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days after the last matches having taken place, Champions League returns to the
pools. Back on March 3-4, Round 10 was held in the main round but the season
was never finished due to the ensuing pandemic. This new series will be
different, however, as the group stage shall be played in three phases at two
venues. Group A action kicks off on Monday in Ostia (ITA), while Group B starts
on Tuesday in Budapest (HUN), both sites will host three rounds in as many
days.
Since
the pandemic is still forcing extraordinary measures in Europe (and around the
world), LEN had to reshape the field of the main round to have 12 teams instead
of 16. The 10 rounds will be played in tournament format: both groups will come
together at two different venues in December, in March and in April to play 3,
4 and 3 rounds respectively. The Final Eight is scheduled for 3-5 June in
Hannover.
Making
predictions is even harder now. Though water polo fans can easily enlist the
favourite sides, but due to the very different landscapes of the applied
measures in the different countries, expectations cannot be the same as in
normal times. For example, 2018 winner and 2019 runner-up Olympiacos has been
facing a 45-day lockdown in Greece, which hit water polo too as it is listed as
an amateur sport there. That prevented the Greeks from playing matches in
recent weeks – and the same applies to the two Germans sides as their local
league has not even begun.
On the
contrary, title-holder Ferencvaros plays regularly – though the Hungarians had
a couple of unusually bad encounters, losing at home to Szolnok and this
weekend to OSC, conceding embarrassingly high number of goals (14-15 and
12-16).
Perhaps
the two Italian qualifiers, Ortigia and Brescia can be considered the teams
already on fire as they advanced after winning extremely tough matches in a row
in November.
The
opening rounds will offer some highlighted encounters. In Group A, Jug (CRO)
and Olympiacos will have another face-off (they played the final in 2016) and
the Italian derby between Recco and Ortigia is due on Tuesday. In Budapest,
where the magnificent Duna Arena will welcome back water polo after the grand
success of the Europeans in January (though this time no fans can enter),
Ferencvaros and Barceloneta (ESP) will have some hard time while taking on
Brescia on Day 2 and Day 3 respectively.
But
whatever difficulties the teams had to go through and however tough measures
they must respect during the upcoming tournaments to be held in ‘bubbles’,
coaches and players all praise the opportunity to play top level water polo
again. And we can all be sure that Champions League will continue to entertain
water polo fans next week and in 2021 all the way.
As
usual, LEN offers free live streaming from each game – this time with English
commentary – and matches can also be followed in the dedicated live-scoring
website. For more, visit: http://len.microplustiming.com/lenchampionsleague/
Champions
League
Group A
– Ostia (ITA)
Round 1 (14 Dec): 15.15 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v CC Ortigia (ITA), 17.45
Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO), 20.15 Pro
Recco (ITA) v CN Marseille (FRA)
Round 2 (15 Dec): 15.15 Jug v Marseille, 17.45 Spandau v Olympiacos, 20.15
Ortigia v Recco
Round 3 (16 Dec): 15.15 Marseille v Ortigia, 17.45 Olympiacos v Jug, 20.15
Recco v Spandau
Group B
– Budapest (HUN)
Round 1 (15 Dec): 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)
Round 2 (16 Dec): 14.00 Barceloneta v Dinamo, 16.30 Ferencvaros v Brescia,
19.00 Jadran v Waspo
Round 3 (17 Dec): 14.00 Dinamo v Jadran, 16.30 Waspo v Ferencvaros, 19.00
Brescia v Barceloneta
13
December 2020 Gergely Csurka
LEN Media Manager
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