As expected, Pro Recco and Ferencvaros secured their respective Final Four berths on Day 5 of the Champions League Quarter Final Stage. Both giants scored 17 goals, though while Fradi enjoyed an easy cruise at home against Hannover, the Italians had to produce their best efforts to fend off Mladost’s repeated attempts to catch up.

2025/26 Champions League Men
Quarter Final Stage, Day 5
Tuesday 12 May

Group B

FTC-Telekom Waterpolo (HUN) 17-8 Waspo 98 Hannover (GER)
Mladost Zagreb (CRO) 14-17 Pro Recco (ITA)

Standings: 1. FTC 12pts, 1. Recco 12pts, 3. Mladost 3pts, 3. Hannover 3pts

FTC-Telekom Waterpolo (HUN) 17-8 Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) (4-0, 4-3, 4-2, 5-3)

As expected, Fradi secured their place in the Final Four once again with a fine win over Waspo. The title-holders were in command right from the beginning and offered an entertaining game for their fans.

If anyone had any doubt that a 10-day break had harmed Fradi’s playing rhythm, they offered a telling answer right away with a 4-0 storm in the opening quarter.

Marton Vamos, Stylianos Argyropoulos and Akos Nagy all came up with huge 6m blasts, while Csongor Lugosi added one from an extra, as the Germans failed to penetrate the Fradi defence.

Only two balls reached Soma Vogel’s hands and he stopped both, while the rest were either blocked or flew wide of the target.

While many in the stands thought the job had already been done, Hannover had other ideas and came out firing at the start of the second period.

In a span of 76 seconds they netted three consecutive goals, two from extras with a penalty in between.

Fradi had lost some focus in attack and the Germans had a possession to level, but the post saved the hosts.

The home youngsters then made sure no further surprises would follow as Vince Varga and Nagy converted back-to-back man-ups, before Vendel Vigvari hammered one in from the perimeter to restore the four-goal gap at 7-3 from three straight possessions.

Argyropoulos closed the curtain on the first half with a pinpoint shot from a six-on-five with 0:09 on the clock as FTC led by five (8-3).

Miguel del Toro and Nagy continued scoring extra-man goals in the third period, while Vogel ensured this match would also feature one of his trademark penalty saves, as he blocked Lazar Vukicevic’s effort.

The Germans continued to fight hard and tried to withstand the enormous pressure and, in fact, showed some great defending from time to time.

Still, the shots kept coming and Gergo Fekete and Vigvari broke through before the last break.

At least, with some luck – and as a reward for their heroics at the back – Waspo also netted two, so it stood 12-5 heading into the last eight minutes.

The concentration levels dropped somewhat in the fourth, understandably.

As a result, eight more goals came, five from Fradi, though after conceding 21 in Hannover, Waspo did well to keep the Magyars to just 17 this time.

However, the hosts also took extra care in defence, limiting Waspo to a single digit – eight goals – as the visitors struggled up front.

The number of shots really highlighted the difference – total shots stood at 42-33, while shots on goal were even more telling at 30-21.

Mladost Zagreb (CRO) 14-17 Pro Recco (ITA) (3-5, 4-4, 3-4, 4-4)

From time to time, Recco seemed to have reached safe waters but, despite leading by four in the second period and by five in the third, Mladost kept coming back and trailed by only two in the fourth before the Italians finally managed to close down the contest.

The first period went according to the usual script in Zagreb, a man-up contest with four exclusions called apiece.

Both sides converted two, but Recco managed to score three more from action, including a great counter-attacking goal and a perimeter blast from Max Irving.

Marko Radulovic pulled one back, also from action, with 39 seconds remaining to make it 3-5.

Francesco Di Fulvio needed just 65 seconds in the second quarter to double the gap.

However, backed by a series of fine saves from Mauro Cubranic in the following minutes, Mladost managed to climb back with nicely played extras.

What’s more, two more great shots from Radulovic brought the hosts as close as 7-8 with 1:40 to go and they had a possession to equalise.

It ended in a turnover foul and Alvaro Granados came up with a great finish at a crucial moment.

What looked even more important was Gianmarco Nicosia’s penalty save 12 seconds before the the long break as that locked the gap at two at half-time, 7-9.

Though the Croats killed a man-down early in the third, Luke Pavillard put away the next one, so it stood 7-10 – quite a difference as it could have been 8-9.

Kharkov made up for his previous miss by netting a six-on-four and Mladost had another man-up but wasted it, before Nicholas Presciutti’s blast midway through the quarter brought more calm to the Recco bench.

The difference grew further as Luka Bukic hit the post on a six-on-five and Andrea Fondelli buried one at the other end.

Just 19 seconds later, Di Fulvio sent the ball home from a penalty and Recco were up by five at 8-13 with 1:52 remaining.

In contrast to Recco’s 0-3 run, Mladost missed their third extra in a row, though 39 seconds from time they forced a penalty and Andrija Basic made no mistake.

What’s more, after a fine save, the Croats had enough time to launch a fast counter and Ante Vukicevic finished it off with 0:04 on the clock for 10-13.

Still, their six-on-five play was not clicking. After killing a man-down, they missed another extra and Irving fired one in from action a bit later.

Finally, Basic managed to score an extra-man goal and he also netted from action 45 seconds later for 12-14 and, once again, the Italians could feel the Croats’ breath on their necks.

But they responded in style. Giacomo Cannella sent the ball home from the next extra and Pavillard restored the four-goal gap from a counter 53 seconds later for 12-16, with 3:44 on the clock.

The Croats still did not want to let it go. Luka Loncar netted an extra from close range, then Kharkov ended the chaos with a fine finish during a possession which saw three Recco players excluded in 16 seconds.

It was 14-16 with 1:36 remaining, so Mladost realistically still had time for two more possessions.

After a missed shot they had the first, but a turnover foul killed their hopes, especially after Cannella’s merciless finish on the ensuing counter with 51 seconds remaining, which secured Recco’s win and their return to the Final Four.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics