Qualification Round

Recco, Ferencvaros survive thrillers, Novi Beograd, Brescia enjoy easy cruises Last season’s finalists survived thrillers to reach the semis once again. Title-holder Recco did it for the 7th time in a row after downing Barceloneta 11-10, while Ferencvaros won its 3rd quarter-final in as many appearances, coming back from two goals down in the fourth against Jug. Brescia also made the top four like in 2021, with an easy win over Hannover, while host Novi Beograd crushed Marseille to reach the semis right on their first try. Quarter-finals: AN Brescia (ITA) v Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) 12-5, Pro Recco (ITA) v Zodiac Atletic Barceloneta (ESP) 10-11, Olympique Marseille (FRA) v Novi Beograd (SRB) 10-16, FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) 14-13. Schedule for Saturday – Semi-finals, 18.30: Brescia v Novi Beograd, 20.30: Recco v FTC. For 5-8th: 14.30: Hannover v Marseille, 16.30: Barceloneta v Jug Barceloneta pushed Recco to the edge and missed three man-ups in a row at 10-10 in the fourth period, but the Italian defence withstood the pressure, denied all and Hungarian leftie Gergo Zalanki scored the game-winner for the title-holders with 1:16 from time. Earlier in the game Recco fell behind after 4-3 and chased the Spaniards basically for three periods. Changing their goalie and some fine defending saved them at 5-7 and they really stepped up in the fourth to pass their toughest test in the season and reach the semis for the 7th time in a row. 2019 champion and last year’s runner-up Ferencvaros was flying high in the first half of the game against Jug, but a four-minute scoreless period, followed by a six-minute drought turned the game into a thriller (they scored 8 in the first half, and only one in the third). The Croats came back from three goals down and early in the fourth they led 10-12 before Denes Varga started his magics. His double in 35 seconds brought the Magyars back to life and they edged out Jug – just like in 2019 – for another semi-final appearance. It’s due against Recco, so the 2021 final shall be replayed in the top four. As for the lop-sided matches, Brescia’s trouncing of Hannover came as no surprise, the Italians delivered the win with ease, as a favourite should do. A 7-0 run in the first half did enough damage to enjoy a calmer second half. They will face Novi Beograd in the semi-final as the hosts breathed through the game against Marseille. The French enjoyed an amazing 11-game winning streak in the prelims but lost their last two matches and their sinking didn’t seem to stop here. They conceded 16 goals, the most in the season. The Serbs were in the mood – as their legendary coach Igor Milanovic said –, they produced a series of brilliant goals and made the semis right on their first appearance in the F8. In the group they already met Brescia, played an 11-11 tie in this pool before handing Brescia its first defeat in the prelims in Italy (13-16). Game recaps Brescia v Hannover 12-5 The Germans would have needed a perfectly executed game-plan in order to have a chance against the hotly favoured Italians – brilliant defending and effective offense. They lacked both, especially their attacks seemed to be weak though here the credits went to the Brescia defence which were as aggressive as ever and Petar Tesanovic also did a splendid job in the goal. Though Hannover opened the scoring, Brescia hit back quickly then added three more in the last three minutes of the opening period, including one with one second remaining on the clock. The trend didn’t change in the following quarter, it happened for the second time in the first half that Hannover played a 6 on 5, missed it and Brescia scored from the ensuing one-on-one counter, the worst-case scenario according to the coaches’ handbook… Hannover was 7-1 down when they could score again in the dying seconds, indeed they had a scoreless phase of 14:19 minutes when Brescia scored seven unanswered goals and that decided the match by halftime. In the third, after an early exchange of goals the pace of the game slowed down, Brescia didn’t push that hard while the Germans were unable to penetrate their defence seriously. Shortly before the last break the Italians netted two in a minute, though, while Hannover pulled one back from a penalty, but the 10-4 lead set up a calm finish for the Italians. Recco v Barceloneta 11-10 It was as thrilling as it could be – the clash of the 9-time champion and the team which can be considered a regular semi-final participant (and won the title in 2014). Recco seemed to gain control in the first period, took the lead three times but the Spaniards managed to equalise thrice. Even though initially they struggled to find their rhythm but a 6 on 4 helped them to score their first after three minutes and did some fine defending as well. Still, Recco was in front after the first period as five seconds were enough for Aleksandar Ivovic to put away a man-up in last second for 4-3. The first twist came at the beginning of the second when the Spaniards netted two within a minute, both from action to put Recco to the chaser’s position. Aaron Younger levelled the score from an extra and then came more than four minutes of brilliant battling, one man-up was missed at both ends, defences worked well and we seemed to have a tied first half but Felipe Perrone sent the ball to the top left corner from the perimeter for 5-6. Barceloneta looked more focused, 13 out of their 14 shots were on target while Recco had 7 out of 18. As far as concentration is concerned, the opening scene in the third showed nothing different when Marc Larumbe’s ball, coming from almost zero angle in the last second of the possession, bounced in from

