Courtesy: LEN
Recco added one more Super Cup trophy to its treasury, the seventh, which is a record. The Italians won the most one-sided Super Cup final ever by beating Szolnok 15-4.
Men’s Super Cup Final (Szolnok):
Pro Recco (ITA) v Szolnoki Dozsa (HUN) 15-4
Recco won two of the most lopsided finals in the Super Cup history, one in 2010, against Montenegro’s Cattaro (13-4), then in 2015, against fellow Italian Posillipo (12-4). Now they went further and downed Szolnok by eleven goals. This was kind of expected as Recco kept its tremendous quality since last season when they retook the European crown after a wait of six long years. On contrary, Szolnok had to say goodbye to its key players whom were instrumental in winning the Euro Cup (and the domestic title). Without goalie legend Viktor Nagy and the Serbian greats, Filip Filipovic and Dusko Pijetlovic (both became Olympic champions again in Tokyo), Szolnok couldn’t achieve much success in Europe in the new season, their Champions League playoffs then the Euro Cup quarter-finals ended in bad defeats.
And one more awaited them this Monday when they had to face Recco, which came to the Super Cup final with full force. Szolnok’s resistance lasted a little longer than a period – they scored one for 2-4, then Recco blew them away with 0-4 run. And the Italians didn’t lay back, they were focused in defence, shut out the hosts for further 10:22 minutes – in fact the Hungarians could score once in 15:20 minutes when Recco rushed from 2-4 till 3-11. Nine players netted at least one goal among the champions while the Magyars had only small moments, like a stopped penalty – but then even a saved ball ended up in their net as Aleksandar Ivovic tipped it in from the goalie’s hands.
And it was Recco’s captain who lifted the trophy at the end, it was Recco’s seventh Super Cup triumph, a record, just like their 8 Champions League victories.
Quotes
Sandro Sukno, coach, Recco “I’m very satisfied with our performance, we played very well and got the first trophy in this season. I think we played much better, swam a lot from the beginning, played our extramen very well, that made the difference.”
Zivko Gocic, coach, Szolnok “It’s obvious that Recco was the much better team today, from the beginning till the end, in every segment of the game. Unfortunately, we have lot of opportunities to score but we couldn’t take them. My players are exhausted both physically and mentally at this stage of the season, we could not play on the expected level – otherwise I don’t think this is the real difference between these two teams.”