March 2024

Here are five takeaways from the second day of the Quarter Final Stage in the men’s water polo Champions League. 1. Will Alvaro Granados ever slow down? Spain’s supreme superhero, who hit that winner in the European Championships final, is riding the crest of a wave in the club season too. He’s now bagged six goals in back-to-back rounds, something that no one else has ever done in the Champions League before. Granados was superior on Day 1, when Novi Beograd beat Jadran Split at home, and this week he was the saviour of the Serbian side in Marseille, when things weren’t looking that good for the visitors in the second half. Running out of ideas? Simply pass the ball to Alvaro, and that approach put NBG ahead in a crucial phase of the encounter. And, of course, after he let the fireworks crack, the defenders devoted extra attention to him, leaving others space, so Granados, inside the last minute, could deliver a brilliant assist to Dusko Pijetlovic, who scored the winning goal from close range. 2. Before the start of the Quarter Final Stage, the four group winners – Recco, Novi Beograd, Ferencvaros and Barceloneta – appeared to be the favourites to make the Final Four, and they all delivered convincing wins on the opening day. However, Barceloneta fell on the second day to Olympiacos, so they’re the only top ranked side so far who has been beaten by a runner-up in this next phase. Though losing to Olympiacos in Piraeus should not be considered a huge upset – the star-studded line-up of the Greeks came up with a great performance. They enjoyed a firm backing from returning world champion goalkeeper Marko Bijac, whose outstanding saves left the Spaniards stranded after a while. Barceloneta was unusually weak in attack, they produced one from nine on man-up and missed two penalties – something that inevitably led to defeat in the home of Olympiacos. 3. Title-holders Pro Recco are still unbeaten this season, across all competitions, and they weren’t even challenged in the first two rounds of the Quarter Final Stage. They beat Marseille with ease at home and a brilliant first half proved to be decisive against Jadran in Split. As a novelty, veteran Aleksandar Ivovic – a five-times Champions League winner with Recco – scored four outstanding action goals, each after perfectly timed drives. The Montenegrin is famous for blasting in goals from the perimeter, but this week he charged towards the goal and – thanks to his physical build – it was hard if not impossible to stop him. His team-mates gratefully offered a series of assists and he buried all four of his chances from close range. 4. Ferencvaros clashed with Brescia 11 times before Wednesday since the 2018/19 season. In the prelims, they could beat the Italians only once on eight occasions in the group stage and never in Brescia (though they won all three knock-out matches in the previous three F8 editions). This record changed this week, but it did not come easily. It was a neck-and-neck contest and Brescia still held the lead at 8-7 deep into the fourth, but then the Hungarians’ staged a decisive and ruthless 0-4 run. The visitors’ defence worked extremely hard as well and helped bag three really important points – and the result maintains the team’s perfect record this season, also across all competitions, similar to Recco. 5. There were brilliant goals in this round as well – 87 in total, 21.75 per game (it was 89 on Day 1) – with perhaps Gergo Fekete’s hit standing out the most, as he sent the ball to the net from approximately 26 metres out. Well, OK, there was no goalkeeper to beat in the opposite cage as Brescia, two goals down with 50 seconds remaining, went for a seven on five, but it didn’t work and the Hungarian tried his luck. It’s challenging to be precise in this situation, in the last minute of an intense and gruelling match, but Fekete – world champion with Hungary last season – did a professional, clean job and secured another crucial victory for Fradi.

