December 2022

Group B, Day 4 – FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) 9-7 The hosts opened the game with an almost perfect first period – the defence did their utmost and had four blocks in six minutes. Since first-pick goalie Soma Vogel was sidelined with Covid, the players tried to offer as much support to their young goalie David Szakonyi as possible – and in front, at least for a while, it wasn’t felt that captain Denes Varga also had to skip this game. With the defence on top, they stormed to a 3-0 lead before conceding the first as Filip Krzic could finally make a man-up from the 2m line (after missing two), with 58 seconds to go. The first problems for the home side came towards the end of the period when they missed their first extra and went on wasting another one early in the second, while Jug settled and with two man-up goals in 32 seconds they equalised for 3-3. They seemed to take total control as they added two more, Konstantinos Kakaris scored from the centre and Matias Biljaka sent the ball home from a man-up. Jug was in a 0-5 run, but the Hungarians hit back before the break – Adam Nagy blasted one from an extra (the first in 8:30 minutes) and Stylianos Argyropoulos hit another one 5 seconds from time for 5-5. The third brought an even bigger fight – it was four minutes of extreme battling, with one denied man-downs at both ends, before Argyropoulos scored another one from a 6 on 5 against his former team. Szakonyi made a huge save in Jug’s next man-up, the host launched a counter, but the assist wasn’t the best, Jug turned back, and Marko Zuvela equalised. Jug had two more man-ups till the break, but the post, then a block saved the Magyars. And that hit back in the fourth as young Erik Molnar’s brilliant bouncer from the perimeter put the hosts ahead once more, and in 58 seconds it was 8-6 when Szilard Jansik buried their first extra in the fourth. The Croats went on struggling their 6 on 5, wasted two more, the blocking arms denied them again and again (FTC had 9 blocks altogether, a winning number in any game). Though Kakaris could pull one back from the centre with 3:33 to go, Nemanja Ubovic also did brilliantly in front, in 19 seconds he killed Jug’s momentum to make it 9-7. And in fact, the Croats couldn’t score any more. They had one more man-up but missed that too – all in all, FTC held them 0 on 7 in the second half, and while conceding four in the second period, they limited Jug to a single goal in the third and fourth respectively, to win this crucial match. Since Marseille and OSC gained their first victories too, the pressure from the back is growing towards the top sides, Jug have been even dropped to the fifth place now. How they saw it Zsolt Varga, coach, Ferencvaros “This was a special game because of Vjekoslav Kobescak, he is like my brother, since we played together in Mladost for years. And Jug played really well in certain periods of the game, but my team also delivered a great performance. We had some issues with sickness this morning, but I know that Jug also missed (Loren) Fatovic – this is the last day of the season, everyone is worn out, so illness is something all of us have to cope with in these days. All’s said, I’m so happy to win today. We played hard pressing and we did it really well, they got tired for the last one and a half periods, and this was our target. For example, to tire out (Maro) Jokovic who was tremendous in the last two matches, but he also lost some energy this evening and wasn’t as effective as in the previous rounds.” Vjekoslav Kobescak, coach, Jug “We started really bad, our defence, our choices in attack were all really bad. Then in the second we found our game and I’d say even the third period was fine. For the fourth, we lost our energy. There were a lot of mistakes, we could have scored more in the second half but we missed those chances. Still, it’s just the beginning of the group stage, we have more games to play. At this moment I’m not thrilled, but I can say I’m satisfied with our season so far.”

