Great Lazarov performance in Slovenia

RK Celje Pivovarna Laško - Atlético Madrid 22:28 (15:13)

Despite 13 saves of brilliant goalkeeper Matevž Skok the young Celje squad were without a chance against the Spanish champions and took their second defeat after losing at Veszprém in Round 1. Runners-up of the previous season from Madrid won their first points in this VELUX EHF Champions League season after losing their home opener to defending champions THW Kiel. Unfortunately Celje suffered from another player injury last week, so the average age of today's squad was only 22 years. At the end that was not enough for strong Atlético, but the last season's VELUX EHF Champions League finalist had to show a lot since they were trailing for two at halftime.

Goalkeeper José Hombrados, who returned after his injury break, was the key factor with eleven saves for the finally clear victory. In the end the goal difference of six did not reflect the margin of both teams. Gašper Marguč scored eight for the home team, the same as Kiril Lazarov for Atletico. "I am very happy that we won today and it was much harder that the final result shows," was the opinion of Talant Dujshebaev, coach of Atlético: "Hombrados and our defense made the difference in the second half, as then we scored some easy goals and won this important match." Despite the defeat Vladan Matić, coach of RK Celje Pivovarna Laško, was not unsatisfied: "Unfortunately we couldn't keep the pace for the whole match with only eleven field players. I am proud how my players fought on the court, but at the end this is reality, since Atlético, Veszprém and Kiel are just too strong teams for our young gunners. Maybe we could keep it anyway, but Hombrados and our mistakes made the difference why we could not reach at the end."