Inside the EHF

Ciudad celebrate epic victory

Balazs Nemcsik reporting from Veszprém

21 September 2008, 16:40

Ciudad celebrate epic victory

The Final of the 2008 Uniqa EHF Champions Trophy brought the clash of CL winner Ciudad Real and the host team Veszprém.

The final also brought along a clash between two world class goalkeepers, Veszprém’s Dejan Peric and Ciudad Real’s Árpád Sterbik. The two goalies were highly effective throughout the first half and their top performance kept the teams close to each other.

The first time Veszprém could take a three-goal lead was in the 20th minute when Sesum was successful twice in a row. Though the guests could equalise quite quickly with Rutenka playing in great form, the halftime score was 13-10 for Veszprém.

The teams and the goalkeepers continued in the same manner for 15 minutes after the break. Veszprém played better and even took a 22-17 lead. Eklemovic and Ilyés played very well up to this point, but at this point something happened to the home players.

Complete change: Ciudad's experience prevails

Maybe it was only fatigue, maybe some lack of concentration or experience, but Veszprém started losing balls and allowing easy goals for Ciudad.

Peric was not as effective as before and many Spanish stars improved for the last minutes. The jolly joker was Kallman, who scored goal after goal in this period, but also Rutenka and Stefansson were way above average.

Ciudad Real took back the lead in the 53rd minute and there was no remedy after this point for Veszprém. Though Perez tried his best to finish all the attacks alone and equalise, it was too late.

Ciudad even scored in the empty net at the end and took the trophy with a brilliant last 10-minute performance and a 32:28 victory.

Comments of coaches

Lajos Mocsai (MKB Veszprém): "Ciudad Real won the game deservedly. We were not able to play the entire game at this high speed and we made mistakes. This was a high quality game and we need such occasions to play on this level. We are, of course disappointed, but we have to be grateful that Veszprém could organise such a great tournament."

Talant Dujshebaev (Ciudad Real): "It was a very difficult victory. Veszprém enjoyed the support of the fans for 60 minutes, but we were able to win from a five-goal disadvantage."