Brescia didn’t let the benefits of a season’s hard work go and beat Jug to keep the top spot in Group A. Novi Beograd already tested next week’s F8 venue and earned a fine win over Spandau, while Ferencvaros suffered a surprising defeat at home to Sabadell.
Group B: FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v
Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) 10-12, Genesys OSC Budapest (HUN) v CN Marseille
(FRA) 18-13, Novi Beograd (SRB) v Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) 13-8, AN Brescia
(ITA) v Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) 14-10
Final rankings: 1. Brescia 34, 2.
Novi Beograd 32, 3. Ferencvaros 25, 4. Jug 16, 5. Sabadell 16, 6. OSC 13, 7.
Marseille 13, 8. Spandau 11
(Tie breakers: – Jug v Sabadell
14-10, 12-15 – OSC v Marseille 10-10, 18-13)
It was a typical last round where
nothing big was at stake and that left some impact on the concentration level
especially in defence – that resulted in 98 goals across the four venues in
this group.
Brescia delivered at their last home
game to secure the top spot which they were holding for almost the entire
season. The Italians did well in the first half, led 7-2 early in the third
when Jug staged a fine spell, scored three in a row and stayed close for a
while in the fourth. However, they couldn’t reduce the gap to a single goal and
with a better finish Brescia reset the four-goal difference by the end.
Emotions were running high in the pool as it was the farewell home game for the
club’s legend Christian Presciutti who will retire after the F8.
Half hour before the start of
Brescia’s match, Novi Beograd did their homework and bagged all three points
against Spandau, with a slim hope that Jug would do a miracle. It didn’t happen
so the Serbs remained second in the group, but at least they could practice in
the F8 venue as for this edition the site moves out from the indoor pool – used
in the last two years – and the setup had already been finished for this round.
Playing under the sky – as a kind of
preparation for next week – did not really work for Ferencvaros which won all
their previous six home matches in the Champions League, all played indoors
(and indeed didn’t lose any game on Hungarian soil this season). This run came
to an end, thanks to the spirited performance of Sabadell on the sacred grounds
of the Margaret Island. Though FTC fought back after being 3-7 down and took
the lead early in the fourth at 9-8, but the Spaniards hit back with a double
in 37 seconds and were more precise in the last minutes. The win catapulted them
to the fifth place, a great achievement for the young side which even caught up
with Jug at the end, but the results against each other favoured the Croats.
OSC staged a brilliant second
quarter, probably their best in the entire season. The 7-1 rout put them on the
winning track against Marseille and earned them the sixth place. With many key
players leaving, this ranking might remain their best effort for a while.
Fixtures for Wednesday, Group A
19.00 (18.00 CET) NC Vouliagmeni
(GRE) v Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB)
19.00 Pro Recco (ITA) v Olympiacos
Piraeus (GRE)
19.00 Jadran Split (CRO) v Waspo98
Hannover (GER)
20.00 Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) v
Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)
Standings: 1. Barceloneta 36, 2.
Recco 33, 3. Olympiacos 31, 4. Vouliagmeni 17, 5. Jadran 14, 6. Radnicki 12, 7.
Dinamo 6, 8. Hannover 3
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