RK ZAGREB – PICK SZEGED 30:35 (12:19)
RK Zagreb: Grbavac 6 saves, Mandić 7 saves; Kos, Walczak 1, Klarica 7, Gojun 1, Srna 1, Molc, Svržnjak 1, Pavlović, Dibirov 3, Bialiauski 9, Kavčič 3, Glavaš 4, Trivković, Radojković
Pick Szeged: Thulin 11 saves, Mikler 1 save; Smarason 2, Bodo 2, Jelinić 2, Bogojević 1, Šostarić 10, Frimmel 1, Banhidi 5, Kalarash 1, Toto 1, Kukić 1, Garciandia 2, Mačkovšek 3, Rod 4, Szilagyi
In the fourth round of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, Zagreb was defeated by Hungary’s Szeged 30:35 at home in front of 8,200 spectators. The visitors were led to victory by Mario Šoštarić with ten goals and Tobias Thulin with 11 saves. In Zagreb, the most outstanding are Ihar Bialiauski, who scored nine, and Luka Klarica, who scored seven. The Champions League continues in just one week when the Barcelona team visits Zagreb.
It did not look good in the first half. The Szeged defense looked great – solid and mobile, and the Zagreb team struggled a lot in attack. If we add that they were too fast and impatient several times in the execution itself, it is not surprising that after 30 minutes, they had a seven-goal deficit. The only cheerful outfielder of the Lions in the first part was Luka Klarica, who scored four goals. For the Hungarians, five goals were scored by Croatian national team member Mario Šoštarić and four by experienced pivot Banhidi at the end of the first part at 12:19.
In the second half, Zagreb was better, especially defensively with Anto Grbavec between the posts, who made several good saves, and in the attack led by the Belarusian national team member Bialiauski. At the halfway point of the second half, Zagreb is only -3. Unfortunately, there was no strength for more than that – again, like in the middle of the first half when the Hungarians ran away with a more significant goal difference, the Iceland representative entered the middle of the attack and led Szeged to a new victory in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. At the end of 30:35, Szeged on the wings as many as ten goals by Mario Šoštarić and 11 defenses by goalkeeper Thulin. In Zagreb, nine goals were scored by Ihar Bialiauski, seven by Luka Klarica, and 13 combined saves by Matej Mandić and Ante Grbavac.
In two days, Zagreb will have a home match against Rudar as part of the new round of the Paket24 Premier League, while the excitement in the Champions League continues next Wednesday when the Barcelona team visits the Arena Zagreb.
A well-deserved win for the Hungarians today in the Arena. We have to analyze the match, see where we went wrong and do everything we can to correct it as soon as possible. In the second half, we looked better, but the second half of the first half decided the match because, regardless of the better edition in the second, we simply could not reach the difference and get back into the match – Andrija Nikolić, RK Zagreb head coach
They were better than us in every way today. We have to analyze the game, see where we made mistakes and forget about this as soon as possible in order to prepare in the best possible way for Barcelona, which arrives in a week – Ante Grbavac, RK Zagreb golkeeper
