Györ cruise in MOTW; Metz and FTC secure important wins
The two quarter-final spots available in group A have been secured in round 11 of the EHF Champions League Women 2024/25, as Metz Handball and FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria clinched the two tickets with away wins against HC Podravka Vegeta and CS Gloria 2018 BN, respectively.
In the Match of the Week, reigning champions Györ secured their 23th win against Buducnost (33:21) in the battle between the teams with the largest number of matches in the EHF Champions League Women.
We met one of the strongest teams in the Champions League, one of the contenders to win it, a team with a very valuable and very balanced squad. But I think that CS Gloria 2018 BN played one of the best games in this edition of the Champions League. It was a balanced game, a game in which, I think, we defended very well. We had a mostly good defense in the first and second half, with small moments out of sync, but for the most part we defended well.
First of all thank you for a great fight! We knew from the beginning it would be hard, that it would be a tough game here. It was a great atmosphere. We had quite a good start of the game from my perspective. I think we had good control in defence and also in our offence. I think there were some good performances today. Especially in their attack, I think Bianca Bazaliu played an extraordinary game.
I regret the first half because we missed too many chances. The game is played for 60 minutes and we came back in the second half. We also had a draw. Quite simply, Metz are the strongest in our group, if not among all 16 teams. They punished us for what we did not take advantage of and Metz's victory was deserved.
It was a really tough game. We played really well in certain periods of the match. But, something happened in the middle of the second half. I don't know exactly what. We have to work on our mistakes, but I am proud of my team because we fought until the last second. We were mentally strong again. When it was necessary, we scored a goal or managed to make a save.
I was nervous at the beginning of the match. We faced an extremely well-defending Buducnost, who we knew would lead their attacks for a long time. It is difficult to defend against this, but we managed to change the picture of the game with the five-one. What I was satisfied with in the first half was that we only allowed 14 shots on goal to the opponent. After the break, the saves came thanks to Sandra, and our defence worked better.
We started well in defence and attack, but after the 20th minute we softened in defence, and they punished our technical mistakes and scored easy goals. I am sorry that after a good start we continued like this. We need to work on extending this period and believing in ourselves more against stronger teams as well.
We were not expecting the start we had. We knew it was going to be a battle, but in the first 10 minutes we were behind on everything and they played very well. There was a real reaction though. It was a special scenario tonight. We still have a few regrets about that scenario because we came back well at the start of the second half, but we did not manage to get back into it.
We are very happy to have won here. It is very difficult to win here with the atmosphere and the spectators cheering Brest on. It was a very tough fight. We were a bit lucky at the end but we played very well. I'm very happy, we played a very good game defensively.
