On Sunday evening in Bucharest, SG BBM Bietigheim extended their unbeaten streak to 59 games in all competitions, but they failed to beat CSM Bucuresti in group A of the EHF Champions League Women 2022/23.
The Romanian side earned a 28:28 draw after right wing Malin Aune scored a crucial goal with five seconds to go.
GROUP A
CSM Bucuresti (ROU) vs SG BBM Bietigheim (GER) 28:28 (13:16)
- after being down by four goals, CSM turned the game on its head with a 7:1 run between the 31st and 38th minutes, with left back Cristina Neagu and right wing Malin Aune each scoring two goals
- Neagu was CSM's top scorer in this game, delivering her best performance of the season, with eight goals, and improving from her seven goals in the past two matches combined
- Bietigheim's streak of 58 wins was stopped, but they are still unbeaten in 59 matches in all competitions since March 2021
- CSM had lost four games in Europe's premier competition by a single goal last season, but the luck has turned in their favour now – and they remain unbeaten after three matches this season
- Bietigheim failed to tie their record for the longest winning run in the competition, but tied the one for most unbeaten games in a row – three – dating back from 2017
CSM improve on last season’s woes
Last season, CSM lost four games by a single goal, with all of those losses coming in the last second. It was a small detail but one that had to change as they ushered in new players with experience that looked like they could plug that hole.
Indeed, the Romanian side showed character in their performance against Bietigheim. CSM came from four goals down at the start of the second half and kept Bietigheim at bay during the final seconds of the game, when they tied the score through Malin Aune.
It was one of the nicest games that I have been to lately. I think two amazing teams played, and Bietigheim have had such good results for so long. They are a great team – just like a Swiss watch. We knew from before that they were strong, we were coming in after a very hard week, but also the fans were pushing us to come back, to win the game and to fight.
There were lots of ups and downs but in the end it felt a little bit like a loss because we were two in front and we had the possibility to close the game. We have not been in this situation when it was so close until the end many times, but I believe that it is good that we had it now because we can learn from this situation.
