Favorites improve goal difference; Vouliagmeni goes to Belgrade

The list of the participating teams in the Champions League Final Eight (Belgrade, May 31 – June 3) has been completed.

The last available ticket went to Vouliagmeni.

There were no surprises in today’s 13th round of Group A.

The day was opened by Barceloneta’s convincing win over Vouliagmeni (13:6). Several hours later, Jadran Split, the only team that had minimal chances to catch up with Vouliagmeni in 4th place, suffered a convincing defeat to Pro Recco in Italy. Recco beat the Croats by seven goals (14:7).

The distance between Vouliagmeni and Jadran remained at three points. But, even if the two teams are tied after the last day of the Preliminary Stage, Vouliagmeni will keep 4th place because of a better score in the matches against Jadran.

For the first time, Greece will have two clubs in the final tournament of the Champions League.

Olympiacos, which secured its ticket for F8 earlier, ran over Dinamo Tbilisi 19:10.

The only team that recorded an away win today was Radnicki, which beat Waspo Hannover, thanks to an excellent finish – 12:7.

Barceloneta is in 1st place with 36 points and it’s almost sure it will stay atop because it will host Dinamo Tbilisi on Day 14.

Pro Recco has 33 points, two more than Olympiacos. These two powerhouses will face off in the last round in Recco, in the duel that will decide 2nd place.

As mentioned, Vouligameni couldn’t move from 4th place.

2022/23 Champions League Day 13, Group A

Barceloneta – Vouliagmeni 13:6 (2:0, 6:1, 1:2, 4:3)

Barceloneta: Aguirre, Famera 2, Matkovic 2, Munarriz, De Toro, Larumbe, Pavillard, Fernandez, Tahull 2, Perrone 2, Biel 2, Bustos, Porter. Head coach:Fatovic.

Vouliagmeni:Tzortzatos, Chalyvopoulos, Kastrinakis, Kalogeropoulos, Troulos 1, Nikolaidis, Papasifakis 2, Woodhead, Alafragkis 1, Kapotsis, Kourovanis 1, Almyras 1, Andreadis. Head coach: Vujasinovic.

The group leader flew in the first two quarters and a half and quickly killed all suspense. After the first eight minutes, Vouliagmeni maybe still hoped it could surprise the hosts, but that hope disappeared in the next eight minutes.

Pavillard opened the second half with a long-distance goal for 3:0. Biel added one from a 6 on 5 and Barceloneta led 4:0 in the 10th minute. Troulos scored from a penalty for 1:4. Vouliagmeni waited for the next goal until the 20th minute. In the meantime, Barceloneta scored five. By the end of the first half, the Spaniards went to 8:1. Matkovic made it 9:1 from a counter-attack in the 18th minute, and Barceloneta already bagged three points. The rest of the game was a formality.
In the middle of the third, Vouliagmeni scored its second goal (Kourovanis from an extra player).

Barceloneta maintained the difference in the remaining time. The winner was decided and both teams started thinking about the finals of the playoffs in their domestic championships.

The Greeks weren’t very disappointed since their objective and the 4th place were very close despite the defeat (the game Recco-Jadran started several hours after the match in Barcelona).

“I thank Barceloneta because they slowed in the second half and let us survive in this match”, Vouliagmeni’s head coach Vladimir Vujasinovic said with a smile after the match.

Pro Recco – Jadran S 14:7 (5:1, 2:2, 5:1, 2:3)

Pro Recco: Del Lungo, Di Fulvio 3, Zalanki 1, Cannella 1, Younger 1, Fondelli 2, N.Presciutti, Iocchi Gratta, Ivovic 1, Velotto 3, Aicardi, Hallock 2, Negri. Head coach: Sukno.

Jadran Split: Marcelic, Buric 1, Pavlovic, Cagalj, Butic 1, Pejkovic, Bukic 1, Tomasovic 1, Delic, Jankovic 1, Setka 1, Duzevic 1, Podrug. Head coach: Marelja.

The game was played in Pro Recco’s outdoor pool in Recco. This match was the first in the 2023 Champions League Preliminary Stage held in an outdoor pool. In addition, today’s game was the first international match in Recco after a long time

Jadran still had a slim chance of qualifying for the Final Eight before Day 13. However, the Croats gave up on the race for the Final Eight berths. The fifth match of the final of the Croatian Championships, scheduled for Wednesday, is a priority for the Split-based team.

Jadran arrived in Recco without a few key players (Jerko Marinic Kragic, Niksa Dobud, goalkeeper Mate Anic, Ivan Domagoj Zovic) since the head coach Marelja wanted to rest them before the fifth duel with Jug in the Croatian final.

The Croatian team managed to keep up with the European champion in the opening minutes. Two and a half minutes before the end of the first quarter, Jadran trailed by a goal (1:2). However, Pro Recco produced a 3:0 run in the last 147 seconds of the opening period, so it had a significant four-goal lead at the first break (5:1).

