With 3-0 last periods, Ferencvaros and Oradea reach final

Coming from behind and winning the last period 3-0, both Ferencvaros (HUN) and Oradea (ROU) managed to hit back on home soil and advance to the Euro Cup final. In fact, the Romanians made it in the penalty shootout.

Though the first legs brought scoring festivals in Herceg Novi (MNE) and Verona (ITA) a month ago (23 and 22 goals respectively), the return legs saw unusually low-scoring encounters. The combined score didn’t reach 20 goals in the two venues – and apart from mathematics, the two home sides could celebrate at the end after winning real thrillers.

Ferencvaros trailed 3-4 before the last break but 35 year-old Norbert Madaras, two-time Olympic and world champion, put away two man-ups in the fourth, the second one 55 seconds before the end. Jadran remained scoreless in the last 9:45 minutes of the match, thus the Montenegrins’ journey ended here. On the other side, Ferencvaros will return to a European cup final after 20 years.

In Oradea the very same scenario happened. Verona was 2-3 ahead before the last break but the Italians couldn’t net any goal in the last 9:54 minutes while the Romanians scored three in 3:34 seconds in the last period and forced the match to a penalty shootout. Their Olympic champion Serbian goalie, Gojko Pijetlovic stopped two shots there, sending his team to the final for the first time in their history.

Euro Cup – semi-finals, seconds leg

Ferencvaros (HUN) v Jadran Herceg Novi (MNE) 6-4

Aggregate: 17-16

DiGi Oradea (ROU) v CSM Verona (ITA) 5-3

Aggregate: 15-15 – penalties: 4-3

Source: LEN