After a tremendous battle Olympiacos claimed a shootout win in Brescia and these two points secured their Final Four berth on Day 5 in the Champions League Quarter-final Stage. Barceloneta, already qualified, helped the Greeks with a hard-fought win in Belgrade which denied NBG a last shot at an F4 place.
2025/26 Champions League Men
Quarterfinals Stage, Day 5
Wednesday 13 May
Group A
AN Brescia (ITA) 16-17 Olympiacos SFP (GRE)
VK Novi Beograd Tehnomanija (SRB) 14-16 Zodiac CNAB (ESP)
Standings: 1. CNAB 15pts, 2. Olympiacos 8pts, 3. Brescia 4pts, 4. NBG 3pts
AN Brescia (ITA) 16-17 Olympiacos SFP (GRE) (2-2, 4-4, 2-4, 3-1) Penalties: 5-6
Brescia, needing a win to stay in the hunt for qualification, came back from three goals down to save the game to a shootout – but a missed shot in the seventh round ended their hopes. Olympiacos thus returned to the Final Four after a one-year absence.
It was quickly apparent that the ‘real’ Brescia were performing in their own pool rather than the version thrashed by Barceloneta in the previous round.
Olympiacos led twice in the first period, but Alessandro Balzarini’s blast put the hosts back level 48 seconds before the first break. In the second quarter the Italians made a stormy start, netting three from as many possessions in a span of 1min 35sec, while only a penalty came as a reply, leaving them with a 5-3 advantage.
However, the Greeks bounced back, and Konstantinos Genidounias and Alexandros Pouros converted back-to-back man-ups to make it 5-5 in a matter of 43 seconds.
They missed an extra to go ahead while Balzarini came up with a great finish at the other end. Brescia defended well in the following man-down too, but they couldn’t survive the third one when Gergo Zalanki let his rocket fly with 1:19 to go and Brescia missed their last six on five, so it stood 6-6 at halftime.
The Greeks wasted two more early chances in the third and Tommaso Gianazza hit a brilliant one from the centre. Olympiacos’ struggle to make their extras continued, though their giant centre-forwards delivered them countlessly. Then Dimitrios Dimou’s great bouncing shot ended up in a net from action for 7-7.
A fourth exclusion was called alone in this quarter against the hosts – it led to a red card for the Italian assistant coach in the first place and with some luck gave Olympiacos the lead as Ioannis Alfaragkis reacted the fastest to a rebound and sent it to the net.
Next came Gianazza, though, who hit another big one from the centre. But the reply was stylish – a breathtaking backhander from Dimitrios Nikolaidis, also from the centre.
The remaining 41 seconds brought more pain for Brescia, First they missed their extra, and in the dying seconds Dimou took a shot from 12m or so and it beat the goalie to double Olympiacos’ lead for 8-10.
Only 54 seconds into the fourth, Zalanki fired one in from distance and the Greeks managed to maintain their three-goal lead for a longer period. When Vlado Popadic netted a man-up, it was still 9-11 with 3:16 to go and Olympiacos were able to deny Brescia’s next six-on-five. But Brescia pushed on and Balzarini put the fourth extra away with 1:36 remaining.
The Piraeus side had a match ball, a man-up with 1:16 to go after a time-out – but Tommaso Baggi Necchi came up with a save and no more attempts came after the corner. Brescia got the ball 36 seconds from time and went for a 7 on 6 after a time-out. It was a brilliantly composed attack as they didn’t go for a shot from the perimeter but set up Mario del Basso on 2m and he sent the ball home to save the match a to a shootout with 0:02 to go.
Since the other match already finished and Novi lost to CNAB, here the picture was clear. A win would secure Olympiacos’ Final Four berth, but if Brescia took two points, the decision would have gone to the last round.
Emmanouil Zerdevas made the first save in the second round, but Baggi Necchi immediately stopped a shot too. The following rounds saw only buried penalties, just like the first round of the sudden death phase.
