2017. Mar. 27. Monday, 09:18
PPD Zagreb – Telekom Veszprém 22:23 (10:12)
PPD Zagreb: Stevanovic – Kontrec, Vori 3, Cingesar 1, Sebetic 2, Markovic 2, Horvat 1, Susnja, J. Valcic 4, Jotic 1, T. Valcic, Mandalinic 3, Miklavcic 1, Markoski, Pavlovic 4
Telekom Veszprém: Alilovic, Mikler – Gulyás, Iváncsik, Schuch, Ilic 2, Palmarsson 1, Gajic 3 (1), Nilsson 3, Nagy 1, Ugalde 3, Marguc 4, Terzic, Sulic 4, Lékai 2
Penalties: 4/2 and 4/1
Suspensions: 8 perc and 8 perc
Xavi Sabaté: Congratulations to our team and to Zagreb for the great game. It was amazing to play in this arena where everybody was very fair. I feel like we deserved to win although I am a bit disappointed because the margin should have been bigger. We controlled the match but we made too many technical mistakes in the last 5-6 minutes. If we could have avoid that I think that a 4-5 goals win would have been realistic. Our defense was amazing and Alilovic was outstanding. Our offense was slow though, because Zagreb tried to slow the attacks down. Because of that we were not able to run as much as we wanted. We expected that we will have fewer chances to attack. We have to improve in that for the second game. Naturally winning here, in Zagreb, is a good result in the Champions League. No matter if the difference is 1 or 4 goals this series is not yet closed. I am sure that they will fight in Veszprém. We will try to do our best to prepare well and win, to improve our team.
Mirko Alilovic: Congratulations to our team and to Zagreb for the fight. We knew what to expect, their goal was not to concede more than 25 goals and they managed to do that. Unfortunately they could narrow the margin by one goal by the end. As the coach said, we are happy for the win but we could have won by more goals if we would not have made so many technical mistakes in the last few minutes. We cannot lay back now, we have to prepare even harder because as we all remember last year Zagreb went through Löwen. This series is not over.
Silvio Ivandija: Congratulations to Veszprém for the win and to my team because they fought till the very end. We did not play well in the first half, we made many technical mistakes and Veszprém could score easy goals from that. We got better in the second period, we played well 6 against 6 but we had problems short-handed. As the guest coach said this series is not over yet, we only have a one goal deficit. We will fight hard in Veszprém to advance to the quarter-finals.
Lovro Jotic: Congratulations to Veszprém for the win. We knew what to expect. Their defense is very strong and it was the same today, I think that is why they could win today. I would like to congratulate Mirko Alilovic for his outstanding performance. The positive side is that we only lost by goal so I feel like we still have a chance in Veszprém. We will try to do our best and do what we did in Germany last year. We would like to turn this around and advance to the quarter-finals.
Photos: György Ary