First step for Olympiakos

Olympiacos is close to the semi-finals of the EHF Men’s Handball Cup. The “red and whites” defeated Krka 31-26 in Ilioupoli in the first quarter-final between them and in the second leg in Novo Mesto next Saturday they will try to defend the +5 to remain unbeaten for the eighth match this season against, also , undefeated Slovenians.

The first scorer for Olympiakos was Savvas with 8 goals, while Kotanidis had a good match, finishing the match with 11 interventions (34%), while during the match he reached 50%.

Zeljko Babic used Tsigaridas and Sliskovic in the position of playmaker, in the absence of the injured Dobris.

Krka led 5-3, but Olympiacos with a 5-0 run and individual scores of 7-1 made it 5-6, 10-6 and 14-11, while the half ended 16-13.

In the second half, Olympiacos reached +6 with Savva and Passia and in the 48th minute at 24-17. The Slovenians fought back and, with a 3-0 run, turned 25-19 into 25-22 and 26-23. The “red and white” responded with their own 3-0 for 29-23 in the 56th minute. Krka went down to 30-26 and won a penalty, with Papantonopoulos making a big save at 59:13, giving the opportunity for one last attack for Olympiakos, who scored the final 31-26 with Tzimboulas.

The five minutes: 3-3, 5-5, 10-6, 11-9, 13-11, 16-13 (m), 17-14, 19-16, 21-16, 25-19, 28-23, 31-26

OLYMPIAN (Babich): Kotanidis, Tziras 1, Karabourniotis, Papavasilis 1, Vida 2, Tzibulas 2, Papantonopoulos, Kandylas 1, Sliskovics 5, Tsigaridas 1, Passias 4, Montoro 3, Slavoulitsa, Cavtits 2, Michaelidis 2, Savvas 7

KRKA (Skoko): Rauch, Brandesco, Avsets, Maistorovic 9, Mujic 2, L. Raso, Vukic 3, Stanojevic 6, N. Raso 1, Zaits, Nikolic 1, Lavric 1, Cookman 1, Matko, Blazevic, Horvat 2

Referees: Hema-Zaja (Kosovo), Observer: Karlubic (Slovakia), Two minutes: 6-6, Penalty: 1/3-5/6