieved.

 

 

Photos: Béla Baumann, Dávid Vörös and György Ary