Telekom Veszprém – SG Flensburg-Handewitt 34:28

 

Telekom Veszprém: Mikler, Alilovic – Gulyás, Iváncsik 1, Schuch, Ilic 9 (5), Palmarsson 2, Gajic, Nilsson 5, Nagy 5, Ugalde, Marguc 5, Terzic, Sulic 2, Lékai 5

 

SG Flenburg-Handewitt: Andersson, Möller – Eggert, Glandorf 5, Mogensen 2, Svan 2, Wanne 4, Djordjic 3, Heinl, Zachariassen 1, Toft-Hansen 1, Gottfridsson 0, Schmidt 5 (2), Klein, Mahé 4, Radivojevic 1

 

Penalties: 5/5 and 3/2

Suspensions: 8 min. and 12 min.

 

 

Xavi Sabaté: Congratulations to my players for the great win, and for our supporters for the fantastic atmosphere. If we get supported like this we cannot lose. This was the best atmosphere for a long time. I expected a tough game because Flensburg is a prime candidate for the Final4 and to win the Bundesliga which is the hardest championship in the world. They lead dangerous fast breaks tonight. I think that in the first half the problem was not our defense rather our close back. We had to change Ilic on the far side and that made our closing back slower. This change to the far side was in our game plan and as it turned around in the second half we could change him quicker and it reduced the fast break goals of Flensburg – from nine to three. Alilovic was outstanding in the second half which made our defense even tighter. The patience we needed in the first half of the season pays off now. Palmarsson made a return today which is great not only because he is a great player but that we could change Ilic for some rest and he could play on the level that we are used to from him. I am proud of the team and the supporters. Good luck to Flensburg and I hope that we will meet in Cologne.

 

Momir Ilic: This game was promoted as the match of the week and it was regarding to the stake and the performance of these two teams. Our fans were incredible. When we play in an atmosphere like that, we cannot lose. Thank you for the support. I wish good luck to Flensburg in the Bundesliga.

 

 

Ljubomir Vranjes: Congratulations to Veszprém it was a well-deserved win and third place in the group. I think we played pretty well and tried to put Veszprém under pressure with the fast breaks which we did successfully in the first half. I think we had problems in defense so there was a lot of goals. But generally I was satisfied with the first half. In the second period of the game was similar but we made too many technical mistakes and turnovers which helped Veszprém to a 4 goals lead. Nilsson and Lékai caused a lot of problem for us. I am proud of my team, we could have won but against a team like Veszprém it is dangerous to make so many mistakes. They deserved to win. It was a good commercial for the game of handball. I hope that we will meet again in the Final4 in Cologne.

 

Rasmus Lauge Schmidt: As my coach said, we played a good first half, we scored a lot of fastbreak goals and we could control the match, just like we wanted to. We ran a lot and put a pressure on our opponent. Unfortunately the second half's first ten minutes was not that good and Veszprém could get a lead of four-five goals. It is hard to come back to the match against a team like Veszprém when you have such a big deficit.

 

 

Photos: Zsolt Melczer