Oradea (Romania), OSC Budapest (Hungary), Terrassa (Spain) and Crvena Zvezda (Serbia) are the hosts of the tournaments of the 2nd qualification round for the Champions League, that started today.
A total of 16 teams, split into four groups, take part. The best two teams from each group will advance to Round 3. There were a lot of interesting matches today, but there were no big surprises. Most of the favourites achieved wins.
Champions League, Qualification Round II, Day 1
Group C (Oradea)
Oradea – Brescia 4:16 (1:4, 0:4, 3:5, 0:3)
Oradea: Inaba 1, Szabo 1, Colodrovschi 1, R. Georgescu 1.
Brescia: Alesiani 3, C. Presciutti 3, Nikolaidis 3, Figari 2, Canella 2, Tononi 1, Bertoli 1, Buha 1.
Barcelona – Lokomotiv Tbilisi 25:6 (7:1, 5:2, 7:1, 6:2)
Barcelona: Estrany 4, Durik 3, Valls 3, Van Den Burg 3, Idarraga 3, Goma 2, Delgado 2, Marsal 2, Flores 1, Esteller 1.
Dinamo Tbilisi: Urushadze 2, Ckheidze 1, Rusishvili 1, Alavidze 1, Chikninidze 1.
Brescia, the 6th-placed team of the 2019 Champions League, demolished host Oradea in the first match of the tournament in Romania. Playing excellently in defence, Brescia built an 8:1 lead by halftime and never looked back.
Barcelona also showed mercy today. The Spaniards convincingly beat Dinamo Tbilisi. Tomorrow’s encounter between Barcelona and Brescia will probably decide a group-winner.
Ranking: 1. Barcelona (ESP) 3, 2. Brescia (ITA) 3, 3. Oradea (ROM) 0, 4. Dinamo (GEO) 0.
Group D (Budapest)
Dynamo Moscow – Sintez Kazan 11:14 (4:2, 2:6, 3:3, 2:2)
Dynamo: Bychkov 3, Koptsev 2, Shepelev 2, Ekomazov 2, Krug 2.
Sintez: Lazarev 4, Latypov 4, Krasnov 2, Odintsov 1, Dereviankin , Andryukov 1, Ryzhov-Alenichev 1.
OSC Budapest – OSC Potsdam 26:4 (7:0, 4:2, 8:0, 7:2)
OSC Budapest: Kovacs 4, Ubovic 4, Manhercz 4, Dr. Brguljan 3, Randjelovic 3, Burian 3, Erdelyi 2, Prlainovic 1, Salamon 1, Harai 1.
OSC Potsdam: Shulz 2, Dufour 1, Tadin 1.
An all-Russian battle between Dynamo Moscow and Sintez Kazan offered a lot of thrills. Dynamo, the champion of Russia, started better. It had a 3:1 and a 5:3 lead. In the 11th minute, the Moscow-based side had a minimal advantage (6:5). Then Sintez netted four goals in a row and turned around the deficit to a nice 9:6 lead. Dynamo water polo players refused to lie down and die. They started climbing back. They cut the deficit to 1 three times (8:9, 9:10 and 11:12), but with two unanswered goals in the last five minutes, Sintez secured a 14:11 win.
OSC Budapest, the home team, left no chance to visitors from Germany, OSC Potsdam. The Hungarians had earned an 8:0 lead before the Germans scored their first goal in the middle of the second quarter. OSC didn’t slow down until the end and recorded a 22-goals victory.
Ranking: 1. OSC Budapest (HUN) 3, 2. SIntez Kazan (RUS) 3, 3. Dynamo Moscow (RUS) 0, 4. OSC Potsdam (GER) 0.
Group E (Terrassa)
Terrassa – Steaua Bucharest 12:9 (3:2, 2:2, 5:2, 2:3)
Terrassa: Sanahuja 4, Pericas 3, Mora 2, Alarcon 1, Sanchez 1, Pericas 1, Barroso 1.
Steaua: Fulea 3, Kapotsis 3, Marinic Kragic 2, Oanta 1.
Sabac – Team Strasbourg 9:12 (2:2, 1:2, 3:7, 3:1)
Sabac: Radulovic 2, Rogac 2, Matkovic 2, Ramirez 1, Vasic 1, Velkic 1.
Team Strasbourg: Markovic 4, Babic 3, Letica 2, Sutic 2, Budjen 1.
Terrassa, the host of Group E, defeated Romanian champion Steaua after a hard-fought battle. The Romanians opened the match with a 2:1 lead, but Terrassa responded with four goals in a row to make a 3-goal gap (5:2) early in the second period. Steaua trailed only 4:5 before the 3rd period. However, Terrassa went 10:6 up by the end of the third and Steaua couldn’t come back.
The match Sabac – Team Strasbourg was an even encounter until 5:5. After that, the French team produced a 7:1 rush and earned a big 12:6 advantage with six minutes and 56 seconds remaining on the clock. The Serbs nailed three goals in the remaining time, but it was too late. Interestingly, none of the goals for Strasbourg was scored by a French player. Croats Markovic, Babic, Letica, Sutic and Montenegrin Budjen led Strasbourg towards the win. Chancellor Ramirez, a member of the Team USA, made his debut for Sabac this evening and scored a goal.
Ranking: 1. Terrassa (ESP) 3, 2. Team Strasbourg (FRA) 3, 3. Sabac (SRB) 0, 4. Steaua (ROM) 0.
Group F (Belgrade)
Crvena Zvezda – Pays d’Aix Natation 8:13 (3:4, 1:2, 1:4, 3:3)
Crvena Zvezda: Radovic 3, Tankosic 1, Kasum 1, Vasin 1, Jankovic 1, Radjen 1.
Pays d’Aix Natation: Gluhaic 4, Monneret 4, Tkac 2, Khasz 1, Gagulic 1, Espanol 1.
Vouliagmeni – Jadran Split 9:10 (2:4, 1:1, 1:1, 5:4)
Vouliagmeni: Afroudakis 3, Gkiouvetsis 2, Kalegeropoulos 2, Basic 1, Vukcevic 1.
Jadran: Setka 3, Duzevic 2, Butic 2, Krapic 1, Power 1, Buric 1.
The tournament in Belgrade was opened by an encounter between host Crvena Zvezda and French Pays d’Aix. The French led throughout the match. Deep into the first period, they went 4:1 up. The Serbs were coming back from time to time.
After the first period, the hosts were just one step behind the rival (3:4). Pays d’Aix doubled an advantage after the second quarter (6:4). The third period proved vital for the French’s win. They opened the 3rd quarter with a goal for a new 3-goal lead (7:4). Quickly after that, one of the main players of the Belgrade-based team Milos Vukicevic (who played for Pays d’Aix two seasons ago) was excluded. The French converted a man-up for the first 4-goal lead (8:4). In the following minutes, they added two goals and jumped to an unattainable 10:4 advantage.
Jadran Split edged out Vouliagmeni in the last match of the day. Already in the 10th minute, the Croats had a 3-goal lead (5:2), but Vouliagmeni didn’t let Jadran celebrate too early. In the middle of the last period, the Greeks were just one goal behind (7:8). Jadran built a gap (10:7) in the 29th minute. That wasn’t the end of the drama. The Greek club fought hard, but the Croats managed to keep the three points. The Greeks scored two goals when it was too late – in the last 38 seconds- for the final score.
Ranking: 1. Pays d’Aix (FRA) 3, 2. Jadran Split (CRO) 3, 3. Vouliagmeni (GRE) 0, 4. Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 0.
