Courtesy: LEN
Huge wins marked the fourth round in Group A, just days before Christmas. Olympiacos downed Hannover after a sloppy start, Barceloneta blew Radnicki away by halftime, while Recco showed little mercy to Vouliagmeni. Jadran returned to the winning track and tied the single-game scoring record for this season by hitting 21 against Dinamo.
Group A, Day 4: Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 7-16, Jadran Split (CRO) v Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) 21-7, Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP) v Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) 18-9, Pro Recco (ITA) v NC Vouliagmeni (GRE) 14-6
Standings: 1. Barceloneta 12, 2. Olympiacos 12, 3. Recco 9, 4. Jadran 6, 5. Vouliagmeni 4, 6. Radnicki 4, 7. Hannover 0, 8. Dinamo 0
Just like last week, the top three sides thrashed their respective opponents – as of now, nothing seems to endanger the F8 qualification of Olympiacos, Recco and Barceloneta as the other teams are not able to put up real fights when they meet them.
This round was a strong proof of that. The highlighted match of the day turned into a rout right away as Barceloneta stormed to an 8-1 lead against Radnicki – the Serbs were unable to cope with the hosts’ pace and tactical superiority. Barceloneta were on top of their game, they took 32 shots, 29 were on target, putting the Serbs under unbearable pressure and crushing them at the end.
Olympiacos had a sluggish start in Hannover, coach Igor Milanovic said that his players had seemed to start their Christmas break already – however, he managed to brought them back to stage a 2-7 run in the middle to periods, then adding seven more alone in the last one.
Recco had made the bigger part of the job by halftime against Vouliagmeni, 11 goals in the first two periods did enough damage to have a much calmer second part with only five goals in total.
After a series of bad defeats, Jadran bounced back under their new coach Jure Marelja. An 8-0 thrashing in the second period knocked out Dinamo and at the end the Croats tied the single-game scoring record of 21 goals, shared by Recco and Olympiacos so far.
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Fixtures for Wednesday
Group B
19.30 Genesys OSC Budapest (HUN) v Astralpool Sabadell (ESP)
19.45 VK Novi Beograd (SRB) v AN Brescia (ITA)
20.00 CN Marseille (FRA) v Spandau 04 Berlin (GER)
20.30 FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO)