The fourth day of the Champions League Group A was a day of one-sided contests.
Even the match that was singled out as a derby, lacked excitement. Barceloneta stormed past Radnicki Kragujevac (18:9) in Barcelona.
The other three matches produced more-less expected outcomes.
Olympiacos continued its winning streak with a convincing 16:7 victory over Waspo 98 Hannover. European champion Pro Recco downed Vouliagmeni – 14:7. Jadran ran over Dinamo Tbilisi (21:7).
2022/23 Champions League, Group A, Day 4
Barceloneta – Radnicki 18:9 (4:0, 4:1, 5:3, 5:5)
Barceloneta: Aguirre, Famera, Matkovic 3, Munarriz 1, De Toro, Larumbe 1, Paul 3, Fernandez 1, Tahull, Perrone 6, Biel 3, Bustos, Porter. Head coach: Fatovic.
Radnicki: Dobozanov, Brankovic, Stanojevic 1, Jankovic, Cuk 1, Vico 1, Ukropina 1, Gavrilovic 1, Pljevancic 1, radulovic 3, Lukic, Vrlic, Todorovski. Head coach: Stevanovic.
Last week, Barceloneta demolished Hannover (20:5), while Radnicki suffered a painful 12:21 loss to Recco. Today’s encounter proved that the Spaniards kept great momentum and that Radnicki hadn’t recovered and found its rhythm.
Nobody could expect that the duel between the Spanish champion and Serbia’s No.2 club would be very similar to the encounter between the Germans and the Spaniards on Day 3.
However, Barceloneta killed all the excitement and had a similar recipe for a win as in the last season’s Champions League match in Kragujevac. The Spaniards stunned Radnicki in the opening minutes of both games. Ten months ago, Barceloneta led 8:0 at halftime in Kragujevac and recorded a 9:3 win.
Felipe Perrone Photo by Dj.Kostic/VK Novi Beograd
Today, the Spaniards, led by Felipe Perrone, built a 4:0 advantage in the first quarter. In the 11th minute, the hosts went to 6:0. Radnicki got on the scoreboard immediately after Barceloneta’s sixth goal after Stanojevic converted a man-up. But, the Serbs couldn’t come back. Barceloneta flew the field and completely outplayed the rival. Radnicki couldn’t find the right solutions in front of the hosts’ goal. At halftime, Barceloneta led 8:1. Felipe Perrone opened the third quarter with his fourth goal, this time from a penalty to make it 9:1. After that, the hosts slowed, but they managed to stretch the margin to 11 (17:6). Still, Radnicki avoided a double-digit defeat.
Barceloneta finished the year with two consecutive Champions League wins, and the Spaniards’ head coach Elvis Fatovic has to be satisfied:
“Probably, it was an easier win than we expected. But, this was our best match this season. We managed to control Radnicki with our good defense. Our attack was sharp, we built a big lead early.
Uros Stevanovic congratulated Barceloneta and said he was ashamed of how his team played today.
“After this game and our match against Barceloneta in Kragujevac last season, it seems that Barceloneta respects us more than we respect them. I don’t understand how my team can think in that way.”
Pro Recco – Vouliagmeni 14:7 (6:2, 5:3, 2:0, 1:2)
Pro Recco: Del Lungo, Di Fulvio 1, Zalanki 1, Figlioli, Younger 2, Cannella 2, Iocchi Gratta 2, Echenique 2, Ivovic 2, Velotto, Aicardi 1, Hallock 2, Negri. Head coach: Sukno.
Vouliagmeni: Tzortzatos, Chalyvopoulos, Almyras, Kalogeropoulos, Troulos 1, Nikolaidis 2, Papasifakis 1, Woodhead, Alafragkis 1, Kapotsis 1, Kourovanis, Farmer 1, Andreadis. Head coach: Vujasinovic.
Vouliagmeni, coached by former Recco’s star Vladimir Vujasinovic, resisted the European champion in the opening several minutes. In the 5th minute, the score was 1:1. But, Pro Recco quickly proved that it didn’t want to leave the decision for the second half of the game. The Italians scored four goals in 02:09 minutes to earn a 5:1 lead. The teams exchanged goals in the last minute of the first quarter.
Recco continued dictating the pace in the second quarter. Already in the 12th minute, the hosts had a 6’goal advantage – Iocchi Gratta converted a man-up for 8:2. By the third break, the hosts extended the margin to eight (13:5) and let Vouliagmeni reduce the gap at the finish.
Waspo 98 Hannover – Olympiacos 7:16 (2:2, 1:5, 1:2, 3:7)
Waspo 98 Hannover: Goetz, Corusic, Schipper, Grosse, F.Schytze 3, Radovic 1, Lozina, Rotermund, Kubisch, Gansen, Benic, Basic 2, Beke. Head coach: Seehafer.
Olympiacos: Bijac, Dimou 2, Vamos 2, Gendiounias 3, Fountoulis 1, Gouvis, Dervisis 1, Buslje, Mourikis 1, Filipovic 3, Kolomvos 2, Papanastasiou 1, Zerdevas. Head coach: Milanovic.
Hannover didn’t play badly, but it couldn’t surprise Olympiacos. One quarter and a half was enough for the big favorite from Piraeus to secure the three points.
The Germans fought hard from the beginning. They took the lead once – 2:1 in the 6th minute. But, Dervisis closed the first period with an action goal, while Genidounias opened the second in the same way, and the Greeks went ahead – 3:2. Schutze equalized (3:3) in the 10th minute, but that was the end of an even contest. Olympiacos kept Hannover goalless between 10th and 21st minute, while it scored five goals in that interval to earn a five-goal advantage – 8 :3. That 5:0 rush determined the rest of the encounter. The Greeks maintained a 5-goal difference until the last break (9:4). The Greeks conceeded three goals in the fourth period, but their big win was never in danger.
Jadran S – Dinamo T 21:7 (6:3, 8:0, 4:2, 3:2)
Jadran Split: Marcelic, R.Buric 3, Marinic Kragic 5, Cagalj, Butic 2, Pejkovic 1, Bukic 1, Tomasovic 1, Delic 4 Dobud 2, Setka 1, Duzevic 1, Anic. Head coach: Marelja.
Dinamo Tbilisi: Gyapjas, Kiriakidi, Akhvlediani 2, Dzikhtsiarenka, Tkeshalashvili, Vlahovic, Jakhaia 1, Saric, Imnaishvilli, Magrakvelidze 1, Malyshau, Pjesivac 3,Gvetadze. Head coach: Stanojevic.
Jadran’s new head coach Jure Marelja had an excellent European deby. The Split-based side demolished Dinamo. The Croats took a 2:0 lead in the first two minutes, and Dinamo leveled at 2:2. Jadran answered with two goals. A minute and a half before the first break, the Georgians halved the deficit (3:4). But, shortly after, a difference in quality became evident. Jadran dominated and produced an 11:0 rush. The Croats gained a 15:3 lead in the 19th minute. After scoring 11 consecutive goals, Jadran played more relaxed, but it streched the margin by the end of the match.
1.Barceloneta 4 – 12
2. Olympiacos 4 – 12
3. Pro Recco 4 – 9
4. Jadran Split 4 –6
5. Vouliagmeni 4 – 4
6. Radnicki 4 – 4
7. Waspo 98 Hannover 3 – 0
8. Dinamo Tbilisi 3 – 0
The next games will be played on January 10.
Group B, Day 4 (December 21)
Marseille – Spandau 04 (20:00)
OSC Budapest – Sabadell (19:30)
Novi Beograd – Brescia (19:45)
Ferencvaros – Jug (20:30)
All times are local (CET)
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