Courtesy: LEN
Two Italian and two Spanish sides
qualified for the semis. The teams from Sicily, Palermo and Ortiga cruised with
ease, as expected, Barcelona came up big in Budapest to down BVSC while
Sabadell won one of the longest penalty-shootouts in history: the 34th shot
decided the outcome in Savona.
Quarter-finals, 2nd leg RN Savona
(ITA) v Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) – 10-10, pen: 15-16 (aggregate: 38-39), Szolnoki
Dozsa (HUN) v CC Ortigia (ITA) 10-15 (agg: 14-24), Telimar Palermo (ITA) v HAVK
Mladost Zagreb (CRO) 16-7 (agg: 27-14), BVSC-Zuglo (HUN) v CN Barcelona (ESP)
9-12 (agg: 15-18)
RESULTS & RANKINGS HERE http://len.microplustiming.com/leneurocup/indexCL_web.php?cal=1
RN Savona has been the team of ties
this autumn – they managed to qualify with three draws from the second phase of
the Champions League qualifications, then a single-goal loss and a tie
eliminated them from the play-offs (against Crvena Zvezda), only to continue
with another draw in Sabadell in the quarter-finals. And eventually the return
leg also ended in an even score and for quite a while even the shootout seemed
to become an infinity draw…
Savona took a 6-4 lead by halftime
but remained scoreless for almost the entire third quarter despite having three
man-ups – while the Spaniards turned the game by netting three. Niccolo
Rocchi’s late goal three seconds before the last break halted Savona’s bad run
and levelled the score at 7-7. However, Sabadell was on a roll and with 4:36 to
go they went 8-10 up. The Italians pulled one back from their next possession
and with 2:51 remaining Lorenzo Bruni equalised once more for 10-10. Both teams
could have won the fight, but the last man-ups were missed at both ends so the
decision was left to the penalty shootout.
Well, it came a bit later than
expected. The shooters were exceptionally precise, the first 30 penalties all hit
the back of the net. Savona’s Spanish veteran Guillermo Molina made the first
miss, but Bernat Sanahuja’s shot was also stopped by the hosts’ goalie.
However, Eduardo Lorria added another save and Gonzalo Lopez buried the 34th
shot to close down the contest after 17 rounds.
Fellow Spanish side CN Barcelona
didn’t go through the similar nerve-wrecking moments though they also needed
some heroic efforts to beat BVSC in Budapest after the 6-6 draw at home. The
Magyars blew away a two-goal win lately in the first leg – and that hit back
this evening as they were too nervous in offense while the Spaniards seemed to
learn some lessons from the first game. The second period was decisive when
Barcelona could shut out the home side and build a 3-6 lead. BVSC had a 12:47
minutes long silence and that forced them into a chasing game. Indeed, they
managed to climb back from 4-8 to 8-9 by the beginning of the fourth, there
they had a man-up to equalise but missed it while the Spaniards converted
theirs for 8-10. The Hungarians got closer once more at 9-10, then Sabadell’s
experienced world and European silver-medallist veterans Roger Tahull and Blai
Mallarach netted two action goals to secure their team’s berth in the semis.
So it’s going to be two Spaniards up
against two Italians as the Sicilians didn’t make any mistake. Palermo smashed
Mladost once more, this time netting 16, while title-holder Szolnok never got
close to make a miracle against Ortigia. The Hungarians went ahead a couple of
times at the beginning but after 4-3 Ortigia staged a 0-6 run and never looked
back – indeed they earned another 5-goal win.
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