Euro Cup Men: BVSC stun Vasas in Hungarian derby as seven of eight quarter-final tickets secured

BVSC Manna ABC produced a spectacular performance to turn around their tie with domestic rivals Vasas Plaket, while Panathinaikos AC were the only other team to eliminate a side that had dropped down from the Champions League. The Greeks edged past Jadran m:tel Herceg Novi on penalties to advance after a thrilling second leg in Montenegro. Elsewhere, CN Marseille were pushed all the way by RN Savona, while CSM Oradea also had to withstand strong resistance from CN Terrassa to secure their place in the next round. Meanwhile, CN Sabadell progressed comfortably despite losing their return fixture to VK Sabac Elixir, and VK Jadran Split and SPD Radnicki eased past Szolnoki Dozsa Praktiker and CN Barcelona respectively to also reach the quarter-finals of the men’s Euro Cup.

2025/26 Euro Cup Men
Eight Finals, Second-Legs
Saturday 7 March
(Aggregate scores shown)

Jadran m:tel Herceg Novi (MNE) 18-17 (4-5P) Panathinaikos AC (GRE) (28-28)
CN Terrassa (ESP) 14-14 CSM Oradea (ROU) (27-28)
VK Sabac Elixir (SRB) 9-6 CN Sabadell (ESP) (12-17)
CN Marseille (FRA) 13-13 RN Savona (ITA) (25-24)
BVSC Manna ABC (HUN) 20-13 Vasas Plaket (HUN) (28-24)
VK Jadran Split (CRO) 21-14 Szolnoki Dozsa Praktiker (HUN) (36-24)
SPD Radnicki (SRB) 17-15 CN Barcelona (ESP) (32-25)
*VK Jug AO (CRO) v VPK Primorac Kotor (MNE) (First leg: 13-14)
*To be played on Saturday 14 March

Jadran m:tel Herceg Novi (MNE) 18-17 (4-5P) Panathinaikos AC (GRE) (28-28)

The game of the day was undoubtedly the clash between Jadran m:tel Herceg Novi and Panathinaikos AC, as after 64 minutes of action penalties were needed to separate the two teams.

With the Greeks winning the first leg by just one goal, Jadran knew they had a good chance of turning things around and progressing, but in the end it was not to be.

Panathinaikos made the hosts’ task immediately harder by firing in the first two goals, but by the end of an entertaining first quarter the scores were locked at 6-6 on the night.

It was a real end-to-end battle and that trend continued throughout the second and third periods.

Shortly before half-time, the Greeks found themselves two ahead (7-9), as their game plan was working well, but Vasilije Radovic struck three seconds before the buzzer to pull one back.

Strahinja Gojkovic equalised in the first minute of the third, but Panathinaikos soon regained the lead and went two clear again when Nikolaos Papasifakis scored with 1:28 on the clock.

The Montenegrins hit back through Srdan Janovic to make it 13-14 heading into the fourth and it was clear there was plenty more drama to come.

Janovic – who finished the game with a seven-goal haul – levelled the scores at the start of the final period as both teams looked to seize the initiative, but the scores remained locked at 17-17 with 2:18 left to play.

In the final minute, Papasifakis had a glorious chance to put the Greeks back in the driving seat, but his penalty was well saved by Ilija Radovic’s right hand.

Papasifakis collected the rebound but then fired his follow-up against the right-hand post and the opportunity was gone.

The tension inside the arena was immense and, as Jadran raced down the other end, they forced an exclusion and Janovic converted the man-up to send the game to penalties.

In the shootout, although Panathinaikos’ Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis saw his shot saved in the first round, USA keeper Adrian Weinberg came up with two huge stops to deny Dmitrii Kholod in the second round and Francisco Valera in the sixth, sealing a famous victory for the Greeks.

CN Terrassa (ESP) 14-14 CSM Oradea (ROU) (27-28)

CN Terrassa gave everything as they tried to overturn CSM Oradea’s one-goal lead from the opening leg, but the Romanians produced a professional performance and never allowed the hosts to gain an advantage throughout the 32 minutes of this return fixture.

Oradea started brightly and moved 2-5 ahead late in the first period, forcing Terrassa to chase the game from the outset.

