The next round of the LEN Euro Cup begins just 11 days after the second leg of the eighth-finals.
The 1st leg of the LEN Euro Cup quarterfinals is tomorrow.
The highlight of this stage is an encounter between Szolnok and Radnicki. The Hungarian team finished 3rd in Group A of the Champions League Qualifications, while Radnicki finished 2nd in Group B.
Both teams have played quite well in all competitions this season. Still, Szolnok is the favorite. The power engine of the Hungarian club is, among the others, Serbia’s captain Filip Filipovic, who won the LEN Euro Cup in 2013, playing for Radnicki. Besides Filipovic, Szolnok has two Serbs on the roster (Pijetlovic and Drasovic) and one on the bench. Zivko Gocic, former captain of Serbia, is Szolnok’s coach. Some of Szolnok’s stars are European champions Viktor Nagy, Daniel Angyal.
There is no doubt, Szolnok has a more experienced team than Radnicki, but the Serbs also have some outstanding players on the team. Three of them arrived in Kragujevac from Hungary last summer – Strahinja Rasovic (played for Eger), Aleksa Ukropina (OSC), Milos Milicic (Miskolc).
The Croatian Cup winner Mladost Zagreb will play against Vouliagmeni. The Greek club is coached by Croat Hrvoje Koljanin and has two Croats in the squad – Luka Lozina and Andrija Basic. It seems that Mladost, led by several members of the Croatian national team, is closer to the semifinals in this duel. To remind, Mladost was 2nd in the Champions League Qualifications, after a narrow loss to Ortigia in the final of Group A. However, Vouliagmeni has a lot of experienced players, and this encounter will be a big challenge for both teams.
The other Hungarian team in the quarterfinals OSC will face Spanish Sabadell. Both teams have several of medal winners at major competitions on their rosters. OSC has constantly been playing well since the beginning of the season. The Budapest-based team is currently 2nd in the Hungarian League, behind Szolnok and ahead of Ferencvaros. On the other side, after an excellent start of the season and winning the Spanish Super Cup, Sabadell has a few ups and downs. But this club is getting into good shape. Sabadell blew away Mediterrani In the return leg of the LEN Euro Cup eighth-finals. Last week, Sabadell played a great match against Barceloneta in the semifinals of the Spanish Cup but didn’t qualify for the final.
It is hard to predict the outcome of the matches between Dynamo Moscow and Crvena Zvezda. There are no favorites here. Crvena Zvezda’s advantage might be the fact that the Serbs will be hosts in the return leg.
LEN Euro Cup Quarterfinals, 1st leg (March 17)
18:30 HAVK Mladost Zagreb (CRO) – Vouliagmeni (GRE)
18:30 OSC Budapest (HUN) – Astralpool CN Sabadell (ESP)
20:00 Dynamo Moscow (RUS) – Crvena Zvezda (SRB)
20:00 Radnicki (SRB)– Szolnok Dosza (HUN)
All times are local
Schedule until the end of the season
QUARTERFINALS: March 17 and 24, 2021
SEMIFINALS: April 3 and 10, 2021
FINALS: April 24 and May 8, 2021
