Here comes the crème de la crème of
women’s water polo: the top eight teams feature the very bests of the world,
with a handful of North American aces returning to the Old Continent after the
Olympics – making already the quarter-final days true festivals of water polo.
Each match-up should offer thrilling
moments – first of all, Olympiacos and Dunaujvaros is to replay last season’s
final right away at this stage of the competition. Of course, the line-ups
changed significantly, the Greeks got even stronger than the team having beaten
its Hungarian rival 7-6 in the final last spring – still, it’s just two games
and Dunaujvaros has always been known for causing upsets in crucial matches.
Fellow Piraeus side Ethnikos faces a
mountain to climb while clashing with 5-time winner Sabadell. The Spaniards
also signed a handful of North Americans including the shiniest US star,
three-time Olympic champion Maggie Steffens. After seven consecutive F4
appearances, the Spaniards missed the top flight in the last season – while
Ethnikos has never made the cut so far.
In the game of Russia’s Kinef and
Hungary’s UVSE, many players face off once more after their national teams’
bronze medal battle in Tokyo. Kinef was the most frequent participant in the F4
in the past one and a half decades, making it 12 times in 14 years after 2005
but after finally winning the trophy in 2017 and 2018, they lost the quarters
in the last two editions. UVSE was bronze medallist last time and the Magyars
are still seeking their first-ever title in this competition.
The other Russian side, which had
upset Kirishi a year ago, Uralochka meets Italy’s Padova. Since the
ever-changing travel regulations bar the Russians from entering Italy, the
venue(s) and the timing of the matches are yet to be confirmed – according to
the latest plans, both legs might be played over one of the coming weekends in
the same pool. As for the past, last season Uralochka managed to advance to the
finals after a wait of 19 years, while Padova appeared there once so far, in
2019.
Winners of the two legs shall advance
to the Euro League Final Four, the losing sides will play for the LEN Trophy.
Fixtures – Quarter-finals, 1st leg
(all times are local) 13.00 Kinef Surgutneftegas Kirishi (RUS) vs UVSE Hunguest
Hotels (HUN) – 18.30 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) vs Dunaujvarosi Foiskola (HUN) –
20.30 Ethnikos Piraeus (GRE) vs Astralpool-Sabadell (ESP) – TBC Plebiscito
Padova (ITA) vs Dynamo Uralochka (RUS)
Return leg: 26 February
RESULTS http://len.microplustiming.com/leneuroleaguewomen/indexCL_web.php?cal=1
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