Juan Carlos Pastor speaks well of his former team Szeged

Juan Carlos Pastor is a living handball legend. His name is heavily linked to Szeged, as he spent the past 10 seasons by the Tisza River. The experienced 55-year-old coach had already won EHF Cup Winners' Cup in 2009 with his former team, Valladolid, then in Szeged he was credited for introducing the so-called Spanish handball style, which is famous for focusing on the activity of the pivot. 

In the 2013/14 season, he won the EHF Cup title with his Hungarian club. Later in 2018, 2021 and 2022, Szeged celebrated winning the Hungarian championship under Pastor’s leadership against rivals Veszprém. On two occasions, Szeged managed to steal the victory in away matches after losing at home, but after Veszprém's 37:30 win in the first leg of this year's play-offs, it seems unlikely Szeged can turn things around again.

Pastor analysed the first game of the knockout duel. Both teams are familiar with each other’s tactics, so the Spaniard expert is not surprised that major new tactical weapons were not introduced. Instead, small details were utilised, such as Gleb Kalarash’s one-on-one defence against Veszprém’s playmaker, Nedim Remili, in the beginning of the match. Was it a good choice from Szeged’s head coach? Pastor diplomatically refuses to analyse the decisions of his successor.

“Telling the truth, I would not comment on the decision of Krisztián Kárpáti as I did not attend the training sessions before the match, so I don’t know how things were going. Obviously, my heart is with Szeged, as I spent 10 seasons there, but it is not my duty to judge Krisztián Kárpáti’s choice. Nedim Remili is one of the toughest opponents to figure out how to stop on the court. He has amazing skills: he can dribble, attack the strong and weak sides, pass the ball to the pivot, send long passes and surpass the defensive players. He plays with so much confidence, and he is not simply a playmaker, but a leader. The challenge for Szeged’s staff is to find the right defensive solution,” Pastor explains. 

He reflects on Szeged’s poor start. His former team scored their first goal after the fourth minute. This fact, as well as the whole game, reminds him of last season's defeat (23:36) at Pick Arena.

“It was almost the same scenario as last year when we lost by 13 goals. But as I mentioned before, I respect Krisztián Kárpáti a lot, and I would not advise them on anything at all,” emphasises Pastor.

Egypt’s head coach saw a very strong defensive line from Veszprém and an amazing performance by his compatriot, Rodrigo Corrales.

“Veszprem preferred to close the defence around the pivot, Bence Bánhidi, as they let the backs, Borut Mackovsek, Imanol Garciandia and Luka Stepancic, to shoot from outside. But Corrales has shown a very convincing achievement on the goal line. Veszprém cautiously attacked the right side of Szeged’s defence because Szeged replaced Bence Bánhidi with Gleb Kalarash when they switched to defence. On the other hand, Szeged conceded some goals after losing the ball and Veszprém did not commit the same mistake. They scored several easy goals.”

Pastor describes the decisional consequences and praises Veszprém’s coach, Momir Ilic. He thinks Veszprém had the chance to use much more players as they have a deeper roster than Szeged. 

“In the last 15 minutes Remili, Yahia Omar and Ludovic Fabregas did not spend too much time on the court, and it was a good choice by Momir Ilic, as he wanted to rest his key players. The season is long, important matches are coming and Ilic has a very strong roster. Agustin Casado and Lukas Sandell have proved their abilities, while Szeged had to keep their key players on the court. Among other decisions, this led to the 37:30 victory,” says Pastor, who will not say all is gone for Szeged, but thinks Veszprém has a better chance to advance to the quarter-finals.

“This is a derby, so it is really unpredictable what will happen next. But obviously Veszprém took a big step towards the last eight.” 

Juan Carlos Pastor is looking forward to the final weekend. As usual, he will attend the Truckscout24 EHF FINAL4 in Cologne at the LANXESS arena. And which teams will qualify for the final weekend? 

“That’s a difficult question. Everything is still up for grabs. If Veszprém advance from the Hungarian duel, they will face Aalborg. Veszprém are the favorites, but the opponents have very good players too. With all the respect to Wisla Plock, PSG have many more chances to get into the quarter-finals and face Barcelona. And then who knows?

"In the other duel, the teams are more likely to be Magdeburg and Kielce: different styles, amazing coaches. Who are the favorites? Nobody knows. As far as the duel between Montpellier and Kiel is concerned, Kiel play much better at international than at domestic level. While the French side has a coaching legend, Patrice Canayer, I would say Kiel has more chances to qualify to the EHF FINAL4, which, after the quarter-finals, will be great publicity for handball. All tickets will be sold out, full table again. This is very good news for the whole handball family,” he adds.

Photos © OTP Bank - PICK Szeged, Eliza Sólya