Openning victory for Ademar Leon

Saric and Stranovski were the leaders of Spanish team that returned to the CL with a valuable result against one of the strongest clubs in the entire competition.

It was more than a game. Ademar needed to show that the style of Leon remained the same after Cadenas, while the Croatian club had to convert the investments into goals and victories. The Spanish succeeded to prove. Ademar gradually improved during the match and gained the victory.

The match was equal at the beginning. Lino Cervar showed his traditional weapons right from the beginning. The 5-1 defence with Igor Vori in the advanced position was a classic system in the Croatia national team and Cervar applied it again.

Leon were not able to play effectively against this defensive system. Garralda did not find the holes and the Croatian opened a gap of four goals.

Good Leon reserves

Ribera looked for a solution on the bench. Laluska and Castresana were the new options. Their good performance levelled the game and goalkeeper Saric helped Ademar to fulfil a dream with the victory.

The Serbian keeper saved some balls and launched fast breaks. When Leon players run, the best weapon is always Stranovsky. The Czech winger scored nine goals and he was the most dangerous player against the Croatians.

Lazarov was alone on the other side. Zagreb tried to react but only the FYR Macedonian was able to score. It was not enough win.

The 29-25 at the end takes Ademar on top of the group, but it is too early to make predictions. The Spanish team will have to keep this level and they still have to travel to Croatia. However, no more mistakes are allowed for Zagreb if they want to reach their objective: reaching the next round.

TEXT: Fernando Urra Goñi