Goalball club Nikšić finished in eighth place at the final tournament of the Champions League in Vilnius.
The Montenegrin representative was defeated today in the match for the seventh place by the Finnish team Napaja 13:6, where the coach Nikola Čurović gave an opportunity to the players with less playing time.
Previously, his chosen ones also lost to Porto in the play-off for placement from fifth to eighth place - 12:11.
Nikola Nikolić was the best against Porto with nine goals. Miloš Ranitović entered the top scorers list twice.
The younger of the Nikolić brothers was the most effective in the second match with four goals, while Ranitović scored two.
"Expectations were much higher, but the form was not at a satisfactory level due to the months-long break of certain players. This resulted in such an outcome. Due to the lack of physical preparation, the concentration in the defense was not at a high level, and we played without energy in the attack. When everything adding and subtracting, we achieved a completely realistic and expected result for everything provided," said Čurović to the MINA agency.
He emphasized that the only bright spot was his team's performance against Lithuanian Šaltinis.
"After a convincing defeat in the group against Finnish Old Power, in the quarter-finals against one of the best teams in the world, we put up a worthy resistance and played a draw until the very end. We didn't manage to make a surprise, but we played a good match," said Čurović.
He emphasized that the team has a short rest ahead of them to prepare for the main competition this year - the European Championship of the A division in Podgorica.
"We will try to correct the shortcomings through preparations, work on certain elements of the game and raise physical fitness. To try to achieve the set goal - placement among the top five and ensure placement at the world championship," Čurović pointed out.
The Montenegrin representative finished the tournament in Vilnius with a win and five losses.
The team from Nikšić performed in Viljnus in the composition of Marko Nikolić, Nikola Nikolić, Miloš Ranitović, Veselin Vuković and Goran Macanović.
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