FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria needed to earn their biggest win in the EHF Champions League Women 2021/22 season to overcome a seven-goal deficit from the first leg of their play-off tie against Krim Mercator Ljubljana, but the Hungarian team failed to do so at home on Saturday afternoon.
In the second leg of the play-offs, FTC beat Krim 26:22, but it was the Slovenian side who reached the quarter-finals.
PLAY-OFF, SECOND LEG
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN) vs Krim Mercator Ljubljana (SLO) 26:22 (8:10)
First leg: 26:33. Krim Mercator Ljubljana won 55:52 on aggregate
- Krim coach Nataliya Derepasko called her first timeout nine minutes into the game as her team were down 5:2
- after that, the home side improved their defence a lot. Between the 14th and 25th minutes, FTC did not concede any goals – although Krim still led by two goals at half-time
- a 4:0 run saw FTC pull clear at 21:18 seven minutes from full time, yet Krim held their nerve to book a quarter-final ticket
- right back Katrin Klujber scored 10 goals from 13 attempts for the home side, but her effort was not enough
- Paula Posavec and Ana Gros netted four times each for the visitors
- Krim will face defending champions Vipers Kristiansand in the quarter-finals, to be played on 30 April/1 May and 7/8 May
Good teamwork from Krim
Krim, who are two-time EHF Champions League winners, were last among the eight best teams in the competition in the 2012/13 season, when they reached the semi-finals.
This season, they struggled in the group phase, but did a good job in the play-offs. While Ana Gros, who had netted 13 times in the first leg, was restricted to just four goals from nine attempts in Hungary, Krim performed well as a team in the second leg, which helped them to progress to the quarter-finals.
We know that it is always hard to play here, because FTC has an amazing atmosphere. We are happy to be in the best eight teams in Europe. The key to the win was the defence and to hold up FTC – because they fought well.