A brilliant first-half performance and Marko Bijac’s fantastic saves gave Olympiacos the necessary edge to end Barceloneta’s winning streak in the men’s water polo Champions League, while the other favourites Ferencvaros struggled, but a great finish – a 0-4 rush in the fourth – landed them another victory. Group B Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 10-7 Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) AN Brescia (ITA) 9-11 FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) Olympiacos managed to halt Barceloneta’s unbeaten run in the Champions League with a brilliant first half performance, fuelled by a series of outstanding saves by Marko Bijac. The world champion Croat returned for this match (after being rested for the opening game following his grand march with the national team) and he enjoyed a truly exceptional evening. Barceloneta created chances, just as many if not more than Olympiacos, but they were unable to put the ball behind Bijac. Konstantinos Genidounias also had a night to remember, as his outstanding shooting accuracy also made the difference right away in the first period. He hit two from the perimeter from action, while the Spaniards missed some great opportunities, including a penalty where Marc Larumbe failed to grab the ball for the shot. Then a bit later, when they managed to launch a counter, again Bijac made a crucial save and the ensuing ‘re-counter’ ended in a penalty which Genidounias buried with ease – so the Greeks led 4-2 after eight minutes. And they extended their lead to four in the second while shutting out Barceloneta for the whole period. A finely played man-up, followed by an outstanding goal by Genidounias made it 6-2 while their rivals missed three more six on fives and Bijac also stopped a penalty. Before the Greeks were able to get too comfortable, Alberto Munarriz stepped up and his two distant pinpoint shots seemed to have broken the Bijac Magic, and also halved the deficit in a span of 57 seconds. However, it turned out that Barceloneta’s surge was short-lived, as Dimitrios Dimou came up with two brilliant shots of his own to reset the four-goal gap before the final quarter – and again, the Greek defence killed three man-downs. Barceloneta started the fourth in a similar way, with Anthony Pavillard and Munarriz managing to heat up the match once more with distant blasts for 8-6, but again, the Greeks could find a way to reply. They forced a penatly and Marton Vamos sent it home, so it was 9-6 with 4:18 to go. Olympiacos didn’t want to take any further risks while keeping up a fine level of defending, including a couple more stops from Bijac, who finished the evening with a brilliant 63.2% save percentage. The Spaniards could pull one back only 1:17 from time, as Felipe Perrone finally buried a penalty, however, Genidounias closed the match with another action goal, it was his fifth, securing a crucial victory for Olympiacos. It truly was a sensational performance from the home team captain and you could see from the way he celebrated in the pool what this result meant to him and his side. Brescia also looked up to the task in the other encounter, with Max Irving making it seem so easy by putting away two man-ups, first from the left, then from the right, to make it 2-0 in a matter of 90 seconds. The Hungarians settled soon, though, as Adam Nagy’s shot just crept over the line in the dying seconds of a man-up, then Vendel Vigvari had a clean finish from a counter for 2-2. Francesco Faraglia’s pinpoint shot gave the lead back to the hosts, but a second attempt from a late six on five by Gergo Fekete brought the sides level again. After an action-packed opening period, the goals dried up in the second, with Brescia missing two extras before Alessandro Balzarini netted an action goal from a fine drive. Ferencvaros were finding the Italians’ hard defending difficult to penetrate, but they still equalised from Dusan Mandic’s blast 46 seconds before the half-time buzzer. Irving buried a penalty for 5-4 in the third, then Brescia missed the chance to double their lead on man-up, while Nagy’s one-timer in FTC’s six on five was good for a goal in the middle of the quarter. Zoltan Pohl then stepped up on extra to give the Magyars the lead for the first time in the match at 5-6. And Soma Vogel’s tremendous save in another man-down prevented the hosts from levelling the scores just before the last break. The goal to tie the game came early in the fourth, though, as Irving broke Brescia’s silence with a spectacular distant shot, but Toni Nemet put away an extra immediately for 6-7. Balzarini could also put one away, after three missed man-ups, then he made it again with 4:39 to go to regain the advantage for the Italians at 8-7. Erik Molnar then collected a loose ball and fired in a precious action goal in a dying possession, and after Vogel’s big stop from a centre shot, Mandic sent the ball home from a man-up for 8-9 with 3:27 left to play. Brescia wasted a crucial six on five and the Hungarians then had a ‘match ball’ – a man-up with 1:15 on the clock. They made it, as Stylianos Argyropoulos’ first shot was saved by Tesanovic, but the second was impossible to catch. Brescia called a time-out with 0:50 on the clock, went for a seven on five, missed it and Fekete closed down the contest with a 26m shot to the empty net. This completed a 0-4 run for Ferencvaros to maintain their unbeaten streak across all competitions – a late penalty goal from Brescia only shaped the very same scoreline, 9-11, what FTC also produced while beating Olympiacos in the opening round. Follow all the Champions League Men’s Water Polo Quarter Final Stage action and results live on the dedicated European Aquatics Champions League website.

