OSC Budapest (Hungary), SIntez Kazan (Russia), Terrassa (Spain) and Jadran Split (Croatia) successfully passed the exams in the Qualification Round 3 for the Champions League and advanced to the Main Round of the most respectable club water polo competition in the world.
Today, the return leg of the third qualification round (playoffs) was played. The four losing teams Brescia (Italy), Vouliagmeni (Greece), Oradea (Romania) and Strasbourg (France) will play in the LEN Euro Cup quarterfinals.
Champions League playoffs, 2nd Leg
Sintez – Brescia 10:7 (2:1, 3:2, 2:2, 3:2) – 1st leg 12:13
Sintez: Lazarev 2, Lisunov 2, Latypov 2, Vasilyev 1, Odintsov 1, Dereviankin 1, Andryukov 1.
Brescia: Nora 2, Nikolaidis 1, Bertoli 1, Figari 1, C. Presciutti 1, Buha.
Vouliagmeni – OSC Budapest 6:7 (0:2, 2:2, 2:3, 2:0) – 1st leg 3:11
Vouliagmeni: Basic 2, Gkouvetsis 2, Kalogeropoulos 2.
OSC Budapest: K. Manhercz 2, Prlainovic 2, Dr. Brguljan 2, Randjelovic 1.
Oradea – Terrassa 5:6 (0:1, 2:2, 3:1, 0:2) – 1st leg 7:10
Oradea: Dragomirescu 2, Inaba 1, Popoviciu 1.
Terrassa: Barroso 2, Sanahuja 1, Pericas 1, Gutierrez 1, Rodriguez 1.
Strasbourg – Jadran Split 7:16 (2:3, 2:5, 2:3, 1:5) – 1st leg 5:13
Team Strasbourg SNS: Markovic 3, Sutic 2, Chion 1, Begovic 1.
Jadran Split: Butic 3, Buric 2, Vrdoljak 2, Delic 2, Duzevic 2, Zovic 1, Pejkovic 1, Viskovic 1, Power 1, Setka 1.
For the first time since the season 2016/17, Brescia won’t play in the Main Round of the Champions League. Brescia, which reached the Champions League final tournaments in the previous three editions, gained only a single-goal advantage (13:12) in the first match against Sintez, so the Italians didn’t have a big chance before the return leg.
The Italians scored the first goal in today’s encounter in Kazan, but the Russians responded with four straight goals and went 4:1 up. Brescia netted two fast goals to come close (3:4). However, Sintez doubled an advantage by the halftime – 5:3 and from that point on, the Russians’ advantage was never smaller than 2 goals. Sintez had a 4-goal advantage (9:5) early in the last quarter. Brescia cut the deficit to 2 (7:9) with 03:44 to go, but the Italians couldn’t go further. In the last minute of the match, Dereviankin found the net for the final score 10:7.
Sintez will debut in this format of the Champions League (which was launched in 2013), as well as Terrassa.
Terrassa did a fine job at home on Saturday, beating Oradea by 3 goals (10:7). Today, the Spaniards opened the return leg with a 2:0 lead, while they had a 4:2 advantage early in the third quarter. But, the Romanians didn’t give up. Oradea scored three goals in a span of two minutes and entered the last quarter with a 5:4 lead. After the last break, Terrassa retook control and achieved a 6:5 win. The key of the Spaniards’ win was an excellent defence with man-down. Oradea converted just one of 11 man-ups. On the other side, Terrassa’s efficiency was 50% (4 goals form 8 extra player attacks).
OSC Budapest arrived in Vouliagmeni with a big 8-goal advantage earned in the match in Hungary (11:3) and didn’t have a hard task today. The Hungarians built a 3:0 lead early in the second period and killed all excitements. Both teams played with no pressure in the remaining time, as it was clear that OSC secured its spot in the Champions League. The visitors maintained a 3-goal advantage until the last break (7:4), while Vouliagmeni narrowed the gap with two goals in the last two minutes.
OSC returned to the Main Round after one season of absence, while Jadran Split will play in the Group Stage for the second time in a row.
Just like OSC, Jadran had an 8-goal advantage after the first leg. It beat with Strasbourg (13:5) on Saturday. The Croats didn’t commit mistakes in the return match played in Strasbourg today and recorded another very convincing win 16:7.
Champions League, Main Round
Group A
Barceloneta (Spain)
Olympiacos (Greece)
Jadran Herceg Novi (Montenegro)
Szolnoki Dosza (Hungary)
Spandau 04 (Germany)
Jug Dubrovnik (Croatia)
Jadran Split (Croatia)
Sintez Kazan (Russia)
Group B
Ferencvaros Budapest (Hungary)
Mladost Zagreb (Croatia)
Pro Recco (Italy)
Waspo 98 Hannover (Germany)
CN Marseille (France)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
Terrassa (Spain)
OSC Budapest (Hungary)
The first round of the Champions League will be played on 8 October (Group A) and 9 October (Group B).
