Jug beats Recco again, meets Szolnok in the final
Just as in last year, Jug Dubrovnik (CRO) reached the Champions League final after beating Recco (ITA) in the semis. The Italians had a perfect run in the prelims with 10 wins in as many matches, including two big wins over Jug, but this time the Croats took a fine revenge. Szolnok defeated Eger in the all-Hungarian semi-final (they won 8 of the 9 matches the two clubs played in the current season) and advanced to their first ever European cup final. Brescia (ITA) claimed the 5th place, they overcame last year’s runner-up Olympiacos (GRE).
It takes a team to beat Recco and Olympiacos on consecutive days. In any order. Jug did that twice in two years. In 2016, the Croats caught the Italians in the semis and the Greeks in the final. Now they repeated that feat, downed Olympiacos in the QF and Recco in the SF and are ready to retain their title.
Just as on Day 1, Jug took a flying start and led 0-3 which showed that even though group-winners might have a direct berth in the semis but their opponents usually came from a heated quarter-final battle and could find better gears right from the beginning. For Recco, it took two periods to reach the same playing level as Jug. The first half belonged to the Croats who managed to maintain a two-goal cushion until the middle break, thanks to a couple of breath-taking shots (6-4).
The third period recalled the QF from the previous day when Olympiacos staged a 5-0 rush to catch up Jug after trailing 2-7. Now Recco scored three connecting goals and the Italian team seemed to gain control (6-7). But again, just as against the Greeks, the enthusiastic Croats replied with three goals, in a span of 1:25 minutes, though Filip Filipovic’s blast boosted Recco’s moral as he narrowed the gap once more, with two seconds before the last break (9-8).
The next goal was crucial and it came from Jug which opened the scoring, Xavi Garcia put away a 6 on 5 which led to the substitution of Recco’s legendary goalie Stefano Tempesti. He wasn’t as effective as in his heydays and left the pool with a 28.6% saving percentage. At 10-8, Jug had a man-up but failed to take even a shot, soon Filipovic sent a rocket-like ball under the cross bar, it was his 4th goal of the night, so it was 10-9 instead of 11-8. With 4:28 to go Recco had a lot of time to equalise – last year it was 10-10 in the semis, Jug won in the shootout – but this time they couldn’t force at least the penalties. Jug’s defence, fuelled by Marko Bijac’s saves, worked pretty well, the Croats killed Recco’s last two 6 on 5s and advanced to the final once more.
They will play with Szolnok on Saturday afternoon as the Hungarian champion outpowered Eger in the all-Hungarian semi-final. It was the 9th clash of the two sides this season and Szolnok was the heavy favourite as they held a 7-1 advantage in the head-to-head.
Still, Eger jumped to a 2-1 lead while Szolnok went through the same struggles what Recco experienced against Jug. However, Eger couldn’t capitalise on that. Six minutes gone from the second period and the result still stood at 2-1, both goalies, Branislav Mitrovic (Eger) and Viktor Nagy came up with brilliant stops (both finished the match with 50+ saving percentages). It was a Serb who could finally beat Mitrovic, fellow Olympic champion Andrija Prlainovic netted two in 72 seconds to give Szolnok a 2-3 lead at half-time.
Another double, this time from Aussie Aaron Younger put Szolnok in a fine position late in the third at 2-5, while their rivals were frozen in front. Gergo Kovacs ended Eger’s suffering, lasting for agonisingly long (14:21 minutes without a goal).
The clash heated up in the middle of the fourth, until then only 17 shots on goal were recorded, an embarrassingly low value from two Hungarian sides. The next phase saw two goals apiece, Eger came close twice but Szolnok had the answers, courtesy of Younger and Prlainovic who completed their respective hat-tricks, securing Szolnok’s historical win which sent them to their first ever European cup final.
Champions League, Final Six, Day 2
For 5-6th place
Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v AN Brescia (ITA) 5-8
Semi-finals
Jug Dubrovnik (CRO) v Pro Recco (ITA) 10-9
ZF Eger (HUN) v Szolnoki Dozsa-Kozgep (HUN) 5-7
Schedule for Saturday
Bronze medal match
15.15 Pro Recco (ITA) v ZF Eger (HUN)
Champions League Final
16.45 Jug Dubrovnik (CRO) v Szolnoki Dozsa-Kozgep (HUN)
For free live streaming of all matches, play-by-play action and detailed stats, visit the LEN website (www.len.eu).
Flash Quotes, Day 2
Semi-Final 1
Jug Croatia Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) v Pro Recco (ITA) 10-9
Vjekoslav Kobescak, head coach, Jug:
“I should say, this was another amazing match. This team really knows how to prepare for this kind of matches, they play with spirit. I think, this our driving force, our fantastic spirit. This made the difference today once more. It’s a big achievement to beat Olympiacos and Recco in any order on consecutive days, just as we did last year. Now we are ready to repeat last year’s win. I do think we are capable of making it.”
Vladimir Vujasinovic, head coach, Recco:
“I think there was too much pressure on our players. We met a great team, led by a great coach and couldn’t do our best. We have to analyse what happened to us in this match as we made too many mistakes. We focused on the championship a week ago, we have three players who only take part in the Champions League matches, perhaps they would have needed more time to adjust to the heat of the matches.”
Semi-Final 2
ZF Eger (HUN) v Szolnoki Dozsa-Kozgep (HUN) 5-7
Norbert Dabrowski, head coach, Eger:
“It was all about man-up and man-down, as usual at this stage of the big tournaments. In fact, we wanted to play a game like this, stop Szolnok’s rush which we did well. I’m satisfied with our defending, yesterday we got 4 goals, today we got 7, though twice we were unlucky – though I usually refrain from using this word – as our excluded player already returned but still they could score from those situations. Maybe, that made the difference.”
Zoltan Kosz, assistant coach, Szolnok:
“We wrote a couple of screenplays for this match and this low-scoring version was amongst them. We started slowly, the signs showed that we were out of match-playing for a while, on the other hand Eger had a great game yesterday, had a better pace at the beginning. Thanks to our quality players we could overcome these difficulties. Defence was the key of our victory, Viktor Nagy did a great job in the goal once again. Of course, we can play much better than this and I’m sure we have to improve a lot for tomorrow if we want to reach our dreams.”
For places 5-6th
Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v AN Brescia (ITA) 5-8
Alessandro Bovo, head coach, Brescia:
“I’m happy with the result and the team’s performance. To be honest, it doesn’t matter if you finish 5th or 6th in this tournament but we played with one of the best teams of the world and we wanted to play well in the last match of the season. We achieved that today.
Theodoros Vlachos, head coach, Olympiacos:
“We came here to have a better result, a much better result but we finished last in this tournament. Still, we were here, qualified to the Final Six, had a good season though our finish wasn’t that great. Today I could hardly recognise my players, they showed a different face, played without emotion and real dedication. It’s somewhat understandable as they came here for the trophy. But there is always a new start and we will do everything to get a much better result next season.”
For free live streaming of all matches, play-by-play action and detailed stats, visit the LEN website (www.len.eu).
26 May 2017
26 May 2017