Vardar - PPD Zagreb 30:23 (17:10) 

(Karacic 6, Dibirov 6: Milic 17 saves / Mandalinic 8, Kontrec 4)

 

Kasim Kamenica, PPD Zagreb coach:
We played our EHF CL match on Thursday while they played their on Saturday which was somehow an opportunity for us to enter the match better rested, maybe even better prepared. However, despite of that, first half was a complete opposite of what we expected with Vardar being 7 goals up after first 30. It was our worst outing of the season. Second half was better, we've improved a bit but in the end a clear victory for Vardar.

 

Tin Kontrec, PPD Zagreb player:
Congrats to Vardar and their coach. Both teams committed many technical mistakes throughout the first half but they made a bit less and enlarged the gap in first 30. Second half was better from our side but it is hard to turn things around against such a team like Vardar.

Raul Gonzales, Vardar coach:
PPD Zagreb are always highly motivated against us but my players did a good job today. First 15 minutes were a problem for us - their defense was strong and we were simply unable to find a path to their goal. In last 10 minutes of the first we simply scored some easy goals enlarging the gap to a bigger lead than was actually deserved. In the second they've managed to cut our lead but our goalies Milic and Gjorgeski luckily caught momentum keeping us safe all the way until the final whistle.

Vlado Nedanovski, Vardar player:
Games against Zagreb are always special because they have highly skilled roster. We've lost a lot of energy in the match against Barcelona to be honest. By that we have some injured players and that was the reason why we needed some time to adapt, enter the match properly and start playing on the required level. I think we deserved to win this.