25.02.2008, 01:48
Szeged lose with dignity

Barcelona won by five goals in Szeged, but they had to fight hard for the valuable away success.

Szeged lose with dignity

Barcelona visited to Szeged in the third round. The two sides had a similar balance with a victory and a defeat. Before the game the supporters of Szeged gave a present to coach Vladan Matic who has been on the bench of the team for a year.

The guests started the game and they started much better. The goals of Romero and Garabaya gave Barcelona a 3-0 lead. Szeged reacted to this with a stricted defence led by Puljezevic. The hosts took the lead by the 12th minute (6-4).

The match was quite heated in this period and after turbulent scenes two players were sent off from both sides: Andjelkovic, Zvizej, Romero and Lozano received 2-minute suspensions.

The Hungarians were able to play with calm in the following period. Line player Stamate was back after an injury and with his help it was 12-8 for the hosts. Szeged were brilliant at times scoring two in-flight goals with being a man down against the Spanish.

This was too much for the Euro2008 hero Kasper Hvidt who gave his place to Losert in the 25th minute. This substitution proved to be a great move later.

Barcelona did not surrender and came back to one goal before halftime (15-14).

Barcelona equalised right at the beginning of the second half. The young back player, Nenadic, was a great substitute for the Catalonians in this period. However, Szeged were still able to take back the lead.

It was in the 41st minute that Iker Romero’s goal gave the guests the lead for the first time after a long period (21-22). In these minutes it was Puljezevic again who kept the spirit alive with sensational saves.

Szeged were helpless against the Barcelona defence completed with Xepkin. The Catalonians were more successful on the other side and took a five-goal lead by the 54th minute.

Adjelkovic was not in a top form and his goals were also missing. In the last minutes only the goal difference was the question as the game ended 28-33 for Barcelona.

FC Barcelona have a big advantage over Szeged with this away victory and it will be very difficult for the Hungarians from this point on.

TEXT: Judit Juhász (handball.hu)