Monday usually isn’t a playing day in the Champions League, but five matches of this competition were held all across Europe today, just five days after the previous round. These games of Day 7 were rescheduled because many clubs have players who will compete at the FINA World U20 Championships, which will start in Kuwait on Thursday. LEN accepted the clubs’ requests to change the dates of the five games.

Today’s highlight was a derby of Group A, played in Athens where  Olympiacos narrowly defeated Jug Dubrovnik – 6:5.

Jadran Herceg Novi beat SIntez 12:9, also in Group A.

Three matches of Group B were played. Mladost recorded an important win over Marseille 12:11. Pro Recco demolished Dinamo Tbilisi 24:9, while Terrassa defeated Hannover in Germany 9:8.

The encounters Spandau – Szolnok, Jadran Split – Barceloneta (Group A), and OSC Budapest – Ferencvaros (Group B) will be held on 13/14 December, as it was planned.

Champions League 2019/20, Day 7

Group A

Olympiacos – Jug 6:5 (2:0, 1:2, 2:2, 1:1)

Olympiacos Piraeus: Mourikis 2, Mylonakis 1, Genidounias 1, Jokovic 1, Buljubasic 1.
Jug Adriatic Osiguranje: Fatovic 1, Merkulov 1, Papanastasiou 1, Benic 1, Obradovic 1.

Olympiacos did a great job in defense in the opening minutes. The hosts kept Jug scoreless until the 12th minute. Before Jug’s first goal, Olympiacos had already earned a 3:0 lead, which was crucial for the outcome.

By the middle break, Jug managed to come very close (2:3). Konstantinos Genidounias doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 18th minute – 4:2, while Jug responded with two goals and finally equalized – 4:4 three minutes before the last break.

The hard battle of the two tight defenses was continued until the end, but Olympiacos was the team that controlled the match. The Greeks built a new 2-goal lead (6:4) with three minutes to go. Shortly after that, Jug coach Kobescak was excluded, but it was a new stimulus for his players. Fatovic netted for 5:6 with 02:13 remaining on the clock. Everything was still open. But, the Piraeus-based team managed to keep the advantage. Jug had a man-up attack in the last minute, but they didn’t find the net and returned home empty-handed.

Olympiacos remained unbeaten and retained the 1st place, with four points more than 2nd-placed Jug.

Jadran HN – Sintez 12:9 (3:0, 3:3, 3:3, 3:3)

Jadran Carine Herceg Novi: Dj. Radovic 5, Averka 3, Cagalj 1, Banicevic 1, Spaic 1, Petkovic 1.
Sintez Kazan: Latypov 4, Bugaychik 3, Krasnov 1, Odintsov 1.

Six days after beating Jadran Split (12:6), Jadran Herceg Novi recorded its second win in the season. The Montenegrins opened the match with a 4:0 rush. Sintez came back and reduced the gap to 1 (5:6) early in the third quarter. Jadran answered with a new series of three goals to go 9:5 up in the middle of this period. The Russians leveled the score in the 27th minute (9:9). However, Jadran, led by Djuro Radovic, scored three unanswered goals in the remaining time for a 12:9 victory.

Spandau04 – Szolnok on 13 December
Jadran Split – Barceloneta on 13 December

1 Olympiacos (GRE) 7 – 19
2 Jug AO (CRO) 7 – 15
3 Barceloneta (ESP) 6 – 13
4 Szolnok (HUN) 6 – 9
5 Jadran HN (MNE) 7 – 7
6 Spandau 04 (GER) 6 – 5
7 Jadran S (CRO) 6 – 4
8 Sintez (RUS) 7 – 3

Group B

Mladost – Marseille 12:11 (4:0, 3:5, 3:1, 2:5)

HAVK Mladost: Radu 3, Bukic 3, Kharkov 3, Cuk 1, Lazic 1, Vrlic 1.
CN Marseille: Crousillat 3, Blary 2, Olivon 1, Cuckovic 1, Vernoux 1, Marion-Vernoux 1, Vukicevic 1, Camarasa 1.

The difference between the clubs which faced off in Zagreb this evening was only a goal after the final buzzer, but the hosts’ win wasn’t in real danger.

Mladost stunned the French in the first quarter and entered the second period with a 4:0 lead. The second quarter belonged to Marseille, which was trailing just by a goal early in the third quarter (6:7). However, the Croats regained a four-goal advantage before the last quarter (10:6). They added two goals in the first 78 seconds of the last quarter and increased the margin to 6 (12:6). Then Marseille started climbing back. The visitors scored the last five goals in the match, but the last one came too late – a second before the end.

Hannover – Terrassa 8:9 (3:1, 1:3, 3:2, 1:3),

Waspo 98 Hannover: Da. Brguljan 3, A. Radovic 2, Nagaev 1, Preuss 1, Winkelhorst 1.
Terrassa: Alarcon 3, Sanchez 2, Mora 2, , Alegre 1, Prieto 1.

Newcomer Terrassa upset Marseille in France last week. Today, the Spaniards achieved a new away win in the match with a lot of twists and turns. Hannover built an opening 3:0 lead, while Terrassa responded with four straight goals for a 4:3 advantage deep into the 2nd quarter. Still, the rivals were tied at halftime (4:4). In the middle of the third quarter, Hannover went 7:5 up. Then came Terrassa’s new 4:0 series. The Spaniards earned a 9:7 lead in the 30th minute. Hannover scored a consolation goal 15 seconds from the end.

Pro Recco – Dinamo Tbilisi 24:9 (8:0, 5:3, 4:4, 7:2)

Pro Recco: Luongo 5, Filipovic 4, Mandic 3, Figlioli 3, Ivovic 3, Di Fulvio 2, Di Somma 2, Dobud 1, Fondelli 1.
Dinamo Tbilisi: Jelaca 4, Crepulja 1, Imnaishvili 1, Jakhaia 1, Bagaturia 1, Rurua 1.

The match played in Novara was a one-sided contest. Pro Recco jumped to a 10:0 lead by the 12th minute and there was no way back for the Georgians.

OSC – Ferencvaros on 14 December

1 Pro Recco (ITA) 7 – 17
2 Ferencvaros (HUN) 6 – 16
3 Mladost (CRO) 7 – 13
4 OSC Budapest (HUN) 6 – 12
5 Terrassa (ESP) 7 – 9
6 Marseille (FRA) 7 – 9
7 Hannover (GER) 7 – 3
8 Dinamo (GEO) 7 – 0