Soon after the opening throw-off, it became clear that this was not the Tigers’ game that had graced them in their first match against Jesper Jensen’s charges. First Tamara Mavsar was hit in the head, and later Valentina Klemenčič, the only line player Dragan Adžić could count on, limped off the court. The injured Tatjana Brnović came off the bench to accompany an excellent set by the hosts, which unfortunately was no match for the Ljubljana players.
After half-time, the difference was already a massive twelve goals, which was too many. After 60 minutes of play, the score was 29:21.
The second half, however, showed that the Tigresses can compete with the strongest teams. And they will try to prove it once again in the last home game of the group stage of Europe’s most elite club competition.
On Saturday, 17 February, at 18:00, Krim Mercator will host Lubin from Poland at Arena Stožice. Tickets are available HERE.
Dragan Adžić, head coach of RK Krim Mercator: »As long as I am the coach, I will take responsibility for every defeat. Especially after a first half like the one we had against Esbjerg. Unfortunately, we were without Valentina Klemenčič in practically the first attack and Tatjana Brnović could not play either. The thing I am happy with from a coaching point of view is that the players followed all the instructions I gave them in the locker room in the second half. Now we have the most important game of the season ahead of us and our minds are already on it.«
Barbara Lazović, captain of RK Krim Mercator: »We started badly, but we woke up in defence in the second half. We brought the game to a close, but not to our liking. We have learned a lot again and our minds are already on the next game.«
Krim Mercator: Jurič, Radičević 3, Stanko, Pineau 1, Mavsar 3, Spreitzer, Dmitrieva 10, Arenhart, Klemenčič, Vojnovič, Varagić 1, Ngombele 1, Lazović 1, Brnović, Rosiak, Grbić 1.
7-meters: Team Esbjerg 4 (4), Krim Mercator 1 (0).
2-minutes: Team Esbjerg 8 min, Krim Mercator 8 min.