Zagreb give Veszprém their first loss of the season

Thanks to an impressive defence, the Croatian side only let their opponents score 25 goals, their lowest performance by far this season. But it was only in the last quarter of the game that Goluza’s men really made the difference, netting five in a row to shake off Veszprém’s resistance, and cruised away to their second Machineseeker EHF Champions League win this season, 29:25.

GROUP A

HC PPD Zagreb (CRO) vs Telekom Veszprém HB (HUN) 29:25 (12:14)

• Dino Slavic got things going for the hosts in the first 10 Saving four shots, the Zagreb goalkeeper helped his team taking an early three-goal lead
• it was only when Petar Nenadic and Andreas Nilsson entered the court that the visitors really started to get going offensively. After the duo scored three goals, Mikita Vailupau put Veszprém on top for the first time in the 20th minute
• the Croatian side kept up the momentum, with Dino Slavic making important saves to keep his team in the game. Zagreb’s goalkeeper saved 13 shots overall (37 per cent)
• thanks to a 5:0 series between minutes 48 and 56, the hosts took a five-goal advantage to put themselves out of trouble
• with this win, Zagreb move up the standings to join Plock in sixth place, while Veszprém are now second, one point behind Paris

Zagreb defended as a unit

Some will tell you that you can see the collective force of a team looking at its defence, since this is where players will most make efforts for each other. Clearly, Zagreb gave Veszprém a lesson in that regard tonight.

Kentin Mahé and Petar Nenadic were never able to find solutions, while Jakov Gojun and Zeljko Musa locked the central area of Zagreb’s defence. And when, on top of that, you have a goalkeeper as efficient as Dino Slavic between your posts, things immediately become easier.