Courtesy: LEN
Novi Beograd finally beat Ferencvaros, after three defeats, in an epic 27-goal encounter, so the Serbs stayed on track to chase Brescia for the top spot. Jug bounced back with a great win over OSC and now hold a six-point advantage ahead of the lower ranked sides. Marseille also rediscovered the winning way and with an outstanding defensive effort in the second half, the French could bring down Sabadell.
Day 9, Group B: Jug Adriatic Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) v Genesys OSC Budapest (HUN) 13-8, VK Novi Beograd (SRB) v FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) 14-13, CN Marseille (FRA) v Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) 9-6, AN Brescia (ITA) v Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) 14-10
Standings: 1. Brescia 24, 2. Novi Beograd 22, 3. Ferencvaros 18, 4. Jug 14, 5. Spandau 8, 6. Marseille 7, 7. OSC 6, 8. Sabadell 4
Novi Beograd and Ferencvaros produced their usual ‘all-in’ offensive match, an epic battle and a fantastic promotion of water polo where both sides reached double digits at the end once more. The outcome was different in one aspect, though, as last season and this January the Magyars beat the Serbs three times – it was now NBG’s turn. The F8 hosts kept the game under control in the first half, led by two goals a couple of times. In the third, the Hungarians caught the wave, a late goal sent them 11-12 ahead before the final chapter. However, the home team’s Brazilian goalie Joao Fernandez saved the best for the last period, so after five minutes of battling, the Serbs could stage a 3-0 run lately, while their rivals could score only 22 seconds from time.
This kept NBG on track to keep up with Brescia in the race for the first place. The Italians made no mistake and didn’t leave any chance for Spandau to even think of repeating their fine performance in Dubrovnik.
Jug bounced back with a fine win from their recent miseries. They really stepped up right from the beginning against OSC, netted five goals in the opening period, then tightened their defence and by the end of the third they led 10-5. At the end, they bagged three crucial points – as well as pushing OSC to the brink of elimination from the hunt for the fourth F8 berth.
In the game of the two bottom ranked sides Marseille finally came up with a performance worthy of their fame earned in the previous seasons. Though Sabadell had a better spell and came back from 4-2 to 4-5, but the French then staged a 5-0 run while shutting out the Spaniards for 19:09 minutes and claimed their second win.
Fixtures, Wednesday – Group A
- 19.00 (18.00CET) NC Vouliagmeni (GRE) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE)
- 19.00 Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) v Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)
- 20.30 Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) v Jadran Split (CRO)
- 21.00 Pro Recco (ITA) v Zodiac CNA Barceloneta (ESP)
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