Montpellier HB: Sego, Bonnefoi – Guiraudou, Simonet, Villeminot, Descat 3 (1), Grebille 2, Bos 2, Mengon, Pettersson 3, Richardson 8 (1), Porte 1, Lenne, Afgour, Soussi 1, Duarte 3

 

Telekom Veszprém: Cupara, Székely – Manaskov, Yahia, Tonnesen, Gajic, Nilsson 3, Marguc, Lauge 2, Strlek 1, Terzic, Blagotinsek 1, Nenadic 4 (1), Mahé 5 (4), Mackovsek, Borozan 2

 

Penalties: 3/2 and 6/5

Suspensions: 2 min. and 6 min.

 

 

In the third round of the VELUX EHF Champions League Telekom Veszprém visited Montpellier HB, and the Hungarians started with a missed back shot by Borozan. Our first goal was scored by Nenadic in the 2nd minute from a penalty. Veszprém had a 2:3 lead in the 8th minute, while Cupara saved three shots in a row, beautifully. The result was still 5:5 in the 15th minute, thanks to the goalkeepers of both teams, who saved well many times. We had a double man down situation when two of our players were sent out from Richardson, but fortunately, we could score from this difficult situation. However, the difference grew to two goals in favour of the hosts, 8:6. David Davis called timeout in the 27th minute, at a 10:6 Montpellier lead, after which the home team could not score, not as the guests, who scored twice in a row. This made Patrice Canayer call a timeout at 10:8. We managed to climb back and we could go to rest in the half time with a 11:10 result.

 

The second half started with a huge Borozan goal, with which he equalized, but then Montpellier scored twice in a row. They extended their lead to three goals by the 40th minute. Veszprém’s defense could not get tougher and in the beginning of the half, we lacked saves as well. Richardson scored a lot of goals from the back position. In the 50th minute, the lead was still with the home team, the guests could not find their rhythm in offense at all. Five minutes later the home head coach called a time out at 20:16. A glimmer of hope shone in the 57th minute, when we got two goals closer, with Cupara saving three huge chances at 20:18. At the end, Montpellier took back the four goals lead and won the match. Veszprém lost the game scoring very few goals. Final result: 23:18 for Montpellier.

 

 

David Davis: The first half was more or less how we expected. We were equal. The second half was not good for us at all. Sego had a brilliant day; he saved around 51% in average. We had the same problem this week that we had last week against Kiel. We did not turn our chances to goals.

 

Dragan Gajic: Congratulations to Montpellier. I do not think we had a bad game today. As the coach said, we did not shoot enough, and also Montpellier’s goalkeeper was too good. We have to keep working and working. We know what our objects are and we will continue to work in order to achieve them.

 

 

Patrice Canayer: I would like to congratulate my team first. They showed a great performance tonight. Matches against Veszprém are always a classic encounters in the Champions League. We know how hard it is to beat them, so we are happy that we could do it today. The goalkeepers were very good on both sides. Our performance was really good today, especially in the percentage of shooting.

 

Valentin Porte: I would like to congratulate our team, we were good tonight. It is hard to beat Veszprém, so we have a lot of pleasure in doing that tonight. We can see the progress from one game to another and we were very solid in attack and defense as well. We prepared well for today. These kind of victories are very good for the morale.

 

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös