Champions League is back: Big games open second “bubble”

Next week bring a five-day action of the best water polo competition for clubs.

The second „bubble“ tournaments of the 2020/21 Champions League will be held in Ostia and Budapest from Monday to Friday.

Just like three months ago, when the first two tournaments were organized, Group A in Ostia starts a day earlier.

But, this week, four rounds will be played in each group. There will be a total of 24 games.

Three teams enter the second “bubble” with a perfect record, with three wins – Pro Recco, Jug Dubrovnik, and Barceloneta.

After the second “bubble”, this situation will be changed for sure. Pro Recco and Jug will face off on Thursday, and that will be the highlight of this week in Ostia. But, there will be a lot of interesting clashes and derbies in both groups.

Both clubs will have hard exams a day before the derby. Jug will meet against Ortigia, which has been playing better and better since the beginning of the season.

Pro Recco will clash with Olympiacos tomorrow. The Genoa-based team has been waiting for a win over the Greek powerhouse for a long time. Two seasons ago, Olympiacos stopped Pro Recco in the semifinals (12:11). In 2018, the best Italian and the best Greek club advanced to the final of the Champions League. Recco was the host of the Final Eight, but Olympiacos celebrated an 8:7 victory and clinched its second title of the European champion.

The second “bubble” tournament in Group B in Budapest will be opened by an outstanding clash, Barceloneta – Ferencvaros. Barceloneta recorded three wins at the first tournament (over Dinamo, Brescia and Hannover). Ferencvaros trashed Jadran HN and Hannover, but it suffered a painful loss to Brescia (7:10). The European champion lost to BVSC  in the Hungarian League on Friday, in its last match before the second “bubble”. “Fradi” has had a lot of problems with positive coronavirus in the last five weeks. We’ll see if they are able to get back on the winning track.

Almost all of the clubs face the same problems as most of the LEN Euro Cup eighth–finalists, that played yesterday. They didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for the second “bubble” because their players competed at the tiring Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Rotterdam (February 14 – 21).

Only Barceloneta’s coach Chus Martin had all of his players together in the last ten days after they finished the preparations with their respective national teams (Spain, Serbia, Italy).

Group A (Ostia), second “bubble”

Day 4 (March 1)

15:15 Spandau 04 – Marseille (not met in CHL; 2010 CHL qualifications: Spandau-Marseille 10:7)
17:45 Jug AO Dubrovnik – Ortigia (not met in CHL)
20:15 Olympiacos – Pro Recco ( recent encounters: 2018/19, semi-final: Olympiacos – Recco 12:11; 2017/18, final: 8:7; 2014/15: 8:12, 12:17)

Day 5 (March 2)

15:15 Marseille – Olympiacos (not met in CHL)
17:45 Spandau 04 – Ortigia (not met in CHL)
20:15 Pro Recco – Jug (Recent encounters: 2017/18, semi-final: Recco – Jug 9:8; 2016/17: semifinal 9:10, prelims: 9:5, 11:8; 2015/16: semifinal: 14:15 (pen.), prelims: 5:5, 14:6)

Day 6 (March 3)

15:15 Marseille – Pro Recco (Recent encounters – Round 1: 9:11; 2019/20: 9:13.)
17:45 Jug – Spandau 04 (Recent encounters – Round 1: 13:7; 2019/20: 12:7; 2018/19: 7:6, 14:9; 2014/15: 9:8, 12:6)
20:15 Ortigia – Olympiacos (Recent encounters – Round 1: 4:6)

Day 7 (March 4)

15.15 Marseille – Jug (Recent encounters – Round 2: 10:11)
17.45 Olympiacos – Spandau (Recent encounters – Round 2: 13:9; 2019/20: 11:7, 13:8.; 2018 F8, Quarterfinals: 6:5; 2016/17: 11:6, 10:8)
20:15 Pro Recco – Ortigia (recent encounters – Round 2: 10:7)

Group B (Budapest), second “bubble”

Day 4 (March 2)

14:00 Ferencvaros – Barceloneta (Recent encounters – Ferencvaros – Barceloneta, 2018/19, semifinal: 9:7, prelims: 5:8, 8:9)
16:30 Waspo 98 Hannover – Dinamo Tbilisi (Recent encounters, Hannover – Dinamo, 2019/20: 18:14, 11:10)
19:00 Jadran Herceg Novi – Brescia ( Recent encounters, Jadran – Brescia, – 2015/16,Qualification Round 3: 14:6, 8:12; 2016/17, QR3: 8:11,5:14)

Day 5 (March 3)

14:00 Brescia – Waspo 98 Hannover (Recent encounters – 2017/18: Brescia- Hannover 6:8, 11:9)
16:30 Dinamo T – Ferencvaros (Recent encounters – 2019/20: Dinamo –Ferencvaros 10:15)
19:00 Jadran HN – Barceloneta (Recent encounters: 2019/20: Jadran – Barceloneta 12:13, 6:12)

Day 6 (March 4)

14:00 Brescia – Dinamo T (Recent encounters – Round 1: 15:9)
16:30 Barceloneta – Waspo Hannover (Recent encounters – Round 1: 16:8; 2017/18: 13:7, 13:12; 2016/17: 9:9, 12:­10)
19:00 Ferencvaros – Jadran HN (Recent encounters – Round 1: 11:2; Euro Cup semifinal 2017: 11:12 and 6:4)

Day 7 (March 5)

14:00 Dinamo T – Barceloneta (Recent encounters – Round 2: 5:17)
16:30 Brescia – Ferencvaros (Recent encounters – Round 2: 10:7; 2018/19: 8:8, 10:5)
19:00 Hannover – Jadran HN (Recent encounters – Round 2: 11:12. Qualification Round II 2017: 8:6)

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