In the opening of the main round of Water Polo Champions League, Olympiacos drew with Barceloneta (7-7) in a thriller. The ‘’Reds’’ had a great performance and could have won this game. However, Barceloneta scored two goals in the last two minutes, Olympiacos missed the last chance and finally earned a point. 

Key action: 

Olympiacos was the team scored first with Mourikis’ stunning goal. The defence was excellent in the first quarter keeping Barceloneta without score for five minutes. Then, Spaniards improved their performance, preceded twice (2-1, 3-2) and until the last period  held a narrow lead (4-3). In the last period, a thriller was produced with as many goals as had been scored in the previous three quarters. In 39 seconds Olympiacos rushed ahead (4-5), soon Barceloneta equalised but another fast double from the Greeks, this time in 66 seconds, gave the visiting side a 5-7 advantage with 2:41 to go. Felipe Perrone, returning to Barcelona after two years, buried a penalty, then Olympiacos missed a crucial man-up while the Spanish made their 6 on 5 with 57 seconds remaining. The Greek team got a last chance but missed that extra-man too so they had to settle for a 7-7 draw.

Match data:

The quarters: 1-1, 2-1, 1-1, 3-4

Goals: 

1st quarter: 0-1 Mourikis (3:43), 1-1 Perrone (2:42)

2nd quarter: 2-1 Mallarach (7:41), 2-2 Dervisis (5:40), 3-2 Fernandez (2:02)

3rd quarter: 3-3 Gounas (4:40), 4-3 Mallarach (1:07)

4th quarter: 4-4 Genidounias (5:53), 4-5 Dervisis (5:14), Mallarach (4:28), 5-6 Mourikis (3:47), 5-7 Obradovic (2:41), 6-7 Perrone (2:23), 7-7 Larumbe (0:57)

Squads: 

Olympiacos (Thodoris Vlachos): Pavic, Mylonakis, Delakas, Genidounias 1, Fountoulis, Nikolaidis, Dervisis 2, Buslje, Mourikis 2, Gounas 1, Argyropoulos, Obradovic 1, Galanopoulos

Barceloneta (Jesus Martin): Lopez, Famera, Granados, Munarriz, Vrlic, Larumbe 1, Paul, Fernandez 1, Tahull, Perrone 2, Mallarach 3, Bustos, Linares

Quotes: 

Thodoris Vlachos said: ‘’It was a difficult game as we expected. In the first three quarters, we got difficulty in scoring. However, we did it. We could have won this game but in the last minutes our defence was careless and we didn’t achieve to score in the last attempt. We deserved the victory but at least we earned a point and now, have to focus on and win the next home game.’’

Konstantinos Genidounias stated: ‘’It was a tough game. We didn’t have a good start but our performance was improved in the second half. Unfortunately, Barceloneta scored two goals at the end and we didn’t achieve to win. The draw is a good result and the next games are crucial so as to be qualified in the Final-8.’’