Another comeback secured Ferencvaros’ second position  FTC-Telekom staged a great comeback against group-winner Brescia, scoring five goals in the  last period to keep the second place. Since Barceloneta and Novi Beograd also did its respective  ‘home works’, the F8 host Serbs finished third and the Spaniards remained fourth and need to  face title-holder Recco in the quarter-finals.  Group A (Wednesday)  FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v AN Brescia (ITA) 8-6, Jadran Split (CRO) v Zodiac Atletic  Barceloneta (ESP) 13-15, Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) v Novi Beograd (SRB) 11-13, Dinamo Tbilisi  (GEO) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 14-13  Final rankings: 1. Brescia 30, 2. Ferencvaros 28, 3. Novi Beograd 27, 3. Barceloneta 27, 5.  Olympiacos 20, 6. Radnicki 13, 7. Jadran 9, 8. Dinamo 6  Tie-breaking: Novi B v Barceloneta 11-9, 12-12  Final Eight, Quarter-finals: Brescia v Hannover, Ferencvaros v Jug, Novi Beograd v Marseille,  Barceloneta v Recco (The schedule and starting times are to be published later)  Ferencvaros and Brescia produced hard-fought battles in the previous season, the Italians downed the  Magyars twice in the prelims only to lose them in a spectacular match in the semis. This autumn they  produced a thrilling draw on the opening day, and they came up with another memorable showdown in  this last round.  Brescia, had won the group already, forced another big fight and kept the game under control till early  in the fourth leading 3-5. However, the Magyars did a great job and managed to score five in the last  period, Denes Varga’s 15m backhanded shot to the empty net in the last seconds was a coronation of  this great encounter. (Daniil Merkulov scored the crucial goal after 6-6 with 13 seconds to go – just like  he did in Barceloneta when his late shot earned a valuable point for his team.)  Barceloneta did a fine job in Split, though the level of the Spaniards’ defence dropped in the last one  and a half periods and the Croats came back from to 13-14 after being four goals down but Barceloneta  managed to net one more to bag all three points.  The last game of the prelims was the in-house derby of the Serbians – since they face each other in their  domestic final, Radnicki was no way making the life of the Novi Beograd players any easier. Indeed,  they kept their arch-rivals under pressure for four periods, had a penalty at 10-11 but missed it and  Nikola Jaksic put away a man-up in the next possession for 10-12. That decided the game and secured  Novi Beograd’s third place and a quarter-final against Marseille, an obviously more promising match up than facing title-holder Recco on the opening day of the Final Eight, even at their home.  In the fourth game Dinamo upset Olympiacos – the Greeks’ season ended in utter disappointment,  instead of playing for the trophy, they claimed only one point in their last four matches. Recaps  FTC v Brescia 8-6  Brescia didn’t offer any free meal for the hosts even though the game didn’t matter for the Italians,  rather for the Magyars who needed a win to secure the second place. However, the visitors wanted to  bounce back from the shocking defeat in the first leg of the Italian semis (had lost to Trieste at home) so  their approach was pretty serious throughout the match.  It was mirrored by their very tough and disciplined defensive efforts, the Magyars found really hard to  find fine scoring chances, Petar Tesanovic stopped the forced shots with ease while his team-mates  made most of their opportunities in front.  Boris Vapenski put away the first man-up after just 33 seconds, Denes Varga did the same at the other  end two and a half minutes later. The hosts missed their next two extras and even though a save denied  Brescia in its 6 on 5, Christian Presciutti managed to send the ball to the net while the excluded player  rushed back.  The following period began the same way, Vincenzo Renzuto scored from action for 1-3 and even  though the Italians couldn’t score more in the remaining 7:35 minutes, they did their best in the back to  concede only one – Marton Vamos blasted one from the perimeter with 3:09 before the middle break  but couldn’t go on aftar that.  