The finalists of the last two editions of the men’s water polo Champions League were celebrating on Tuesday night after winning their respective away matches in round two of the Quarter Final Stage. Title-holders Recco did a clean job in Split, while Novi Beograd had to dig deep and comeback from three goals down to beat Marseille in an absolute thriller – with the deciding goal coming just 38 seconds from time. Group A VK Jadran Split (CRO) 10-13 Pro Recco (ITA) CN Marseille (FRA) 13-14 VK Novi Beograd (SRB) In the ‘club-version’ rematch of the World Championships final – both Jadran Split and Recco fielded seven players who were part of the gold medal show in Doha in February – it was the Italians who were dominating from the start. But it was Recco’s foreign legion that was making the real difference – for example, Ben Hallock opened the scoring with a fine goal from the centre. The American, alongside Kostantinos Kakaris (of Greece) delivered the exclusions and two were finished from the left wing after some patient play. Between those goals, the Croats could score their first quite late, 43 seconds before the buzzer, and they trailed 1-3 after eight minutes. By half-time, Recco doubled their lead – the performance wasn’t stellar, but very much effective, especially in defence. After a couple of action goals from Gonzalo Echenique and Andrea Fondelli, they killed three man-downs in a row – though Jadran’s struggles were highlighted by a lost ball in one six on four. Again, Jadran could score very late in the period, but once more an answer came immediately from Recco, with Aleksandar Ivovic hitting one after a nice set-up for 2-6. When the Montenegrin copied his previous goal early in the third to extend Recco’s lead to five, Jadran seemed to be slipping towards a heavy defeat. However, the hosts began to show some signs of life, scoring three connecting goals while Recco’s offence suddenly stalled, and with 46 seconds to go it was an open game at 5-7. Then came Ivovic again, with another brilliant drive and another action goal from close range, with this strike having a calming effect 24 seconds before the last break. If that halted Jadran’s momentum, then Fondelli’s blast 26 seconds into the fourth killed it at 5-9. That also triggered an offensive roll at both ends of the pool. Defences ceased to operate – after 13 goals in three periods, the final quarter produced 10, five apiece, including a fourth action goal from Ivovic, who was a real shining light for Recco this evening. The clash in Marseille brought the first real epic thriller of the Quarter Final Stage. Initially, Novi Beograd took control and were in the lead till midway through the second period, though Marseille always managed to level. After 5-5, the French had the better spell, shutting down two NGB man-ups, then Vladan Spaic’s fine centre shot and Ante Vukicevic’s distant rocket put Marseille 7-5 up at the turnaround. When Vukicevic sent another one into the net from a six on five early in the third, the Serbs were in trouble at 8-5. However, they raised their game and bounced back within two and half minutes. After back-to-back man-up goals from Nikola Jaksic and Filip Filipovic, they killed a man-down and Alvaro Granados soon made it even (8-8) from a quick counter. Though Krisztian Manhercz’s shot from the perimeter ended Marseille’s struggles in attack, at the other end the French couldn’t handle Granados, whose sparkling shooting skills prevailed in the next two six on fives. Still, the hosts retook the lead as they could also penetrate NGB’s defence and Spaic’s hit from a nicely played extra made it 11-10 with six seconds to go in the third. The Serbs’ goaltending problems continued at the start of the fourth, as Lazar Dobozanov – who sat out for a couple of minutes earlier, but was called back in – conceded another one from the perimeter, so the French were up by two at 12-10. Granados (who else?) kept last season’s runners-up in the match with another pinpoint shot, then Jaksic was set up on 2m in the next six on five, which is plain dunking in his case, and NBG were level again at 12-12. Marseille captain Ugo Crousillat buried a penalty in the next possession to edge the hosts back in front, but NGB’s Angelos Vlachopoulos’ precise shot on man-up tied the scores once again (13-13), and there was still a lot of time to play. Either side could have won it, as they each had two man-ups in the remaining frantic 3:36 minutes. The home fans were left frustrated as their side missed both, while the Serbs scored from their second attempt. Granados came up with an unmissable assist and veteran Dusko Pijetlovic made no mistake from close range with 0:38 on the clock. A steal ended Marseille’s final possession – and also their hopes to gain a point or two in this crucial home encounter. Fixtures for Wednesday – Group B(CET times shown) 18.30 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP)20.00 AN Brescia (ITA) v FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) Follow all the Champions League Men’s Water Polo Quarter Final Stage action and results live on the dedicated European Aquatics Champions League website.

