The Croatian champion lost to Meshkov 22-25 at home and is at the bottom of the table with no points earned in four rounds
Veselin Vujović’s team have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the knockout stage of Europe’s premier club competition, as Meshkov exposed all of the Croatian side’s weaknesses in a bruising encounter on October 15. 2016.
The visitors had the upper hand from the start as their towering Latvian back, Dairis Kristopans, tormented Zagreb with a barrage of unstoppable long-range shots.
With his team 12:6 down in the latter stages of the first half, Zagreb coach called a time-out and shouted at his players for showing a lack of passion and aggression at both ends of the court.
His remarks sparked a brief comeback by Zagreb, who scored three unanswered goals and gave themselves a fighting chance of turning around their fortunes in the second half.
Winger Zlatko Horvat led Zagreb’s comeback, but once he ran out of steam, the home team simply fell apart in the closing stages as the visitors raced into a 26:19 lead.
With Kristopans creating space for his teammates, Pavel Atman and Dzmitry Nikulenkau thrived in front of Zagreb’s goal while Meshkov’s goalkeeper Ivan Pešić tormented his Croatian compatriots time and again at the other end.
Kristopans led the visitors with seven goals, while Horvat topped Zagreb’s scoring chart with six goals and their Slovenian back David Miklavčič netted four.
After the match Veselin Vujović, PPD Zagreb coach gave credit to the guests: “Meshkov were dominating the match from the very beginning, they were better in all aspects of the game. I believe they are the best team we’ve faced so far this season as they were able to punish all our mistakes.”
The fourth defeat in a row will give the club’s management food for thought how to overcome the crisis and get back to winning ways.