A bit contrasting, Ferencvaros opened the scoring in the third, Szilard Jansik put the ball away from a  man-up after 50 seconds for 3-3 but this time the hosts were unable to carry on and remained scoreless  for 7:10 minutes. The Magyars didn’t have any clean shots on equal strength and struggled to convert  man-ups, missed two in the previous period and four more in this one. Nicolas Constantin-Bicari  finished off a man-up nicely a bit later for 3-4 – and the rest of the period was devoted to defensive  greatness, both sides had some heroic efforts to kill man-downs one after the other.  The Magyars seemed to get in trouble early in the fourth when Stefano Luongo scored from action for  3-5 but for the first time they found some rhythm, Denes Varga offered another glimpse of his magical  skills when he just let the ball fly from 7m and 45 seconds later Erik Molnar finished off a counter for   5-5. Still, Brescia had more, Constantin-Bicari sold another great wrist-shot against his former team mates to convert a man-up for 5-6 and the 2019 champions needed two goals in the remaining 2:24  minutes to reach safe waters (and avoid dropping to the fourth place and a QF match-up with Recco).   The first arrived from a penalty, hotly questioned by the Italians (it was called after a rebound in a man down) – Marton Vamos buried it with 1:24 to go for 6-6, but the draw was still not enough as it was  hard to imagine that Barceloneta and Novi Beograd would not win their respective matches a bit later.  Their defence worked well, a steal offered the Magyars another opportunity, they earned a man-up,  called a time-out and Daniil Merkulov

Recco staged eight minutes of power-demonstration  Recco beat Marseille and sealed its usual No. 1 position in the prelims – a perfect 5-0 storm in the  second period secured the title-holders’ win over the group’s runner-up. A late 0-3 surge earned a  point to Jug’s teen team in Hannover, while OSC gained a consolation win in Bucharest and  Crvena Zvezda managed to avoid being bottom-ranked, thanks to a last-grasp winner in Berlin.  Group B: Pro Recco (ITA) v CN Marseille (FRA) 11-8, Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Jug Croatia  Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) 14-14, Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 11-12, Steaua  Bucharest (ROU) v Genesys-OSC Budapest (HUN) 9-15  Standings: 1. Recco 39, 2. Marseille 33, 3. Jug 31, 4. Hannover 21, 5. OSC 19, 6. Spandau 10, 7.  Zvezda 7, 8. Steaua 4  Everything has been decided on Day 13 in this group, not even the Final Eight berths but the rankings as  well – so the games were entertaining and also used by the teams to gear up for the final crucial matches  of the season.  Recco inaugurated its magnificent sea-side outdoor pool with a fine win over runner-up Marseille. The  Italians staged an eight-minute-long power demonstration in the second period when they rushed to an  8-3 lead – but the French climbed back and had possessions to go even at 9-8 early in the fourth before  Recco closed down the contest.  Since the current format of the Champions League has been launched in 2014, Recco finished atop in all  but one season – it was right in the first edition in 2014 when in a rare scenario they came second and  had three defeats in the group (and finished 6th in the F6). In the seven full seasons played since, the  Italian giant had three more losses in 82 group matches (and a fourth one in the halted pandemic  season). All in all, in the last eight years they produced 84 wins, 3 ties and 4 losses in the prelims (78-1- 3 without 2020), and they posted perfect marks four times (10/10 in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 14/14 in  2019) and never had more than one loss in the other four years.  The battle of the other two qualified sides ended in a spectacular draw. All credits go to Jug’s  youngsters as the Croats fielded only four of their regular players (though they netted 13 goals out of  14) and nine juniors as their focus is on their championship final series. Hannover seemed to have the  game in hand at 14-11 but Jug managed to save it to a draw with a great rush at the end.  In the matches of the lower ranked sides, OSC claimed another consolation win in Bucharest while  Crvena Zvezda finished the prelims the same way they had started it on Day 1: they beat Spandau, this  time with a goal scored 0:06 on the clock. Too bad that they could grab only a single point in the 12  rounds between these two matches. Recaps  Recco v Marseille 11-8  The clash of the top two offered some fine water polo – in fact a seven-goal win for Marseille would  have altered the rankings but that was something no one had seen coming, not even the French.  Gergo Zalanki scored the first Champions League goal in the newly opened pool, Benjamin Hallock  added another one later while Marseille needed five minutes to open its account. But they managed to  score more in the first, indeed two in the last 40 seconds so it stood 3-3 after eight minutes.  The next chapter was absolutely different, it was Recco all the way and a strong message for the top  guys in Group A: go for your wins tomorrow and try to avoid a clash with us or you may face the same  fate. Indeed, the Italians blew the French away with a 5-0 storm, their offence was overwhelming, their  defence was perfect (killed two man-downs) so they were 8-3 up at halftime.  However, the third unfolded differently – the perfect storm was over, Marseille scored from a penalty  and a man-up in 48 seconds and that gave their confidence back. Though Hallock put away a 6 on 5 for  9-5, another man-up goal and another penalty halved the gap while Recco missed two extras. When  Andrija Prlainovic netted the French’s first man-up at the beginning of the fourth, the game heated up  pretty much at 9-8 and after killing a man-down, Marseille had a couple of possessions to go equal. But  they couldn’t score from those – indeed, they didn’t add any more in the last 7:19 minutes while  Aleksandar Ivovic blasted his third for 10-8 and after some fine defending by the title-holders, Hallock  put an end to the contest from a dying man-up.   Hannover v Jug 14-14  In the middle of the Croatian league final, Jug sent a team full of youngsters – only four key players  ’accompanied’ the teens to Hannover – so the Germans’ task looked easy: mark the four ‘seniors’ and  the game can be handled with ease. Well, if that was the plan, it did not work for sure as the two Greeks,  Stylianos Argyropoulos and Alexandros Papanastasiou, plus the two elder Croats Marko Zuvela and  Filip Krzic (whose father, Ognjen substituted the head coach Vjeko Kobescak for this tour) scored 13 of  the 14 goals Jug produced.  Still, Hannover had the game in hand – though the ‘teen squad’ held on for a while and grabbed the lead  in the first half eight times, but the Germans managed to equalise every time and after 8-8 a double in  46 seconds gave them a 10-8 lead at the halfway mark.  The Croats climbed back early in the third with two action goals from Papanastasiou but in the  remaining time of this quarter the hosts stepped up, scored three unanswered goals, killed two man downs before the last break so they seemed to sit comfortable in the driving

Avoiding Recco  All spots are booked for the Final Eight, the rankings are cemented in Group B – so the last round  of the prelims offers minor excitements for Wednesday when Group A contestants stage a last  surge to keep or shake up the current positions. The fourth placed side will face title-holder Pro  Recco in the quarter-finals.  Ferencvaros has a single-point advantage in this ‘avoiding Recco’ game – though the 2019 champions  have the toughest match-up on paper, an encounter with group-winner Brescia. The Hungarians have  enjoyed a brilliant run recently, claimed big away wins over Novi Beograd and Olympiacos, a hard fought home victory against Radnicki – and lately they thrashed fellow Champions League participant  OSC 18-9 in the domestic league final. On contrary, Brescia suffered a shocking home defeat against  Trieste in the Italian semis – and this upcoming match means little or nothing for the Italians as they  already won the group, though they may wish to use it to bounce back for the home play-offs.  The other two rivals chasing the higher ranks in Group A are F8 host Novi Beograd and Barceloneta.  The Serbs have another showdown with their good old arch-rivals Radnicki – it’s also a rehearsal for  their probable clash in the domestic final. Barceloneta, sitting in the fourth place, visits Jadran in Split,  an almost sure win for the Spaniards but it can make no impact if Ferencvaros and Radnicki also pulls  off wins. In the head-to-head, Novi Beograd is favoured as they played a 12-12 draw and beat the  Spanish 11-9 at home.  The top four positions are settled in Group A – well, Marseille may finish atop if the team stages a  miracle in Recco and wins by 7 goals, but this is something not even the French are dreaming of. All  other games are about finetuning for the season-ending clashes in the respective play-offs across Europe  – and of course, for the Final Eight to be held in Belgrade on 2-4 June, in the indoor pool of Novi  Beograd.  Group A (Wednesday)  18.30 FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v AN Brescia (ITA)  19.00 Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE)  19.00 Jadran Split (CRO) v Zodiac Atletic Barceloneta (ESP)  20.30 Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) v Novi Beograd (SRB)  Standings: 1. Brescia 30, 2. Ferencvaros 25, 3. Novi Beograd 24, 3. Barceloneta 24, 5. Olympiacos 20,  6. Radnicki 13, 7. Jadran 9, 8. Dinamo 3  Group B (Tuesday)  18.15 Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Jug Croatia Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO)  19.00 Pro Recco (ITA) v CN Marseille (FRA)  19.00 Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v Crvena Zvezda (SRB)  20.00 Steaua Bucharest (ROU) v Genesys-OSC Budapest (HUN) Standings: 1. Recco 36, 2. Marseille 33, 3. Jug 30, 4. Hannover 20, 5. OSC 16, 6. Spandau  10, 7. Steaua 4, 8. Zvezda 4