Final match of the first part of SEHA Gazprom League’s season will be played in Veszprem with two-time champions hosting PPD Zagreb who will do everything trying to repeat fantastic performance from 10 days ago when they have managed to beat Hungarians in Varazdin, first time after 16 year draught.

Xavi Sabate’s guys have in the meantime managed to get back on winning track with victories in Presov, Velenje and Ljubuski meaning that a win over PPD Zagreb would almost secure them a place on League’s final tournament this season. Match is scheduled for Tuesday (18.00 CET) in Veszprem Arena.

Xavi Sabate, Telekom Veszprem coach:
This is the last match of the year, and we will play at home against a good team which is in good form. In four days they’ve managed to beat both us and Vardar, which means they are in a good moment right now. It will be a difficult match because we’ve had a lot of games in only a few days. This is going to be our 40th match in the first half of the season. As always, we want to win this, but it will be very difficult because our players are really exhausted. We will need all remaining energy for this victory.

Patrik Ligetvari, Telekom Veszprem player:
We certainly hope to take revenge for the defeat in Croatia. The team is exhausted but this will be the last match of the year at home and we would like to say goodbye to 2016 with a victory in front of our fans. We will try to give our best but we have to be prepared for Zagreb well. They are strong in both defense and attack. Most of the time they are trying to play 3-2-1 defensive format. They play with a lot of cross-moves that we have to break. The most important thing will be our defense and quick fastbreaks coming from it. I would like to thank our fans for the year-long support and wish them happy holidays.

Vladimir Jelcic, PPD Zagreb assistant coach:
We are going to Veszprem with an ambition to play a good match and, if we get a chance - win it. We’ve already showed we can play them so we are going to end this first half of the season with a good performance. An exhausting tour is behind them but I don't think fatigue will have a big role because they have more than 30 quality players in their roster. I expect a good game and a well-deserved break after it as well. As you know, coach Ivandija and I didn't work with the team in the pre-season so we will use this winter break to prepare the team in the best possible way for the second part of the season in which we will face some huge challenges.  

Tin Kontrec,  PPD Zagreb player:
Win over Veszprem in Varazdin gave us a boost of self-confidence and belief that we can beat the best teams, like Vesprem and some others are. I expect that my team will be ready to fight as we have prepared well for the clash. On the other side, they’ve had a psychicaly exhausting tour and despite of their big roster they will be a little tired. That could be our chance to win points. However, we want to repeat the match from Varazdin.