Day 14, Group B – Genesys-OSC Budapest (HUN) v CN Marseille (FRA) 18-13
Winning only a single game in the first ten rounds, OSC were never in a position to become a serious candidate for an F8 berth. However, even the top ranked rivals went through some tough moments from time to time, when the Hungarians – really: no foreigners, standing alone among the 16 teams – caught the wave to show, this side do have quality.
In their last game of the season, they not only caught the wave but at least for eight minutes they were like walking on water. It was the perfect storm after a hard-fought opening period which saw the French take a 2-3 lead. Then came the very best of OSC, a 7-1 rout, delivering 5/5 in man-up, two action goals and a penalty save from goalie Marton Levai.
Marseille could never recover from this blast, even though after the first half it stood 9-4, the second looked more balanced with 9 goals apiece. OSC could maintain the 4-5 goals gap for most of the time, Marseille could climb back to 14-11 only to see the hosts net two in a span of 22 seconds and kill their momentum completely.
Vince Vigvari led the charge with a brilliant 5/5 effort, Gergely Burian netted 4 and OSC bettered Marseille in the ranks as well to finish 6th. The spirited performance was understandable as many key players are leaving the club, so they wanted to come up with something big for the very last time together – and this game was by far their best performance in the Champions League this season, though came a bit late – at the end.
How they saw it
Daniel Varga, coach, OSC
“It was a really nice farewell and I’m really grateful for my players, not only for this season but the last three years we spent together. This year we were close to something big many times, and this team would have deserved to achieve at least one big thing. Even though we haven’t won any trophy, I do think everyone has become a better player and a better man at the end. A lot will change in the summer, but I can’t wait to start this new chapter.”
Milos Scepanovic, coach, Marseille
“OSC deserved this win, played with much better concentration, scored a lot of goals in the second period and it was impossible to come back to this game any longer. We won the home championship but couldn’t make the Final Eight – still, we’ll have another shot next season.”
