The favourite teams delivered,
Brescia (ITA), OSC (HUN) and Jadran (CRO) all claimed decisive wins in the
first leg, just like last season, while in the clash of the newcomers
Vouliagmeni (GRE) smashed Noisy (FRA) in France, so the victors are 32 minutes
away from making the main round.
Champions League, playoffs, 1st leg
Game A: Genesys-OSC Budapest (HUN) v
Panionios GSS (GRE) 17-7
Game B: CN Noisy le Sec (FRA) v NC
Vouliagmeni (GRE) 11-17
Game C: A HID Vasas-Plaket (HUN) v AN
Brescia (ITA) 10-12
Game D: Jadran Split (CRO) v CSM
Oradea (ROU) 9-3
Return leg: 5 November
As expected, the battle of Vasas and
Brescia produced the most thrilling clash and for quite a while the Hungarians
were able to be on level with last season’s semi-finalist. In the second period
Vasas took the lead twice before the Italians hit back with three goals to go
5-7 up. Here the hosts could come back to even, what’s more, early in the third
leftie Ivan Nagaev scored two in 88 seconds for 9-8. Here came another big run
from Brescia, this time they netted four in a row and that proved to be
decisive. Indeed, the Italian defence did an outstanding job, kept the Magyar
offence at bay for 13:48 minutes in the second half – Nagaev pulled one back
with 14 seconds to go to give some hope for his side, but the two-goal away win
puts Brescia on track for another adventure in the main round.
The other three encounters ended in
routs. OSC blew Panionos away – they built a five-goal lead by halftime and
doubled that till the end. Krisztian Manhercz, third on the top scorers’ list
at the Europeans in Split, hit 7 goals, as many as the Greeks could make
altogether.
Just like OSC, Jadran Split are also
set to return to the big stage after downing surprise qualifier Oradea. After a
balanced first period, which ended in 2-2, the Croats let only a single goal
for the Romanians in the remaining time while netting seven. Indeed, they shut
them out for 24 minutes between the middle of the first half till the middle of
the fourth.
In the contest of the newcomers,
Vouliagmeni claimed a stunning win in France. The Greeks were superior in the
entire game, expanded the gap period by period while the upcoming French club’s
players were unable to grow to the occasion. Their defence crashed, conceding
17 at home practically killed their chances for a historical first Champions
League appearance.
For play-by-play, stats and more
visit www.championsleague.len.eu
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