Both victories this season for “Dragūnas” were achieved with a double-digit margin. In the first round, the Klaipėda team crushed Pasvalys “Pieno žvaigždės” 36:23.
Read more “Epso-G” and VIK will invest over 33 million euros more in the “Rheinmetall” factory
“I am satisfied with the result, but there are still many things that need to be fixed. We still make too many mistakes in offense. Fast breaks are going well, but there is room for improvement in positional offense. Meanwhile, I am satisfied with the defense because we defend patiently,” said “Dragūnas” coach Miglius Astrauskas.
“We lost by 10 goals, which currently reflects the difference in skill between the teams. But I saw many positive things in our game, both in team play and individually. We scored 30 goals against the champions, which is really quite good. Of course, conceding 40 goals is too much,” said “Granitas-Karys” coach Vaidotas Grosas.
The winners scored 8 goals by Paulius Čėsna, who became the top scorer in the LRL handball league. Mykolas Lapiniauskas added 7 goals, Lukas Juškėnas scored 6 goals, and Artūras Budraitis and Karolis Stropus each scored 4 goals.
For the Kaunas team, Marius Kairys, Nedas Kavolius, Karolis Rameikis, Gerardas Vainauskas, and Mehdi Berry each scored 4 goals, while the top scorer of last season’s LRL handball league, Simas Butkus, scored 3 goals.
Read more The clever liar: why does artificial intelligence sometimes choose approval over truth?
“Our team has a longer bench and more experienced players. However, the “Granitas” team is combative and gave a really tough fight. Young, ambitious opponents fought until the very end. Of course, fatigue showed in the opponents towards the end of the match, and the coach allowed some of their key players to rest a bit because they have European Cup matches on Sunday,” said M. Astrauskas.
“The match against the champions was a very good dress rehearsal for the return European Cup match and it will boost the confidence of our young players. After the first match in Cyprus, we talked a lot about how we need to play completely differently at home, and the duel with “Dragūnas” showed a completely different picture. I hope that on Sunday we will reduce the number of mistakes, add quality, energy in defense and ball movement in offense, improve our finishing, and I believe we will have a positive result for us,” said V. Grosas.
In the first European Cup match, “Granitas-Karys” lost away 21:25 to Nicosia “Omonoia 29M”. The return first-round match will be played by the Kaunas team on Sunday in Alytus.
Another Lithuanian team starting the European Cup from the first round, Vilnius “Šviesa,” will play the return match against Istanbul GSK on Saturday in Vilnius. “Šviesa” returned from Turkey with a 7-goal deficit, having lost 37:44 away.
