In the first matches of the quarter-finals of the Champions League, all the hosts lost. The girls who will play together next season fared the worst - ĆSM Bucharest, whose ranks include Jovanka Radičević and Majda Mehmedović, was defeated by Metz 31:26, and Budućnost, the club they are returning to, by Vipers 24:19.
On Thursday, the women from Podgorica traveled to Norway for the rematch, in the hope that today (18.15:XNUMX p.m.) they can perform a miracle like the Montenegrin handball players on Wednesday against Denmark.
"We have to believe in what we are doing and play with a cool head. We cannot forget the result from the first game, but we have to start from scratch. As they won in Podgorica, so can we in Norway. Miracles are possible, we have seen that on Wednesday. This difference is not unattainable in today's handball, we just have to believe in it to the end," said Katarina Bulatović.
The girl who won four Champions Leagues left Buducnosti twice, in Olki in 2012 and Rostov in 2019. Next season, he will play again for Đer, with whom he was the champion of Europe in 2014, but he secretly hopes that he will have a chance for a fifth cup this May in Budapest...
"We have to play relaxed, we literally have nothing to lose. It would be nice if Buducnost was in the final four this year, we will do our best to do that. We will try to play the best we can, in the end we will see on the scoreboard that should be enough. It is important that we play without too much pressure, which we put on ourselves in the first match, which is not a surprise, because we have a lot of young players."
In the first match, the legendary Katrine Lunde was an insurmountable obstacle for the "blues". The experienced goalkeeper "pulled" the young players of Budućnost, who did not look at her, but shot automatically, just as the 38-year-old wanted.
"We watched her a lot after the first game, as well as before it, but until she feels it on the field, it probably doesn't come to mind. I believe in each of my players and I'm sure they can be better than Lunda. They showed it many times, it will show now as well. The start of the match is important for us, but not decisive, and it will mean the most for our feeling. We are not going to chase the difference, but let there be a goal more for us every 10 minutes and that's it," she optimistically concluded Bulatovićeva.
Marina Rajčić warns that the defense must guard the excellent shooters of the Norwegian champion.
"Norwegian girls believed more than us in the first game, that's why we worked on self-confidence. It will help us a lot in Norway. Vipers gave us the most goals from nine meters and they have a lot of good shooters. If we have one Đina Jauković, they they have 10. We have to base ourselves on them, to close them to nine meters," Rajčić emphasized.
There were good moments in Podgorica, but too few
Both Dragan Adžić and his chosen ones are disappointed with the edition in the first match, above all that the rival did everything for which Budućnost was preparing for almost a month.
"Vipers didn't surprise us, they did everything we prepared for, but we didn't follow what we practiced for weeks. At times we did it phenomenally, but the problem is that there weren't many of those moments. The defense was good for most of the game and I believe we can repeat it, but we need a better attack. We saw how we started the first game, that our first two or three attacks were passive, which is proof that the team was nervous and unsure of what it was doing. When we did what was agreed, every time there was a goal or a seven-pointer, but we need more situations that we have been training for," stressed Katarina Bulatović. TODAY
Rostov - Ferencvaros (15:29), first match 26:17.30 Djer - Odense (29:28), first match 18.15:24 Vipers - Budućnost (19:20), first match 31:26 Metz - ĆSM Bucharest (XNUMX), first match XNUMX:XNUMX
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