Tenerife’s Maria Ramos scored once in the first-leg defeat to Trieste and remains confident her team can produce a heroic comeback in Saturday’s second leg.
Pallanuoto Trieste and ZV De Zaan are the favourites to progress to the final of the women’s Euro Cup after establishing healthy leads in their respective semi-final first legs. Standing in their way are Spain’s CN Tenerife Echeyde, who are hoping home advantage can help them overturn a six-goal deficit against Trieste, and ANC Glyfada iRepair, who will start their clash in Amsterdam trailing by three goals.
2024/25 Women’s Euro Cup – Semi-Finals, Second Legs
Saturday, 15th February 2025 (Local times shown)
12:00 – CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP) vs Pallanuoto Trieste (ITA)
(First leg: 9-15)
20:30 – ZV De Zaan (NED) vs ANC Glyfada iRepair (GRE)
(First leg: 9-6)
Trieste Take Commanding Lead
Last season’s Euro Cup runners-up, Pallanuoto Trieste, put one foot in the final after a strong start in the home leg helped them build a 15-9 lead against CN Tenerife Echeyde.
The Spaniards, who are making their European debut this season, did hit back in the second half, and Trieste head coach Paolo Zizza has warned his players there will be no room for complacency when the two teams collide again on Saturday.
If Trieste do progress, they’ll become the first team since Italy’s Racing Roma (winners in 2007 and 2008) to contest the final in two consecutive seasons.
After the first-leg loss in Trieste, Tenerife’s domestic league results have been mixed over the past three weeks – they lost at home to Terrassa (15-20) and Mataro (8-14), and beat Sant Feliu (11-8) – but the squad remains hopeful of turning the tie around.
Glyfada Face Tough Task in Amsterdam
Saturday’s other semi-final second leg is a much closer affair, as Greece’s ANC Glyfada iRepair will arrive in Amsterdam looking to overturn a three-goal deficit against ZV De Zaan.
On the outskirts of Athens three weeks ago, De Zaan produced a second-half defensive masterclass, restricting Glyfada to just one goal in the last two quarters to ensure they returned home with a 9-6 lead.
If De Zaan triumph, the final will feature a team from the Netherlands for only the third time in the tournament’s 25-year history.
On the other two occasions, De Zaan finished as runners-up in 2007 (when the club was known as Nereus), while Het Ravijn lost in the 2011 final.
Since the first leg, Glyfada have won both of their games in Greece’s A1 division, and their confidence will have been significantly boosted from those two emphatic victories – 16-8 against PAOK and 10-24 versus Pekev.