Brescia (Italy), OSC Budapest (Hungary), Terrassa (Spain) and Jadran Split (Croatia) finished the Qualification Round 2 of the Champions League unbeaten and won 1st places in their respective groups. So, these four teams will be in the same „pot“ of the draw for the Qualification Round 3.
Along with mentioned four teams, Oradea (Romania), Sintez Kazan (Russia), Team Strasbourg (France) and Vouliagmeni (GRE) advanced to the third round.
In the third round, the teams will play four duels on a home and away basis. The four winning teams shall qualify for the Preliminary Round where they will join the clubs that have wild cards. The four losing teams will qualify to the quarterfinals of the Euro Cup.
The third round will be played late in September (21 & 25 September).
Champions League, Qualification Round II, Day 3
Group C (Oradea)
Lokomotiv Tbilisi – Brescia 1:18 (0:4, 0:2, 0:7, 1:5)
Lokomotiv: Babunashvili 1.
Brescia: Nikolaidis 4, Cannella 3, Bertoli 3, Balzarini 2, Rivetti 2, Figari 2, Tononi 1, Gianazza 1.
Oradea – Barcelona 9:8 (1:2, 3:2, 1:0, 4:4)
Oradea: Inaba 5, V. Georgescu 2, Dragomirescu 2.
Barcelona: Flores 6, Delgado 1, Trilles 1.
Brescia secured the 1st place on Saturday, while Oradea took a ticket for the Qualification Round 3 after it edged out Barcelona in a very thrilling encounter.
Barcelona needed a point to stay in the 2nd place, as it had a better goal difference than Oradea.
The Spaniards opened the match pretty well. They had a 3:1 lead deep into the second quarter. But, Oradea took control soon and earned a 2-goal advantage (6:4 and 7:5) early in the fourth period. Just two minutes before the end, Barcelona equalized (7:7). Oradea quickly responded with a goal for 8:7. Victor Flores Fernandes scored his 6th goal to back the terms on equal – 8:8 with 75 seconds left in the match. But, Oradea had the last laugh. Japanese Yusuke Inaba, the best scorer of the 2019 World League Super Final, converted a man-up 44 seconds from time and Oradea came out as a winner of the hard battle – 8:7.
1 Brescia (ITA) 3 – 9
2 Oradea (ROM) 3 – 6
3 Barcelona (ESP) 3 – 3
4 Lokomotiv (GEO) 3 – 0
Group D (Budapest)
Dynamo Moscow – OSC Budapest 7:14 (2:4, 2:5, 1:2, 2:3)
Dynamo Moscow: Bychkov 3, Koptsev 2, Usov 2.
OSC Budapest: Prlainovic 3, Dr. Brguljan 2, Manhercz 2, Erdelyi 2, Burian 2, Randjelovic 1, Salamon 1, Ubovic 1.
OSC Potsdam – Sintez Kazan 8:22 (0:8, 5:4, 1:6, 2:4)
OSC Potsdam: Schulz 3, Tadin 2, Heuppe 2, Dufour 1.
Sintez Kazan: Zakirov 5, Zinnurov 3, Dereviankin 3, Ryzhov-Alenichev 3, Andryukov 2, Lisunov 2, Latypov 2, Odintsov 1, Krasnov 1.
OSC Budapest didn’t let surprise and defeated Dynamo Moscow to keep the first place. Sintez Kazan booked the ticket for the Qualification Round 2, along with the home team.
OSC Budapest dominated from the 2nd quarter of the clash with Dynamo. After 2:2 (5th minute), the Hungarians nailed four goals to go 6:2 up, while they increased the advantage to 5 goals by halftime (9:4). After the middle break, OSC continued to control everything in the pool and recorded a big 14:7 win.
As it was expected, Sintez Kazan demolished OSC Potsdam, despite the Russians slowed down in the 2nd quarter. But, they built a 10:0 lead by the 10th minute. So, their win was never in danger.
1 OSC Budapest (HUN) 3 – 9
2 Sintez Kazan (RUS) 3 – 6
3 Dynamo Moscow (RUS) 3 – 3
4 OSC Potsdam (GER) 3 – 0
Group E (Terrassa)
Terrassa – Team Strasbourg 13:6 (5:1, 4:2, 2:1, 2:2)
Terrassa: Guiterrez 3, Sanahuja 3, Mora 2, Aguilar 2, Alarcon 1, Sanchez 1, Chico 1.
Team Strasbourg: Babic 2, Cesca 1, Jablonski 1, Budjen 1, Bratic 1.
Steaua Bucharest – Sabac 17:13 (5:4, 5:0, 4:7, 3:2)
Steaua Bucharest: Prioteasa 5, Fulea 3, Solanakis 3, Marinic Kragic 2, Oanta 2, Szabo 1, Gheorghe 1.
Sabac: Vucinic 4, Ramirez 2, Erakovic 1, Markovic 1, Radulovic 1, Vasic 1, Gomes da Silva 1, Ilic 1.
The encounter between host Terrassa and Strasbourg was a battle for the 1st place in the group, as both teams qualified for the Round 3 yesterday. The home team stunned the French in the opening minutes and rushed to a 7:1 lead after less than 12 minutes of play and never looked back.
The clash between Steaua and Sabac turned into a scoring festival. The Romanians recorded a win after they secured a crucial advantage in the second quarter.
1 Terrassa (ESP) 3 – 9
2 Team Strasbourg (FRA) 3 – 6
3 Steaua Bucharest (ROM) 3 – 3
4 Sabac (SRB) 3 – 0
Group F (Belgrade)
Jadran Split – Pays d’Aix Natation 16:9 (4:4, 4:1, 5:2, 3:2)
Jadran Split: Delic 4, Setka 3, Buric 2, Krapic 2, Pejkovic 2, Vrdoljak 1, Viskovic 1, Duzevic 1.
Pays d’Aix: Monneret 4, Khasz 2, Espanol 2, Tkac 1.
Crvena Zvezda – Vouliagmeni 3:8 (0:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:4)
Crvena Zvezda: Martinovic 1, Gusarov 1, Radovic 1.
Vouliagmeni: Basic 4, Gkiouvetsis 1, Tsatalios 1, Afroudakis 1, Kourouvanis 1.
Jadran, which played in the 2018/19 Champions League, defeated Pays d’Aix convincingly in the first match of the day to cement the 1st place.
The tournament was closed by an encounter between host Crvena Zvezda and Vouliagmeni. The home team played very well for almost three quarters. Deep into the third period of this low-scoring duel, Vouliagmeni had a slim 3:2 lead. Vouliagmeni’s Andrija Basic put the ball home from a penalty shot 38 seconds before the last break and his team gained a 4:2 lead. It took more than 4 minutes before the 1st goal was scored in the last period. Then Vouliagmeni produced a 4:0 series and earned an unattainable 8:2 lead.
1 Jadran Split (CRO) 3 – 9
2 Vouliagmeni (GRE) 3 – 6
3 Pays d’Aix (FRA) 3 – 3
4 Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 3 – 0
