Veszprém in euphory as two galaxies collide

After the "Big Bang" summer in the European club handball the new constellation of stars has risen over Lake Balaton. Led by supernova from Barcelona László Nagy, Veszprém not only won their first two matches in the VELUX EHF Champions League by ten goals, but also accomplished a Herculean task to beat both finalists of the previous edition within five days.

After their road victory over runners-up in Madrid on Sunday the Hungarian powerhouse brought the reigning champions from Kiel to their knees as well (31:30). Only the time will show whether the outcome of this collision of two galaxies indicated a new world order in the club handball, but one thing is assured - Veszprém showed a great deal of fervour needed for their desired June trip to Cologne.

It was a deafening and breathtaking experience even for stars from Kiel. Despite being upset after the narrow loss their coach Alfred Gislason confessed his awe of the electrifying atmosphere accumulated in the Veszprém Arena.

"It was a difficult match, but it was no surprise for us. We played against a fantastic team in one of the best arenas of the world. It was a real pleasure for me to come here, although we are not very satisfied as we wanted to take one or two points," the Icelandic said.

One of Kiel players could find the thunderous environment very familiar. The THW´s right back Marko Vujin made his first trip to his previous club and despite being booed after both of his two goals, in generally, he could enjoy a warm welcome. "These were really very special moments for me. I spent six beautiful years in Veszprém and I had butterflies in my stomach not only during the match, but at Wednesday´s training session as well," Vujin said.

Shortly before the break it looked like "zebras" could fly to another win on their wingers and the impressive performance of Filip Jícha. The visitors overcame three penalties and grabbed the first half lead.

During the break Veszprém coach Carlos Ortega allowed him and his assistant several minutes in the corridor in front of the home team´s dressing room, masterminding the change of tactics on a drawing chart. Only then they approached the players, who gradually began to harvest the fruits of a new plan and gained the upper hand.

"It was a fantastic match. We played against the defending European champions with a new team and with me as a new coach and it was a dream coming true for me. We achieved a spectacular win, but I have to admit we were luckier," said Ortega, who found himself defenceless against overwhelming emotions after the match and bursted in tears of joy.

Both heavyweighters exchanged many hard jabs and hooks, but both failed to deliver a knock-out strike, keeping the frenzied crowd in a simmering cauldron of Veszprém Arena in thrills. The red sea in the stands was on ten thousands feet almost for the entire second half.

"We recorded an excellent result in a fantastic atmosphere. But we have to play more matches together and improve ourselves," said László Nagy, one of more men of the match, who not only scored nine goals but added a splendid essence what is always needed to bring down to knees the defending champions.

He shot, he scored, he commanded, but he also pulled several tricks out of his hat jumping to "kempa" goal or delivering a delicious from-behind-the-back pass to the wing. But only the Nagy-Fazekas combo proved to be the deciding blow in the ´twelfth round´ of this Group B thriller.

There were several rumours about Fazekas leaving Veszprem for other clubs during the summer, but the goalkeeping veteran has known where his place is and in the dying moments of the match he staved off all Kiel sharpshooters and saved a penalty throw as well.

However some experts predict this was only the first part of this season´s trilogy foreseeing both teams as the hottest contenders for the closing match of the season at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne. Marcus Ahlm cannot wait until 17 February when the second sequence will happen. "It was a hard game, but we love this kind of matches. Of course, we cannot be happy that we lost, but already now we look forward for our match with Veszprém in Kiel," the Swedish line-player admitted.