Veszprém – Celje pregame statements

On Saturday we are playing against Celje again in Champions League. The game starts at 4 PM and is going to be broadcasted by Sport1. We asked Coach Xavi Sabaté, Chema Rodríguez, Máté Lékai and Andreas Nilsson about the upcoming match.

 

 

Javier Sabaté: Last weekend we performed great for 51 minutes; our defense was excellent especially in the first twenty minutes. Our defense as well as our goalkeeper was outstanding. In the second half, we kept playing quite well but in the last six minutes we made some mistakes and basically let Celje play as they want to: stealing balls, starting fast breaks. But I 200% believe in our players. I’m sure we will learn from our mistakes and constantly improve in the future. I congratulate to all of our fans, they were amazing as usual. We are facing a difficult game this week; we shouldn’t think that it will be easy just because we are hosting the team in Veszprém. Although there are mostly young players in the team of Celje, they have great achievements. That’s why we praise them for being able to lead the match with eight goals. But each game is different; I’m excepting a hard game. There will be 7-7 players playing with same chances and start the game from result 0-0. We have to fight as hard as our opponents, if we want to gain victory.

 

 

Chema Rodríguez: It will be a difficult game. Although we won in Celje, we should not take victory for granted because the Slovenian team always fights hard. If we don’t give 100% performance throughout the game, then we will have problems. We have to concentrate as much as possible; we have to do everything to succeed. This is the key to winning.

 

 

Máté Lékai: I think we were playing well in the away game for 45 minutes, then we made some mistakes in the last 10-15 minutes, especially me; so the aim is to improve and to avoid those mistakes. We might have better chances on home court; we want to satisfy our audience. We began preparing for the game on Tuesday; we are working hard because Celje usually plays in an away game like at home. I hope we can gain two points in Veszprém, too.

 

 

Andreas Nilsson: I think that we performed well for 50 minutes; we could lead the game with 7-8 goals. Unfortunately, we slowed down a little bit and made mistakes both in defense and offense. So the gap was reduced to three goals. I think we have to avoid mistakes as much as possible because if we can win with 8-9 goals, then we have to do it.

 

Photos: Zsolt Melczer