The 6th day of Champions League Group A brought two outstanding matches. The top four sides, four former European champions in the past five years, played against each other.
Jug (2016 winner) hosted Szolnok, which defeated Jug in 2017 final. The Croats celebrated a 14:10 win. An encounter between 2014 winner Barceloneta and 2018 champion Olympiacos ended in an 11:11 draw. The Greeks continued their unbeaten run and kept the top spot.
Two namesakes faced off in the Adriatic derby in Split. Jadran Herceg Novi outplayed Jadran Split – 12:6 and finally, after a few narrow losses, recorded the first win in the season.
Spandau 04, also, collected all three points for the first time in the 2020 Champions League. The Berliners edged out Sintez in Kazan 12:11.
Champions League 2019/20, Day 6
Group A
Jug – Szolnok 14:11 (4:4, 4:3, 3:1, 3:3)
Jug Adriatic Osiguranje: Merkulov 4, Papanastasiou 3, Obradovic 3, Fatovic 2, Garcia 1, Lozina 1.
Szolnok Dosza: Batori 4, Szatmari 2,Pijetlovic 2, Dory 1, Varnai 1.
The first half of the encounter in Dubrovnik was pretty balanced. Szolnok led 6:5 in the third minute of the 2nd period before Jug netted three goals in a row for an 8:6 advantage (01:09 before the halftime) and the difference between the teams was two goals for the first time. Still, Szolnok was trailing just by a goal at halftime (7:8).
Jug regained a 2-goal advantage in the 19th minute (9:7), while Szolnok’s Farkas Dory converted a man-up for 9:8. By the end of this period, the hosts earned an 11:8 advantage and that proved vital for their win.
After that, Szolnok couldn’t come back. In the middle of the 4th period, Paulo Obradovic found the net for the third time this evening to extend the margin to 4 (13:9). Batori responded immediately (13:10), but Jug’s Russian Danil Merkulov killed Szolnok’s last hope in the 30th minute when he hit the back of the net for a new 4-goal gap (14:10).
Barceloneta – Olympiacos 11:11 (3:2, 4:2, 2:3, 2:4)
Zodiac CAN Barceloneta: Munarriz 3, Aleksic 2, Perrone 2, Mallarach 1, Granados 1, Bodegas 1, Fernandez 1.
Olympiacos Piraeus: Gounas 4, Genidounias 2, Dervisis 2,Jokovic 1, Kakaris 1, Mitrovic 1.
Barceloneta staged a pretty good start. Early in the second period, the score was 3:3, whilet the hosts built a promising 7:4 lead by halftime. But, the visitors returned to the match midway through the 3rd period (6:7).
However, Barceloneta entered the last period with a 9:7 advantage, while Felipe Perrone opened the 4th quarter with an action goal to give his team a new 3-goal lead (10:7). But, Olympiacos was able to come back. The visitors responded with 3:0 series, and they finally equalized (10:10) two and a half minutes before the final buzzer. Milan Aleksic scored from an extra player to put Barcelona 11:10 ahead with 69 seconds to go. But, the thriller wasn’t over yet. In the next possession, Olympiacos forced an exclusion, while Jokovic converted a man-up to 11:11. The hosts had a 6 on 5 attack in the last 12 seconds, but they missed the chance, and the big rivals shared the points.
Sintez – Spandau 04 11:12 (2:6, 6:1, 1:2, 2:3)
Sintez Kazan: Latypov 3, Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Lisunov 2, Lazarev 2, Odintsov 1, Bugaychuk 1.
Spandau 04: Pjesivac 3, Cuk 3, Dedovic 2, Kholod 2, Negrean 1, Restovic 1.
Spandau rushed to a 6:2 lead in the first quarter of the match, but Sintez responded well after the first break. The Russians equalized in the15th minute, while they earned the advantage (8:7), 21 seconds from the end of this quarter. The hosts had a 9:8 lead in the middle of the third quarter. Then Spandau took control. The Berliners netted three goals in a row and went 11:9 up early in the fourth, which was decisive. The hosts just managed to cut the deficit, and Spandau achieved its first win in the season.
Jadran S – Jadran HN 6:12 (2:4, 2:1, 1:4, 1:3)
Jadran Split: Viskovic 2, Buric 1, Zovic 1, Delic 1, Butic 1.
Jadran Herceg Novi: Averka 3, Mijuskovic 2, Cagalj 1, Popadic 1, Obradovic 1, D. Banicevic 1, Dj. Radovic 1, Spaic 1, Petkovic 1.
Jadran Herceg Novi was too strong for Jadran Split, which played without three important players Krapic, Duzevic, and Setka, who are injured. The hosts kept up with the Montenegrins for more than two quarters. After 26 seconds of play in the third period, the hosts equalized for the last time – 5:5. But, they ran out of gas for the rest of the game. The visitors dominated in the second half.
1 Olympiacos (GRE) 6 – 16
2 Jug (CRO) 6 – 15
3 Barceloneta (ESP) 6 – 13
4 Szolnok (HUN) 6 – 9
5 Spandau 04 (GER) 6 – 5
6 Jadran HN (MNE) 6 – 4
7 Jadran S (CRO) 6 – 4
8 Sintez (RUS) 6 – 3
Group B (4 December)
Tomorrow, the top 4 ranked sides will face off in Group B. Both matches will be played in Budapest. Ferencvaros will host Mladost, while OSC will play against Pro Recco.
Dinamo Tbilisi – Waspo Hannover
Ferencvaros – Mladost
OSC Budapest– Pro Recco
Marseille – Terrassa