The second day is set to commence in the men’s Champions League water polo Quarter Final Stage with the four favourites seeking back-to-back wins against the respective runners-up of the Group Stage. However, after convincing victories in the opening round, they face slightly tougher challenges this week, as all the group-winners play away matches. In Group A, Recco visits Split and this encounter offers a special flavour as both sides line up seven players apiece who recently clashed for the world title in Doha. Back in February the Croats had the last laugh in the shootout, this time Recco are heavily favoured to bag three more points. Novi Beograd, runners-up in the last two seasons, enjoyed some great moments against Jadran 10 days ago, though this Tuesday may bring more difficulties for the Serbs. Marseille have always been a lot more dangerous at home – some may add that the performances of the respective foreign stars may determine the outcome in this game. In Group B, old foes will meet once more in both clashes. Olympiacos and Barceloneta, like Brescia and Ferencvaros, have met in each of the last four full seasons. The head-to-heads show there is a good balance between the sides and it is hard to call the winners again this time. Olympiacos will wish to bounce back from the opening round defeat and they have the power to match Barceloneta’s strength, especially in Piraeus. Brescia will entertain Ferencvaros at home where visiting teams always find it extremely challenging to claim points. The Hungarians will be short-handed somewhat as their Italian ace Edoardo di Somma is injured – he would have been a tremendous advantage as he played for Brescia in the previous years. Men’s Champions League Water PoloQuarter Final Stage, Day 2 (all times CET) Group A (Tuesday) 19.00 VK Jadran Split (CRO) v Pro Recco (ITA) 20.00 CN Marseille (FRA) v VK Novi Beograd (SRB) Group B (Wednesday)18.30 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) 20.00 AN Brescia (ITA) v FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) Pre-game stats – Quarter Final Round, Day 2 Group A VK Jadran Split (CRO) v Pro Recco (ITA)Day 1JSP: 11-15 v NBG (away) – REC: 15-8 v Marseille (home)Head-to-head: 0-22022-23: 7-14, 9-13 CN Marseille (FRA) v VK Novi Beograd (SRB)Day 1MAR: 8-15 v Recco (a) – NBG: 15-11 v Jadran (h)Head-to-head: 0-32022-23: 4-11, 13-17; 2021-22: 10-16 (QF) Group BOlympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP)Day 1OLY: 9-11 v FTC (a) – BAR: 12-8 v Brescia (h)Head-to-head: 3-5 (2d)2022-23: 7-9, 5-10; 2021-22: 3-7, 8-4; 2020-21: 9-22 (QF); 2019-20: 9-15, 11-11; 2018-19: 14-10, 7-7, 6-4 (SF) AN Brescia (ITA) v FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN)Day 1BRE: 8-12 v Barceloneta (a) – FTC: Olympiacos 11-9 (h)Head-to-head: 4-5 (2d)2022-23: 8-4, 6-10, 8-9 (5-8th); 2021-22: 8-8, 6-8, 12-14 (bronze); 2020-21: 9-6, 10-7, 12-14 (SF); 2018-19: 8-8, 10-5

Here are five takeaways from the opening day of the Quarter Final Stage in the men’s Champions League. 1. Alvaro Granados was the hero of the day – he hit six goals for Novi Beograd as the Serbians downed Jadran Split with a really convincing performance. The Spaniard, also hero of the European Championships final as his magnificent backhand decided the match in Zagreb back in January, was on fire once more. Five of his six hits came from action, so he contributed a great deal to NBG’s perfect start. 2. Playing against your former club is always special – and it’s really special when you play for a foreign team and face your buddies from the national team in a Champions League match. This happened to Stylianos Argyropoulos AND Marton Vamos in the same match – the Greek ace is a key player for Ferencvaros, while the Hungarian is the only leftie in Olympiacos’ line-up. Between 2017 and 2021, Argyropoulos played for Olympiacos – during the very same years Vamos was with Ferencvaros; when the two sides met in the 2019 final they played in the opposite team. Now it’s the reverse and as Vamos put it, it was strange to arrive to his hometown as a tourist. As for Day 1, Argyropoulos had a lot better day – indeed, had it been a match MVP award, it should have gone to the Greek who scored four brilliant goals and was instrumental in Ferencvaros’ successful start to their campaign to reach the Final Four. On the contrary, Vamos kicked off the evening in style, with a brilliant goal from a counter, then faded just like his team. His night went from bad to worse after he was fouled out late in the third, so had to watch from the bench as his side continued to sink in the second half. 3. Croatia was the absolute best at the back-to-back majors in the winter. After losing the European final amidst heartbreaking circumstances at home to Spain in Zagreb, they came back even stronger for the Worlds, winning a series of nail-biters – including shootout victories in the semis and final – to land the title in Doha. However, that grand run may have worn their players out a bit. Their magnificent goalkeeper, Marko Bijac, did not even travel to Budapest with Olympiacos, while seven world champions in Jadran Split’s line-up were unable to keep up with Novi Beograd – a 7-0 run by the Serbs in the first half decided the match unusually early. It’s yet to be seen how fast the Croatian aces can recover, but they’ll need to respond on day two to keep their hopes of making the Final Four on track. 