FTC stride towards Group Matches

Zsuzsana Tomori and Nerea Pena Abaurrea scored six goals each and Melinda Pastrovics added several brilliant saves as FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria beat IUVENTA Michalovce 40:26 on Wednesday in the first leg of the Qualification match and made a huge leap towards the Group Matches of the Women´s EHF Champions League.

The second leg will be played on Saturday 22 September, 17:00 hrs local time in Dabas (HUN).

The Slovak champions lost the goalkeeper Lucia Gubíková and the Ukrainian winger Yuliya Bakhyrieva due to injuries just days before the first leg and despite the full crowd in the Chemkostav Arena they quickly fell behind by eight goals (3:11) and never really got back to the match.

"I am really glad with the lopsided victory, but I have to admitt I feared this match. We expected the home team to be highly motivated, but fortunately we did not underestimate Michalovce and stayed focused during the whole match," FTC coach Gábor Elek said at the press conference.

"Our rivals deserved to win, but I hoped for a better performance from my team. Our lack of experience from European club competitions was the main factor why my players failed despite being well-prepared for the tactics of our opponents," IUVENTA coach Ján Packa stated. Lucia Tobiašová was the best scorer of the home team with six goals.

Find the official match report HERE

Photo: Štefan Madaras