Historic night for Eurofarm Pelister, Barça give first point from their hands
What a night for Eurofarm Pelister: The Macedonian champions took their first win after 23 defeats and one draw in the last 24 matches of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. The team of interim coach Zvonko Shundovski took the points at Odense, winning 25:23 against Fredericia. In Bucharest, Dinamo took their first ever win against Füchse Berlin, leaving the German side clearly behind. In the late match, Barça gave a five-goal advantage away. After six wins in a row, the 31:31 was the first draw for the defending champions.
I’m truly disappointed with our performance today. We didn’t show the level of intensity and focus required for this match, and that’s on us. Pelister played a solid game, but we made it too easy for them in key moments. We have to be better and more disciplined if we want to compete at this level.
I'm very proud of my team. We executed the the game plan well, stay focused even when Fredericia were making it difficult for us. Important win for us, historic first in the EHF Champions League. We'll carry this momentum to our future games.
The feeling is amazing. To win again in front of our home crowd, remain invincible here it's fantastic. It is not easy to make such a big gap, they were also very good offensively, congratulations to Berlin. The fans pushed us so much, also Ionut Iancu came from the bench and saved a lot of shots, he answered the call today. This is what Dinamo is about, we have each other’s back. We have two amazing goalkeepers.
Those 19 goals in the first half were good, but we also allowed 18. We lost this game on the defensive side, it is clear. We have to move forward. The atmosphere in Bucharest was very good, in the second half when their team scores 2 or 3 in a row, it is even better, but of course, not fun to lose.
Crazy game! I'm proud of the way we looked out there, and played against the best team in the world. And of course, thanks to Ivan for the last save, of course.
I wanted to deliver a good performance in my first game back in France following the Olympics, and everything that happened. I'm really happy I got a chance here today in Nantes, in front of this amazing crowd.