Both home teams achieved victories in the first leg of the Euro Cup semifinals, but neither managed to secure a significant advantage before the return matches.
Jadran Split narrowly defeated BVSC 13:12, while Radnicki triumphed over Marseille 17:14. Both matches were thrilling and shared many similarities. In Split, BVSC finished strong. Unlike the match in Croatia, the home team performed better as the game in Kragujevac drew to a close, with Radnicki establishing a 3-goal lead in the final minutes.
All four teams showed they are strong contenders for spots in the final and have reason to hope they can achieve their goals in the return games, scheduled for May 9.
2026 Euro Cup, Semifinals, Leg 1
Jadran S – BVSC 13:12 (1:2, 5:2, 4:2, 3:5)
Jadran Split: Butic 4, Nemet 2, Fatovic 2, Matkovic 1, Pejkovic 1, Duzevic 1, Skejic 1.
BVSC: Ekler 4, Tatrai 2, Csapo 1, Shushaishvili 1, Csacsovszky 1, Jansik 1, Benedek 1, Meszaros 1.
Jadran defeated BVSC, but the hosts couldn’t be entirely satisfied with the outcome, as they had a three-goal lead at several points during the match, including a 13:10 advantage with just a minute left.
Jadran’s captain, Zvonimir Butic, opened the scoring with a goal in the 4th minute, after which BVSC went on a 3:0 run. However, the hosts managed to regain their rhythm, largely thanks to their captain, who scored two goals within 17 seconds. Butic made it 2:3 with a goal during a power play in the 11th minute. He then stole the ball from BVSC, launched a counterattack, and leveled the score at 3:3.
Following Butic’s equalizer, the other home players began scoring, allowing Jadran to take a 5:3 lead. BVSC caught up when Ekler scored with a well-placed lob, making it 5:5. Loren Fatovic then closed the first half with a goal, 6:5.
Jadran maintained the momentum after the middle break and, early in the third period, built a 3-goal lead for the first time (8:5) and maintained a difference until the end of this quarter (10:7).
Balint Ekler scored twice from distance in the first two minutes of the final quarter, reducing the gap to 9:10. Still, Jadran didn’t let the visitors equalize again and controlled the result. In the 31st minute, Loren Fatovic converted a 6 on 5 to give Jadran a 13:10 lead. However, the Hungarians forced two exclusions in the next possession, and Ekler scored with a double man-up. BVSC defended its goal in the next Jadran’s attack. Just 11 seconds before the end, the visitors forced another man-up. Tatrai set the final score with two seconds to go.
Most of the goals were scored from extra player shots. Jadran’s conversion was 10/15, and BVSC scored nine goals from 14 attacks with a man-up.
Radnicki – Marseille 17:14 (3:2 3:5, 7:5, 4:2)
Radnicki: S.Rasovic 4, Vapenski 3, Vlachopoulos 3, Pijetlovic 2, Prlainovic 2, N. Jaksic 2, Randjelovic 1.
Marseille: Crousillat 4, Vernoux 4, Nagy 2, Gbadamassi 2, Spaic 1, Kalogeropoulos 1.
The first half was full of twists and turns, and Radnicki made a difference in the second half.
Nagy gave Marseille a 1:0 lead. The hosts leveled at 1:1 and 2:2, and Strahinja Rasovic put Radnicki ahead with a man-up in the 7th minute. Early in the second period, Radnicki established a 4:3 lead. Midway through the quarter, the visitors’ center-forwards Spaic and Vernoux netted two goals in 29 seconds and Marseille went ahead again – 5:4. The hosts had to chase the rival again, and managed to equalize twice, but they had no response after Thomas Vernoux scored the 7th goal for Marseille – 7:6- from a counterattack in the 15th minute.
The game continued in a similar pattern during the first several minutes of the third period, until Angelos Vlachopoulos scored two consecutive goals, giving Radnicki the lead for the third time in the game at 10:9 in the 20th minute. Vernoux equalized, but Radnicki answered with two straight goals (Vapenski and Jaksic from a penalty shot). In the 21st minute, two goals separated the rivals for the first time – 12:10. The tensions were getting higher and higher; both head coaches, Stevanovic and Scepanovic, received yellow cards in the 23rd minute, and shortly after, Stevanovic’s assistant was expelled because of protests after a penalty shot was awarded to Marseille. Crousillat converted a penalty. In the rest of the quarter, Strahinja Rasovic and Adam Nagy scored, and Radnicki entered the final period with a 13:12 advantage.
Randjelovic, P.Jaksic, Prlainovic (L-R) Photo by Slobodan Sandic
Nikola Jaksic doubled Radnicki’s lead in the first attack in the final quarter. A few minutes later, Vernoux made it 13:14. At the same time, Marseille left without head coach Scepanovic, who was red-carded. Radnicki earned a 3-goal lead after Sava Randjelovic converted a 6 on 5 for 16:13 with 03:47 minutes remaining. Ugo Crousillat made it 14:16. Marseille had a great chance to come even closer from a counterattack in the final minute, but the hosts’ goalkeeper Radoslav Filipovic saved a shot from Adam Nagy. At the other end of the pool, Angelos Vlachopoulos set the final score with 27 seconds to go. Marseille had a man-up in its last possession, but Filipovic posted a couple of saves, and Radnicki goes to France with a 3-goal advantage.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
