For much of Saturday’s Champions League final, Pro Recco appeared to be closing in on a remarkable return to the summit of European water polo.
They had scored 12 goals by half-time, converted their opening eight extra-player opportunities and established a three-goal advantage over Zodiac CNAB. Less than two years after the collapse of the financial model that had supported their era of dominance, Recco were once again within touching distance of the biggest trophy in the club game.
But Barceloneta refused to disappear.
The Spanish champions recovered from 10-7 and 11-8 down, gradually disrupted Recco’s previously unstoppable attack and completed a dramatic 17-16 victory in the highest-scoring Champions League final in history.
For Recco coach Sandro Sukno, the decisive lesson was not simply that his team had conceded too many goals. Under water polo’s new rules, he believes high-scoring contests have become increasingly difficult to avoid.
The challenge is learning how to stop an opponent once momentum begins to shift.
“With the new rules, the average number of goals has increased,” Sukno said after the final. “You have to be good at interrupting a run of consecutive goals conceded.”
It was an honest assessment of where the final changed.
Recco had been devastating during the opening half. After falling 2-0 behind, the Italian side responded with relentless shooting quality and reached the break leading 12-11.
At one stage, Recco were a perfect eight from eight on extra-player opportunities. Francesco Di Fulvio, Alvaro Granados, Andrea Fondelli and Francesco Condemi repeatedly found space against a Barceloneta defence that had conceded only nine goals to FTC in the semifinal.
Recco’s 19-goal demolition of Olympiacos had carried into the final.
Then the rhythm disappeared.
Unai Biel equalised just 36 seconds into the third quarter, beginning a period in which Recco went more than four minutes without scoring. Gianmarco Nicosia saved a penalty from Alberto Munarriz, but Barceloneta continued to create opportunities and moved ahead through Roger Tahull.
Condemi eventually ended a six-minute scoring drought, yet the balance of the contest had changed. Recco’s shots increasingly found defensive blocks, the posts or the hands of Unai Aguirre.
The Italians entered the fourth quarter level at 14-14, but Biel scored twice to establish a 16-14 advantage for Barceloneta. Condemi pulled one back before Gergo Burian restored the Spanish side’s two-goal cushion with 1:39 remaining.
Mateo Iocchi Gratta responded immediately, cutting the deficit to 17-16 and giving Recco one final opportunity.
A late extra-player attack offered the chance to force penalties, but Barceloneta’s defence intercepted the final pass and managed the remaining seconds to secure their second European title.
Sukno offered no excuses.
He congratulated Barceloneta, describing them as united and excellent in attack, and accepted that Fran Fernandez’s team had deserved the trophy.
“We must grow,” was his conclusion.
That message was echoed by Pro Recco president Maurizio Felugo, although his reaction placed the defeat within the wider context of the club’s journey.
Recco’s long-standing financial structure collapsed in the summer of 2024, forcing the club to rebuild with a reduced budget and compete in the Euro Cup rather than the Champions League. They won that competition and returned to Europe’s premier tournament this season.
Their first Champions League campaign since the crisis ended with a silver medal.
Felugo described Recco’s European run as excellent and stressed that several members of the squad were appearing at their first Final Four. The experience, he believes, should leave those players determined to return and win the competition.
That does not remove the disappointment.
Recco led by three goals, produced one of the most clinical first halves ever seen in a Champions League final and came within one possession of taking the match to a shootout. For a club with 11 European titles, reaching the final alone will never be enough.
But the weekend in Malta also provided evidence that Recco remain capable of competing at the very highest level.
Less than two years after their future was placed in doubt, they defeated Olympiacos with a record-breaking semifinal performance and pushed an unbeaten Barceloneta side to the final seconds.
The European crown remains out of reach for now.
The bigger warning for their rivals is that the rebuilt Pro Recco may only be beginning.
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