The Spaniards were relentless, though, and never gave Oradea a second’s peace, fighting their way back to 5-5 by the first break.

Oradea’s defence held firm in the second period, shutting down several Terrassa man-ups, as they edged 7-8 ahead by half-time.

In the third, the hosts equalised once again, but they could never find a way to take the lead. Every time Terrassa threatened to break through, Oradea had the perfect response.

After 8-8, the Romanians struck three times without reply, much to the frustration of the home fans, and when Oradea moved four clear (10-14) midway through the fourth, the tie looked to be decided.

Terrassa dug deep in the final three minutes and, despite Lars Ten Broek seeing his penalty saved – which ultimately proved very costly – they scored the final four goals.

However, the fourth came with only 12 seconds remaining, leaving too little time to complete the comeback as Oradea wrapped up the aggregate victory.

Filip Gardasevic and Ivan Gusarov caused most of the damage for the Romanians, scoring five and four goals respectively.

VK Sabac Elixir (SRB) 9-6 CN Sabadell (ESP) (12-17)

With an eight-goal lead from the first leg, CN Sabadell’s progression was all but secured and only a massive collapse against VK Sabac Elixir in the return leg would have knocked them out.

The Serbian side’s home pool is never an easy place to visit, whatever the circumstances, and the home fans were hoping for a miracle that ultimately never arrived, even though the hosts roared to a 9-6 victory on the night.

Sabadell were level after the first quarter (3-3) and trailed by one at half-time (5-4), never allowing their opponents to pull away.

In the third, Sabac moved three clear, but the Spaniards refused to let the gap grow any bigger and the margin remained at three heading into the final period (8-5).

Sabadell’s defence then did an excellent job in the fourth, shutting down all five of Sabac’s man-ups to ensure their overall advantage was never truly threatened.

CN Marseille (FRA) 13-13 RN Savona (ITA) (25-24)

CN Marseille just managed to hold on to their slender one-goal advantage from the first leg, as RN Savona staged a late 0-4 surge in the fourth quarter to level the scores on the night. However, with only eight seconds remaining, there was not enough time to force a shootout.

The hosts had looked in control early on and a 5-0 blast after 2-2 saw them open up a 7-2 lead midway through the second quarter.

Savona were on a mission, though, and after 8-3, they responded with their own five-goal blitz to equalise early in the third through Oliver Leinweber.

The Italians could not take the lead, though, and Adam Nagy halted Savona’s momentum with a powerful shot from the perimeter that flew past Marco Del Lungo’s head and into the net.

Marseille’s Pierre-Frederic Vanpeperstraete was then allowed too much space in their next attack and hammered the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal for 10-8.

Back-to-back goals by Ugo Crousillat put the hosts four clear, but Lorenzo Bruni had the last say of the quarter to make it 12-9 heading into the final eight minutes.

Eighteen seconds into the fourth, Crousillat scored his fifth of the night and it looked as if Marseille were going to ease through to the quarter-finals. Yet Savona refused to lie down and smashed in four without reply.

With only eight seconds remaining after Valerio Rizzo’s stunning equaliser – a fierce shot that flew into the top right corner – Marseille were able to close the game out, although they left the pool knowing they had been in a real battle right until the end.

BVSC Manna ABC (HUN) 20-13 Vasas Plaket (HUN) (28-24)

BVSC became one of the few teams that managed to eliminate a rival coming from the Champions League. Vasas, despite bringing a three-goal lead from the first leg, fell behind at the start and ran out of answers for BVSC’s high-paced game already before the half-time break. Apart from a better spell deep into the third, BVSC were in full control and sailed away with a big win over their local arch-rivals.

The first five minutes or so saw some patience from both sides. BVSC took the lead twice but Vasas managed to equalise. Then, approaching the last two minutes, the pool started heating up. The hosts struck twice in a span of 46 seconds, but their home rivals responded well and Peter Szalai’s fine shot just beat the buzzer to make it 5-4.

After a couple of missed extras early in the second, the scene did not change much. Each time BVSC hit first to go up by two, including a third goal by Benedek Batizi against his former club (he had played for Vasas last season), but Vasas replied again and again and still trailed by one at 8-7, with 1:31 to go until the half-time break.

