NANTES – RK ZAGREB 32:29 (15:15)
Nantes: Pešić, Biosca; Briet, Minne, Yoshida, Bonnefond, Rivera, Abdi, Avelange, Ovnicek, Tournat, Bos, De la Breteche, Gaber, Noam, Odriozola. Coach: Gregory Cojean
Zagreb: Grbavac, Mandić; Kos, Walczak, Klarica, Gojun, Srna, Molc, Svržnjak, Pavlović, Celegin, Bialiauski, Kavčič, Glavaš, Trivković, Radojković. Coach: Andrija Nikolić
In the sixth round of the handball Machineseeker EHF Champions League meeting, the handball players of RK Zagreb visited the French team HC Nantes on Wednesday evening. Despite a quality performance entering this round, the second-placed team in the group, Zagreb, was narrowly defeated 32:29. Julien Bos led the guests to victory with seven goals from the same number of attempts. At the same time, Ivano Pavlović was precise the same number of times for Zagreb.
Against the favored host – a team that already has six points after five rounds and entered this match as the second-placed in the group, the Zagreb team looked excellent in the first half. Ihar Bialiauski and Miloš Kos led the attack, while Matej Mandić also contributed between the posts. With the guests, on the other hand, an excellent French national team member, Nicolas Tournat, caused the Zagreb defense the most problems. After the first 30 minutes, the result was 15:15.
The first part of the second half looked almost identical – the defenses looked good on both sides, and Zagreb maintained the connection. Unfortunately, at 24:23, Rok Ovniček and Julien Bos led the attack of Nantes, which, with five tied goals, went to +3 entering the last five minutes of the match – an advantage Zagreb could not reach. In the end, a 32:29 defeat against the French tonight, especially in the moments when the score was breaking, was led by Julien Bos, who scored seven goals. It should also be noted that seven saves by Ivan Pešić and four goals each by Minne, Tournat, and Ovniček. Ivan Pavlović scored seven goals at Zagreb, Miloš Kos six, and Ihar Bialiauski five. Matej Mandić ended the game with eight saves.
The Lions are back in action in two days when, as part of the new round of the Paket24 Premier League, they are visiting Slavonia near Osijek. The next round of the elite European club competition is scheduled for next week when the Zagreb team is visiting Germany against last year’s semi-finalists, Magdeburg.
We are not in an easy situation, we have a lot of injured players, however those who were there really gave their best. It’s not easy, another close defeat, but we have to accept it and move on. Unfortunately, we were left this short without Zvonimir Srna, who received a red card and is extremely important for us, and these are all the details that decided today’s game – Andrija Nikolić, head coach of RK Zagreb
The approach was right from the first minute, we entered the match properly, and that is the reason why we had an active score until the very end. We made mistakes in defense, we were punished for being aggressive in defense, and in the end, unfortunately, we lost. As far as I’m concerned, I’m satisfied with my performance and that I justified the playing time the coach gave me today – Ivano Pavlović, RK Zagreb player
SOURCE: RK Zagreb