Then Zalanki buried it again while Viskovic sent his effort painfully wide. Together with the ball, Brescia’s hopes also flew away – while the Greeks could celebrate their return to Malta after missing the last edition in 2025.
VK Novi Beograd Tehnomanija (SRB) 14-16 Zodiac CNAB (ESP) (2-3, 3-3, 4-4, 5-6)
Despite having secured their Final Four place on Day 4, Barceloneta played with full force and ended Novi Beograd’s run of making the finals for four straight years. In fact, it was a sweet revenge for the Spaniards, who lost to the Serbs in last year’s semi-final.
It was a last chance for the Serbs to stay alive after losing narrowly in three away matches in a row – but they were made to realise early that their opponents would not give them anything for free, even though they had nothing to lose in this match.
It took more than three minutes for the deadlock to be broken, with Gergely Burian burying the first extra for CNAB and Bernat Sanahuja adding another extraman-goal. After missing a man-up early on, the hosts wasted two more before Milos Cuk had a pinpoint shot in the fourth which put NBG on the scoreboard after seven long minutes. Vince Vigvari responded right away, also from an extra, but Marko Dimitrijevic stunned Unai Aguirre with a brilliant attempt from the perimeter 0:04 from time for 2-3.
It seemed a bit of luxury that the Serbs wasted another man-up at the beginning of the second – and it was the third occasion that they couldn’t even manage a shot from the man-advantage. CNAB also had some problems with their six-on-fives but Unai Biel’s 6m blast reset the two goal-gap at 2-4. Vasilije Martinovic buried a penalty but Roger Tahull replied with a magnificent centre-action for 3-5.
Then the Serbs showed once more that they should never be written off – after some nonchalant plays in extras they converted two in quick succession to level at 5-5. Both times Martinovic’s brilliant assists to his mates at the posts were the key. CNAB’s response didn’t lack for brilliance either as Vigvari finished a man-up with a lob, a rarity in man-ups and a beauty to watch. That set the halftime score at 5-6 as the remaining 2:34 minutes saw only misses at both ends.
Gonzalo Echenique finished off a fine counter 33 seconds into the third but Nikola Lukic buried a penalty soon after to keep it at 6-7. CNAB went on missing their extras and NBG also failed to use theirs to equalise. Instead, another fast counter, finished by Vigvari, doubled the Spaniards’ lead once more and after a steal Biel hit another one in 20 seconds, reducing the stands to silence as the score moved to 6-9.
It soon got louder, though, as setting up the centre-forwards on 2m in extras worked again, with Miroslav Perkovic pulling one back and Nikola Lukic also firing one in a bit later while the Serbs killed a man-down in between. Just 40 seconds later they had a golden chance to equalise through a penalty, but Aguirre headed out Martinovic’s shot. And after another save, another counter killed the hosts’ momentum as Alessandro Velotto made it 8-10. With some luck, Martinovic made up for his miss and buried a second attempt in an extra with 0:40 on the clock, so the last period started at 9-10.
Milos Cuk needed only 12 seconds to make things even as his fierce shot surprised the goalie – but Alberto Munarriz replied with a similar blast for 10-11. Only 39 seconds later another counter ended in a penalty, Vigvari converted it and CNAB led by two once more and held the margin after a quick exchange of man-up goals.
The Spaniards forced a penalty in a six-on-five, Sanahuja showed no mercy so they led by three. Martinovic retained some hope with another fine finish in a man-up for 12-14 and there were still 4:12 minutes to play. However, after almost each possession ended in a goal, the next three crucial minutes saw some great defending, a killed man-down by the Serbs and finally another hit, this time by Lukic from 6m, which cut the hosts’ deficit to a single goal.
But their next man-down defence couldn’t prevent Sanahuja from scoring and even though Martinovic hit his fifth 50 seconds from time Sanahuja was in the mood too and fired one in from the perimeter 27 seconds from time which effectively ended the contest.
This secured CNAB’s top spot in the group, with Novi Beograd missing the finals for the first time since 2022.
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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics