Champions League Quarter Final Stage Day 6 – Five Talking Points

1. With the completion of the Quarter Final Stage, the semi-finals are set for the Final Four in Malta. On Friday 30 May, Novi Beograd will clash with Zodiac CNAB from 19.30, while FTC-Telekom face CN Marseille from 21.00 on the picturesque Mediterranean island..

The two group winners, Ferencvaros and Novi Beograd have experience of playing in the iconic Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex in Gzira, as they were both part of the show last season. For Barceloneta and Marseille, this is going to be their first Champions League tour to Malta – though not the first occasion to play the finals. Well, for Marseille, it can still be considered a debut, as this is the first time they managed to reach the top four.

This is going to be the sixth straight appearance for Ferencvaros, whose players lifted the trophy last year and right away upon their first try in 2019. Barceloneta missed the cut a year ago, now they are back and playing in the finals (F4, F6 or F8) for the ninth time in the last 11 editions (they won in 2014).

Novi Beograd have also been a constant feature since 2022, as after playing back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023, they finished fourth in 2024. Marseille have made the F8 twice before, in 2021 and 2022, but were unable to survive the quarters.

2. Title-holders Ferencvaros came up with another strong performance in the last round of games in the Quarter Final Stage, a 20-10 blast against Oradea, to maintain their perfect home record.

Sabadell were the last team to beat them in Budapest in 2023 in the last round of the Group Stage. Since then, Fradi have won all 12 Champions League matches they’ve played at home. And a lot more indeed – their win-loss count stands at 45-1 this season.

If you add their total from the previous one: 46-1, they are 91-2 combined so far – stats that make it clear why the Hungarians are considered the overwhelming favourites in Malta.

Beating Oradea was a little like a walk in the park, and how the match started underlined why this side is a real superpower. Here is the list of players who netted Fradi’s first four goals: Erik Molnar, Zoltan Pohl, Zsombor Vismeg and Vince Varga. Definitely not the household names for FTC.

Even in a game like this, usually the top scorers kick off the party and once the lead is substantial, those players also add a couple of goals. Those names tend to do the bulk of defending, making space for the master shooters, and so on.

Still, in this match, these players put Fradi on the right track, then entered the stars like Stylianos Argyropoulos, who hit three and is on his way to becoming the top scorer for this season.

3. Zodiac CNAB also did a clean job in Group B – the 17-10 trouncing of Savona was another spectacular win for the Spaniards. They are now on a five-game winning streak after losing the opener to Fradi in the Quarter Final Stage.

Indeed, they are also 11-1 combined in the Champions League (Group Stage and Quarter Final Stage), just like the Hungarians. And so far, they are the only ones who could beat FTC across all competitions, even if only in a shootout.

It was a flawless performance against the Italians – and the result also marked the end of an era…

With Recco skipping the top competition and Brescia falling in the qualifications, Savona remained Italy’s only hope, but they just barely survived the Group Stage and never had a realistic chance to qualify for the Final Four.

So, 2025 will mark the first year since 2013 when the finals will begin with no Italian team on the grand stage. Indeed, since the Champions League format took shape, replacing the home-and-away duels in 1997, Italian sides were missing from the finals only in 2000, 2004 and in 2013, for obvious reasons, when they did not enter the competition.

This year marks the very first time when an Italian club was fighting for the ultimate prize, but couldn’t make the cut.

4. Obviously, Olympiacos’ water polo teams wanted to contribute to their club’s 100th anniversary celebrations with much better results. The women got the bronze in the Final Four at least – but the men’s campaign was derailed completely in the quarters.

Still, they wanted to restore some pride and offer some consolation to their fans, and showed strength and quality against Marseille to land a great 12-8 win on day six of the quarters.

We’ll never know how this game may have unfolded if the Greeks had had a chance to advance – indeed, they managed to lead 12-7 late in the match before conceding a late goal from a penalty (after having lost 7-12 in Marseille).

Had it been a different scenario, the results against each other may have really mattered…

Marseille were still the happier side at the end, even if they dropped to second place in Group A. From their perspective, making the Final Four is already a tremendous feat, perhaps even surpassing their previous top achievement – their 2019 Euro Cup triumph.

And even if they are set to play with title-holders Ferencvaros in the semis, a game against Barceloneta wouldn’t have looked any easier either.

5. For understandable reasons, Jadran Split let the last match go, as the Croats were focusing on their league final (vs Mladost Zagreb) and rested their top players. Well, they were already heading towards the exit after losing their first three games, and their Piraeus heroics were short-lived.

Fielding youngsters paved the way for Novi Beograd to clinch an easy win – and it also put the Serbs back on top of Group A, as Marseille’s four-game winning streak came to end in Piraeus.

Credit goes to NBG, as they are no longer the formidable team that lined up most of the Serbian aces – who were Olympic champions alongside quality foreigners.

A couple of key players left the club (and joined Radnicki), still, Novi are a great blend of top home players, talented youngsters and their Greek duo of Angelos Vlachopoulos and Dimitrios Skoumpakis add even more experience and skills to the mix.

In contrast, Jadran continued to add quality players to their line-up, but the Croatian champions were unable to get any closer to the finals. Last year they had six losses in the Quarter Final Stage with a goal-difference of –30 (62-92).

This year they managed to win a match at least (but in a shootout, so no three-point victories in two years), but they sill finished bottom with –32 (48-80).

However, this will be another season remembered for Jadran not getting the results many would have expected, especially from a side that features half of the powerful Croatia team that reached the finals in all three majors last year (Europeans, Worlds, Olympics).

Watch all the Champions League Men Final Four action live on www.euroaquaticstv.com and stay up-to-date with live results/tables and real-time updates through the European Aquatics App. Download it here: Google Play.

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics