There was no way back for the sides
having lost the first leg: the favourites didn’t make any mistake in the return
matches, Brescia, OSC and Jadran advanced to the main round just like last year,
and Vouliagmeni join the show for the first time.
Panionios GSS (GRE) v Genesys-OSC
Budapest (HUN) 11-12 – Aggregate: 18-29
NC Vouliagmeni (GRE) v CN Noisy Le
Sec (FRA) 9-12 – Aggregate: 26-23
CSM Oradea (ROU) v Jadran Split (CRO)
11-12 – Aggregate: 14-21
AN Brescia (ITA) v A Hid-Vasas-Plaket
Budapest (HUN) 11-8 – Aggregate: 23-18
If any of last week’s losers could
have had something in mind about a stunning turn of fortunes, it was Hungary’s
Vasas which was trailing by two goals only – though they had been defeated at
home last Saturday. And Brescia, semi-finalist last season, made it clear right
away that they didn’t want to offer even a glimpse of hope for the Hungarians
and stormed to a 5-1 lead early in the second. Later they were 9-3 up when
their rivals could score three in a row, but the Italians never let them any
closer.
The other three encounters had even
less excitements since the first legs all saw huge differences. Jadran and OSC
both managed to score double wins – and both snatched an away victory with the
same margin, 11-12. The Croats beat Oradea – a commanding 0-4 start set the
tone, though the Romanians fought themselves back and late in the fourth they
took the lead at 11-10 but the last two were hit by the favourites. Hero of the
European Championship final in Split in September, Jerko Marinic-Kragic netted
the winner 42 seconds from time.
OSC followed a similar pattern, after
an early 0-3 rush they let the Greeks back to the game and Panionios managed to
go ahead from time to time, however, after 11-10 the Hungarians scored twice. Here
Krisztian Manhercz – who bagged 7 a week ago – sent the ball home to win the
game for OSC (it was his 4th in this match), with 2:31 to go.
Only Noisy managed to gain a
consoling victory in Athens – but only after Vouliagmeni, having won the first
leg by six goals, rallied to a 4-1 lead in eight minutes. The French managed to
come back to even and then scored the last three goals after 9-9 in the last
2:30 minutes.
The four winners are about to appear
on the big stage in ten days when the Champions League main round action kicks
off, while the four losing sides can continue their respective European
journeys in the eight-finals of the Euro Cup – here the draw is due on Monday.
For details, play-by-play, stats and
more, visit www.championsleague.len.eu
Main round, composition of the groups
Group A: Pro Recco (ITA), Zodiac
Atletic Barceloneta (ESP), Waspo 98 Hannover (GER), Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB),
Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO), Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE), Jadran Split (CRO), NC Vouliagmeni
(GRE)
Fixtures, 1st round (15 November):
Olympiacos v Recco, Radnicki v Vouliagmeni, Dinamo v Barceloneta, Hannover v
Jadran
Group B: Novi Beograd (SRB),
FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN), CN Marseille (FRA), Jug Adriatic Osiguranje
Dubrovnik (CRO), Astralpool Sabadell (ESP), Spandau 04 Berlin (GER),
Genesys-OSC Budapest (HUN), AN Brescia (ITA)
Fixtures, 1st round (16 November):
Spandau v Novi Beograd, Jug v Brescia, Sabadell v FTC, Marseille v OSC
5 November 2022
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