Löwen march on

Pick Szeged had to face a difficult task in the second round of the CL group phase. The Hungarian side missed a few key players and they had to play against Cup Winners’ Cup runner-up Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

On the Szeged side Andjelkovic, Stamate, Nenadic and Laluska could not play, while the Germans only had to replace the Polish Tkaczyk.

The guests started better and took a two-goal lead in 10 minutes (4-6). Szeged levelled with two clear chances of Zvizej. The game was very equal for a few minutes, but then Szeged showed a better performance in defence and Puljezevic was also remarkable in the goal (23rd minute 12-8). The teams went in the break with this difference (18-14), especially with the goals of Krivokapic.

The hosts missed a couple of chances early in the second half and it cost dear. Harbok scored his fifth goal in the 38th minute and they came back to one goal. Finally Jurasik equalised at 19-19.

There was no stop from that point and Löwen took the lead. It would have been time for Szeged to rebuild their game.

Roggisch received his third suspension and a red card by the middle of the second half. Szeged also tried an open defence, but there was no escape. The gap was quickly five goals and Szeged would have needed a miracle at this point. In addition, Katzirz also received a red card.

Rhein-Neckar took the two points with a better performance in the second half (24-28), while Szeged were not able to do better with so many missing stars.