"We will never play so bad again"

MKB Veszprem’s lost with six goals in Barcelona which is the clearest defeat of all four Quarterfinals. Nevertheless Veszprém’s left wing Gergő Iváncsik has great confidence in his team before the return match on home soil.

eurohandball.com: What happened in the first match against Barcelona?

Gergő Iváncsik: It’s really hard to say anything in such a case, especially because we never expected a match like that. Everything went so smoothly in attacks and defence in our training sessions before the match. And then on the match day against Barca we acted so tired and lethargic. From outside it looked like we were not even on the court, we were unfortunately, nothing worked on that Sunday. Although we never expected a result like that, we will not give up. We are really hoping that we can correct our misses with a powerful performance on Saturday, and the 6-7 goals difference won’t be too much for us.

eurohandball.com: The Catalonian left wing Garcia scored 13 goals in the first match. Will you be better prepared for him this time?

Gergő Iváncsik: Yes, we will. But it wasn’t the biggest problem that we couldn’t prepare against individual players or the whole team of Barcelona. We simply were unable to show what we are capable of doing; no one among us took the leading part. We have all learned a lesson and will try to fix our mistakes, which also means defending much better against high scoring players like Garcia.

eurohandball.com: Did Barcelona surprise you with their play on Sunday?

Gergő Iváncsik: Fact is that they didn’t at all. They played the exact same way as in their previous 4-5 matches that we have watched on video. But even as we knew what they were going to do, we seemed to look slow and were miles away from putting what we have practised on the trainings into practice.

eurohandball.com: If Veszprém really played exceptionally bad, the 6 goals difference doesn’t look too big...

Gergő Iváncsik: Everybody has a different opinion about whether it is too much or not. I must admit that I always used to say that 5 goals are the deadline. Then again I honestly believe that we will never play so bad again.

eurohandball.com: On Tuesday you won in the Hungarian league at Dunaferr with seven goals. Was the victory useful before the return match against Barcelona?

Gergő Iváncsik: All of us could finally present what we wanted to show against Barca. In that aspect it was very useful. I am especially talking about our passion and anger that we expected to come out last Sunday, but it didn’t. We could perform Veszprém’s real play by the beginning of the second half against Dunaferr. If we can conserve that form until Saturday, and then also are capable of showing this performance over 60 minutes, we have a big chance to beat Barca.

eurohandball.com: How is the team’s mood before this really important clash?

Gergő Iváncsik: Everybody is taking preparation seriously; we all want to prove ourselves on Saturday. Nobody thinks it’s already all decided. I expect a victory from my team by all means. We talked about that we have to play much more patient, we don’t have a lot to loose. The question is only the goal difference, which then will decide between the qualification to the EHF FINAL4 or only be a minor correction to the aggregated result. I very much believe in the former.

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