Courtesy: LEN Media
Ferencvaros thrashed Mladost and Recco enjoyed a great evening while beating OSC in Budapest so both sides continued its respective unbeaten streaks. As a surprise, Marseille’s great run was halted at home by Terrassa, and Hannover had the last laugh in Tbilisi and earned its first victory this season.
Group B
A Híd-OSC Budapest (HUN) v Pro Recco (ITA) 10-14, FTC-Telekom Budapest (ITA) v Mladost Zagreb (CRO) 14-5, CN Marseille (FRA) v CN Terrassa (ESP) 9-10, Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) 10-11
Standings: 1. FTC 16, 2. Recco 14, 3. OSC 12, 4. Mladost 10, 5. Marseille 9, 6. Terrassa 6, 7. Hannover 3, 8. Tbilisi 0
Budapest was in the spotlight once more, just a couple of kilometres away two big games were played in the Hungarian capital. Though many expected a tough battle in the encounter between Ferencvaros and Mladost but the title-holders’ players virtually walked on the water while crushing their rivals. The Hungarians opened the game with a 5-1 rush in the first period and even though the Croats climbed back a bit to 7-4, the home side staged a powerful demonstration in the second half. They had a 7-0 run before Mladost could score again, after 16:45 minutes, two seconds from time.
Recco also showed something special in the other Budapest pool against OSC. The Italians, having dropped points in Zagreb and two weeks ago at home against Ferencvaros, faced a hard challenge playing the No 2. Hungarian side. Recco took the better start, led 3-6 deep into the second quarter but the hosts were also up to the task, came back to 6-6 and was trailing just 8-9 late in the third. However, a great action goal from Francesco di Fulvio, a killed man-down and a converted penalty gave Recco a commanding 8-11 lead before the last break. Dusan Mandic added one more from the first possession in the fourth and the visitors maintained that four-goal advantage till the end.
This result set the field for Marseille to jump to the third place, they just needed another home win, a fourth victory in a row, against Terrassa which had four straight losses on the contrary. For a while, the French seemed to keep the game under control as they led 6-4 but the Spaniards had a great spell, shut out the hosts for 8:10 minutes and netted three connecting goals. Marseille levelled the score for 7-7 before the last break but in the final period always the Spaniards could score first. The French could equalise twice but Sergi Mora’s brilliant action goal from the left wing remained unanswered in the last 81 seconds.
The clash of the pointless teams in Tbilisi also produced a thrilling match. The Georgians were in front in the first half and held an 8-6 lead in the third but Hannover caught them up before the final period at 9-9. After a quick exchange of goals in the fourth a huge and long battle ensued to score the winner and at the end it was Ivan Nagaev who found the back of the net with a 6m blast 1:16min from time.
The Champions League will return in five days as five of the eight matches will be played on Monday since several young talented players of the participating clubs will have to travel to the World Junior Championships, which was moved to December much later than the CHL schedule had been set.
