December 10, 2019 - In Group A of the LEN Champions League on Monday, Jug AO lost 6:5 to Olympiacos in Piraeus (0:2, 2:1, 2:2, 1:1), while in Group B, Mladost recorded a victory in Zagreb against Marseille 12:11 (4:0, 3:5, 3:1, 2:5).
HRT writes that with this Olympiacos win against Jug in the 7th round, the Greek club remains undefeated in Group A, while Vjekoslav Kobescak’s team recorded their second defeat in the Champions League this season and now have four points less than Olympiacos in first.
Jug conceded just six goals during the match and Toni Popadic made many as 14 saves. However, that was not enough for the Croatian champion to score at least a point in Piraeus.
The home side entered the game better and after the first quarter, they led 2:0. Olympiacos scored their third goal in the second quarter, and Jug scored their first goal after 12 minutes, reducing the lead to 3:1. In the middle of the third quarter, Jug equalized to 4:4, but it didn’t take long for Olympiacos to lead 6:4. Jug was able to narrow the final score down to 6:5.
Jug had a last-minute attack with an extra man, but failed to equalize.
Konstantinos Mourikis led Olympiacos with two goals and Maro Jokovic, Ivan Buljubasic, Emmanouil Mylonakis and Konstantinos Genidounias also scored.
Jug saw five different shooters, with goals scored by Daniil Mekulov, Alex Papanastasiou, Hrvoje Benic, Paulo Obradovic and Loren Fatovic.
This final Champions League game is followed by an almost two-month break due to representative commitments (Junior World Championships and Senior European Championships). The next Champions League round will be played on February 4, 2020, when Olympiakos arrives in Dubrovnik.
The second Croatian representative in Group A, Split Jadran, will play their 7th round game on December 13 at home against Barceloneta.
In Group B, Mladost achieved a huge victory by defeating Marseille. Mladost tops the French club by four points with this victory, gaining a considerable advantage over the direct competitor to qualify for the final tournament.
Mladost opened the game brilliantly and led 4:0 after the first quarter. Marseille reduced their lead to 4:2 in the second leg, and at the end of that stretch, it was 6:5. The Zagreb club scored two for 7:5, and Marseille managed to reduce the score again to -1 (7:6).
With three goals, Mladost led 10:6, and at the start of the last quarter, with two more goals, they reached a massive advantage of 12:6. While the winner nearly seemed settled then, the French club returned with five goals to bring the result down to 12:11.
Mladost was led by Cosmin Radu, Luka Bukic and Konstantin Kharkov with three goals each, while Ugo Crousillat with three goals was most effective for Marseille.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