4. Title-holder Recco came up with another highly-efficient team performance. Nine of their eleven field players shared the scoring duties against Marseille – and the individual stats also show that the world-class players did what the game plan required from them. They took 26 shots and scored 15 goals – the shooting percentage, 58%, is absolutely fabulous at this level. Risky attempts were rare, big shooters like Giacomo Cannella (3/3) and Gergo Zalanki (1/1) let the ball fly only when they saw a clear chance. At the same time, their defence was tight, with only 16 of Marseille’s 25 shots troubling Marco del Lungo in goal. Also, the French rocket-producer Thomas Vernoux was limited to a single shot in the entire match – it was a takeaway from Doha even Recco’s coaching staff learnt very well. 5. In the first round of this stage, the four group-winners all played at home against the respective runners-up – and all four bagged fine wins, not a single match produced a scenario where the visiting sides had any realistic chance of turning things around in the fourth period. The clash of Barceloneta and Brescia wasn’t an exception either – though the rich past of these two sides might have suggested a different outcome. Since 2015, they have met 11 times and the Spaniards have only managed to win twice. Those victories came in the ‘Covid tournaments’ back in 2021, when they beat Brescia in both group games at a neutral venue (in Budapest), but the Italians took the upper hand when it really mattered – in the F8 – when they met again in the bronze medal match. Otherwise, Barceloneta could force only draws, even in the home clashes. This time, it was a different story, as the Spaniards controlled the game right from the beginning, with Brescia only on equal terms – at 0-0 – for just 35 seconds. Once the hosts jumped to a 2-0 lead midway through the first, the Italians could only chase them. 

After wins for Recco and Novi Beograd in Group A on Friday in the Quarter Final Stage of the Champions League Men’s Water Polo, Barceloneta and Ferencvaros completed the group-winners’ successful start. They both gained convincing victories in Group B on Saturday, over Brescia and Olympiacos respectively. Champions League Men’s Water Polo Quarter Final Stage – Group B Results: Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) 12-8 AN Brescia (ITA) FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) 11-9 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) Group B is labelled as the group of death as all four sides have been not just regular F8 participants, but were usually involved in semis and finals in recent editions. Still, the pattern remained the same as it was in Group A on Friday – the two host sides, top ranked and unbeaten in the group stage, did a clean job to bag three points in the opening round of the Quarter Final Stage. Though Brescia has become Barceloneta’s nemesis in recent years – the Spaniards could beat them only twice in 11 CL matches – this time the Italians were no match for the host side. They tried to keep up and even after Barceloneta jumped to a 4-1 lead, they came back to 5-4. Then, after being 7-4 down at half-time, Max Irving pulled one back for 7-5 after four minutes of hard battling in the third. There Brescia had a man-up after a time-out, but this time Unai Aguirre denied Irving – and with 13 seconds from time Felipe Perrone forced a penalty, Alberto Munarriz buried it, so it stood 8-5 and not 7-6. That proved to be crucial as another fine combination landed another penalty for Barceloneta one minute into the last period, this time Perrone sent the ball home and at 9-5 there was no way back for the Italians. Vincenzo Dolce’s blast reduced the gap but Perrone was on target once more from a man-up for 10-6. The remaining time was devoted to a couple of action goals at both ends as Barceloneta kept the four-goal advantage till the end. Just like in Barcelona, the Komjadi Pool in Budapest accommodated a capacity crowd and the fans also left the scene happily at the end. In the opening period, the former players of the clubs did some damage here