Courtesy: LEN
Olympiacos almost fell again in Kragujevac, just like last season, but Fililp Filipovic saved them at least a point with 7 seconds from time. Recco and Barceloneta had no problems to deliver another win while Vouliagmeni managed to beat Hannover in a dramatic match and have a great chance to make the Final 8 for the first time.
Group A: Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) v Jadran Split (CRO) 8-6, NC Vouliagmeni (GRE) v Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) 10-9, Pro Recco (ITA) v Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) 20-5, Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 10-10
Standings: 1. Recco 21, 2. Barceloneta 21, 3. Olympiacos 19, 4. Vouliagmeni 13, 5. Radnicki 9, 6. Jadran 7, 7. Hannover 3, 8. Dinamo 0
A year ago, Radnicki stunned Olympiacos which cost a lot for the Greeks at the end – their qualification to the F8 –, now it almost happened again. This time Olympiacos are in a much better position and during the game they didn’t seem to have any trouble while leading 4-8 at halftime. However, the Serbs raised their level, managed to stage an amazing comeback, Lazar Dobozanov delivered a series of amazing saves, the Kragujevac crowd went wild as Radnicki were on a 6-0 run and 10-8 up with 1:17 remaining. Still, the Greeks – not scoring for 15:02 minutes – could save the game to a tie, thanks to a goal netted at 0:58, and another one at 0:07, this last one by their Serbian leftie Filip Filipovic in a 7 on 6.
This was a day of Greek dramas as Vouliagmeni came back from 7-9 down to beat Hannover by netting the last three goals of the match. The Germans did a great job in the first half, led 7-8 but were unable to score in the last 15 minutes. This victory has put Vouliagmeni in a very promising position to clinch an F8 berth right on their first try.
As for the favourites, Recco faced their easiest task in the main round, and they delivered the win over bottom-ranked Dinamo in style. After a relatively slow start, the title-holders won the middle two periods 10-1, also to entertain the public in Imperia. They only missed to better the scoring record for the season, which stands at 21 and they stopped at 20.
Barceloneta stormed to a 4-0 lead in the first period, but uncharacteristically slowed down later and added only four more in the remaining three periods. Jadran, which had spent 25 hours to get to Barcelona from Split due to the ‘Lufthansa armageddon’, fought hard and despite struggling with their man-ups (missed the first nine), they left the pool with a modest 8-6 defeat.