As expected, the penultimate round of the men’s Champions League Group Stage saw four home wins on Tuesday and that secured Barceloneta’s top spot in Group C, as well as Quarter Final berths for Marseille, Olympiacos and Savona.
Group C
CN Marseille (FRA) 13-9 Vasas-Plaket (HUN)
Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) 20-8 Jadran m:tel Herceg Novi (MNE)
Standings: 1. Barceloneta 15, 2. Marseille 9, 3. Jadran HN 3, 4. Vasas 3
In the first eight minutes, the fans in Marseille were reliving the nightmares they endured on Day 2 when Vasas stunned the French in Budapest, as Bogdan Durdic hit two fast goals for the Hungarian side and with 0:04 to go he scored again, that time for 3-4.
Vasas even had a man-up early in the second to double their lead, but missed it – and soon Marseille showed their real force. Michael Bodegas netted two quickly, Thomas Vernoux also fired in from an extra and even though Sava Randelovic pulled one back, soon Daniel Angyal was on target from close range, much to the sorrow of his fellow Hungarians as he reset Marselle’s two-geal lead 18 seconds from half-time.
Durdic kept Vasas in the game with his fourth goal early in the third, but only temporarily. Their defence couldn’t do much in man-downs, Ugo Crousillat struck twice, then added one from action and after a couple of misses on extras – which were more painful for Vasas – Bodegas scored another one from action to complete Marseille’s 4-0 run in this period.
Indeed, they went for 8-2 in the middle two periods, which was decisive as the fourth started at 11-6. Though Vasas scored twice in two minutes to kick off the last, Alessandro Velotto put away an extra, just like Vernoux a bit later. In man-ups, Marseille were absolutely superior, the number of goals scored in these situations stood 10-1 at the end, which ultimately decided the outcome.
For the French, good news came from Barceloneta, as the Spanish team blew Jadran away, and that secured Marseille’s spot in the Quarter Finals too.
At the beginning, the Montenegrins put up a good fight, as they took the lead late in the first and also three minutes into the second, at 3-4.
Barceloneta needed almost five minutes to score their first in this quarter – but then they started rolling. It was rather a whirlwind, five action goals from as many possessions and even though Alvaro Granados’ penalty was well saved 19 seconds from time, no one felt that it was a big waste.
What’s more, Barceloneta added three more goals in the third, so they staged an 8-0 run – and all eight came from action. And there were more, as the hosts scored seven alone in this period and stopped at 20 at the end.
In contrast, after scoring four in 11 minutes, Jadran could only add four in the remaining 21 minutes – indeed it was a 17-4 demolition from Barceloneta after 3-4. A result that also secured the top spot for the Spanish champions.
Group D
Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 15-11 KEIO CN Sabadell (ESP)
RN Savona (ITA) 11-9 Primorac Kotor (MNE)
Standings: 1. Olympiacos 11, 2. Savona 11, 3. Sabadell 6, 4. Primorac 2
Olympiacos and Savona both reached safe waters after fine home wins. It was the first ‘three-pointer’ for Olympiacos in their own pool after they managed to break Sabadell in the middle two periods.
The Spaniards kept up till 6-6, then Konstantinos Genidounias buried a penalty, forced in a man-up and Nikolaos Gkillas scored a morale-boosting one from a counter-like attack in the very last second before half-time.
A great goal from the centre from Konstantinos Gouvis 53 seconds into the third established a three-goal lead for the home side. Vincenzo Renzuto pulled one back from a six on five, but two more hits from action expanded the gap to four in a span of 51 seconds.
Gergo Zalanki fired one in from the perimeter, Konstantinos Kakaris followed up with a big backhander from the centre for 11-7. The Greeks killed a man-down, then Ioannis Fountoulis converted a penalty and Olympiacos led 12-7, having staged a 6-1 rush after 6-6.
There was no way back for Sabadell, they could reduce the gap to three goals twice in the fourth, but the Greek reply always came as last season’s bronze medallists finally came up with a worthy performance in front of their loud and passionate supporters.
Savona found it unexpectedly hard to beat Primorac, but in the end the Italians prevailed. The hosts jumped to a 2-0 lead, but the Montenegrins equalised from finely-played man-ups.
The script slightly changed in the second, as Savona went 4-2 up and Primorac could halve the gap from time to time, but the Italians still held a 6-5 lead at half-time.
A shock came in the third when Primorac scored three in a row, as within two minutes they beat the home defence in man-ups and also denied their rivals twice in man-downs.
Pietro Figlioli halted his side’s bad run by burying a penalty and 22 seconds from the final break, Balazs Erdelyi’s action shot brought them back to level at 8-8.
The first two minutes in the last period proved decisive. Figlioli converted another penalty, then he also sent the ball home from an extra – while Primorac wasted their 6 on 5s, not even taking a shot from either of their two opportunities.
Savo Cetkovic broke Primorac’s seven-minute silence from a man-up for 10-9, and the Montenegrins had two balls to equalise, one in a man-up, but they couldn’t create any real danger.
With 1:23 to go, Daniil Merkulov delivered huge relief to the home fans as he blasted one from the perimeter for 11-9 and that not just closed down the contest, but also sent Savona to the Quarter Final round.
Fixtures for Wednesday
(all times are CET)
Group A
18.15 Novi Beograd (SRB) v CSM Oradea (ROU)
20.00 Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Steua Bucharest (ROU)
Group B
18.15 Jadran Split (CRO) v Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)
20.00 FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB)
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