Carlos Martingo on the Champions League defeat: “Reality hit hard” | OneFootball

FC Porto began their return to the Handball Champions League with a 36-28 defeat to Veszprém in Hungary, in the opening matchday of Group A. Carlos Martingo acknowledged the superiority of the home side, highlighted his team’s recovery before half-time, and pointed to the opening minutes of the second half as decisive. In the end, the Porto coach summed up the match in one sentence: “Reality hit hard.”

The clash marked the dragons’ return to Europe’s top club competition against a highly demanding opponent. Martingo did not hide the difficulties FC Porto faced, despite the team’s ability to respond during the first half. After the break, however, the team was unable to maintain its resistance against Veszprém.

In his analysis of the match, the coach began by recognizing the merit of the Hungarian side, stressing that the result was fair.

“First of all, congratulations to Veszprém on the win; I think they deserved to win today,” the Porto coach said after the match.

FC Porto struggled to get into the game, but improved as the minutes went by. According to Martingo, the goalkeepers’ performances also helped keep the first half balanced.

“We didn’t start the way we expected, but we managed to recover as the match went on. Our goalkeeper made a lot of saves, although Veszprém’s goalkeeper also made great stops in the first half,” he explained.

Before the break, Porto managed to cut the deficit to just one goal, keeping alive the possibility of a comeback in the second half.

“I think we played very well in the closing stages of the first half, going into the break just one goal behind. At half-time, we still believed we could beat Veszprém,” he admitted.

The start of the second half, however, proved decisive. Veszprém responded with a 5-0 run and built a lead that FC Porto could no longer erase, despite managing to respond once again.

“Reality hit hard in the first five minutes of the second half, when Veszprém put together a 5-0 run. We managed to respond again, but in the end Veszprém were the better team today,” the Porto coach concluded.

The blue-and-white side showed they were capable of competing in the first half, but were undone by the start of the second period. As a result, their Group A opener ended in a clear defeat against a Veszprém side that confirmed its superiority.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.