29.09.2021, 09:00
After 29 straight victories, Barça lose a group match

GROUP B REVIEW: Veszprém win a true thriller and show morale in the final stages

It was in Hungary - at Szeged - when Barça lost their last EHF Champions League group match, in September 2019. Then, the record winners of the competition won 29 group matches in a row, before they lost another on Wednesday - again in Hungary, this time at Veszprém. The hosts had recovered from last week’s unhappy defeat at Kielce - getting back on track after winning against PSG at home in their opener. 

The match winner was a Spaniard - goalkeeper Rodrigo Corrales, who saved an incredible number of shots (19), nine more than his country-fellow Gonzalo Perez de Vargas. In the table, both sides are now equal on four points.  

GROUP B 

Telekom Veszprem HC (HUN) vs Barça (ESP) 29:28 (16:12) 

• Veszprém had not won at home against Barça for more than ten years, the last one was 28:21 in the 2011 quarter-finals. 
• Barça led 5:4 in minute 12, then Veszprém took control and broke clear of their opponent in the last minutes of the first half, netting a 3:0 for 16:12 at the break. 
• Both Spanish national team goalkeepers showed their class: Veszprém’s Rodrigo Corrales saved 19 shots (11 in the first half), Barça’s Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, 10 (seven before the break). 
• Right after Veszprém’s first five-goal lead at 20:15, Barça started to turn the match around with a 8:3 run for their 24:23 lead - mainly boosted by the French Olympic champions Ludovic Fabregas and Melvynn Richardson. 
• Barça’s last goals was scored by goalkeeper Perez de Vargas to make it 28:27, before Dejan Manaskov and Rasmus Lauge netted the last goals of the match for Veszprém’s crucial victory. 

Veszprém fans cheer for Carlos Ortega 

What a return for Carlos Ortega to his former club: Barça’s new coach received a more than warm welcome by the Veszprém fans, when he was presented before the match. For more than 20 seconds the “Epitok” were shouting Ortega’s name. The Spaniard, who took over at Barça before this season, had coached Veszprém in the 2014 Champions League final against Barcelona, which Veszprém lost, and when new Veszprém coach Momir Ilic was his player. 

TEXT: EHF / Björn Pazen