Telekom Veszprém - Barca Lassa 29:26

 

 

Telekom Veszprém: Sterbik, Mikler – Manaskov 4 (1), Ilic 2, Tonnesen 4, Gajic, Nilsson 1, Nagy 2, Marguc 1, Strlek 1, Terzic, Blagotinsek, Nenadic 4, Mahé 4, Mackovsek 3, Lékai 3

 

Barcal Lassa: De Vargas, Möller – Tomas 4, Entrerrios 1, Andersson, Arino 4, N’Guessan 4, Gomez 3, Syprzkak 1, Goncalves 1, Dolenec 3 (3), Mem 3, Duarte 2, Ilic, Fabregas

 

Penalties: 1/1 and 3/3

Suspensions: 6 min. and 2 min.

 

 

The first half started with a groping rather than a big-deal. There were some technical mistakes from both parties. Barcelona got advantage by Arinho’s fast break goal in 10th minute. Máté Lékai had some excellent break-in in the first half and Sterbik had some important saves too. Blagotinsek was suspended for two minutes but Ilic stepped on court and scored two goals immediately. On the other hand, Mikler arrived into goal, who was able to defeat an important shot, so advantage was two for Veszprém. Manaskov scored a goal from the left corner from a beautiful action. Guest team’s head coach asked for Barcelona’s first time out after Ilic blocked Dolenec’s shot. The advantage was three for Veszprém when Barcelona came back to the game. David Davis asked for time out in the last minute but Barcelona scored equalizing goal. So teams went to the half break with a draw.

 

Nenadic and Mahé arrived in the second half and Veszprem got a three goal lead in the 37th minutes. Xavier Pascual instantly asked for time out. Then Barcelona managed to work on the drawback that David Davis had interrupted. The atmosphere has increased by the excitement of the second half when the teams were head-to-head again in the middle of the second half. Barcelona has scored fast break goals and operated with shooting from the back positions. Tonnesen, who suffered a hand injury during the World Championship, was outstanding today and scored a huge crossing goals into the opponent's goal. The important matters have been opened until the last 5 minutes when Sterbik made many saves and the team play went well. After Mahé could steal the ball, expand the lead by three goals, which the home team could keep until the end of the match, so Veszprém defeated the group leader Barcelona (29:26).

 

 

 

David Davis: Xavi Pascual has my admiration. He wants to win no matter what. He is a great coach and he can keep Barca in a high level. Today is a good day to say thank you to those people who supported me. Thank you for everyone, the players, everyone around the Club, but especially our Managing Director Dr. Zoltán Csík. He made the final decision to sign me. Thank you for his trust and I hope he was happy with the performance. The game was complicated like always. We had advantage with the home court. The first half some mistakes were made, but we were equal. I think we could win at the end because we had more saves in the second half. The match was head to head until the end. Congratulations to my players, and Petar Nenadic. I asked him to play left back after the World Championship and he was up for the challenge. He was a key player today.

 

Petar Nenadic: Not so many teams can win against Barcelona. Every Champions League game is difficult especially after the World Championship. There are many players and coaches who are in their national teams, many of them come back tired and injured, but it is always like that. I think the coaches told everything about the match. I would like to say thank you for our fans, they were amazing. I have many friends in Barcelona and Xavi Pascual was my coach. I wish them good health and I hope we will meet in Cologne.

 

 

Xavi Pascual: Congratulations to Veszprém. I think it was a good game for both teams. Thank you to Veszprém Arena, it is incredible but not easy to play here. It is one of the best arenas in the world for playing. I think they played well from the start, we took some goals in advantage. I think it was the same in the second half, we made mistakes from clear shots. I am happy with the performance of my goalkeeper. We will see next weekend how we can play against Kristianstad.

 

Kevin Möller: Congratulations to Veszprém! I think it was a good game that could have gone either way. We needed a bit more luck. Veszprém played very well today and also the atmosphere was fantastic. I am very proud to be the part of this team. We fought until the end.

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös