February 23, 2020 - Mladost Zagreb, Jug Dubrovnik, and Jadran Split played in the 9th round of the LEN Champions League this week.
Mladost Zagreb lost to current European champion Ferencvaros 6-9 (0-2, 1-2, 3-3, 2-2) in the LEN Champions League 9th round game in Group B, played at the Sava Pool on Thursday.
Lovre Milos and Konstantin Kharkov scored two goals for Mladost, while Marton Vamos and Nicolas Constantin-Bicari scored two each for Ferencvaros.
Mladost missed the opportunity to increase the score in the first two quarters when they scored just one goal. On the other hand, the Budapest club scored the first two goals of the game at the very end of the first quarter and took control of the match.
Thanks to goals by Kharkov and Milos at the very beginning of the third quarter, Mladost was down by one (3-4), but Ferencvaros responded via Constantin-Bicari and Varga and returned to a three-goal advantage.
In the final quarter, after Bukic's goal for 5-7, there was a confrontation between Biljaka and Jansik. After long deliberation, the referees decided to punish Mladost with a player less for four minutes. The game thus ended 6-9.
With the away win against Szolnok 16:12 (4:4, 5:3, 5:3, 2:2), Jug Dubrovnik returned to second place in Group A. Recall, Jug was behind the leading Barceloneta, who beat Olympiakos away 15-9.
Jug dominated from the beginning of the match and started with a 3-0 lead. Szolnok was in trouble early. Still, by the end of the first quarter, Szolnok recovered and equalized at 4-4.
Jug did not allow the Hungarian club to get ahead at any point in the game - and was up 8-5 with a 3-0 series. From that point on, Jug had an easy finish for the 16-12 result.
Toni Popadic made 13 saves for Jug, while Loren Fatovic and Hrvoje Benic scored four goals each. Daniel Angyal, Gavril Subotic, David Jansik, and Radomir Drasovic scored two goals each for Szolnok.
With this victory, Jug directly helped Jadran Herceg Novi, who is now fourth place in Group A. That win came against Jadran Split (14-11).
Namely, Jadran Herceg Novi achieved a crucial victory against Jadran Split. With a 14-11 score, they continue the fight for the final eight.
Jadran Split held their own until the final quarter, in what was otherwise a fair fight. The Montenegrin club eventually celebrated in the end.
Petar Tesanovic led Jadran Herceg Novi with 15 saves, while Uros Vucurovic scored five goals and Konstantin Averka scored three. For Jadran Split, Andelo Setka scored three goals, while van Domagoj Zovic, Duje Pejkovic and Ante Viskovic scored two.
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