After a level match for the first 20 minutes, home team Velenje took the lead on court and in the scoring, powering ahead of Nexe by five goals. The strong defence and fast counter-attacks of Gorenje on one side and lack of concentration on the other side from Nexe, brings the Slovenian side their first win in the competition.

GROUP C

RK Gorenje Velenje (SLO) vs RK Nexe (CRO) 34:28 (19:14)

• Home side lost left wing Matic Verdinek to injury early on after he had struck twice
• The hosts finally took a clear advantage in the 20th minute (14:10)
• Nexe could not find the right recipe for their opponent’s defence which was boosted by Aljaz Panjtar’s 10 first half saves
• Mario Tomic was the main power of Nexe with six goals while Fahrudin Melic had a good debut for his new team, scoring five times
• Timotej Grmsek was the main character in creating Velenje’s lead alongside goalkeeper Panjtar

Slovenian redemption

Gorenje Velenje entered the third round of the EHF European League without a win and were determined to turn that around in front of their fans from the very first whistle.

The whole team fought hard against Nexe - who featured a number of former Velenje players and staff - but the brightest star of the night was goalkeeper Aljaz Panjtar. Each save he made was a decisive one and he mainly stopped Nexe’s best weapon - Halil Jaganjac. The shot-stopper ended the night with 16 big saves for the home team.