The Men's water polo team continued its excellent performance in the Champions League winning Jug Dubrovnik 8-6 for the 7th game, held at Papastratio. The ‘’Legend’’ was the big winner in a strong game retaining at the top of the first group. This was the sixth victory of the team which continues to lead the 1st Group and be undefeated after the end of the first round. Jug will host Olympiacos in the next game (7/2), but the ‘’Reds’’ seem to be the favourite team to secure the first position of the group stage. 

Key action: 

Olympiacos started the game with a 3-0 lead playing very well and being effective to the man-up. The first half of the quarter was without score for the two teams. Giannis Fountoulis was the one who scored first. Alexandros Gounas did the 2-0 with an excellent shot. Fountoulis did his second goal before the end of the first period. 

Pavic had an amazing performance stopping the attempts of Croatians many times. At the beginning of the second quarter, Gennidounias scored increasing the margin to four goals. Jug achieved to reduce to 4-2 before the end of the first half. At the start of the third period, the difference fell to a goal, but Olympiacos immediately responded with the second one of Constantinos Giannidounias for 5-3. The game continued with some ejections and the two teams trying to take advantage and scoring. A lucky goal gave the hosts a two-goal lead and their Croatian goalie Josip Pavic posted a couple of great saves to prevent his compatriots from closing up. Soon after the start of the fourth a former Jug player Paulo Obradovic widened the gap (7-4) but the Croats kept coming back and they trailed by one again with 2:18 to go. However, Obradovic netted another one to secure an important win for Olympiacos (8-6) so at the halfway mark they enjoy a five-point advantage making another step ahead for the qualification to the final-eight in Genoa. 

Match data: 

The quarters: 3-0, 1-2, 2-2, 2-2

Goals: 

1st quarter: 1-0 Fountoulis (4:17), 2-0 Gounas (1:38), 3-0 Fountoulis (00:38)

2nd quarter: 4-0 Genidounias (06:39), 4-1 Renzuto (3:31), 4-2 Fatovic (1:33)

3rd quarter: 4-3 Macan (7:25), 5-3 Genidounias (6:48), 5-4 Jokovic (6:02), 6-4 Mourikis (5:23)

4th quarter: 7-4 Obradovic (5:48), 7-5 Renzuto (5:36), 7-6 Renzuto (2:18), 8-6 

Squads: 

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

Jug Dubrovnik (Kobescak): Bijac, Macan 1, Fatovic 1, Loncar, Jokovic 1, Garcia, Ivankovic, Rasovic, Renzuto 3, Pavlicevic, Benic, Lozina, Jarak

Quotes: 

Thodoris Vlachos said: ‘’I am very happy with the final result. Congratulations to the players. They had a very crazy game today. It was a very strong start against a much harder opponent. Keeping Jug almost two-eight goalless is rare to see in European games. We were very concentrated, very effective in the defence and we achieved to win a big victory against a difficult opponent. It was just three points for us, we still have seven games. We definitely feel more confident that we are at the top with a good difference but we want to continue with good appearances and keep our energy and passion. "

Josip Pavic stated: ‘’We got the three points and now we are focusing on the game in Croatia. We are one step ahead, on the way to the Final-8. The team always plays well, I cannot do anything without my teammates. Nobody can do it on his own and  everyone plays for each other as a team. This teamwork characterizes us and that's why we win the games. "