The
opening day almost produced the first upset as Marseille was on equal terms
with Italian giant Pro Recco but the 8-times winner staged a great finish to
clinch all three points. 2018 winner Olympiacos also struggled against Ortigia
but secured a fine win while 2016 champion Jug demolished Spandau within two
periods.
Champions
League, Round 1, Group A
Olympiacos
Piraeus (GRE) v CC Ortigia (ITA) 6-4, Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v Jug Adriatic
Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) 7-13, Pro Recco (ITA) v CN Marseille (FRA) 11-9
In
these extraordinary times there are no clear favourites, this was already mirrored
by the opening day in Ostia, where the reshaped Champions League returned to
the scene with a bubble tournament format. The opening game showed that even
the greatest teams suffer heavily if they cannot play matches. Olympiacos took on
newcomer Ortigia – while the Greek league has been suspended, the Sicilian side
played some tough matches in the qualification and in the domestic championship
and that left its mark on the game. The Greeks, this season without their
usually very strong Croatian ‘legion’, struggled to find their rhythm and even
if they managed to raise their level after a while, the encounter remained
pretty close throughout the end. Finally, an extraman goal from Marios Kapotsis
with 4:10 from time secured a hard-fought 6-4 win for Olympiacos.
Next
came the 2016 winners and Jug, unlike the other two big teams, didn’t have any
headaches against Spandau. The Croats staged a 0-8 rush in the first half,
jumping from 1-1 to 1-9 in a span of 10:13 minutes and after that they just
cruised in the second half, switching to ‘energy-saving’ mood.
The
evening match offered much more thrills as 2018 Euro Cup winner Marseille, also
a team benefitting from continuous playing at home, stunned Recco with a
brilliant first half by taking a 4-6 lead. They were still 4-7 up early in the
third but the Italians hit back with a 3-0 march while killed three French man-ups
in a row. That was a decisive phase as Recco held for 8-8 at the end of the
third, took the lead in the fourth, then a a block and a great save denied the
French in back-to-back 6 on 5s and Nicholas Presciutti scored for 10-8 with
2:04 to go. Andrija Prlainovic netted a 6m shot to pull one back but Aaron
Younger’s goal from the centre sealed Recco’s win 11 seconds from time. It was
a great effort from Marseille, but after 4-7 they lost the remaining 14 minutes
7-2.
The
second round is coming on Tuesday in Ostia, while Group B joins the show in
Budapest with the opening round in the Duna Arena.
More
details: http://len.microplustiming.com/lenchampionsleague/
Fixtures,
Tuesday
Group A
– Ostia (ITA)
Round 2
(15 Dec): 15.15 Jug v Marseille, 17.45 Spandau v Olympiacos, 20.15 Ortigia v
Recco
Group B
– Budapest (HUN)
Round
1: 14.00 Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v AN Brescia (ITA), 16.30 Jadran Herceg Novi
(MNE) v FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN), 19.00 Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Zodiac CN
Atletic Barceloneta (ESP)
14
December 2020
RESULTS
http://len.microplustiming.com/lenchampionsleague/
Gergely
Csurka
LEN
Media Manager
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