Alessandro Velotto made it 6:1 in Recco’s first possession in the second quarter. Still, the second quarter was balanced. But Recco took a storming start into the second quarter. The hosts scored five goals in a row in the first four minutes of the third quarter, jumped to 12:3, and the contest was over. In the rest of the game, the younger players of Jadran had more chances to prove themselves. They fought until the end; Recco slowed and saved energy for Tuesday’s first match of the Italian League final. Jadran reduced the gap. In the end, neither of the team left the pool unsatisfied.

Olympiacos – Dinamo T 19:10 (5:1, 4:2, 6:3, 4:4)

Olympiacos: Bijac, Gkillas 2, Vamos 2, Genidounias 2, Fountoulis 2, Gouvis, Dervisis 1, Buslje, Mourikis 2, Filipovic 2, Dimou 5, Papanastasiou 1, Zerdevas. Head coach: Milanovic.

Dinamo Tbilisi: Razmadze, Kiriakidi, Akhvlediani 6, Dzikhtsiarenka 1, Tkeshelashvili, Vlahovic 1, Meskhi, Saric, Imnaishvili 1, Giorgadze, Malyshau, Pjesivac, Gyapjas. Head coach: Stanojevic.

Nothing but Olympiacos’ convincing wins was expected to happen in the game in Piraeus. Dinamo was an underdog. In addition, the Tbilisi-based side arrived in Greece without a few players who represent Georgia at the qualifications for the World Beach Games.

The hosts earned a 3:0 lead by the middle of the first quarter. At the first break, the Greeks led by four goals. Dinamo reduced the gap to three twice (2:5 and 3:6). Then, Olympiacos’ attack, led by young Dimitrios “Takis” Dimou, did the damage. The Greeks scored five unanswered goals in nine minutes to build an 11:3 advantage. By the end of the third period, Olympiacos stretched the margin to eight (14:6).

The fourth quarter saw eight goals; half were scored from penalty shots (each side netted two goals from the 5m line in the fourth period). All in all, there were many penalty shots in the game – nine and eight were converted (Olympiacos 4/4, Dinamo 4/5).

The best scorer was Besarion Akhvlediani. He didn’t find the net in the first half, but he scored six of Dinamo’s seven goals in the next 16 minutes.

Waspo 98 – Radnicki 7:12 (2:2, 2:3, 3:3, 0:4)

Waspo 98 Hannover: Benke, Corusic 1, Schipper, Froreich, Schutze, Radovic, Lozina 2, Macan, Kubisch, Gansen 1, Benic 2, Basic 1, Goetz. Head coach: Seehafer.
Radnicki: Todorovski, Brankovic, Stanojevic 3, Jankovic 2, Cuk 1, Gavrilovic 1, Ukropina 2, Antic, Panic, Kojic 1, Lukic 2, Poznanovic, Dobozanov. Head coach: Stevanovic.

The most exciting match of the day was the one that had no importance for the standings. Waspo and Radnicki couldn’t qualify for the Final Eight. Today’s encounter was helpful for them in the preparations for the finish of the domestic championships.

The rhythm of the game was quite slow in the first half, but Radnicki displayed a better performance. In the 10th minute, Hannover led 4:2. Then Radnicki, which arrived without injured Josip Vrlic and Luka Pljevancic, tightened its defense and scored three goals in a row. So, the visitors were 5:4 up before the third quarter.

Waspo Hannover refound its rhythm in the third period and went ahead. Basic converted a man-up in the 22nd minute for 7:6. However, it turned out that it was the hosts’ last goal.

Radnicki produced a 6:0 run in the last ten minutes. At the finish of the third period, the Serbs netted two goals and regained an advantage before the final eight minutes (8:7). In the last quarter, Radnicki didn’t let Hannover create many opportunities to score. Stefan Todorovski (who was between the posts for all 32 minutes), blocked several shots. At the other end of the pool, Radnicki found the net four times and recorded a comfortable 12:7 victory.

Action shots made the difference in this match. Waspo Hannover had significantly more chances to score with a man-up, but it missed too many – eight (percentage 4/12). Radnicki scored three power-play goals from 7 extra player attacks.

1. Barceloneta 13 games – 36 points (goal difference +62)
2. Pro Recco 13 – 33 (+89)
3. Olympiacos 13 – 31 (+62)
4. Vouliagmeni 13 – 17 (-25)
5. Jadran 13 – 14 (-3)
6. Radnicki 13 – 12 (-36)
7. Dinamo T 13 – 6 (-78)
8. Waspo 98 Hannover 13 – 3 (-71)

Day 14 (May 24): Pro Recco – Olympiacos, Vouliagmeni – Radnicki, Barceloneta – Dinamo Tbilisi, Jadran Split – Waspo Hannover

Group B, Day 14 (May 23):  Novi Beograd – Spandau, Brescia – Jug, Ferencvaros – Sabadell, OSC Budapest – Marseille.

Follow the live scores on Total Waterpolo Arena 

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