Novi Beograd stopped in the final for the third time, Ferencvaros defends the title of European champion
Hungarian Ferencvaros defended the title of European champion by defeating Novi Beograd 13-11 in the final of the final tournament in Malta. In the battle for third place, Spanish Barceloneta bid farewell to 39-year-old Felipe Perone with a 19-9 victory over French Marseille, for whom Andrija Prlainović played his last match after five seasons.
For the Serbian team, reaching the final was a true achievement, despite this being their third loss in the battle for the trophy in the last four seasons. Every match this season will mean a lot to the young team and future Serbian internationals. Novi Beograd recorded all six wins in the group stage of the competition, then achieved five wins and only one loss in the quarter-final group. In the semifinals, they defeated Spanish Barceloneta in a penalty shootout, while the Hungarian representative broke the resistance of Živko Gocić's team in the final moments of the third period.
The match remained neck and neck until the end of that stage; it was goal for goal, and the teams alternated in the lead. Midway through that quarter, Nikola Lukić brought Novi Beograd to a 7-6 lead with his sixth goal, but then Kristian Manherc scored two goals to turn the score around. Gergo Fekete increased the lead to 9-8, followed by a precise shot from Silard Janšik for a maximum lead of 10-7. Novi Beograd managed to close the gap to two goals several times in the continuation, but Ferencvaros defended well and calmly ended the match.
In the winning team, Kristian Manherc shone, being the MVP of the match and scoring six goals, while Nikola Lukić had the same performance in a career game, scoring six of the first seven goals for Novi Beograd in the match, with Dimitris Skumpakis adding one. Vasilije Martinović scored two goals, while Dušan Mandić was a scorer for Ferencvaros.
In the opening minutes, both teams had several shots at goal, but the nets remained calm until the fifth minute when Manherc gave Ferencvaros the lead. Lukić quickly responded with a goal from the wing, and then he was accurate again from the same position for a turnaround and 2-1 lead. An equalizer followed shortly after, and then another goal from Lukić from the wing. The score was leveled at 3-3 by Dušan Mandić just before the first short break.
The second quarter continued from where the first left off. On one side, Manherc and Edoardo Di Soma scored, while Lukić and Dimitris Skumpakis were in good form on the other side. In the second half of the second quarter, the nets were quiet as the defense tightened, resulting in a 5-5 score at halftime.
In his career game, Lukić added two more goals in the third quarter, bringing Novi Beograd to 6-5 and then 7-6. Manherc then excelled even more, orchestrating a turnaround from 8-7 with two goals, and then Fekete punished Novi Beograd's miss with a counterattack goal, followed by a goal from Silard Janšik 24 seconds before the end, making it 10-7. These were the decisive moments of the match as the Hungarian champions went from a tight battle with four quick goals to a "+3" lead. However, Miroslav Perković gave hope to the Belgrade team just before the end of that quarter.
In the last eight minutes, Ferencvaros maintained a constant lead of two to three goals, and Novi Beograd failed to close the gap to just one goal and introduce uncertainty. Ferencvaros defended the title of European champion and lifted this trophy for the third time in the club's history.
Novi Beograd – Ferencvaros 11:13 (3:3, 2:2, 3:5, 3:3)
Referees: Stavridis (Greece), Kolombo (Italy). Power play goals: Novi Beograd 14 (6), Ferencvaros 11 (7).
Novi Beograd: Glušac, Gbadamasi, Skumpakis 1, Martinović 2, Ćuk, Gladović, Vučinić, Dimitrijević, Perković 1, Vlahopulos 1, Lukić 6, Trtović, De Mikelis.
Ferencvaros: Šakonji, Mandić 1, Manherc 6, Nađ, Vamoš 1, Di Soma 1, Fekete 2, Argiropulos 1, Nemet, Vigvari, Janšik 1, De Toro, Vogel.
