November 10, 2019 - Jadran Split gave favorites Jug their first loss of the Champions League this season, while Mladost celebrated in Spain against CN Terrassa.
On Friday night, Jadran Split celebrated one of their biggest victories in recent years. In the fourth round of the LEN Champions League, they defeated Dubrovnik’s Jug AO 12:11 to the delight of five hundred fans at the Poljud pool.
Already three minutes into the game, Loren Fatovic scored for 1:3 Jug, and it seemed that each of their attacks ended in a goal. However, Jadran then closed the pathways to Mate Anic’s goal, blocked a few shots and managed to reduce the score to 2:3 - and in the last second of the first quarter, Jug scored their 4th goal thanks to Paolo Obradovic who hit the net at the sound of the siren.
Ante Viskovic, a former Jug player, scored at the start of the second quarter for 3:5 and then reduced to score to 4:5. Marin Delic then made it to 5:6 and Jadran entered the second half of the game with a very promising 5:6.
The result looked even more promising when Delic equalized for 6:6 just eight seconds into the third quarter. Jug missed on two extra-man occasions though Loncar scored to give Jug back the lead at 6:7. Jadran, however, was still in the game. Zovic stole the ball in defense, played the counter, and Duzevic equalized with a player up at 7:7. Zovic then hit a penalty for Jadran, which Popadic defended. Jug managed a new lead thanks to Merkulov and Zhuvel for 7:9.
Duzevic, reduced the score to 8:9, then with another fantastic goal for the 9:9 equalizer. Buric gave Jadran their first lead of the game at 10:9, and off Delic's assist, Buric increased the lead to 11:9 with less than three minutes to go.
Jug made it 11:10 with 2.14 minutes to go, and in the next attack, managed to equalize. With a minute and a half to go, it was 11:11. The dramatic final minute saw Viskovic give Jadran the lead at 12:11. Anic defended Garcia’s shot, and Jadran had given Jug their first Champions League loss of the season.
In the 5th round, Jug welcomes Sintez Kazan, while Jadran visits Szolnoki.
Mladost recorded a win in the 4th round of Champions League Group B held in Spain against CN Terrassa 14:11 (3: 3, 4: 2, 6: 4, 1: 2).
Josip Vrlic was the best for Mladost with three goals, while Lovre Milos, Cosmin Radu, Franko Lazic and Alex Bowen each scored two. Bernat Sanahuja (3) led the hosts. Ivan Marcelic achieved a respectable 10 saves for Mladost.
In Group B, Ferencvaros leads with a maximum of 12 points, Pro Recco has 10, OSC Budapest 9 and Mladost 7 points.
In the 5th round, Mladost welcomes Hanover.
Source: LEN Champions League
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
