The Adriatic water polo players played three exciting and very uncertain matches in the first three rounds of the Champions League. They have a performance of a win and two losses for two points won, because in the only triumph so far (against Red Star) they celebrated after five minutes - 21:20.
Results - Novljan may have deserved more, but in the defeats against Ferencvaros in Hungary (9:7) and Jadran Split in Trebinje 11:10, when everything is added up, the huge individual quality of the opponents decided.
It's time for a new challenge for Petar Radanović's team - on Tuesday from 19:XNUMX they will welcome Ferencvaros, the only team in group C with maximum performance, in Trebinje. In addition to Jadran, FTC also defeated Zvezda and Split's Jadran and only confirmed why it is the first favorite to pass.
"Ferencvaros has great individual quality and I think he is playing much better now than in our first game against each other this season. It is a top team, which has found a way to compensate for the absence of center Nemet and we have another difficult task ahead of us." said Radanovic.
Jadran is the host for the third time in the season in a pool that is not actually its own.
"I am satisfied with how the team is behaving, because we are practically guests in every match. However, we are getting used to our role in Trebinje, I can see that the players like the pool more and more and it shows in the games. The victory over Red Star meant a lot to us, even though we may have "we played less well than in some previous matches. That triumph certainly affected our confidence and I believe that we will make a breakthrough in the Champions League," Radanović pointed out.
And the breakthrough would be...
"It is ungrateful to threaten a team that has Dušan Mandić, Denes Varga... Of course, we want a triumph, but I would be satisfied if we played better than in previous matches and if we did not repeat the slumps that lasted for a long time. At this level, that is not possible sorry, the top teams take advantage of every mistake and I hope we have learned something. FTC is a powerful team, I think it will be a crucial start to the duel where we must not let the opponent play the most important players. If two or three of them have their day, then it is a difficult situation for us", said Radanović and concluded:
"We need one big victory for the team to convince themselves that they can really do it, although in every training session and match I see that there is an ambition to compete with the best teams in Europe. I have no doubt that we are on the right track".
The second match in the group is from 20:XNUMX when Zvezda and Jadran from Split meet in Belgrade. The "red and white" won only one point, the Croatian champions collected six in three rounds.
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