Vardar - Meshkov Brest 33:24 (17:14)

(Cindric 6, Cupic 4, Shishkarev 4, Borozan 4; Sterbik 20 saves / Baranau 9)

After Vardar made it to the final of the 2018 SEHA – Gazprom League Final 4 by beating Meshkov Brest 33:24 on home ground on Friday night, here are the statements of coaches and players of both sides:

Raul Gonzalez, Vardar coach:
Brest played really good handball today. We were worried knowing how good they are capable of playing against us. Our defence worked amazingly as well as Sterbik between the posts. I think the beginning of the second half decided everything, as we finally managed to enlarge the gap and seal the deal after being only three goals ahead after the first half. I'm generally satisfied with the way we played today and I hope we will deliver a solid performance in the final as well.

Vuko Borozan, Vardar player:
I wish Meshkov all the best in the third-place match and, of course, I'd like to use the opportunity to congratulate my teammates and coach on the way we prepared for the match today as well as on the way we in the end played tonight.

Igor Karacic, Vardar player:
We have had an agreement to go full speed from the very first minute and I believe we did it on the court tonight. Our 5-1 defense was great providing us with a lot of counter-attack chances from which we managed to score a lot of easy goals opening the gap earlily. As we all always say, our biggest opponent is only us. The way, we entered the court as focused as we did today minimizing the turnovers of Brest, makes me fell well and I believe we can beat anyone. To be honest, I don't really care who comes out of the second semi-final because our goal remains the same and that is to go all the way.

Ivan Cupic, Vardar player:
It definitely wasn't as easy as it may seem now by looking only at the scoreboard. Our defence was great tonight and that's what decided the game. We don't have a team we'd rather like to face on Sunday because all four teams are good, have quality. The only thing that is certain is that we'll have to analyze and prepare for whoever comes.

Luka Cindric, Vardar player:
I believe this is how we must play every time we step on the court. The defence was amazing, we were scoring easy goals extending the gap early which made things a lot of easier for us. I'm really satisfied with the way we performed today.

Sergey Bebeshko, Meshkov Brest coach:
Vardar have a well-balanced team, as I already said prior to the match. They were better today and deserved to reach the final. Their defence was really good throughout the full match and we really experienced a lot of problems in attack. Of course, we will fight to take the third place.

Simon Razgor, Meshkov Brest player:
Congrats to Vardar, they proved they have a better team at the moment. We have a lot of injured players, our schedule is quite busy and the result was this defeat today. I wish Vardar all the best in the final and hope we'll manage to prepare in the best possible way for what's waiting for us in the third-place match on Sunday.

Ljubo Vukic, Meshkov Brest player:
I'd like to congratulate Vardar on the performance they delivered today and of course on the victory. We weren't able to match their physical level, allowing them to extend the gap and more or less seal the deal early. It's hard to be on the hunt throughout the whole match, especially when playing away from home. I wish them all the best in the final.