Veselin Vujović changes his decision: Players betrayed me, but I will give one more chance!

Dramatic 48 hours in Zagreb. PPD Zagreb coach Veselin Vujović decided to resign after shocking defeat in Istanbul against Besiktas 32:30, but two days after, he change his decision after a lot of talks with the players and Management of the Croatian champions:

-We were favorites against Besiktas for the first time in EHF Champions League. We could built reputation of the team and all of us on the court with victory in Istanbul, but our performance was very bad. We had a lot of defeats since my arrival in the club, but this is special, it hurts the most. I felt that player betrayed me and left alone. There were no chances to say or do something to “call them” during the match. I thought, afterwards, that my resignation could be a positive signal to the players, to keep good work and level of results – said Vujovic and added:

-I had meetings with some of the players and Management staff. Players asked me to give them one more chance to improve things for which they weren’t aware. On my second thought, for these 14 months since I am here, we won a lot of matches in which we have been dark horse. Only once, we lost in different positiion. It’s not so big reason to leave the team if we lead 10:1 in that game. Players must awake and play better. I will give them one more chance, but this type of defeat I will not tolerate in the future. Defeat isn’t defeat if you give your maximum or referees cheating you. Defeat is only when you have this kind of approach as we did in Istanbul – concluded Vujović.

PPD Zagreb president Mladen Vedriš is satisfied with happy-end:

-We are giving a full support to our coach Veselin Vujović. This could be a kind of alarm for those who are playing in our club – concluded the first man of Croatian champions.

PHOTO: Mandatory Credit ©SEHA/ Zsolt Melczer