Olympiacos SFP came back from four goals down amidst dramatic circumstances to force a shootout away at RN Savona and three brilliant saves from Panagiotis Tzortzatos secured them first place in Group D. Zodiac CNAB Barceloneta kept their perfect record after a strong finish at CN Marseille, while PVK Jadran m:tel Herceg Novi downed Vasas-Plaket to grab third place in Group C.
Champions League Men – Group C
Jadran m:tel Herceg Novi (MNE) 17-9 Vasas-Plaket (HUN)
CN Marseille (FRA) 9-12 Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP)
Final rankings: 1. Barceloneta 18, 2. Marseille 9, 3. Jadran 6, 4. Vasas 3
The clash of Jadran and Vasas had more at stake, as here the winners would put themselves in a better position for the Euro Cup Eight-Finals draw (the third will play with a second-ranked team in the Euro Cup Group Stage, while the fourth with a group-winner).
Jadran blew Vasas away in Budapest in the reverse fixture, and this time the Hungarians could hold on for two quarters, though the Montenegrins never gave the lead away in the first half.
A last-gasp goal before the middle break saw Vasas come back to 7-5, but two man-up goals in 68 seconds early in the third put Jadran in control at 9-5.
While Jadran were able to bounce back from their painful defeat in the domestic cup final, Vasas started running out of gas as they’d had three tough matches back home in eight days.
By the end of the third, it was 13-8 and the Hungarians conceded four more – 10 in the second half – to lose by eight goals again.
The game of the two advancing sides produced a balanced match with a somewhat crazy ending. While their first match on Day 3 produced 33 goals, this one offered three quarters of tough defending as the Spaniards battled to a 5-6 lead.
The first period saw the real Barceloneta which gained a 2-4 lead – only to return to the pool to produce their first scoreless quarter of the season.
Marseille defended well and managed to come back to 4-4, and even had a 6 on 4 to go ahead, but missed it.
In the third, they still took the lead as Alexandre Bouet put away the ball in a dying man-up, but Felipe Perrone scored in a 6 on 5 and Alvaro Granados hit one from action 47 seconds later to give his team a 5-6 lead before the last period.
After scoring 11 goals combined in three periods, the fourth saw 10 to give way to some of the craziness which was part of the show on Day 3.
Bouet levelled the scores right away from an extra, Granados did the same, followed by Marc Larumbe’s hit, which, unlike last year when he had played for Barceloneta, delighted the home crowd.
However, after 7-7, Vince Vigvari also buried an extra and Bernat Sanahuja doubled the Spaniards’ lead 53 seconds later.
Bouet pulled one back 3:30 from time, but Sanahuja netted the following man-up, then Marseille missed a crucial extra and Gergely Burian’s double in a span of 36 seconds sealed Barceloneta’s sixth victory.
Champions League Men – Group D
RN Savona (ITA) 11-11 (0-3P) Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE)
KEIO CN Sabadell (ESP) 15-16 Primorac Kotor (MNE)
Final rankings: 1. Olympiacos 13, 2. Savona 12, 3. Sabadell 6, 4. Primorac 5
In a hectic fight, Savona seemed to have the edge to beat Olympiacos once again, but their rivals staged a comeback in a dramatic endgame.
The Greeks’ plans were dealt a blow in the middle of the first period when their centre-forward Konstantinos Kakaris was red carded after some unnecessary roughness against the defender who had been excluded moments earlier.
This had some impact on their offence for a while, and Savona jumped to a 5-2 lead. But, after 6-3, the second centre Luka Loncar delivered two man-ups and the Greeks could set up Ioannis Alafragkis on the 2m line to narrow the gap to 6-5 by half-time.
Dimitrios Dimou buried another extra early in the third for 6-6, but Luca Damonte halted Olympiacos’ run with a fine action goal, and after a denied man-down, Valerio Rizzo added another one from the perimeter.
Soon it was 9-6, as Lorenzo Bruni scored one from a counter. Loncar pulled one back from an extra, but again, Savona killed a man-down and Pietro Figlioli beat the buzzer from a 6m shot for 10-7.
When the veteran warrior hit another one 5:35 from time for 11-7, the hosts seemed to have it. Dimou netted one from action quickly, but Savona still looked confident enough.
The game produced a dramatic twist, however, when Figlioli, while in possession of the ball, appeared to strike Alexandros Papanastasiou and referee Nenad Peris reached for his red card.
With 3:49 remaining, Savona faced a man-down till the end, with the score standing at 11-9 since Konstantinos Genidounias buried the ensuing penalty.
For almost three minutes, the score did not change, as the home side burnt the time smartly while in possession and managed to defend extremely well against the Greeks’ 30sec man-ups, three times in a row.
But with 55 seconds remaining, Dimou put the ball away and after a missed shot, Olympiacos could launch a counter and Papanastasiou equalised from close range 17 seconds from time.
Savona’s last shot was well saved by Panagiotis Tzortzatos, who came in for the fourth period and became the Greeks’ hero in the shootout. He stopped all three shots he faced, as his team-mates converted theirs to win the game and grab the first place.
The other match had nothing at stake, but after an action-packed first period, Primorac, fresh from lifting their cup at home at the weekend, came up big in the second period as Sabadell’s defence unusually crashed.
The Montenegrins netted seven goals in eight minutes and early in the third they went 7-12 up. The Spaniards started climbing back with a double in 20 seconds, but still trailed 10-13 before the final quarter.
Two fast goals, this time in a span of 37 seconds, cut the gap to a single goal and another counter 4:31 from time brought them back to even at 13-13. The visitors had gone more than eight minutes without scoring, but then they did it twice to lead 13-15 with 1:32 remaining.
Sabadell netted a man-up, then Primorac forced a penalty and Nika Shushiashvili buried it. Axel Corres also sent the ball home from a 6 on 5, but it was too late, at 0:20, and Primorac kept the ball to land their first win on the last day.
Fixtures for Wednesday
(all times are CET)
Group A
20.00 CSM Oradea (ROU) v Steaua Bucharest (ROU)
20.00 Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v VK Novi Beograd (SRB)
Group B
18.15 Jadran Split (CRO) v FTC-Telekom (HUN)
18.15 SPD Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) v Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)
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