and there, Stylianos Argyropoulos hit one from the distance against Olympiacos (where he played for years), soon Marton Vamos put the Greeks ahead, in his home-town. FTC responded with a double to lead 3-2 after eight minutes, then Argyropoulos added two more in the second. However, Olympiacos also had the answers and stayed close, trailed 5-4 at half-time, despite Soma Vogel coming up with a usual penalty stop in this period, denying Ioannis Fountoulis. Then in the third the hosts managed to gear up a bit, Dusan Mandic’s blast doubled their lead, then their defence started dominating. The Greeks were unable to score from man-ups – they lost Vamos early in this period with three fouls, so were left without a leftie – sometimes they couldn’t even take a shot during the 20 seconds. And with 1:07 on the clock, Adam Nagy’s pinpont effort gave a 7-4 lead for the hosts who shut out the Greeks for the entire quarter. Mandic’s third blast put the writing on the wall for Olympiacos and after they missed another six on five (were 0 for 8 at this point), Vendel Vigvari’s smart action shot kind of closed down the contest at 9-4. Then Fountoulis finally managed to score in a man-up – it was also their first goal after 12:27 minutes – and soon they climbed back to 9-6, but Argyropoulos netted his 4th in the evening to make it 10-6 and it was over. Towards the end, the Greeks could halve the distance with a double in the last minute after 11-7, but FTC’s victory was never in danger. Follow all the Champions League Men’s Water Polo Quarter Final Stage action and results live on the dedicated European Aquatics Champions League website.

The two favourites in Group A – Recco and Novi Beograd – who had played the last two finals, opened the Quarter Final Stage of the Champions League Men’s water polo with convincing home wins, over Marseille and Jadran Split respectively. Champions League Men’s Water Polo Quarter Final Stage – Group A Results: Pro Recco (ITA) 15-8 CN Marseille (FRA) Novi Beograd (SRB) 15-11 Jadran Split (CRO) Recco, champions in the last three years and Novi Beograd, the runners-up in 2022 and 2023, opened their quest with big wins. Both matches were virtually decided by half-time as the home sides offered a defensive masterclass. Recco jumped to a 5-2 lead in eight minutes and even though Marseille managed to slow them down a bit, the French still trailed 7-3 at halftime. And in the third it was Recco all the way, a 4-0 run ended the contest – the Italian defence worked splendidly, they shut out their rivals for almost the entire period, Marco del Lungo even stopped a penalty, then conceded one 31 seconds before the last break. Recco was leading 12-4 so the grip of their defence loosened a bit in the fourth when the visitors got as many goals as in the previous three periods, still, they added three more to bag a super-convincing 15-8 victory. Even though Jadran Split lined up with freshly-crowned world champions in Belgrade, in two periods it turned out that the brilliant runs at the Europeans and the Worlds had maybe burnt the Croatian aces out. None of them were anywhere near the level they showed while grabbing silver in January and claiming the world title in February. On the contrary, their Zagreb nemesis, Alvaro Granados – who had hit THAT game winning backhand in the European final – was on fire as he finished the night with six goals for Novi Beograd. His Serbian team mates were also rolling, after Jadran took the lead, NBG hit back with seven straight goals while the Croats were unable to score for more than 15 minutes. They scored the first 54 seconds into the game, the next one came 26 seconds before the end of the second, when the home side was already 7-1 up. And Theodoros Vlachopoulos still replied with 0:02 on the clock, giving Novi Beograd an 8-2 lead by halftime. Though the Croats found the way to score more in the second half to come a bit closer  (though not all of them, their master-shooter Marco Jerinic-Kragic finished the game with 0 for 4). Still, the gap was never reduced to less than four goals, the Serbs were comfortably cruising while keeping the Croatian defence under enormous pressure as they took 36 shots and 29 of those were on target. Mate Anic came up with 14 saves – which should be a game-winning stat on other days, now it only let Jadran avoid a bigger defeat. Fixtures for Saturday, 9th March 2024(CET times shown) Champions League Men’s Water Polo Quarter Final Stage – Group B 12.30 Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) v AN Brescia (ITA)20.30 FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) Follow all the Champions League Men’s Water Polo Quarter Final Stage action and results live on the dedicated European Aquatics Champions League website.