19.11.2007, 12:24
More Bad luck for Zagreb

Croatia Zagreb were leading all the way, but a Laluska-goal in the last seconds gave Leon the victory. The Spanish side are through, decision on the second place next round.

More Bad luck for Zagreb

In the fifth round of Group C, Zagreb were defeated at home by Ademar Leon. Although Zagreb were leading during the entire match, the Spaniards scored the winning goal in the last second.

Excellent Vori and Somic

Zagreb started with a convincing 6:0 lead. Ademar Leon scored their first goal only in the 8th minute. At that point Igor Vori was superb from the 6-m line and Vjenceslav Somic saved many shots. Nevertheless, the Spaniards managed to decrease the margin. The first half ended with a 15:12 score.

After the break the Croatians were four goals up at 19:15 and 20:16. Mirko Alilovic showed some nice saves and Ademar Leon started to come closer once again. In the 50th minute the Spanish side equalised at 23:23 for the first time in the match.

Laluska scores the winner

In the last minute it was 25:25. Zagreb did not score from their last attack and ball went to Ademar Leon. After bad defending by Zagreb, Laluska scored luckily in the last seconds to make it 25:26 at the end.

Igor Vori scored 9 goals for Zagreb and Vjenceslav Somic saved 19 shots. On the other side Jakobsen scored 7, while Mirko Alilovic had 13 saves.

Disappointed Croatians

After the match Igor Vori said: “We are crazy. Only we can play this kind of match and lose in last seconds. We had everything in our hands. We simply let them win.”

Coach of the home team, Lino Cervar, was sad and angry: “It is very hard to comment on the game where the opponent took the lead in the last seconds of the match and won at the end. We did not deserve this defeat, in fact we defeated ourselves.”

Jordi Ribera, coach of Ademar Leon, also gave his point of view: “Before the match started we knew that we have a great advantage – we already qualified for the next round so we played calm. Zagreb needed the victory and they were very nervous. We didn’t start well but at the end we made up for everything.”

After five rounds played in Group C Ademar Leon have 9 points and secured their place in the Main Round. Zagreb have to win against Schaffhausen by 5 goals next week to reach next round.

TEXT: Ivan Ambros