Courtesy: LEN
No unbeaten side remained in the field after injury-hit Novi Beograd fell in Budapest where Ferencvaros won a kind of shooting contest. Since Brescia made no mistake in Berlin, the Italians took back the top spot in this group. OSC and Jug played a thrilling tie, not the best result for these two who are chasing the top ranked sides. Sabadell claimed its first win in the season, at the expense of Marseille which were dropped to the bottom.
Day 6, Group B: FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v Novi Beograd (SRB) 14-12, Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v AN Brescia (ITA) 10-16, Genesys-OSC Budapest (HUN) v Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) 9-9, Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) v CN Marseille (FRA) 13-11
Standings: 1. Brescia 15, 2. Novi Beograd 13, 3. Ferencvaros 12, 4. Jug 8, 5. OSC 6, 6. Spandau 5, 7. Sabadell 4, 8. Marseille 4
Brescia didn’t let the Spandau players think of anything similar they had achieved two weeks ago when they had stunned Ferencvaros. The Italians brought their disciplined, aggressive and highly effective game to the pool. Though their defence did not work flawlessly as in the previous rounds – got three goals right away in the first quarter –, their win was never in danger.
Ferencvaros bounced back from the Berlin shock and beat Novi Beograd in an entertaining game which sometimes was more similar to practice day out at a shooting range. The health issues of the Serbs definitely played to their hands – NBG missed four of their key players – and the Magyars made most of their chances. This also means that the last unbeaten side fell in the prelims (after Recco thrashed Barceloneta in the other group on Tuesday).
And the two winners also got some ‘great’ news on the ‘chasing camp’ as none of their most dangerous rivals could win. OSC and Jug staged a thrilling battle where the Croats led by three late in the second period, but the Magyars managed to come back and after shutting out Jug for 10:45 minutes, took a 9-7 lead in the fourth. Jug woke up in time and veteran Maro Jokovic saved the game to a draw with a fine action goal 40 seconds before the buzzer.
Marseille sank further – the French team, which had reached the Final Eight in the previous two seasons, suffered their fourth defeat in six rounds. Sabadell came up big to win their first game in the season, in fact they left no chance for their rivals, dominated for four periods as Sergi Cabanas netted 7 goals.