Group B, Day 4 – Novi Beograd (SRB) v AN Brescia (ITA) 11-9 The teams continued where they stopped at the beginning of June in the semi-final when Angelos Vlachopoulos scored the winner for Novi Beograd with 0:05 to go to close down a thriller. The first period brought a game of high intensity, aggressive and vibrant defending and still some fine plays in offence at both ends. The Serbs jumped to a 3-0 lead, Dorde Vucinic hit two, Nikola Jaksic came up with a great one-timer – 3:33 remained from the period and Brescia were yet to score. However, soon they made up what they missed in the first five minutes, Vincenzo Renzuto sent the ball home from a man-up and with 1:25 remaining Edoardo di Somma blasted one from 6m for 3-2. Missed extras kicked off the second period (two by the Serbs, one by the Italians), then Alvaro Granados made it 4-2 from action, but Vincenzo Dolce’s rocket also blew up in the net. Though Brescia killed the next man-down, Dimitrios Skoumpakis was on target from the perimeter which did not make Sandro Bovo too happy at the Italian bench. And the coach was even more upset as his players didn’t even take a shot in a 6 on 4. Netting the following man-up would have given the hosts a definite psychological advantage, but they were unable to deliver after a time-out, at least Joao Fernandez stopped Christian Presciutti’s close-range shot in a counter, so NBG led 5-3 at halftime. Brescia missed a man-up early on and that proved to be crucial as Granados hit one from 6m for 6-3 at the other end and after that the Italians could never come closer than two goals. They always pulled one back, but the Serbs always found the answer. Three more exchange of goals followed still inside this period as NBG held on for a 9-6 lead. The Italians were unable to cope with their 6 on 5s, the hosts netted 3/3 in this phase. They denied one in the fourth, Brescia could also survive the next, then Presciutti scored from action, still Radomir Drasovic put the ball away from the next 6 on 5 for 10-7. Boris Vapenski also buried an extra and Brescia then had two chances, a centre shot and a man-up, but Fernandez was tremendous in the goal. He had 16 saves altogether, played a huge part in the Serbs’ win, just like their extras as Miroslav Perkovic scored another one for 11-8, with 2:47 on the clock and that put the contest to bed. Dolce blasted one with 1:33 to go but that was too late, so NBG took the top spot and remained the only unbeaten side in this group. How they saw it Zivko Gocic, coach, Novi Beograd “I guess it was our stabiliity in defence which made the difference for most of the game. We were very aggressive from the beginning and if we could do that in this way, it’s hard to play against us. Brescia also had a great performance, but our players gave everything, their heart, their power and I congratulate them for this evening’s victory.” Sandro Bovo, coach, Brescia “I can name the problem for my team easily: it was Novi Beograd. It is a great team, it’s hard to play against them, they are organised with many great individuals. We made a lot of stupid mistakes in the first half, our reaction in the second was good.”

Group B, Day 4 – Genesys OSC (HUN) v Astralpool Sabadell (SRB) 9-8 The two teams coming from the qualifications produced an extraordinary game with a lot of twists and turns. The Spaniards took a flying start, netted two action goals in two minutes, and even though later missed three man-ups in a row, Lluc Bertrand’s 6m shot gave them a 0-3 lead. OSC could finally score their first after 6:15 minutes, from an extra, but once they found the back of the net, their game started clicking. First in defence, then deep into the second their offence too. Another man-up goal brought them closer, then arrived a double in 51 seconds and the Magyars took the lead. What’s more, Krisztian Manhercz converted a penalty with 1:08 till the middle break to complete a 5-0 run. Sabadell weren’t done, however, and in these remaining 68 seconds they could came back to even with two man-up goals, ending their 9:26 minute-long drought. That somewhat pushed back the Hungarians, they missed a man-up early in the third and soon Sabadell retook the lead, thanks to Francisco Valera’s action shot. And they could have doubled their lead but hit the post, then a save denied them in back-to-back 6 on 5s, so Vince Vigvari could equalise from a counter. Andres Veich replied from action, but Manhercz also did a clean job in a man-up 20 seconds before the last break for 7-7, and a neck-by-neck battle was in sight for the final quarter. Sabadell missed an extra in the first possession, then Marton Toth hit one from close range in a 6 on 5. Marton Levai came up big and caught Kanstantin Averka’s penalty, then Sabadell missed another man-up. It was a huge fight, Sabadell had denied shots before Bernat Sanahuja could beat the goalie with 1:40 to go for 8-8. The Hungarians earned their second extra in this period and made it as well, Manhercz scored his third with 68 seconds remaining. It turned out to be the winner as Sabadell had two more shots, but neither made it to the net, Levai delivered his 9th save in the dying seconds to secure OSC’s first win in the season.

