Italian giants Pro Recco welcome Vasas Plaket this week and will look to build on their two-goal advantage from the first-leg of their Euro Cup Quarter Final. Elsewhere, AN Brescia will start their decisive battle with SPD Radnicki in Serbia all square, while HAVK Mladost and KEIO CN Sabadell are both aiming to hold onto their leads against PVK Jadran M:Tel Hercog Novi and VPK Primorac Kotor respectively.
Euro Cup Men
Quarter Finals Second-Legs
Thursday, 20th March 2025
(Local times shown)
20:00: SPD Radnicki (SRB) v AN Brescia (ITA)
(First-leg 9-9)
19:00: PVK Jadran M:Tel Herceg Novi (MNE) v HAVK Mladost (CRO)
(First-leg 8-12)
17:30: VPK Primorac Kotor (MNE) v KEIO CN Sabadell (ESP)
(First-leg 9-17)
21:00: Pro Recco (ITA) v Vasas Plaket (HUN)
(First-leg 11-9)
Pro Recco (ITA) v Vasas Plaket (HUN)
Pro Recco’s pursuit of a first Euro Cup trophy remains on track after their 9-11 away victory against Vasas Plaket in the first-leg of the Quarter Finals three weeks’ ago.
After returning from Budapest with a two-goal advantage, the Italians will start as the favourites to progress, but Recco head coach Sandro Sukno is wary of the challenge ahead.
‘We have a very complicated game waiting for us,’ he told European Aquatics. ‘Especially as we have to recover quickly from the fatigue of the three days in Naples last weekend, during which we won the Coppa Italia.
‘We have to play against Vasas without thinking about the first-leg, without thinking about protecting our two-goal lead, but just trying to win.’
‘Mentally, it’s not easy to quickly recharge our physical and mental batteries, especially for a tough game like this,’ added Recco’s Matteo Iocchi. ‘Fortunately, we’re playing at home. Vasas are a very strong, physical team – with mix of experienced players and young Hungarian talents – so we’ll be prepared and ready for an incredible battle.’
Vasas pushed the Italians all the way in the opening clash and were only trailing by one goal until Francesco Di Fulvio’s late strike made the gap two with just 19 seconds remaining.
That performance – and the three successive wins in the Hungarian league since – will give Vasas hope they can pull off a historic win in Italy and reach the last four.
SPD Radnicki (SRB) v AN Brescia (ITA)
Italy’s other representative in the Quarter Finals is AN Brescia, who staged a late comeback against SPD Radnicki in the first-leg to ensure they head to Serbia all square at 9-9.
‘The first leg was a difficult match, as the names of their players speak for themselves,’ Brescia goalkeeper Tommaso Baggi Necchi told his club’s website.
‘We made mistakes that in this type of match you pay for dearly, both in attack and in defence. I really liked our spirit at the end, though, as we corrected our mistakes. We will be ready for the decisive trip to Serbia.’
Like Recco, Brescia will also have to recover quickly from their exertions at the Coppa Italia finals in Naples last weekend, where they finished third after a shootout victory against Pallanuoto Trieste.
Radnicki may regret failing to leave Italy with a lead, but they’ll be confident of winning on Thursday in front of their own fans, especially as they’ve won their last seven home games in the Regional League and Euro Cup.
PVK Jadran M:Tel Herceg Novi (MNE) v HAVK Mladost (CRO)
HAVK Mladost are in the driving seat in their clash with PVK Jadran M:Tel Hercog Novi following their 12-8 first-leg victory in Croatia, but they can expect some fierce resistance in Montenegro on Thursday.
Jadran are flying in the Regional League this season and are top of the pile after 21 rounds, thanks largely to their on-going run of 16 successive wins in that competition.
This week’s hosts will also take confidence from the fact they’re 13 points ahead of Mladost in the table and beat them the last time they visited – 11-9 back in September – but they’ll need to better that result by at least two goals to have any hopes of progressing.
‘We need to be aggressive and build up a good rhythm,’ said Jadran’s Vasilije Radovic, who scored four goals in the first-leg. ‘We want to start the game strong and we all believe we can get the win we need to reach the next round.
‘The first game didn’t go as planned, but now we play at our pool, in front of our crowd, and anything is possible. This season’s Euro Cup has been one of the strongest competitions in a long time and we’ve still got a lot to show in this tournament. It’s not over for us.’
VPK Primorac Kotor (MNE) v KEIO CN Sabadell (ESP)
Spain’s KEIO CN Sabadell head to VPK Primorac Kotor looking to confirm their place in the last four after a comprehensive 17-9 victory in the first-leg.
But despite having an eight-goal advantage, Sabadell’s Fynn Schutze is still expecting a tough game in Montenegro.
‘We know it will be a difficult in their home, in front of their crowd,’ Schutze told European Aquatics. ‘But we played an amazing game at home, so we hope we can secure a spot in the semi-finals, and we’ll do our best to win this game also.’
Primorac have a huge mountain to climb, but they’ve prepared well for this clash by beating Crvena Zvezda 17-10 in their most recent Regional League home game earlier this month.
They’ll need a similar performance against Sabadell to stand any chance of completing a miraculous comeback, but if they can grab a few early unanswered goals, it may place a few seeds of doubt in the Spaniards’ minds.
‘We had a lot of problems in the first match with the strong pressing and counter attacks Sabadell plays,’ said Primorac head coach Vjekoslav Paskovic. ‘They are the most important things we need to pay attention to on Thursday night, and we need to make sure we respond in the right way.’
