There was hope that Montenegro could have two representatives among the top four in the Eurocup, but after the first quarterfinal matches, the picture is much different.
The Jadran m:tela water polo team, with their defeat to Mladost in Zagreb (12:8), preserved some hope that they could "melt away" minus four at Škver, while Primorac, with their convincing defeat to Sabadell in Catalonia (17:9), practically said goodbye to the semi-finals.
Both clubs from the Bay of Kotor played good matches against tonight's rivals earlier this season, so there was justified optimism, but this time they were far from a real game.
The team from Novi Sad started the game poorly on the Sava River - Strahinja Gojković tied the game at 1:1 at the end of the first quarter, and then completely "broke" the attack of Vladimir Gojković's team.
For the next almost 11 minutes, Jadran did not find a way to Ivan Marcelić's net (not even many times with a player more), and the experienced and very good Mladost team took advantage of everything, was too fast for the team from Novi, and quickly went up 5:1.
The torture was broken in the second half by the phenomenal Vasilije Radović, who scored four goals in a row and kept the team from Škvere in the game. Jadran was close to a more favorable result - after goals from Jovan Vujović and Danilo Stupar, they came close to 10:7 and 11:8, but in the end they had to settle for minus four before the second leg.
Primorac and Sabadelj played an "atomic" first eight minutes, with the nets shaking four times on both sides, but after that the Kotor team slowed down, and the Catalans did not let up on the gas.
The Spanish representative first got away with it at 7:4, Vjekoslav Pasković's team managed to get back to 7:6 through Niko Šušiašvili and Nikola Brkić, but then came another "strike" by Sabadell, who, after goals from Konstantin Averka and Alberto Barros, reached 11:6.
The home team continued in the same rhythm until the end, Primorac practically did not exist in the pool, so the scoreboard at the end showed a huge 17:9.
The return matches in Herceg Novi and Kotor are scheduled for March 20th.
MLADOST - JADRAN M:TEL 12:8 (2:1, 3:0, 5:4, 2:3)
Zagreb - Sava Pool. Referees: Stavridis (Greece), Kovač-Čatloš (Hungary).
Mladost: Marcelić, Sunara, Bašić, Miloš 3, Buljubašić, M. Vrlić 2, Biljaka, Bukić 2, Lazić 1, J. Vrlić, Vukićević 2, Harkov 2.
Jadran m:tel: Đurović, I. Radović, Holod, Stupar 1, Obradović, Vujović 1, D. Radović, Lazić, Gojković 2, Ivović, Sladović, Milojević, V. Radović 4.
SABADELJ - PRIMORAC 17:9 (4:4, 4:2, 4:1, 5:2)
Sabadelj - "Kan Ljong" Swimming Pool. Referees: Schwarz (Israel), Schopp (Germany).
Sabadelj: Lorio, Teklas, Boven 1, Asensio 2, Šuce 1, Bonet, Valera 3, Baroso 4, Rencuto-Jodiće 2, Averka 2, Stromajer, Kores 2, Bustos.
Primorac: Masaro, D. Cetkovic, Brguljan 1, S. Cetkovic 1, Šušiašvili 1, Janović, Murišić, Matković, Vučković, Vico 1, Brkić 3, P. Cetkovic, Stanojevic 2.
Bonus video:
