EHF Cup: end of competition for Nexe

Halil Jaganjac

Croatian vice-champions, Nexe faced 24:28 (10:12) defeat against SL Benfica in the EHF Cup. Despite Nexe's 30:26 victory from the first leg of the Qualification Round 3, this season's EHF Cup journey ends here for team from Nasice while SL Benfica will proceed to the Group Phase. 

Hrvoje Horvat's squad did not repeat great play that could be seen in their previous clash a week ago. This time, Benfica opened the match better and secured an early lead (6:3). As time went by in the first half, it was clear that Nexe does not have an answer for Benfica's play. 

At the start of the second half, home team advantage got bigger. In the next few minutes goal by goal play could be seen from the both sides. Even though Benfica were up by four goals (23:19) at one point in the second half, Nexe did not give up. They were only one goal down at 25:24 and it seemed as though they will make a comeback. But, Portugese team then scored three back to back goals and secured victory on the home court. 

The best scorer on the winning side was Paulo Moreno who netted 6 times for Benfica. On the other side, the biggest stars in the guest team were Sasa Barisic Jaman and Halil Jaganjac who scored 7 goals each for Nexe.