Pro Recco became the second team in
history to claim three Champions League titles in a row, 52 years after Mladost
Zagreb had achieved that feat. The Italians downed host Novi Beograd with an
overwhelming performance in the final, maintaining a three-four goals gap
throughout almost the entire game. Barceloneta claimed the bronze, though they
could only beat underdog Vouliagmeni in a penalty shootout.
Final: VK Novi Beograd (SRB) v Pro
Recco (ITA) 11-14. Bronze medal game: Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) v NC
Vouliagmeni 9-9, pen: 5-4.
Final rankings: 1. Pro Recco, 2. Novi
Beograd, 3. Barceloneta, 4. Vouliagmeni, 5. Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE), 6.
FTC-Telekom (HUN), 7. Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO), 8. AN Brescia
(ITA)
Unlike last year, when only the
penalties decided the outcome, Vol. 2 of the Recco v Novi Beograd ‘final
series’ produced less thrills. The Italians kept the game under firm control
right from the beginning and their victory was never in danger.
Recco jumped to a 1-4 lead in eight
minutes while Novi Beograd missed three 6 on 5s in a row. The big twist could
have happened in the second, when, for the first time in history, a VAR review
was initiated by the LEN delegates because of an alleged brutality, and the
referees identified the hit by Gonzalo Echenique on Alvaro Granados and called
the four-minute ejection and the penalty. At this level, a four-minute man-up
can be a game-decider or at least has a huge impact on the outcome – here it
served as a confidence-booster for Recco, since the Italians scored two goals,
one from a forced 5 on 4, one from man-down for 3-7 to stun their rivals. NBG
missed three possessions before managed to score two goals, so the Serbs could
come as close as 5-7 during this phase. And once being back on equal strength,
Recco hit back two in 70 seconds to lead 5-9 at halftime.
The hosts had a fine surge early in
the third, halved the gap in 56 seconds, however, their momentum was gone soon
as Francesco di Fulvio netted two action goals in 38 seconds to reset the
four-goal gap. Indeed, NBG’s goalies weren’t on top of their game, they were
going back and forth between the goal and the bench, an unmistakable sign that
the defence didn’t work. At the other end, Marco del Lungo always came up with
a couple of crucial saves and after 7-11, the home side could never get inside
three goals any more.
Though Alvaro Granados – who had
joined NBG for this season – did his best, scored five goals, and received the
MVP Award at the end, the team effort of the title-holders, plus di Fulvio’s
and Gergo Zalanki’s four hits apiece, combined with veteran Aleksandar Ivovic’s
triple gave the necessary edge to Recco.
It was an overwhelming performance from
the Italian giant this time – they won their QF and SF by four goals
respectively and the final by three, leaving no chance for their rivals. Recco
landed their 11th title and won the last three in a row to become the second
team in history after 52 years to make the three-peat.
On contrary, Novi Beograd is the 6th
club losing finals in back-to-back years, the first since Jug’s double defeats
in 2007 and 2008 – back then also Recco downed the Croats in succession.
A couple of greats also passed
historical milestones: though Pietro Figlioli did not play in Belgrade, he was
part of the show in the prelims, and now the others won the 7th title for him,
an absolute record. Ivovic and Aussie Aaron Younger joined an elite club of
5-time winners (they are the 5th and 6th member respectively), and Younger also
became the first player in history to lift the trophy at the end of four
straight finals (he won in 2019 with Ferencvaros – he clinched his five gold
medals across the last six editions).
In the bronze medal match, underdog
Vouliagmeni were close to another miracle. Though Barceloneta controlled the
game for most of the time, the Greeks held on and with a spirited performance
they even took the lead in the fourth period and had two man-ups to win the game
after 9-9, but missed both, leaving the decision to the penalties. The
Spaniards lost a shootout in the semis (to NBG), now they were the luckier side
to finish third, for the fourth time since 2013. Vouliagmeni still deserves all
praises as they came up with the club’s best-ever result in the top
competition.
Champions League shall restart in
early September with a new playing format as the preliminaries will be
contested in four groups of four, followed by the quarter-final round with two
groups of four and a Final Four tournament shall crown the season, in a year or
so, on 6-8 June, 2024.
For game reports and post-game
quotes, visit
https://championsleague.len.eu
Photos credit: LEN / Istvan
Derencsenyi
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