Novi Beograd ended Brescia’s unbeaten
run and reduced the Italians’ lead to three points so the race for the top spot has reopened.
Barceloneta destroyed last season’s runner-up Ferencvaros in Budapest, their huge, 7-17 away win earned
them a crucial advantage in the race for the Final Eight. Olympiacos bounced back from its
two-game losing streak as they sank Jadran in Split. Water polo fans were entertained for sure:
the four matches produced 111 goals, a 27.75 per game average.
Group A: FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v
Zodiac Atletic Barceloneta (ESP) 7-17, Jadran Split (CRO) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 12-16, AN
Brescia (ITA) v Novi Beograd (SRB) 13-16, Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB)
13-17
Standings: 1. Brescia 23, 2. Novi
Beograd 20, 3. Olympiacos 19, 4. Barceloneta 17, 5. Ferencvaros 16, 6. Radnicki 10, 7. Jadran 9, 8. Dinamo 0
Novi Beograd handed Brescia its first
defeat, so the last unbeaten side fell this season. For almost three periods, the Italians were always in front,
in the third they kept a two-goal lead for long before the Serbs netted two in the last 68 seconds for 11-11.
The storm continued in the fourth when they added three more from connecting possessions, so after
11-9 they went 11-14 up and bagged all three points at the end. It was an action-packed match with 38
major fouls, but also an entertaining game which reduced Brescia’s lead to three points so the Serbs
will have a shot at the top spot in the remaining rounds for sure.
Ferencvaros staged an unbeaten run of
eight matches, though it included four draws, but now the Hungarians face a mountain to climb after
losing their second match in as many rounds. The second one happened in a shocking way as Barceloneta
simply demolished them in Budapest. The Spaniards reproduced their miraculous opening period
performance from Day 9 when they had netted 7 goals in Kragujevac in eight minutes – now they led
3-7 after the first period and soon they went 3-10 up and never looked back. It was a crucial game in
the race for the F8 spots so such a big difference in the crucial stats was a bit astonishing, the
number of shots on target was 15-24, the shooting percentage was 25% versus 53%, an amazing offensive display
from Barceloneta. Also, the other results even reinforce how bad day the Magyars had as even the other
losing sides could produce at least 12 goals, while the master shooters had only 7.
Olympiacos arrived to Split under
enormous pressure: the back-to-back defeats in the previous rounds meant that the Greeks’ star-studded line-up
might need to deal with the possibility of missing the cut for the finals. But the 2018 champions responded
well, lift their game and with an early 0-4 rush they took firm control of the proceedings and never let
the Croats back to the game. Though Jadran had some hopes before this match as they upset
Ferencvaros two weeks ago, but this defeat put them out of contest. The game pattern was similar in
Tbilisi, where Radnicki built a three-goal lead early on and maintained that gap till the end.
Recaps
Brescia v Novi Beograd 13-16
Brescia converted its first man-up
right after 29 seconds – then, within a minute or so, the visitors lost their key man, 2021 F8 MVP Dusan Mandic who
was fouled out, so the beginning looked not the best for the Serbs. Though it did not disturb them
too much as they went on keeping up with the hosts who were also on fire and with a fourth man-up
goal they took a 4-3 lead by the end of the first.
The scoring parade continued in the
second, the defences and the goalies couldn’t really have a say, one blast followed the other, Brescia took the
lead, the visitors replied, it happened four times in this period, so it stood 8-7 at halftime. Djordje Lazic
put away an extra, for the first time the hosts enjoyed a two goal advantage
and for a while they seem to dominate the game as they always had the answer to
Novi Beograd’s hits. The big turning
point came after 11-9, Dusko Pijetlovic scored a brilliant one from the centre and 5 seconds from time Strahinja
Rasovic also sent the ball home from a man-up for 11-11.
And the Serbs came back strong for
the fourth, they scored three from as many possessions, killed two man-downs en route and in a span of 1:52
minutes they sailed away with the game as they staged a 0-5 rush altogether and led 11-14. Vincenzo
Renzuto buried a 6 on 4 to end the hosts’ miseries but the home defence couldn’t find any solution to prevent
the Serbs from finishing off their man-ups from the 2m line, Pijetlovic and Nikola Jaksic scored
five times from these setups during the game, so at the end the Belgrade side pulled off a great win as well
as ended Brescia’s unbeaten run in the Champions League. It was one of the toughest matches of the
season, the refs called 38 personal fouls (17-21), but it also offered premium entertainment for the water
polo fans – and perhaps a preview for the last part of the season as Novi Beograd seems to have caught
the wave.
