CN Marseille will head to Croatia with a three-goal advantage for the second leg of the Euro Cup final. VK Jadran Split were in serious trouble early in the fourth quarter after falling seven goals behind, but a dramatic late surge keeps them in contention.

2025/26 Euro Cup Men
Final, 1st Leg
Saturday 23 May

CN Marseille (FRA) 19-16 VK Jadran Split (CRO) (5-3, 6-3, 6-5, 2-5)

Final, 2nd leg – Saturday 6 June

CN Marseille’s players were given a standing ovation by their fans after taking control of the final with a three-goal first-leg win over VK Jadran Split, though the margin could have been bigger.

A late fightback from the Croatians, who trailed by seven early in the fourth quarter, keeps their hopes of lifting the trophy in Split alive.

The French giants took the lead in the second minute and immediately forced Jadran into a chasing game, with the visitors never able to level the scores.

Marseille’s defence did an outstanding job through the opening three quarters, while their attack was equally impressive.

Several neat finishes from the centre, created by feeds from the right, caused Jadran problems all night, much to the clear frustration of coach Jure Marelja.

The hosts led 5-3 after the opening period and the scoreline only worsened for the visitors, who trailed by five at half-time, 11-6.

Although Jadran continued to battle to stay in contention, they were unable to stop Marseille from extending their advantage.

Thomas Vernoux scored the pick of the goals in the second quarter, shaping to shoot from the left wing before delicately lobbing the ball over a stranded Marko Bijac for 10-5.

Everything was clicking for Marseille and matters only deteriorated further for Jadran in the third quarter.

With 2:33 remaining in the period, Loren Fatovic was judged to have elbowed his marker in transition and was shown a red card, with Marseille capitalising on the ensuing four-minute man advantage.

Alexandre Bouet converted the resulting penalty and, after Ivan Zovic hammered home a long-range effort for 14-11, Marseille struck four unanswered goals to move seven clear early in the fourth quarter.

Once Jadran returned to full strength, and following an inspiring time-out talk from Marelja, the visitors emerged with renewed intensity and slowly began to chip away at Marseille’s substantial lead.

Both the match and the tie had appeared to be slipping away from them, but a late attacking surge transformed the outlook.

Duje Pejkovic pulled one back from the centre, Mislav Curkovic scored from action, and then captain Zvonimir Butic – the hero of the quarterfinal ties against Panathinaikos – stepped up when it mattered most, rifling in three goals to cut the deficit to just three by the final buzzer, 19-16.

Those strikes – the last coming with just 10 seconds on the clock – gave his team and fans hope ahead of the second leg, and time will tell whether Marseille come to regret their late collapse in the final quarter.

Ugo Crousillat and Vernoux led the scoring for the hosts with four goals apiece, while Butic was Jadran’s standout performer with four of his own.

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Andy Rollé for European Aquatics