After winning their third Regional League title at the spectacular final tournament in Kragujevac, the Radnički water polo players are facing another big challenge this season, the semi-final series of the European Cup with the French team Marseille, which they will start at their pool on Saturday, at 8:30 p.m.
Due to the extremely high importance of the upcoming duel, the people of Kragujevac promptly celebrated the great success and focused maximally on the great challenge. So, the region is in the archive, Europe is in the palm of your hand.
– The trophy is a nice incentive to continue the season, but we have already forgotten about it and turned to the match with Marseille. It is a Euroleague match. Marseille is an extremely strong team, with a large number of foreign national team players and the best French players in their ranks. We are facing a very difficult match – said Uroš Stevanović, coach of Radnički.
The most successful French team in recent history, like Radnicki, failed to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but then eliminated two extremely strong opponents in the European Cup, the Italian Savona and the Spanish Sabadell, confirming their serious quality and European ambitions. The team led by Montenegrin expert Miloš Šćepanović includes the brilliant Thomas and Mario Vernu, captain Krusil, then Bue, Montenegrin goalkeeper Tešanović and center Spaić, Serbian national team player Drašović, Dutchman Gbadamasi, Spaniard Larumbe, Greek Kalogeropulos, Hungarian Nađ… An excellent team and a great challenge lies ahead for the Kragujevac team.
– Marseille really had weaker games in that group, which is surprising for them. After the European Championship, they are playing much better, just like us. And in the other semi-final, the teams of Jadran from Split and BVSC from Hungary are extremely respectable. I expect four tough games and it is uncertain who will make it to the final – believes Stevanović.
He added that the support of the crowd is very important to this team and that he hopes that the pool will be filled to the last spot against Marseille.
– We are already used to a full pool, especially after this success and the spectacle that was in the “final four” of the Regional League, so I expect the wind at our backs from the first second. There are two games to be played, it is unlikely that the first one will decide who will advance, but in such two-legged matches every goal can be crucial. We are going defense by defense, attack by attack, and let’s see how we finish the first semi-final – said Stevanović.
Radnički became the first Serbian team to win the Regional League in 2021, and is now the first team from this country to win three trophies. There is no doubt that the people of Kragujevac would be happy to see another trophy in their showcases, dedicated to the winner of the European Cup.
– Every cup is important. This one in the Regional League is a nice trophy and a great thing, above all, in terms of prestige in these areas. Every title is important for us to grow as a club and the result and games from the final tournament will certainly mean a lot to us in terms of self-confidence. Now the focus is to play the first semi-final match as well as possible, and then try to win the remaining two trophies this season – concluded Stevanović.