Group A, Day 4: Pro Recco (ITA) v NC Vouliagmeni (GRE) 14-7 As a prelude to the game, Recco President Maurizio Felugo handed over a commemorative plaque to Vouliagmeni’s coach Vlado Vujasinovic, who had spent seven outstanding seasons in Recco and won three Champions League titles with club (alongside Felugo, later was also coach of the team). However, the warm welcome ended here as Recco showed no mercy to the Greek newcomers as the hosts netted four connecting goals after 1-1 to put the game onto the expected track. Indeed, the two sides were never on level in the first half, the title-holders were overwhelming right from the beginning. Vouliagmeni fought hard but were unable to stop Recco’s offence which hit 11 goals in the first half and led by six. As usual with the Italian side, it was once more a great team effort, eight players were on the scoring list and none of them had more than two goals in the first sixteen minutes. Then in the third, they took off their feet from the gas, at least in front. After netting six in the first period and five in the second, their first goal in the third came after 6:22 minutes, from a penalty. At the same time, they still kept their backyard in safe, not letting Vouliagmeni score either – in fact they shut them out for the third period. By the fourth, Recco let it go – with the Christmas holidays in mind, they pushed it even less, a bit uncharacteristically they netted only one goal in the fourth. An 11-5 first half was followed by a 3-2 partial score in the second, still, it was more than enough for another convincing win. How they saw it Sandro Sukno, coach, Recco “I’m very satisfied, we did well both defensively and offensively, the start was great, again at both ends, so now we can go home for the Christmas break and take some rest.” Vladimir Vujasinovic, coach, Vouliagmeni “We did our best, they are just too strong for us, at least now. I hope we can grow as a team in the following months because we will play again in April in our pool, and I hope by then we can play a bit better.”

Group A, Day 4 – Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) v Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) 18-9 Perhaps one piece of the stats tells it all: Barceloneta took 32 shots and 29 of those were on target, so they were extremely sharp – but that also shows how poorly the Serbs were defending, they could make a single block during the game. As for the shots on target, the total stood 29-19 – and not even the most outstanding goaltending may reduce and counterweight such difference. And this time not even the goalies of Radnicki could come up with something extraordinary which inevitably led to one of the heaviest defeats of the Serbs in the Champions League. While they looked fine for a while in Recco last week, this time they were sunk right in the first half. Well, they barely even surfaced as Felipe Perrone set the tone with two action goals in a span of 18 seconds and two more followed still in the first period for a 4-0 lead. And it turned bad to worse early in the second for the Serbs when Unai Biel and Marc Larumbe needed 45 more seconds to make it 6-0. Radnicki briefly appeared on the scene to score its first after 10:41 minutes, but two more from Perrone gave Barceloneta a commanding 8-1 lead at halftime (marking the difference: Radnicki missed a 6 on 4 in the last seconds, the ball not even made the goal). The Spaniards’ defence lost its super-tightness gradually, let three goals for the Serbs in the third, however, in front the hosts kept on producing – after netting four per period in the first half, they added five more in the third and another five in the fourth as Radnicki could barely show any strength in defence. At least they could be on level in the fourth (5-5), though that was partly because goalie Unai Aguirre could start his Christmas break after three periods – he fully deserved it as he posted an incredible 69.3% saving percentage (9 saves on 13 shots), while incoming Jon Porter was 1 on 6 in the fourth. Still, Barceloneta was flying high and could start 2023 from the leading position after 4/4 wins. Well, they cannot lay back that much as on 10 January they visit Olympiacos in Piraeus for a showdown between the two sides with a clean sheet so far. How they saw it Elvis Fatovic, coach, Barceloneta “It was more than I expected, I can say this was our best game in the Champions League so far. As always, the defence was key, especially in the first two quarters and I can tell you that it’s not that easy to do against them as they have an extraordinary centre-forward and good shooters. We had good mobility in the field, we had great offence and as I said last time, if we reach a level like this, it’s hard to play against us.” Unai Aguirre, player, Barceloneta “Defence has been the key in this game. We did a perfect job, especially in the first half.” Uros Stevanovic, coach, Radnicki “We also faced a tsunami in Recco… And I’m not disappointed, rather ashamed how we played here. Barceloneta respected us more than we respected them and ourselves. I cannot imagine how my team can think that way. I cannot do much just to congratulate Barceloneta and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” Josip Vrlic, player, Radnicki “It was a very difficult match. We are not happy with our game, neither the result, of course. We have to improve our water polo if we want to play in the Final Eight.”

