Jadran Split put an end to
Ferencvaros’ unbeaten run – thanks to some fine defending and a tremendous
performance from its goalkeeper Mate Anic. Since Olympiacos had also gone down
at home against Brescia on Tuesday, the rankings are as tight as it can be once
more as Barceloneta demolished Radnicki in eight minutes, while Novi Beograd
showed no mercy against Dinamo Tbilisi.
Group A: Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v
AN Brescia (ITA) 5-8, Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) v Zodiac Atletic Barceloneta
(ESP) 3-9, Jadran Split (CRO) v FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) 9-7, Novi Beograd
(SRB) v Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) 19-7
Standings: 1. Brescia 23, 2. Novi
Beograd 17, 3. Ferencvaros 16, 4. Olympiacos 16, 5. Barceloneta 14, 6. Jadran
9, 7. Radnicki 7, 8. Dinamo 0
In December, the Hungarian v Croatian
battles went in favour of the Magyars – now after Jug had thrashed OSC on
Tuesday, Jadran also took the upper hand against Ferencvaros. The Croats seemed
to find their game by now while it was struggling time for last season’s
runner-up side, partly owed to Covid-problems. It was a match of ups and downs,
3-0, 3-3, 7-3, then 9-7 with more than five minutes to play but the goalies,
especially Mate Anic came up big. His 13 stops and 65.0% saving percentage was
instrumental in Jadran’s third win in the season.
This still might be too late for them
to re-join the race for the Final 8 – but it was definitely a blow for the
Magyars who had a chance to go three points clear ahead of Olympiacos, instead
they need to look backwards now as Barceloneta claimed a great win in
Kragujevac. The Serbs beat the Greeks two weeks ago but this time they got
nowhere close to that level. Barceloneta routed them in 5:22 minutes, scoring
six and killing three man-downs – it stood 0-7 after the first period so the
game was over. It was over practically too as the Spaniards focused only on
their defence and added only two more goals in the remaining 24 minutes while
Radnicki could score its first after more than twenty. This outcome probably
derailed the Serbs but put Barceloneta back on track for sure.
Novi Beograd also took advantage of
the losses of its closest rivals and by beating Dinamo with ease, the Serbs
jumped to the second place in the group – but the remaining five rounds promise
outstanding thrills.
Defences – and especially the goalies
– did the bulk of the job in this match, especially at the beginning. Almost
six minutes gone without a goal, then Jadran netted two from back-to-back
possessions in 57 seconds, before the game returned to its previous path. The
Hungarians, playing without their grand maestro Denes Varga, didn’t find their
rhythm and when the hosts made it 3-0 deep into the second period, the 2018
champions seemed to be in trouble. Then, after 12 minutes, they managed to open
their account with Luca Damonte’s fine shot from a 6 on 5 and they went on
scoring, three from four possessions so with 1:10 to go they were back at 3-3.
But this remaining 70 seconds were enough for the Croats to restore order – a
quick and smart finish from Andelo Setka in a man-up gave them back the lead.
With 16 seconds from time, Mile Smodlaka called a time-out and this worked
pretty well as Jadran managed to set up Jerko Marinic-Kragic whose brilliant
lob doubled the home sides’ advantage by halftime.
And this became even more important
as Rino Buric blasted his second from the perimeter 25 seconds into the third
so as fast Ferencvaros came back, Jadran replied with three hits from three
possessions for 6-3. Marton Vamos made a bad miss in a 6 on 4 on the other end
and when Niksa Dobud put away an extra for 7-3, Ferencvaros’ unbeaten run got
under the biggest threat in the season. They didn’t give in, though, but it was
a bit telling that it was centre-forward Nemanja Ubovic whose 7m shot halted
their scoreless run – then Daniil Merkulov brought them closer from a penalty.
Soma Vogel had some fine saves, however, he couldn’t have a hand on Dmitri
Kholod’s fantastic left-handed action shot 43 seconds before the last break so
Jadran turned into the final period with an 8-5 lead.
Ubovic netted an extra, but Kholod
stunned Vogel again for 9-6 with 6:27 remaining. Vamos finally found the back
of the net from a man-up for 9-7 and then the Magyars had some great chances to
put pressure on the hosts, but Mate Anic came up with a series of outstanding
saves – so the last five minutes didn’t see more goals (both goalies finished
the match with 13 stops apiece, a huge performance). Jadran, after winning only
two home matches against the bottom ranked sides in the previous eight rounds,
proved its real quality for the first time in the Champions League (besides
winning the Croatian Cup) while Ferencvaros lost for the first time in the entire
season (all competition involved) and this made the group ranking a lot tighter
again.
Radnicki v Barceloneta 3-9
In eight minutes everything was
settled – Barceloneta stormed through the first period, scored from almost each
of its possessions, netting six in 5:22 minutes. They hit five goals from the
perimeter, a penalty and one from a counter, while killed three man-downs in a
row. They stopped at 0-7 at the end of the first.
It was a real stop – the Spanish
switched to energy-saving mood and focused only on defending – after scoring
seven in eight minutes, they added only two in the remaining 24min. At the same
time, Radnicki played nowhere close to the level they had shown two weeks ago
when they caused the biggest upset of the season by beating Olympiacos. They
were totally off the pace, nothing clicked in their offense, the halftime score
(0-8) was absolutely unworthy to the Serbian cup-winner. 20:04 minutes gone
when they managed to score their first goal and two more followed, all from
action while their man-up conversion was 0 for 12.
With this defeat, the Serbs are
heading out of the race for the Final 8 while Barceloneta is very much back in
the business since Olympiacos and Ferencvaros both lost in this round, thus the
gap is only two points now. In two weeks, the Spaniards visit Budapest – a
thriller is in sight, for sure.
Novi Beograd v Dinamo 19-7
Apart from a minor set-back in the
second period which ended with 2-2 partial score, the Serbs dominated the game
as expected. Their 5-0 opening blast did the damage – three came from counters
–and even though Dinamo had a better spell afterwards when they could hold on
for 5-2 and 6-3 for a while, in the third the Serbs blew them away.
The crashing came in the middle of
the third when the hosts netted three connecting goals in 82 seconds to go 11-4
up and from that point the Georgians couldn’t even hope for a tighter result.
The Novi Beograd players pushed on, netted all kind of goals and all but one
field players left their respective marks in the game report. The win sent the
Serbs up to the second place in the group as the closest rivals fell this
round. It was a team-scoring record for Novi Beograd, they netted 17 twice, now
they stopped at 19.
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