The Champions League qualifications started this evening, by the matches of the first round at the tournaments in Sabac and Barcelona.
Highlights of Day 1 were derbies Sabac (Serbia) – Dynamo Moscow (Russia) in Sabac and Steaua (Romania) – Sintez Kazan (Russia) in Barcelona. Sabac was three goals down (0:3) after the first period, but it managed to come back and beat the Russians (9:8). Sintez convincingly defeated Steaua (17:9).
Other matches saw no surprises.
Champions League, Qualification Round 1, Day 1
Group A (Sabac)
Oradea – Apollon 7:6 (2:0, 3:2, 0:2, 2:2)
CSM Digi Oradea: Szabo 2, Kovats 1, R. Georgescu 1, Ilsie 1, Dragomirescu 1, V. Georgescu 1.
Apollon Smyrnis: Moskov 3, Dermitzakis 2, Karountzos 1.
Crvena Zvezda – Galatasaray 13:2 (4:0, 2:0, 3:0, 4:2)
Crvena Zvezda: Gusarov 3, Tankosic 2, M. Radovic 2, Vukicevic 2, M. Jankovic 2, Adzic 1, Ilic 1.
Galatasaray: Krstic 1, Akkaya 1.
Sabac – Dynamo 9:8 (0:3, 2:1, 3:2, 3:2, 4:2)
Sabac: Markovic 2, Rogac 2, Velkic 2, Vasic 1, Vucinic 1, Matkovic 1.
Dynamo Moscow: Byckhov 3, Balakirev 2, Shepelev 1, Krug 1, Serebrennikov 1.
The tournament in Sabac was opened by an encounter between Oradea, the 2nd best Romanian club, and Apollon Smyrnis, which took the 3rd place in the Greek Championships. The Romanians’ opening 4:0 rush in the first ten minutes determined the rest of the match. The Romanians had a 5:1 advantage in the middle of the second period. Apollon managed to come back and reduced the gap to 1 early in the fourth period (5:6). Oradea went 7:5 up three minutes before the end, while Apollon’s Karountzos set the final score 7:6 with 20 seconds remaining on the clock. There was no time for an equaliser.
Crvena Zvezda easily defeated Galatasaray. The Serbs had built a 9:0 advantage before the Turks scored their first goal early in the fourth period. The top scorer was Russian Ivan Gusarov (3 goals), while his compatriot Viktor Ivanov, Zvezda’s new goalkeeper also did a good job. Ivanov came from Dynamo Moscow, along with Zvezda’s new captain Nikola Radjen.
The last match of the day was an encounter between Russian and Serbian champion, Dynamo stunned Sabac with three goals in a span of three and a half minutes. The Russians, which entered the season with a rejuvenated squad, were leading 3:0 after first eight minutes of play.
During the first break, Sabac recovered from the shock and started climbing back. The Serbs equalised (4:4) early in the third. A few minutes later, Dynamo earned a 2-goal lead (6:4), but the hosts levelled the score at 6:6 and again at 7:7 and 8:8. Just 25 seconds before the final buzzer, Nemanja Matkovic scored a winner and Sabac collected three points with a 9:8 victory.
1 Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 1 – 3
2 Sabac (SRB) 1 – 3
3 Digi Oradea (ROM) 1 – 3
4 Dynamo Moscow (RUS) 1 – 0
5 GS Apollon Smyrnis (GRE) 1 – 0
6 Galatasaray SK (TUR) 1 – 0
Group B (Barcelona)
Pays d’Aix – Banja Luka 38:2 (9:1, 12:1, 8:0, 9:0)
Pays d’Aix Natation: Gagulic 11, Espanol 6, Monnerret 6,Bakircilar 6, M. Tkac 3, Chauffour 2, Khasz 2, Saux 2.
Banja Luka: Vujkovic 1, Amidzic 1.
Enka – Barcelona 9:14 (3:3, 1:4, 2:3, 3:4)
Enka: Buric 2, Acar 2, Kolomvos 2, Ergin 1, Yutmaz 1, Albayrak 1.
Barcelona: Delgado 3, Estrany 3, Flores 3, Durik 2, Esteller 1, Goma 1, Marsal 1.
Steaua – Sintez 9:17 (2:4, 2:4, 3:6, 2:3)
Steaua Bucharest: Marinic Kragic 3, Kapotsis 3, Gheorghe 1, Fulea 1, Prioteasa 1.
Sintez Kazan: Lisunov 4, Ryzhov – Aleinichev 3, Lazarev 3, Odintsoc 2, Bugaychuk 2, Krasnov 2, Andryukov 1
Pays d’Aix was too strong for Banja Luka. The French side, led by this summer’s reinforcement Andro Gagulic, who scored 11 goals, demolished Banja Luka 38:2.
Host Barcelona overcame big troubles in the first half of the match with Enka. The Turkish team had a 3:1 advantage in the 5th minute. Barcelona responded with three straight goals to turn around the deficit to a 4:3 lead. Enka equalised soon (4:4). Then Barceloneta produced a 4:0 rush. The home team jumped to an 8:4 lead early in the third and never looked back. The best scorers were Adrian Delgado, Pere Estrany and Victor Flores. Each scored 3 goals.
Sintez had just 10 players in the roster for the match against Steaua, but that didn’t help the Romanians to achieve a win. Steaua opened the match with a 2:1 lead. After that, Sintez scored five unanswered goals and earned a nice 6:2 lead three minutes into the second quarter. The maintained a 4-goal difference by the middle break (8:4). In the second half, only the margin of Sintez’s win was in question. In the end, it was increased to eight (17:9). Sergey Lisunov, the captain of the Russian national team, was the best scorer, he found the net 4 times.
1 Pays d’Aix Natation (FRA) 1 – 3
2 SIntez Kazan (RUS) 1 – 3
3 CN Barcelona (ESP) 1 – 3
4 Enka Istanbul (TUR) 1 – 0
5 Steaua Bucharest (ROM) 1 – 0
6 Banja Luka (BIH) 1 – 0
