Plock open Group B with big win over newcomers

Wisla Plock confirmed their status as candidates for the knock-out rounds, as they opened Group B of the VELUX EHF Champions League with a clear 28:19 win against he Turkish newcomers Besiktas MOGAZ HT in the Orlen Arena of Plock.

After an equal start, Wisla were completely dominating and could have won by more than the nine goals which ended by being the distance.
 

GROUP B
Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) vs Besiktas MOGAZ HT 28:19 (13:7)

Besiktas were missing their Croatian left wing Ivan Nincevic in their premiere match in the European top flight, but that did not stop the visitors from following their opponents at the start of the game. Both teams began at a very high speed and with lot of fast middles after goals against.

Actually, the players on both sides had their trouble controlling the game at this pace, but still it resulted in a lot of shots on goal, and had it not been for two great goalkeepers – Rodrigo Corrales by Wisla and Yunus Özmusul by Besiktas – the score would have been considerably higher than was the case.

Wisla Plock was the team who found to their game first, and from 3:3 the hosts did not look back, and even though the goals no longer came as fast as in the beginning, Wisla managed to take a clear lead as the first half progressed.

"We wanted to play strong defence and score easy goals, but the hosts were much better at this plan," commented Besiktas coach Mufit Arin.

As the difference in strength between the two teams became more and more obvious in the second half, the hosts increased the lead gradually, much to the joy of the home crowd.

"We came to Plock without four players, so we got tired very quickly. It was our first game in the Champions League, so we were a little bit too excited about that," admitted Besiktas left wing Ugur Coban.

Even though it was soon only a question of the size of the Wisla win, the spectators continued to create a great atmosphere around the match by cheering, singing, applauding and even dancing.

"We wanted to run as much as possible to get Besiktas’ players tired. We can be satisfied with our performance, but we conceded a few easy goals. We have to improve some details before the next game in Barcelona. I played well, because our defend supported me well," said Corrales after his first Champions League match in the Plock's uniform.

The local heroes rewarded their fans with a convincing performance on the court, and only towards the end did they lose a bit of their concentration, allowing Besiktas to reduce the gap from 13 goals, when the distance was at its highest at 27:14, to nine at the end.

"I am glad that I could use all my players and kept good quality in our play. We kept high rhythm of the game and it was a little bit too high for our opponents. I am sure that in Turkey it will be a totally different game," Plock coach Manuel Cadenas said.

Wisla Plock's Romanian left back Dan Racotea was most scoring player in the match with seven goals, while Besiktas had their top scorers in right back Ramazan Döne and line player Tolga Özbahar with four goals each.