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Champions League Preliminary Round Day 1 - Summary

Recco, Barceloneta win thrillers

The new format of the Champions League has been validated by the best possible way: all six matches produced high-level and many of them were decided after the utmost excitements. And that was only the first day of the preliminaries!

Group A ZF Eger (HUN) vs. Pro (ITA) 7-8 (4-2, 0-3, 2-1, 1-2)

The capacity crowd witnessed a fantastic game with twists and turns in all four quarters, brilliant individual efforts, great goals. Eger took a flying start, led 3-0 after six minutes while Recco missed their first three extramen. However, the Italians came back quickly as their world class Montenegrin player, Aleksandar Ivovic scored two superb action goals from two connecting attacks. Eger still hit back with Balazs Harai’s fabulous back-handed goal from the centre with five seconds to go (4-2). The second quarter saw a huge turn in fortunes: Recco kept on scoring while Eger wasted a handful of chances: three man-ups, a penalty and a one-on-one counter. Still, the hosts didn’t break down and managed to re- took the lead at 6-5, had a 6 on 5 after a time-out but they missed it, Recco scored after their time-out so the last period started from 6-6. Again, Eger went ahead with Zsolt Varga’s shot but the last two goals went to Recco, Ivovic netted his third of the day and scored the game-winner from a man-up while Eger missed their last two extras.

CNA Barceloneta (ESP) vs. Primorje Erste Banka Rijeka 8-7 (1-0, 3-3, 2-2, 2-2)

Though Barceloneta has a guaranteed berth in the Final Six as the host of that event, the Spaniards admittedly want to prove that they can earn their place in the finals by finishing in the top three of the group. In fact, they managed to open their campaign with a stylish win over Rijeka, one of the strongest sides in Europe. Both teams held the lead during this exciting encounter, Rijeka was 7-6 up in the fourth but Barceloneta’s left-handed player from Argentina, Echenique scored two brilliant goals – he finished with three – and that made the difference.

Jug Croatia Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) vs. Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 11-9 (1-2, 6-4, 2-2, 2-1)

Evaluating the chances in this group few said that the game against the Greeks could be an easier one – but it turned out right at the beginning that Olympiacos would not give any match for free. Jug, a serial winner at home, had to work really hard to collect these three points. The Greeks led after the first period, next came a thrilling quarter with 10 goals,

PR33-13 but the Croats could not break Olympiacos in third period either. Finally, Jug managed to overcome their difficulties, thanks to their two big shooters, Miho Boskovic and Montenegrin Nikola Janovic, both netting three goals.

Group B Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) vs. DiGi Oradea (ROU) 8-6 (3-1, 2-1, 2-3, 1-1)

Taking a 3-0 lead gave the Germans what they needed the most: a confidence boosting start at their first international game of the season. After three months of preparations they were uncertain what they are capable of. Now they could see that they might even go all the way to the Final Six as Oradea had some huge wins in the qualification, they beat Szolnok, one of the top Hungarian teams and ousted Sintez Kazan (RUS) en route to the preliminaries. Still, they couldn’t cope with Spandau’s physical and disciplined play. The home side – led by Oeler, who scored three goals – managed to keep the 2-3 goal advantage throughout the match and earned an extremely important win.

AN Brescia (ITA) vs. Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade (SRB) 11-6 (1-3, 3-1, 4-1, 3-1)

Though the team of Partizan is not reminiscent of the one having won the title back in 2011, the Serbs are always considered favourites in the League. And they started the game as expected by building a 3-1 lead. What followed was a bit of shock. Perhaps even for the Italians… Brescia started to walk on water from the second quarter and produced the best 24 minutes of their season by thrashing Partizan with a 10-3 partial result.

Galatasaray Istanbul (TUR) vs. Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) 7-11 (4-4, 0-2, 1-4, 2-1)

Though Radnicki – winner of the previous edition of Euro Cup – finally gained a convincing victory, the first period proved that no team could take anything for granted in Istanbul. The Turks, fielding a handful of fine Serbian and a US player, managed to find the answers in the opening eight minutes. However, in the two middle periods Radnicki proved that they were one of the strongest contenders for the title this season. Led by master shooters Filip Filipovic and Montenegrin Boris Zlokovic – three goals for both – they produced a 6-1 run and that was decisive.

Day 2 will be played on 4 December.