Brilliant defence sends Zagreb to quarter-finals

In spite of a 23:21 away defeat to KIF Kolding Kobenhavn, Zagreb are in the VELUX EHF Champions League Quarter-finals after winning the first leg 22:17.

The Croatian champions’ aggressive and mobile defence did the trick once again.

LAST 16

KIF Kolding Kobenhavn (DEN) vs HC Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb (CRO) 23:21 (11:9)
First leg 17:22; Aggregate 40:43

An aggressive defence, played almost to perfection, sent Zagreb to the quarter-finals of the VELUX EHF Champions League after another low-scoring Last 16 match against KIF Kolding Kobenhavn.

Just like in the first match in Zagreb, the Croatian champions’ 3-2-1 defence, which even changed to a 3-3 formation at times, was too big a challenge for Kolding Kobenhavn’s attacking play.

After 11 minutes, right back Mario Vuglac, who is key in setting up Zagreb’s defence, got his second two-minute suspension, but that did not weaken the visitors’ defence in Broendbyhallen this Sunday afternoon.

Kolding Kobenhavn were leading for most of the game, and twice in the first half went three goals up, but Zagreb managed to reduce the gap to two goals at half-time, and early in the second half the guests managed to catch up and even lead by one goal on two occasions.

Kolding Kobenhavn had a late rally and were leading by three again at 19:16 with nine minutes left, but they never got any closer to equalising Zagreb’s five-goal lead from the first match.

The home team tried a 5-1 defence in the last ten minutes and even a 4-2 formation in the last five, but it was too late to turn the tide, as Zagreb celebrated their first quarter-final berth in three years.

Horvat and Obranovic netted five times each for the Croatian side while Dolk and Spellerberg threw in six each for the Danish outfit.