FTC v Barceloneta 7-17
If someone had any doubts whether
Barceloneta’s amazing first period in Kragujevac was a one-time wonder, the Spaniards offered a very straight
answer – no, they have just hit a brilliant form in recent weeks. After storming to a 0-7 lead against
Radnicki – which had beaten Olympiacos in the previous round –, Barceloneta downed Ferencvaros in
Budapest in the first period, netting seven goals once
more. The Hungarians managed to stay
a bit closer, they trailed 3-7, but even substituting goalie Soma Vogel and denying Barceloneta in its first
two possessions in the second didn’t help much – as they missed back-to-back man-ups in front. Soon it
was over as the visitors added three more in 2:04 minutes to go 3-10 up and Ferencvaros was facing an
unknown challenge: to avoid its heaviest defeat in years.
The hosts, still without their
captain and chief playmaker Denes Varga, tried in desperation but this evening nothing worked at their end, they
fell apart in defence – and their offense also went down as a consequence. It stood 5-12 at halftime –
never in the Champions League FTC conceded a dozen goals in two periods. The Spaniards were dominating in
all areas and scored in all possible ways, though their shots from the perimeter did the biggest
damage perhaps.
They had put their feet on the brake
after 0-7 in Kragujevac two weeks ago when the
remaining three periods had seen only two more goals from them – now they
slowed down gradually, netting three in
the third and two in the fourth, so only five more followed the 12 goals they
had hit in the first half (Alvaro
Granados led the charge with five goals). Still, the gap grew as the
Hungarians never recovered from the
initial shock and were able to score only two more, so at the end they lost
by ten, a humiliating defeat at home in
such a crucial match.
Ferencvaros played back-to-back
finals (won in 2019, finished runner-up in 2021), but now their F8 participation came under a serious threat.
Despite keeping an unbeaten run for eight matches, now the two straight losses pushed them back to the
fifth place and they need some serious regrouping to have a chance to make the cut – their away matches
in Belgrade and in Piraeus look much more challenging tasks, altogether. On the contrary,
Barceloneta managed to bag six points on the road, regaining control on its own fate.
Jadran v Olympiacos 12-16
The Croats managed to upset
Ferencvaros in the previous round and beat arch-rival Jug in the domestic league – while Olympiacos had back-to-back
defeats (lost in Kragujevac, then at home to Brescia), so Jadran could approach the encounter with
pretty high hopes – but the Greeks really stepped up and showed their class once again.
After three and a half minutes of
battling, Jadran opened the scoring from a man-up – Olympiacos needed 4:03 minutes to hit its first but once
they were on the scoreboard, they added three more in 1:44 minutes, all from action to storm to a 1-4
lead. The hosts should have recovered from this – but as it turned out, they couldn’t achieve it.
At certain stages they got close,
early in the second they managed to climb back to 4-5 with a double in 52 seconds, but Olympiacos managed to offer
immediate responses, so Jadran never had a shot at going even at least. At this phase, the Greeks
weren’t flying, missed a 6 on 4, but their defence worked well, the ‘Croatian cement’ in their wall, goalie
Marko Bijac and 2m defender Andro Buslje, did a splendid job in denying their fellow Croats together
with their teammates.
Forcing Jadran to miss two-man-ups
late in the second was crucial as Nikolaos Gkillas was the first to score in the third. Even if the reply came
within 18 seconds for 6-8, that was the last time the home side stayed within visible distance. In the middle
of the period Konstantinos Gedounias converted a man-up and 43 seconds later his blast from action
practically floored the hosts at 6-10. Jadran could pull one back, but just as in the second period,
Olympiacos never let them feel any chance to come closer as the Greeks scored from their next possessions
twice – and this time it meant they could maintain the four goal gap before the
last period. There was no way back from here for Jadran, the fourth period
turned into a shooting parade with four
goals apiece. Still, the difference in the number of shots, especially
those on target was significant at the
end: 16-24, a huge factor in a game like this. Thus, Olympiacos left the
bad memories behind while the Croats
bowed out from the race for the F8 as they trail by eight points while sliding
back to the 7th place.
Dinamo v Radnicki 13-17
The teams already produced a
’full-time’ result by the middle break when Radnicki led 8-11. This somewhat mirrors the defences’ weaknesses,
especially at the hosts’ side. Radnicki managed to build a massive three goal-lead early on – thanks to
a double in 36 seconds which gave them a 2-5 advantage – and from that point
the Serbs just maintained the gap.
Dinamo never had the chance to force
a tighter game, though a couple of times they reduced the gap to two early in the second, but once the Serbs
scored back-to-back goals to go 6-10 up, they could not come closer than three goals. Credit to them,
they fought hard and avoided a bigger defeat and played their best home game in the season while
tying their own scoring record by netting 13 goals.