The first big twist came here. David Tatrai, one of the hosts’ European silver medallists, converted a six-on-four, then they denied a man-down and Nika Shushiashvili scored at the other end to make it even on aggregate for the first time. And even though only 36 seconds were left on the clock, there was more for BVSC as this time Matyas Meszaros beat the buzzer from a counter, launched after a turnover foul, for 11-7.

And it did not take two minutes in the third to force a time-out at the Vasas bench as Zsombor Ekler and Erik Bundschuh hit back-to-back action goals. In fact, the coach’s advice did not help much, as Vasas missed an extra right away and Ekler hit another one for 14-7. It was a 6-0 rush and all those goals came from action.

However firmly BVSC seemed to keep the game under control, Vasas were not done. Bogdan Durdic, whose five goals in the first leg were the decisive factor, stepped up and hit two big goals, Szalai buried a penalty between the two, while BVSC could not keep up their extremely high-paced game and this three-minute stretch went 0-3 to Vasas, who came back to 14-10.

Still, Bundschuh managed to halt his side’s bad run with a man-up goal which was crucial at this stage and lifted the spirits of the hosts. Even though they missed their next six-on-five, they also killed the last man-down before the break and led by five, two on aggregate, with eight minutes remaining.

The first act of the fourth was extraordinary, as Vasas’ acting head coach Robert Kovacs was shown a direct red card, and soon Zsombor Szeghalmi netted an action goal for 16-10. Vasas missed another extra while David Jansik’s blistering 6m shot reset the seven-goal gap.

Again, Vasas had a better spell. Szalai hit his fourth and Soma Lakatos added another one a minute later, which led to a time-out from the home bench. That helped, as another pinpoint shot from Meszaros made it 18-12 with 3:57 to go and, again, after a killed man-down, Shushiashvili netted another action goal and BVSC led by seven once more.

Vasas would have needed to cut four goals from their deficit in the remaining three minutes, which seemed to be a mission impossible. Indeed, they could score only one when only 1:10 was left in the game and BVSC even had an answer to that as Meszaros sent the ball home from the penalty line to net his fourth and secure a quarter-final berth for his side.

VK Jadran Split (CRO) 21-14 Szolnoki Dozsa Praktiker (HUN) (36-24)

Szolnoki Dozsa Praktiker arrived in Croatia knowing they faced a huge uphill battle against VK Jadran Split after losing the first leg by five.

Their task immediately became harder as the hosts opened the second leg with a 6-3 barrage in the first quarter, moving eight goals clear on aggregate.

Jadran’s defence was on fire in the second period, killing four Szolnok man-ups and completely shutting their opponents out, while their attack added three more to effectively close the door on the Hungarians.

In the third, both sides went on the attack and more goals were scored in these eight minutes (13) than in the entire first half (12). Still, Jadran edged the period 7-6 to move 16-9 ahead on the night.

The fourth saw 10 goals fly in, five for each side, as Jadran cruised through to the quarter-finals with a comfortable 36-24 aggregate victory.

Dusan Matkovic and Nardo Skejic led the scoring for the Croatians with four goals each, while Jerko Marinic Kragic, Zvonimir Butic, Ivan Zovic, Marcus Berehulak and Loren Fatovic all hit two. Toni Radan, Mislav Curkovic and Toni Nemet were also on target with one apiece.

SPD Radnicki (SRB) 17-15 CN Barcelona (ESP) (32-25)

SPD Radnicki sealed their place in the quarter-finals with a commanding first-half display against CN Barcelona, stretching their aggregate advantage to 10 goals late in the second quarter.

From that moment on, despite a spirited fightback from the Spaniards, Radnicki’s progression was never really in doubt.

Barcelona continued to battle and managed to cut the gap on the night to two midway through the third (11-9), briefly raising hopes of at least winning the second leg.

However, the Serbians quickly restored order, responding with a decisive 3-0 run to regain control and move 14-9 ahead before the final period.

In the last eight minutes, Radnicki’s intensity dipped slightly as Barcelona pushed to go out on a high.

The visitors won the final perod 3-6, but they were never able to close the gap to fewer than two goals, as last season’s Euro Cup runners-up marched into the quarter-finals.

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Andy Rollé for European Aquatics

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