Eight clubs are in front of the two final hurdles on their way to European trophies.
Tomorrow, the LEN Euro Cup and the Challenger Cup semifinals begin with the first leg.
LEN Euro Cup Semifinals, First Leg, Preview
Two Italian clubs, one Hungarian team, and one Greek club reached the semis of the LEN Euro Cup. Only one of these four clubs lifted the trophy in this competition.
Tomorrow, Trieste and Savona will face off in the Italian derby in Trieste, while Greek Panionios will welcome Vasas in Athens.
Considering the tradition and the rosters, Vasas and Savona are the favorites. However, there are no underdogs in the semifinals.
Savona is the only of the four semifinalists that already won the LEN Euro Cup, while Trieste debuted in the LEN competitions the season. Reaching the semifinals is already a historic success.
Savona has won three LEN Euro Cups/LEN Trophies (2005, 2011, 2012).Savona has been one of the most decorated Italian clubs in the last three decades. Trieste debuted in Serie A1 in 2015 and since then is a regular member of the First Italian League. The two clubs have played each other many times in the last several seasons. Savona has had more sucesses. Savona and Trieste have met four times in the last season and a half. Savona won three games and one match ended in a draw. The teams shared the points in the qualifications of the 2022 Italian Cup (12:12). Trieste hasn’t defeated Savona since 2018.
Savona has more aces on the roster, including two current members of the national team – goalkeeper Gianmarco Nicosia and Lorenzo Bruni, Montenegrin Bogdan Djurdjic, etc. But, Trieste’s team is composed of excellent players, too. Giuseppe Valentino, Ivan Buljubasic, and Japanese goal-getter Yusuke Inaba are among them.
The Italian clubs have played in 17 finals of the LEN Euro Cup/LEN Trophy and won 10 trophies. 29 finals have been held since the establishment of the competition in 1992After 18 rounds of the Italian League, Savona is in 4th, and Trieste in 6th place. Savona finished in 4th place, and Trieste in 5th in the Italian Cups.
So if we take all these facts into account, Savona is a slight favorite. But facts don’t play in the pool.
Vasas and Panionios haven’t met recently. Their last official encounters are dated to the season 2009/10. Vasas recorded a convincing 14:7 victory at home, while Panionios celebrated an 11:10 victory in Athens in the Champions League group stage. However, neither of the teams advanced to the quarterfinals.
Just as in the Italian derby, one team has a rich treasury of European trophies. It’s Vasas.
Vasas has won the Champions League twice (1980, 1985), three trophies in the Cup Winners’ Cup (1986,1995, 2002), and one LEN Super Cup (1985).But, Vasas never played in the LEN Euro Cup final (it was eliminated in the semifinals three times). Panionios is targeting its third Euro Cup final (the Greek club was the runner-up in 2009 and 2011).
Vasas is , considering tradition and the roster, the favorite. The Budapest-based team has two Olympic champions – goalkeeper Branislav Mitrovic and Sava Randjelovic, then European Championships silver medalist Akos Konarik, an experienced Montenegrin Drasko Brguljan, high-class Russian left-handed scorer Ivan Nagaev, etc. Panionios is led by an experienced ace Alexandros Gounas. Besides him, key players are goalkeeper Limarakis, Nikolaos Kopeliadis, Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis.
Panionos and Vasas haven’t faced off in official competitions since 2010But, as we already mentioned, the facts don’t play. Before the first leg, both teams are on the same starting line.
SCHEDULE (March 1)
Panionios – Vasas (20:00 – 19:00 CET)
Trieste – Savona (20:00)
The return matches are on March 22
LEN Challenger Cup Semifinals, First Leg, Preview
As for the LEN Challenger Cup, Spanish water polo lovers dream of the Spanish derby. The land of the world championships has two clubs in the semifinals, Tenerife and Terrassa.
Fifteen teams have taken part in the first-ever Challenger Cup this season,Tenerife will play against Apollon Smyrnis (Greece), while Terrassa will face Turkish Enka Istanbul. The Spanish clubs don’t have world champions on their teams. It seems that all four teams are of similar qualities. Even Enka, with Croatian veteran Paulo Obradovic (the 2012 Olympic champion) might surprise. Nothing is impossible.
SCHEDULE (March 1)
Terrassa – Enka Istanbul (20:00)
Tenerife Echeyde – Apollon Smyrnis (20:15 – 21:15 CET)
The return matches are on March 22
