Winners take it all: Jug captured all titles on offer in 2016, they managed to win the Champions League for the fourth time in their history this May, besides they regained the Croatian crown, won the Adriatic League and now added the Super Cup to their treasury.
It was an easy ride, a bit unexpectedly. The Croats were demolished on Saturday in the second round of the Champions League prelims, losing 8-11 to Italy’s top side, Recco (they trailed 5-11 after three periods). They were to bounce back against the second-best Italian side, Brescia which didn’t seem an easy task.
Jug jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period while Brescia missed two man-ups. The second period mirrored the same order, Felipe Perrone scored twice for Jug while the Italians were unable to put the ball away and being 4-0 down they faced a mountain to climb in the second half.
But they could not even start climbing. Luka Loncar added two in 2:17 minutes, at 6-0 it was all decided, the Croatian defence worked perfectly, killed three more Italian 6 on 5s, goalie Marko Bijac stopped all incoming shots and with 0:07min before the last break Marko Ivankovic sent the ball home from a man-up for 7-0.
After three goalless periods, Brescia could finally get on the scoreboard with 19 seconds into the fourth, Nemanja Ubovic scored from action. Jug’s defence eased up a bit in the back, though their offence still delivered so the match ended 10-4.
Ten years ago the two sides met in Brescia, that time Jug won 12-8, now the Croats were even more overwhelming and managed to erase the bad memories from Saturday from their fans’ mind.
European Super Cup – Final
Jug Croatia Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) v AN Brescia (ITA) 10-4
