Vardar Skopje – MVM Veszprém 26:29

 

Vardar Skopje: Sterbik, Milic, Angelov – Stoilov, Brumen 1, Toskic 1, Manaskov 1, Maqueda, Karacic 6, Dujshebaev 4, Abutovic, Cindric 1, Dibirov 6 (5), Gorbok 3, Shishkarev 3, Marsenic

 

MVM Veszprém: Mikler, Alilovic – Gulyás, Iváncsik, Schuch, Ilic 9 (3), Palmarsson 7, Nilsson, Nagy 2, Ugalde 5, Marguc 1, Chema, Terzic, Sulic 4, Sliskovic 1

 

Penalties: 5/5 and 3/3

Suspensions: 8 min. and 8 min.

 

 

Xavi Sabaté: First of all, I’d like to congratulate to the team of Vardar for their game and their great fans who made such a great atmosphere in the arena. It’s incredible playing in Skopje’s arena. This year I’ve congratulated to Coach Gonzales and David Davis four times on their great work, they are improving in each season. I think our defensive strategies turned out to be great in the first half. But Vardar is an excellent team and in the first ten minutes of the second half they managed to decrease the gap. Then, we were able to score more but they closed up again. Finally we gained a three-goal victory but the competition did not end. We are happy about our great achievement. It was a perfect team work. The key to victory was our defence mostly thanks to László Nagy. Mirko Alilovic performed great as well. The players played as a real team. But we are facing a big challenge on home court so we have to work hard next week because, as I have already said, Vardar has a good chance to get to the Final4. We will need the help of our supporters as always.

  

Cristian Ugalde: Congratulation to Vardar, it was great playing in such an amazing arena in the Champions League. It was definitely a hard match, we had to fight hard but fortunately we ended the game with a three-goal victory. But we should never take victory for granted as we have seen how fast the results can change during a game. So we will have a hard match next week but I’m sure it will be amazing as well.

 

Raúl Gonzales: First, I’d like to congratulate to the team of Veszprém and Coach Xavi Sabaté, they performed great. We had a great start but Veszprém took the lead and we made mistakes in both defence and offense. Veszprém had efficient fast breaks. During the break in the dressing room we talked about our mistakes, then we were able to equalize. I think we also had the chance to win but Veszprém played better this time. I would like to thank my fans for their amazing spirit. From now on the only thing we should concentrate on is the rematch; we have to be better because this time we could not perform according to our expectations.

  

Igor Karacic: Unfortunately we lost this game but we have to concentrate on the upcoming challenges. We will try to improve and avoid mistakes. We have to play better next week. We have to do everything for the qualification to the Final4. We could reduce the gap twice which is promising.