Group A, Day 4 – Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 7-16 The match started in the expected way, Marton Vamos hit the first for the Greeks after two minutes – but turned onto a different path soon after. Olympiacos, which came up with powerful performances in the first three rounds, didn’t find the rhythm for a while, wasted two man-ups uncharacteristically easily, while the Germans buried a penalty and put away an extra later for 2-1. Another Greek extra gone, before Georgios Dervisis netted an action goal after a silence of 5:40 minutes, just before the first break. Konstatinos Genidounias continued the same way, his blast gave back the lead for the favourites, but a deflected distant shot by Flynn Schutze fooled Marko Bijac for 3-3. Goddess Fortuna quickly gave back that back to the Greeks as Konstantinos Mourikis could put the ball in from close range in a man-up, after a rebound found him. Then Filipovic netted one from action, and the execution of the next 6 on 5 was much more organised and Vamos finished it off for 3-6, then Bijac made a save in a man-down, so the game was about to turn into the expected direction.  And it turned, indeed. Vamos blasted one from action shortly before the middle break, so Olympiacos was in a 0-4 run after 3-3. Though Hannover tried to withstand the pressure, managed to kill a man-down, but deep into the third the Greeks could sell the same set-up and this time Christodoulos Kolomvos made no mistake for 3-8. The hosts couldn’t really penetrate the Greek defence, they scored their fourth goal 10:41 minutes making it 3-3. Still, that was their only one in this period and Ioannis Fountoulis converted an extra 26 seconds from time for 4-9. Schutze opened the fourth with a goal from a 6 on 5, but Filipovic was also on target in the Greeks’ man-ups twice so Olympiacos could even expand the gap (5-11). It didn’t look good from the Germans’ angle, and it went worse as they were running out of gas and Olympiacos’ experience and individual skills were even more dominating. At the end, alone in this period the Greeks could add 7 goals, so apart from the first period, they really did a clean job. The numbers tell it: after 2-2, the middle two periods ended in a 2-7 partial result, and the fourth brought a 3-7 run from Olympiacos, so Hannover gradually faded as the game progressed.  The fourth defeat means that the Germans got far from making their fourth F8 appearance in a row, while Olympiacos, having missed the cut last season so disappointingly, now posted a perfect 4/4 at the beginning and can turn into 2023 with high hopes. How they saw it Karsten Seehafer, coach, Hannover “We played better than expected, I thought we had a lot of chances in offences, but finishing is our problem now, our shots are not very good sometimes. We played with some very young centre defenders, we need patience until we start collecting points. We have to work with the young players – it’s great to play these games with the big teams, these are all part of the learning process.” Igor Milanovic, coach, Olympiacos “In the first first quarter I had the impression that our players were already on their Christmas breaks. They didn’t respect the basic rules we agreed before – but from the second period they started playing defence in the right way and everything got into place from that quarter. I loved the beautiful atmosphere created by the audience, it was a pleasure to come to this pool once again. We took the maximum from this part of the season, and I hope we will continue like this next year.”