VELUX EHF Champions League participants defeat EHF Cup rivals

Two teams from separate EHF European Cup competitions met in a regional SEHA league top of the table clash.

Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb, fourth place in Group D of the VELUX EHF Champions League, hosted Slovakian Tatran Prešov who after falling to HCM Constanta in the qualifying tournament, currently play in the EHF Cup.

In a tight match in front of their home crowd, Zagreb came out on top, with a 30:28 victory, and is now leading the SEHA with 16 points, one point ahead of Tatran. The most impressive players for the home team were Zlatko Horvat with seven and Josip Valčić with five goals, young goalkeeper Filip Ivić had 11 saves.

Radoslav Antl scored seven, Andrej Petro six and Oliver Rábek four goals for Tatran.

After the match Zagreb's coach and coach of the Croatian national team Slavko Goluža said: ''I expected a hard game like this because I think that Tatran is one of the best teams in SEHA. We were playing fast but had too many technical mistakes especially in the first half, and had too many bad shots from clear chances.

“After the national team matches, we had only one training practice and it surely affected our game. To sum up, I'm happy because we won and it's a big thing for this young team to win hard matches like this.''

Đorđe Rašić, Prešov coach said: '' It was a well deserved win for Zagreb even though this was a very close match. I believe that Zagreb is a team with a great future and that matches like this can help them to become even better and stronger.

“In the end we would have been happy with one point but maybe it is better this way. We will do our best to win in Slovakia.''

Last week in first round of qualifications for the EHF EURO 2014 in Denmark, Croatia hosted Slovakia in Osijek and won 25:21 with a lot of Zagreb and Tatran players involved.

Ivić, Horvat, Batinović, Marić, J. Valčić and Matić played for Croatia while Rábek, Antl and Guzy for Slovakia. In the second round of qualifications, Croatia won in Latvia 23:31 playing against Tatran's right back Dainis Krištopāns, and Slovakia lost in Hungary 24:28.

Next week Zagreb continue their VELUX EHF Champions League campaign with a big test against Füchse Berlin in Germany. Tatran will face Borac Banja Luka from Bosnia and Hezegovina in Round 3 of the EHF Cup with a place in the group stage at stake.

Photo: Matija Hećimović, HC Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb