Celje win Slovenian derby

Before the upcoming matches in the Champions League, the two Slovenian CL clubs played the Slovenian derby. Celje Pivovarna Lasko were much better than Gorenje in the Zlatorog hall. Gorenje paid a big price for the game as they lost Luka Dobelsek for a longer period because of injury.

The first minutes brought an interesting match where both teams were equal. Gorenje even started somewhat better as Celje scored their first goal only in the 4th minute. The result was close until 6:6, but after that the Slovenian champions took the control in their hands.

"The last three defeats in Zlatorog against Gorenje left some bad feeling in my players. That was the reason of starting badly. But in the remaining 45 minutes, I must say, we fulfilled our expectations," said Celje's coach, Kasim Kamenica, after the match.

While Celje were getting better and better, Gorenje lost their way and made plenty of mistakes – more than 15 technical mistakes and just as many missed shots, while their goalkeepers made only 7 saves.

"The failure in our attack had an effect on our terrible defence and Celje took the lead. We were trying to catch up with them unsuccessfully. The quick game and we were nervous after the difference was increasing. It was too much and we made so many mistakes," commented a disappointed Gorenje coach, Ivica Obrvan, after losing the big Slovenian derby.

The importance of the derby could be seen clearly in the teams’ fighting for each ball. Miha Gorensek collided with Luka Dobelsek while going for a free ball. Dobelsek remained on thecourt after the incident. The first diagnosis is disappointing: broken leg and torn ligaments.

Also Celje's Eduard Koksarov suffered an injury in defence; the doctor had to check his teeth and mouth.

The best scorer was Drago Vukovic with 9 goals, followed by David Spiler with 7 goals.