“Big Guns” go through Euro Cup qualifiers

No big surprises in the LEN Euro Cup in the first round of the qualifications. Four tournaments were played this weekend in Rijeka, Savona, Barcelona, and Athens and we got eight teams that progress further – OSC Budapest, Primorje, Marseille, Mornar, Barcelona, BVSC, Primorac, and Ortigia.

Group A matches were played in Rijeka and, as expected, it was a Hungarian OSC and home team Primorje who won the first two places. It was no surprise that seven-time European champion Partizan Belgrade only finished third as they have a very young team this season.

In all three games, OSC recorded huge wins and the lowest margin was eight goals against Primorje. As for the home team, it turned out that match against Partizan was decisive for the second place battle. Primorje won 13:6 after they stormed their rivals in the last quarter.

French water polo giant Marseille won the qualifying tournament in the Italian town of Savona. In the first match, Marseille played a perfect game and didn’t concede a goal against SG Berlin. It was 15:0 for the French.

It was a much tougher job against Croatian team of Mornar. Marseille won 10:8 with four goals from Bogdan Djurdjic. As for Mornar, they won the second place in the group thanks to a victory against a home team of Savona in the opening day of the tournament.

Group C matches were played in Barcelona and the home team won the first place. So, Barcelona won against Olympique Nice 10:8 in a thrilling game in which the Catalans scored five goals in a row to decide the winner.

As this group had just three participants, it was enough for BVSC to win against Olympique Nice – 18:9. Matyas Pasztor was the man of the match with five goals and BVSC opened the game with a 9:0 lead.

Montenegrin team of Primorac won the tournament in Athens in Group D after three wins. The biggest challenge was on Day one against Greek team of Ydraikos. Primorac won 9:8 thanks to a goal from Goran Grgurevic 21 seconds before the end.

The second place in this group was won by the Italian team of Ortigia. Like with Primorac, it was a match against Ydraikos that had to be won to clinch a promised land. Ortigia won on Day three – 6:5, and it was Boris Vapenski who found the net 10 seconds before the final whistle.

RESULTS

GROUP A (RIJEKA)

Primorje – Duisburg 9:5
OSC – Partizan 17:7
Primorje – Partizan 13:6
Duisburg – OSC 4:21
Partizan – Duisburg 13:8
Primorje – OSC 7:15

STANDINGS

1. OSC Budapest 9pts
2. Primorje 6
3. Partizan 3
4. Duisburg 0

GROUP B (SAVONA)

Marseille – SG Berlin 15:0
Savona – Mornar Split 5:6
Mornar Split – Marseille 8:10
Savona – SG Berlin 10:6
SG Berlin – Mornar 4:15
Savona – Marseille 4:12

STANDINGS

1. Marseille 9
2. Mornar 6
3. Savona 3
4. SG Berlin 0

GROUP C (BARCELONA)

Olimpique Nice – Barcelona 7:8
Olimpique Nice – BVSC 9:18
BVSC – Barcelona 8:9

STANDINGS

1. Barcelona 6
2. BVSC 3
3. Nice 0

GROUP D (ATHENS)

Nais – Ortigia 5:11
Ydraikos – Primorac 8:9
Primorac – Ortigia 9:5
Ydraikos – Nais 8:4
Primorac – Nais 15:8
Ydraikos – Ortigia 5:6

STANDINGS

1. Primorac 9
2. Ortigia 6
3. Ydraikos 3
4. Nais 0