The morning session of Day 2 of the Champions League Qualification Round 1 offered a few thrilling duels.

In the group in Sabac, Serbian clubs Crvena Zvezda and Sabac recorded narrow victories in very exciting matches.

The most important match of the morning session in Barcelona was the encounter between Pays d’Aix and Steaua. Pays d’Aix took control in the last period and convincingly defeated the Romanian champion.

Champions League, Qualification Round 1, Day 2 – morning session

Group A (Sabac)

Crvena Zvezda – Oradea 7:6 (0:1, 2:4,4:1, 1:0)

Crvena Zvezda: Vukicevic 2, Tankosic 1, Kasum 1, Ilic 1, M. Jankovic 1, Radjen 1.
CSM Digi Oradea: Popoviciu 3, V. Georgescu 2, Kovats 1.

Dynamo Moscow – Galatasaray 11:6 (1:0, 4:3, 3:0, 3:3)

Dynamo Moscow: Shepelev 4, Suchkov 3, Usov 2, Koptsev 1, Krug 1.
Galatasaray: Krstic 2, Senemoglu 1, Ozbek 1, Dilek 1, Ferik 1.

Sabac – Apollon 10:9 (2:1, 2:2, 4:2, 2:4)

Sabac: Vasic 3, Velkic 2, Rogac 2, Radulovic 1, Vasovic 1, Markovic 1.
Apollon Smyrnis: Moskov 5, Papadopoulos 1, Karountzos 1, Dermitzakis 1, Charalampopoulos 1.

Crvena Zvezda defeated Oradea thanks to a great comeback in the second half of the match. At halftime, Oradea led 5:2. Thirty seconds after the middle break, the Romanians added a goal for 6:2. Crvena Zvezda shut out Oradea in the remaining 15:30 minutes. The Serbs tightened their defence and equalised by the end of the third period 6:6. Only one goal was scored in a hard battle in the last quarter. Midway through the quarter, Petar Kasum scored a winner – 7:6.

Yesterday, host Sabac defeated Dynamo Moscow (10:9), despite the Russians opened the match with a 3:0 lead. Today, the Serbian champion recorded a new 10:9 win, but this time Sabac controlled the match for most of the time. Sabac earned a 4-goal advantage (8:4) 31 seconds before the last break. It seemed that they secured a win over Apollon. The hosts had a 9:5 lead early in the final period, but Apollon didn’t give up. However, the Greeks just managed to reduce the gap to 1. Sabac won 10:9. This was Apollon’s second minimal defeat. Yesterday, the Greeks lost to Oradea (6:7).

As expected, Dynamo Moscow beat Galatasaray. The Turks kept up with the Russians for the quarter and a half. In the middle of the second period, the sides were tied (2:2). From that point on, Dynamo dominated. The Moscow-based team had a 9:3 lead in the 26th minute and slowed down in the last six minutes.

1 Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 2 – 6
2 Sabac (SRB) 2 – 6
3 Dynamo Moscow (RUS) 2 – 3
4 CSM Oradea (ROM) 2 – 3
5 Apollon Smyrnis (GRE) 2 -0
6 Galatasaray (TUR) 2 – 0

Group B (Barcelona)

Enka – Sintez 12:15 (2:3, 2:5, 3:1, 5:6)

Enka Istanbul: Buric 5, Kolomvos 4, Ergin 1, Yutmaz 1, Gurdenli 1.
Sintez: Latypov 5, Ryzhov-Alenichev 3,Andryukov 2, Lisunov 2, Krasnov 1, Dereviankin 1, Lazarev 1.

Banja Luka – Barcelona 2:29 (1:8, 0:8, 1:6, 0:7)

Banja Luka: Vujkovic 2.
Barcelona: Idarraga 4, Lopez 4, Goma 4, Delgado 3, Estrany 3, Durik 3, Trilles 3, Van den Burg 2, Flores 2, Marsal 1.

Pays d’Aix – Steaua 8:4 (2:1, 2:1, 0:1, 4:1)

Pays d’Aix Natation:Saux 1, Khasz 1, M. Tkac 1, Gagulic 1, Espanol 1, Monneret 1, De Lera 1, Gluhaic 1.
Steaua: Fulea 2, Oanta 1,Vatrai 1.

Pays d’Aix won three points in the match against Steaua. The French were leading for most of the time. Steaua had a chance to come back in the third period. The Romanians came close in the 21st minute (3:4), but after that, they missed man-ups in three consecutive attacks and the “punishment” came soon. Pays d’Aix took control in the fourth period and recorded an 8:4 win.

Sintez Kazan, one of the favourites for the 1st place in the group, needed a lot of time to break Enka. At halftime, the Russians were 8:4 up. But, the Turks, pulled by a 39-year-old Croat Damir Buric and Greek Christodoluos Kolomvos, levelled the score at 9:9 early in the fourth period. The Russian club earned a 10:9 lead, the Turks responded – 10:10. Then Sintez took control and built a 3-goal lead (13:10), that they maintained until the end (15:12)

Barcelona improved its goal-difference by a 29:2 win over Banja Luka.

1 Pays d’Aix Natation (FRA) 2 – 6
2 Barcelona (ESP) 2 – 6
3 Sintez Kazan (RUS) 2 – 6
4 Enka Istanbul (TUR) 2 – 0
5 Steaua Bucharest (ROM) 2 – 0
6 Banja Luka (SRB) 2 – 0