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There is literally no room for mistake now in the DELO EHF Champions League, as the best eight teams in the competition are vying for a place at the DELO EHF FINAL4 2021 in Budapest on 29/30 May.
Vipers Kristiansand and Rostov-Don will play a double-header in Russia next weekend, which leaves three games scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, with the Match of the Week between CSM Bucuresti and CSKA headlining the card.
Elsewhere, Buducnost face Hungarian opposition again – this time Györ – after they eliminated FTC in the play-offs, while Brest and Metz will battle it out in an all-French encounter.
QUARTER-FINAL, LEG 1
MOTW: CSM Bucuresti (ROU) vs CSKA (RUS)
Saturday 3 April, 16:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- CSM won only two of their last seven matches, CSKA won once in their last three games
- CSM came through an all-Romanian duel with SCM Ramnicu Valcea in the play-offs following a 54:51 aggregate win, while CSKA recovered from a first-leg defeat to edge RK Krim Mercator, 47:46
- CSM top scorer Cristina Neagu has scored 100 goals this season in 11 games, four shy of the competition’s leading scorer, Brest right back Ana Gros
- CSKA defender Sabina Jacobsen played two seasons for CSM until she moved to Moscow in 2019
- CSKA played against a Romanian team only once before – in this season’s group phase, they defeated Valcea twice, 30:20 and 34:24
Buducnost (MNE) vs Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN)
Saturday 3 April, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- both teams also met in the group phase this season, and Györ took two five-goal wins: 34:29 at home and 26:21 away
- Györ extended their unbeaten streak to 53 matches by winning both legs in the play-offs against SG BBM Bietigheim: 37:20 and 32:28
- Buducnost came through two hard-fought encounters with FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria in the play-offs: they won 22:19 at home before losing 29:28 away
- Jovanka Radicevic scored 16 times in the play-offs to raise her tally for the season to 82; Veronica Kristiansen and Estelle Nze Minko are Györ’s leading scorers, with 76 and 74 goals
- Buducnost coach Bojana Popovic also took over at the Montenegro national team recently, replacing Kim Rasmussen
Brest Bretagne Handball (FRA) vs Metz Handball (FRA)
Sunday 4 April, 16:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Brest are eyeing their first-ever EHF FINAL4 berth, while Metz have played at the season-ending event in Budapest once, in 2019
- Brest right back Ana Gros, the competition’s top scorer with 104 goals, played for Metz for four seasons (2014-18)
- Brest had four wins and three draws in their eight home games this season; Metz won four of their seven away games
- the teams met 17 times in the past five years, with Metz taking nine wins and Brest eight, including the last three. Brest won 30:19 and 27:22 in the French league this season
- Metz and Brest met before in the EHF Champions League: in the 2018/19 main round, Metz clearly won both matches, 32:21 and 39:26
TEXT: Adrian Costeiu / Sergey Nikolaev
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