French giants CN Marseille emphatically beat VK Novi Beograd and are on course to win Group A if they keep up the levels they showed in the middle two periods when they hit 10 goals. VK Jadran Split’s late comeback helped the two top ranked sides as they stunned Olympiacos with a 0-4 rush in the fourth and won the shootout – the best possible outcome for the teams checking the scores from France.
Champions League Men
Quarter Final Stage
Group A – Day 4 Results
CN Marseille (FRA) 14-9 Novi Beograd (SRB)
Olympiacos SFP 7-7 (6-7P) VK Jadran Split (CRO)
Standings: 1. Marseille 9, 1. Novi Beograd 9, 3. Olympiacos 4, 4. Jadran 2
CN Marseille’s pool has been like a trip to hell for visiting teams – but what VK Novi Beograd experienced was perhaps the deepest level of the inferno. At least after three periods when the French were up by eight.
The opening eight minutes were balanced, with a lot of missed extras and Marseille needed six minutes to score their first for 1-1, then Alessandro Velotto managed to put away a second shot in a man-up 35 seconds from time to put the hosts ahead.
After a quick exchange of goals, a French whirlwind hit the Serbs as the hosts really started rolling. Daniel Angyal buried a nicely played man-up from close, then, after a wasted NBG man-up, Marc Larumbe also netted one and Michael Bodegas added another one from the centre for 6-2.
Three goals in a span of 1:39 minutes floored the visitors, even though they pulled one back, the French replied with two in a minute for 8-3. A last-gasp goal gave some hope for NBG, but in the third they were simply blown away.
Marseille played the perfect quarter, hitting four from extras while they killed five man-downs. Petar Tesanovic was brilliant in the French goal, while his opposite number Milan Glusac was unable to offer that firm backing for his side, which propelled NBG to great wins in Piraeus and at home against Jadran.
Down by eight, NBG were wounded, and if Olympiacos were winning against Jadran – as expected – it looked like there was a chance a three-way tie was on the horizon when the Greeks visit Belgrade on Day 5.
The Serbs felt that and stepped up in the fourth, scoring three in 76 seconds – the win was still out of grasp but it looked a bit better at 12-7.
Andrija Prlainovic halted their comeback, but NBG could score more and keep the five-goal gap at least.
As it turned out, Jadran helped the Serbs by keeping Olympiacos at bay, still, it was a resounding defeat, and a huge win for Marseille, who can now even dream of finishing top – at least, in case of equal points, they would prevail against NBG.
After back-to-back defeats, Olympiacos faced Jadran in a must-win game. Since the Croats lost their previous three, it seemed this was the perfect set-up for the Greeks to regain some ground and prepare for the last two showdowns against their main rivals.
After three periods, even though Jadran put up a great fight, the home side were in control winning each period 2-1.
Two fast goals in 50 seconds seemed to set the tone in the first quarter – but there was no follow-up from the Greeks. Instead, Loren Fatovic put Jadran on the scoreboard after five minutes and they really did some great defending.
Marko Bijac, leaving Olympiacos last summer to return home and join Jadran, kicked off the second period with a penalty save, but fellow Croat Luka Loncar beat him from action to end Olympiacos almost nine-minute long drought.
Though Jadran also struggled with their man-ups, Fatovic scored again from action for 3-2, but a great centre-shot by Dimitrios Nikolaidis reset the two-goal cushion by half-time.
Dusan Banicevic scored an early goal in the third, then came some hard battling with a second penalty stop by Bijac. Still, two minutes from time, Gergo Zalanki broke the ice in a six on five and Konstantinos Kakaris added another from a man-up for 6-3.
Indeed, nothing predicted what was coming next. Zvonimir Butic, who really struggled with his shots (he finished with 1/9), managed to pull one back from action, then Jadran killed a man-down and Antonio Duzevic’s goal really fired up the Croats at 6-5.
There were still four minutes to play, then Bijac stopped Dimitrios Dimou’s penalty too, and Fatovic hit his third at the other end for 6-6.
Jadran were flying high and soon they were in the lead – Marcus Berehulak scored in a dying man-up with 1:52 to go.
The Greeks were stunned and there was more shocking moments to come as a fourth penalty was called, and Bijac perhaps set a new world record by stopping Zalanki’s shot too.
Jadran had the ball with a minute left and they forced back-to-back corners, so only 0:04 was remaining when Olympiacos called a time-out.
It seemed all was lost, but there was one more twist in this extraordinary encounter. Konstantinos Genidounias got the pass from the restart on the perimeter and after missing four normal shots, he went for something unexpected, a backhand, which caught Bijac by surprise.
It was arguably the goal of the Quarter Final Stage so far, and good enough to save the match to a tie.
Watching Bijac as he went 4/4 with penalty saves in regular time, it was hard to imagine Jadran would lose the shootout, but for a while, the Croatian goalie couldn’t repeat his earlier magic.
At the other end, no saves arrived either, so six rounds went without a miss, then Fatovic scored again and Bijac could finally put his hand on Ioannis Fountoulis’ shot to secure a great win for Jadran.
These two points are no help for them though – as Marseille beat NBG, the Croats are out, but at least they won’t finish the Quarter Final Stage with 0-6 like last year.
For Olympiacos, another home defeat pushes them closer towards the exit, as not even two wins might save them from missing the finals.
Day 5 of the Quarter Final Stage is scheduled for Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd April. You can watch all the Champions League Men action live on www.euroaquaticstv.com and stay up-to-date with live results/tables and real-time updates through the European Aquatics App. Download it here: Google Play.
Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics