MOL-Pick Szeged - Telekom Veszprém 25:23

 

 

MOL-Pick Szeged: Alilovic, Sego, Marczika – Maqueda 1, Kallman 2, Bodó, Sigurmannsson 3 (1), Canellas 1, Sunajko, Balogh 2, Blazevic, Gaber 1, Sostaric 6, Bánhidi 3, Bombac 2, Zhitnikov 4

 

Telekom Veszprém: Mikler – Manaskov 5 (1), Ilic 5, Tonnesen, Gajic 3, Nilsson 2, Nagy 3, Terzic, Blagotinsek, Nenadic, Mahé 3 (1), Mackovsek, Lékai 2

 

Penalties: 2/1 ill. 3/2

Suspensions: 6 perc ill. 10 perc

 

 

 

Telekom Veszprém wanted to take revenge on MOL-Pick Szeged because of their home loss in October. Moreover, the Hungarian Champions fight for gathering its 20th victory in a row. Of course, the teams were welcomed in a sold-out arena with great atmosphere including 250+ guest fans. Szeged started the game but Sostaric’s shot was saved by Mikler and on the other side Nagy could score. In the middle of the 3rd minute Bombac equalized, then Zhitnikov and Manaskov scored so the result was 2:2 after 5 minutes. During the 2-minute suspension of Blagotinsek the Szeged could equalize again and in the end of 10th minute the score was 4:4. Then Lékai was suspended too and the Szeged took over the lead and after 15 minutes the result was 6:4 for them. The next 5 minutes only Mahé could score once but then Nilsson, Canellas and Ilic was efficient too (24th min.: 7:7). Nilsson scored again and took the lead to Veszprém, but Maqueda answered quickly. Both team could score twice in the remaining part of the first half so the players went into the locker room at the result 10:10.

 

Telekom Veszprém started the second half and Manskov scored from penalty but then Bánhidi, Sostaric and Gaber had goals too (33rd min.: 13:11). In the next 5 minutes the mistakes of Veszprém were punished and Szeged had a lead 15:12. In the end of 42nd minute the goal of Sostaric meant still a 3-goal led for the home team. After the time-out of coach Davis the Veszprém started to get closer quickly and achieved the 16:15 result. In the beginning of the 46th minute Nagy’s huge goal meant a draw but then Sigumannsson was coming. Then Ilic scored and coach Pastor called a time-out (47th min.: 17:17). After that the team were goings head-to-head. But for the 54th minute the Szeged could build up a 2-goal lead (21:19). Veszprém was fighting hard in order to decrease the difference but 32minutes before the end of the game the result was still 23:21. Eventhough the home team made a technical mistake and conceded a suspension, Veszprém could not live with that and lost again to Szeged, just like in October. The final result is 25:23.

 

 

David Davis: The game was very complicated because our week was complicated as well. We played against Tatabánya in away, and now Szeged in away as well in the same week. They had all week to prepare. We were not good however we tried to prepare for this game as best as we could, but Szeged was better from the beigning. They were more focused and they believed more in the victory than us. Today Szeged was strong. We are going to continue fighting of course. When I took the team in October I knew it is not going to be easy. We are going to stand up and fight. We will prepare better and believe more. Congratulations to coach Pastor, everybody knows that we have a great friendship outside of the court. I think we are doing a great job for the Hungarian handball and everybody can see it. I hope that we can make it to the Final4, that would be good for the  Hungarian handball.

 

Kent Robin Tonnesen: I am disappointed. We really wanted to win, but we knew it is going to be tough here. We did not come on the level we wanted. It was a tough game and we played all right in defense but we made easy mistakes and they could score from that. We are disappointed that we did not reach our top level. Congratulations to Szeged, we were not good enough today.

 

 

Juan Carlos Pastor: I think that the spectators could see a good game today. It is rare to see any game like this anywhere else. I think we stepped forward in defense today, and we defended better in the first half. We had a worse performance in the second period because of the fatigue. We could have lead with more goals in the break but we missed easy chances. We showed what kind of level we represent. Veszprém is a good team, they came here beating Barcelona and Vardar and many other big teams. We functioned as a team today. Congratulations to our fans because they helped us a lot today. We have to play on this level in the knockout stages or else we will not have any chance. We have to continue the work. We played better because we had a whole week to prepare. I believe and trust in work only. Humbleness is important and only work will give you that. Thank you for the kind words from coach Davis.

 

Bence Bánhidi: The fans in Szeged made a great atmosphere today, thank you for that. We could play a high intensity game. It was important for us because we did not play the way our coach wanted it in 2019. We had a lot of easy games and our motivation went down but now we showed otherwise. We are going to Plock next week where it is going to be life or death for us.

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös