February 2022

Novi Beograd ends Brescia’s unbeaten run, Barceloneta knocks out Ferencvaros  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

Big win for Jug, Brescia shuts down Olympiacos  Jug was the winner of the day in Group B, avenging its home-defeat against OSC gave the Croats  a comfortable 7-point advantage ahead of the chasers. Recco and Marseille bagged three more  points with ease, this duel may be decided only on the last day when they’ll meet in Recco. In  Group A, in the big game brought forward Brescia came up with a truly outstanding defensive effort, shut out Olympiacos in the entire first half and beat the Greeks to break seven points clear  in the race for the top spot.  Group B: Genesys OSC Budapest (HUN) v Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) 10-15, Pro  Recco (ITA) v Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) 18-3, Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v CN Marseille (FRA) 7-13,  Crvena Zvezda (SRB) v Steaua Bucharest (ROU) 10-10  Standings: 1. Recco 24, 2. Marseille 24, 3. Jug 18, 4. OSC 13, 5. Hannover 11, 6. Spandau 7, 7. Steaua  4, 8. Zvezda 4  Group A: Olympiacos (GRE) v Brescia (ITA) 5-8  Despite minor Covid-problems and lining up only eleven players, title-holder Recco staged a rout  against Hannover. They sank the Germans in eight minutes (5-0), led 10-1 at half-time and kept pushing  to claim an 18-3 win. Besides the total (34-17), the number of shots on goal told the story (28-8).  Marseille had a similar 5-1 opening in Berlin but the Germans responded well to the initial storm and  came back to 5-5 – but in the third the French stroke again and their second rush (0-5) left Spandau  stranded. After losing to Recco on the opening day, this was Marseille’s 8th win a row.  OSC stunned Jug in Dubrovnik in late December but the Croats hit back in Budapest. They were  already the better side in the first half (5-7) and in the third they demolished the hosts while building a  6-11 lead. Goalie Toni Popadic was instrumental in their win, while he had only 6 saves on 18 shots on  Day 6, now he posted 13 on 19 during the first three periods. The win gives Jug some comfort while  OSC had to fight hard to see off the Germans’ challenge in the remaining five rounds.  The two bottom ranked sides shared the points in an exciting encounter in Belgrade – Steaua came back  from three goals down and almost won the match, but Crvena Zvezda managed to equalise 24 seconds  from time.  In Group A, the top two ranked sides clashed in Piraeus. Brescia faced its toughest test but passed it  with flying colours: in a rare or rather never-seen scenario the Italians shut out Olympiacos in the entire  first half while taking a 0-3 lead. The 2018 champion needed 17:53 minutes to score its first goal but the  Italians went on and soon enjoyed a 1-6 lead. Then Filip Filipovic hit three goals to give the hosts some  hope but Stefano Luongo netted his third just seconds after Olympiacos came back to 4-6 and that killed  the Greeks’ momentum. Brescia sailed away with a fine win and it’s hard to see them losing the top spot  in the remaining rounds. Recaps  Group A  Olympiacos v Brescia 5-8  Surviving the Covid blast undefeated was a real feat from Brescia – still, what the Italian showed in  Piraeus in defending, even in full-strength, was one of the most brilliant efforts this season. Shutting out  Olympiacos in the entire first half in its own home was simply amazing, considering the Greeks’  offensive power. The Italians did a splendid job by neutralising the hosts’ strengths, marking Serbian  cannon Filip Filipovic quite effectively and their Montenegrin goalie Petar Tesanovic also did a  tremendous job.  Brescia’s 40-year-old captain Christian Presciutti opened the scoring after 15 seconds from a penalty  and he was the one who finished off a counter six minutes later – in the meantime, the defence worked  extremely efficiently. It was really telling when within one possession Tesanovic made three straight  saves, denying Fountoulis, Genidounias and Filipovic, one after each other. These three delivered the  majority of Olympiacos’ hits in the previous rounds – this game they had a combined efforts of 4 goals  from 23 shots (the two Greeks were 1/14…). But those goals were yet to come as Brescia denied four  more man-downs in the second while Djordje Lazic netted a fine goal from the centre for 0-3.  Stefano Luongo’s shot from the distance put Brescia 0-4 up when finally Georgios Dervisis could put  the hosts on the scoring board – they needed 17:53 minutes to hit their first… Even though the ice was  broken but it not melted any further – instead, two more Italian goals came from extras so Brescia led 1- 6 shortly before the last break. Filip Filipovic put away a 6 on 5 15 seconds from time, but it was still an  extremely long way to go for the Greeks. A killed man-down and two more Filipovic hits from extras in  a span of 55 seconds gave some hope for the hosts with six minutes remaining at 4-6 but Luongo was  also on fire and he put the ball away from Brescia’s next extra, killing the Greeks’ momentum. They  tried desperately but were unable to penetrate the Italian defence and two minutes later Lazic decided  the outcome, his ball just crossed the line in a man-up for 4-8, with 3:27 remaining. Olympiacos pulled  one back but could not come any closer – thus Brescia now leads ahead of the Greeks by seven points  and well on its way to clinch the top spot in the toughest group of recent editions.  Group B  OSC v Jug 10-15  The game was in total contrast to the match played on Day 6 in Dubrovnik. There OSC’s big shooters  were on fire and Toni Popadic were unable to stop their balls – nor Jug’s defenders were much of help  to their goalie. The Croats had a weaker period back then, but after that they started