The water polo players from the Adriatic face a daunting task in the second leg of the Eurocup’s round of 16.

Following their loss in Italy by a score of 16:10, it is evident that Savona is now an even stronger contender for the quarterfinals than before the draw. However, the Montenegrin champions have a clear message from their camp:

“Everything is possible,” stated coach Petar Radanović.

Just two weeks ago in Liguria, Novlja kept pace with the home team for the first three quarters, trailing only by one goal (9:8) in the third period. Yet, Savona demonstrated its capacity to decisively outplay the opponent when given the chance.

“If we perform at our best, I believe we can secure a win. Our focus must be on finding the right rhythm, capitalizing on our opponents’ mistakes, and stepping up our defense—if we achieve this, we might be able to overcome the deficit from Italy,” Radanović expressed.

Of course, accomplishing this is much easier said than done, especially since Jadran will be competing as the host in Trebinje (6 p.m.), similar to the first half of the season in the Champions League.

“The initial match didn’t go as we had hoped. But a significant amount of time has passed since then. We’ve had the opportunity to prepare and analyze our previous mistakes. In that first game, we lacked aggression and need to elevate our swimming and one-on-one confrontations to effectively threaten the opponent,” Radanović noted.

Vasilije Radović has a singular request for his team—to perform their absolute best against a formidable opponent, captained by the Montenegrin representative Bogdan Đurđić.

“We recognized the areas that needed improvement from the first match, and I am confident that we will address them. I believe we will emerge victorious—I can’t say for certain whether it will be by a six-goal margin, but our goal is definitely to win,” Radović concluded.

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