The first half of the main round is
to be concluded this week when Champions League action resumes after the Christmas break. Nothing
seems to prevent the Italian teams from topping the respective groups after seven rounds and the
other favourites can further strengthen their
positions too. At the same time, the new wave of the pandemic might have
an effect on the outcome of several
matches while LEN tightens the Covid measures to be applied before and during the games.
The highly contagious Omicron variant
already hit other team sports hard and water polo also faces a huge challenge these days. However, at this
stage postponing matches is not an option, according to LEN Operational Manager Marco Birri. “Never
ever we had such a busy calendar, the postponed World Championships don’t give us any room for
rescheduling matches since we also want to respect the national competitions and the preparations of
the national teams” Mr Birri said. “Now it is a common responsibility of the teams and the officials
to ensure that the games go ahead amidst fair circumstances and only healthy players and staff members
enter the pool. We tighten our measures, besides the mandatory PCR tests 48 hours before the
matches, rapid tests must also be conducted on game day, and we also want to see everyone keeping the
usual measures. Also, hosts must ensure that if spectators are allowed to the stands, only people with green
passes should enter and all of them have to wear masks at all times and sanitasation and social
distancing are also respected.”
We all hope that water polo itself
will prevail once more as the race for the Final Eight is as exciting as ever, especially in Group A. Here the key
game is to be played in Barcelona where Zodiac meets F8 host Novi Beograd. The ‘mirroring’ playing
schedule means that the two sides will also meet in two weeks in Belgrade – for the Spaniards it’s
going to be crucial to cash as many points as possible. Though the Serbs have a guaranteed spot, they
cannot afford losing streaks in the team-building process either, so the upcoming clashes have some weight
for them too, especially after they shockingly lost the domestic cup final to Radnicki.
Top ranked Brescia beat Olympiacos
shortly before the holidays so downing Radnicki looks to be an easy task, however, Serbs can cause surprises
at any time and Radnicki recently did upset Novi Beograd as mentioned above. Also, the Italians’
well-organised line-up was hit by positive Covid-tests and that put them to a challenging situation.
Olympiacos needs to bounce back
against Jadran which was soundly beaten by Ferencvaros just days after winning the Croatian Cup. While the
Croats might be fresher both physically and mentally, their Covid-problems keep them the underdogs
anyway. And if they bag zero points from the two Olympiacos matches, Jadran, already trailing
by four points to the others, might be out of the hunt by February. On the contrary, Ferencvaros is
ready to add six points from its two matches against winless Dinamo which will boost their F8 campaign
significantly.
In group B, a five-point gap is
already there between the top four and the rest. Now the big game may be Recco’s encounter with Jug,
though this might not offer the same thrills as the 2016 and 2017 semi-finals. While Recco was flying high
in the first six rounds, Jug had a bad run in late December, another home defeat to OSC clearly
showed that the Croats were vulnerable and now they need something special to halt Recco’s run.
Marseille is in a five-game winning
streak and it’s hard to see that Zvezda – losing in Bucharest a bit surprisingly on Day 6 – will derail the
French. OSC came up big in Dubrovnik, now a home win against Spandau would reinforce the Hungarians’
status among the top contenders. As Zvezda fell in the Steaua pool, Hannover cannot take anything granted
there either – but anything less than three points would be a serious blow for the Germans’ ambitions to
return to the F8.
Champions League, Day 7
(all times are local)
Group A (Tuesday)
19.15 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v
Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB)
19.00 Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v
FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN)
20.15 Zodiac Atletic Barceloneta
(ESP) v Novi Beograd (SRB)
20.30 AN Brescia (ITA) v Jadran Split
(CRO)
Standings: 1. Brescia 14, 2.
Olympiacos 13, 3. Barceloneta 10, 4. Novi Beograd 10, 5. Ferencvaros 10, 6. Jadran 6, 7. Radnicki 4, 8. Dinamo 0
Group B (Wednesday)
21.00 Jug Adriatic Osiguranje
Dubrovnik (CRO) v Pro Recco (ITA)
19.00 OSC Budapest (HUN) v Spandau 04
Berlin (GER)
20.00 Steaua Bucharest (ROU) v Waspo
98 Hannover (GER)
19.00 CN Marseille (FRA) v Crvena
Zvezda (SRB)
Standings: 1. Recco 18, 2. Marseille
15, 3. Jug 12, 4. OSC 10, 5. Hannover 5, 6. Spandau 4, 8. Steaua 3, 7. Zvezda 3
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