All favorites recorded wins on Day 3 of the Champions League Group A. There was not much suspense and thrilling endings this evening.
European champion Pro Recco displayed an excellent offensive play to beat Radnicki – 21:12. The Serbs started quite well, but their defense fell apart in the second half.
Olympiacos defeated a decimated team of Jadran Split by five goals (13:8). The Croats resisted as much as they could, but they hadn’t enough good solutions to beat Olympiacos’ defense. The Greeks secured a convincing win in the final quarter.
The remaining two matches were one-sided contests. Barceloneta demolished Waspo 98 Hannover (20:5), while Vouliagmeni beat Dinamo Tbilisi, thanks to an excellent start – 12:7 (at halftime, the Greeks led 9:3)
2022/23 Champions League, Group A, Day 3
Pro Recco – Radnicki 21:12 (6:4, 3:1, 7:4,5:3)
Pro Recco: Del Lungo, Di Fulvio 1, Zalanki 5, FIglioli 2, Younger 1, Cannella 1, Iocchi Gratta, Echenique, Ivovic 1, Velotto 2, Aicardi 3, Hallock 4. Head coach: Sukno.
Radnicki: Dobozanov, Brankovic 1, Stanojevic, Jankovic 3, Cuk 1, Vico 1, Ukropina 1, Gavrilovic 1, Pljevancic, Radulovic 3, Lukic 1, Vrlic 1, Todorovski. Head coach: Stevanovic.
In the first quarter, Radnicki showed that it didn’t bring a white flag in Genoa. The Serbs opened the match bravely. They led 2:1 and 3:2. The hosts made a turn with two goals – 4:3. A minute and 20 seconds before the first break, Radulovic leveled with a man-up. But, the hosts’ center-forward Ben Hallock netted two goals in the last 53 seconds of the quarter, and the favorite entered the second period leading 6:4.
Gergo Zalanki doubled the hosts’ advantage with two back-to-back goals (one from a penalty, another from a man-up) – 8:4. Radnicki missed a few nice chances. Only Radulovic found the net in this period, converting a double man-up (5:8). At the finish of the first half, Recco’s captain Aleksandar Ivovic netted for 9:5
Pietro Figlioli (Pro Recco) and Marko Radulovic (Radnicki) Photo: KVK Radnicki
Like in several other matches this season, Radnicki’s defense weakened in the third quarter, and the big rival made the most of it. Recco, led by Gergo Zalanki, found the net in almost every possession in this period. Figlioli opened the second half with an action goal for 10:5. After that, Radnicki wasted a double man-up and paid for it. Recco scored two action goals within 36 seconds (Zalanki and Hallock) and stretched the margin to seven (12:5). There was no way back for Radnicki. The Serbs fought hard until the end. Still, they made too many mistakes in defense and Recco punished that.
Jadran Split – Olympiacos 8:13 (1:2, 2:3, 3:3, 2:5)
Jadran Split: Anic, Buric 2, Stojanac, Cagalj 3, Butic, Tomasovic, Bukic, Zovic, Delic 1, Dobud 1, Setka, Duzevic, Marcelic. Head coach: Savicevic.
Olympiacos: Bijac, Gkillas, Vamos 2, Genidounias 2, Fountoulis 2, Gouvis, Dervisis 1, Buslje 1, Mourikis, Filipovic 3, Kolomvos, Papanastasiou 2, Zerdevas. Head coach: Milanovic.
The match in Split, initially scheduled for 19:00 CET, was moved to 18:00. LEN accepted Jadran’s request, asked because of the FIFA World Cup semifinals Croatia – Argentina that started at 20:00. But the home club’s efforts to animate fans didn’t produce a result. Barely 100 spectators were in the stands.
Jadran had a lot of troubles before the match. Jerko Marinic Kragic, the best scorer, and Duje Pejkovic were out of the team because they got sick. First goalkeeper Ivan Marcelic is also ill. He was on the roster but didn’t play. Despite all troubles and the lack of the fans’ support, Jadran didn’t give the points to Olympiacos on a silver plate.
The Croats were led by the club’s sporting director Dean Savicevic, who temporarily replaced Mile Smodlaka, who left the bench. The hosts kept up with Olympiacos until the fourth quarter, when they ran out of gas.
Marton Vamos gave Olympiacos a 1:0 lead in the 2nd minute. From that point on, the favorite from Piraeus was almost always ahead, but in the first three periods, Jadran was just a step or two steps behind. In the middle of the second quarter, Jadran leveled for the first and only time. Buric netted for 3:3. But, Filip Filipovic replied with two power-play goals within 01:14 minutes and Olympiacos went to a three-minute break with a 5:3 advantage.
Ioannis Fountoulis (Olympiacos) Photo: Olympiacos SFP
Buric opened the second quarter by converting a man-up for 4:5. After that, the teams exchanged goals. Jadran chased Olympiacos, but it didn’t have an attack for an equalizer because Olympiacos responded after each of the hosts’ goal. Alexandros Papanastasiou closed the third quarter with an action goal after a long attack and the Greeks regained a 2-goal lead once again (8:6). Olympiacos broke the rival in the fourth quarter. Vamos made it 9:6 in the visitors’ first possession in the final period. Midway through the quarter, Olympiacos went to 11:7 and secured a peaceful ending.
Barceloneta – Hannover 20:5 (7:1, 6:3, 2:1, 5:0)
Barceloneta: Aguirre, Famera, Matkovic 2, Munarriz 2, De Toro 2, Larumbe, Pavillard 2, Paul 2, Tahull, Perrone 4, Biel 2, Bustos 4, Porter. Head coach: Fatovic.
Waspo 98 Hannover: Goetz, Corusic, Schipper, L.Schutze, F.Schutze 2, Radovic 1, Lozina, Rotermund, Kubisch, Gansen 1, Benic, Basic 1, Benke. Head coach: Seehafer
After two away wins (over Dinamo and Vouliagmeni), Barceloneta was highly motivated in its first Champions League home game in this season. The Spaniards were the big favorites. However, few could predict that the best Spanish club would sink the German champion in less than a quarter and a half. Last season, Barceloneta defeated Hannover (12:10) in the 5th-place match at the Final Eight. Since then, Hannover has significantly changed the roster and rejuvenated the team.
Today, Barceloneta, led by Felipe Perrone, and a disciplined play in defense, earned a 3:0 lead in the first three minutes. By the first break, the hosts went to 7:1. In the 11th minute, the Spaniards’ already had a 9:1 advantage and after that, only a winning margin was in question. The hosts slowed in the third period, but they refound their rhythm in the final eight minutes and increased the margin to 15.
Vouliagmeni – Dinamo Tbilisi 12:7 (6:2, 3:1, 1:1, 2:3)
Vouliagmeni: Tzortzatos, Chalyvopoulos 1, Almyras 1, Kalogeropoulos 2, Troulos 3, Nikolaidis 2, Papasifakis 1, Woodhead 1, Alafragkis 1, Kapotsis, Kourovanis, Andreadis. Head coach: Vujasinovic
Dinamo:Gvetadze, Kirikidi, Akhvlediani 2, Dzikhtsiarenka 1, Tkeshelashvili , Vlahovic, Jakhaia, Saric 2, Imnaishvili, Magrakvelidze, Meskhi, Pjesivac 2, Gyapjas. Head coach: Stanojevic.
Vouliagmeni collected its first Champions League win. The Greeks jumped to a 4:0 lead in the 5th minute and maintained the difference until the first break. In the 12th minute, the hosts stretched the margin to five (8:3). Two seconds before the middle break, Nikolaidis scored from a backhander for 9:3. Papasifakis found the net from a distance to make it 10:3 in the 20th minute. Vouliagmeni didn’t continue in the same rhythm Dinamo was a better rival in the remaining time, but Vouliagmeni’s win wasn’t in danger.
1.Barceloneta 3 – 9
2. Olympiacos 3 – 9
3. Vouliagmeni 3 – 7
4. Pro Recco 3 – 6
5. Radnicki 3 – 4
6. Jadran Split 3 – 3
7. Waspo 98 Hannover 3 – 0
8. Dinamo Tbilisi 3 – 0
