Montenegro eliminate three teams from the semi-final race
Montenegro delivered an outstanding attacking performance, in one of the most exciting and fiery clashes at the EHF EURO 2022, taking a 35:34 win against Romania, both improving their chances of a semi-finals berths and denying their opponents and two other teams a chance for the medal round.
GROUP II
Romania vs Montenegro 34:35 (18:18)
- in a game full of twists and turns, the lead changed six times, including three times in the second half, only for Montenegro to ride a better finish and secure their fourth win in five matches at the EHF EURO 2022
- this was the highest-ever scoring game by both sides in Montenegro’s history at the EHF EURO, with 69 goals, beating their previous record against Slovenia from the EHF EURO 2018 by one goal
- Montenegro’s right wing Jovanka Radicevic became only the fifth player in the history of the EHF EURO to score over 200 goals in the competition, after finishing the match with eight goals, tying Hungary’s Agnes Farkas as the second-best scorer in history, with 205 goals
- with nine goals that took her overall tally at the EHF EURO to 296 goals, Romania left back Cristina Neagu became the top scorer of the EHF EURO in both men’s and women’s competitions, breaking Iceland’s Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson’s record, who scored 288 goals
- Romania, Spain and the Netherlands are now eliminated from contention to qualify for the semi-finals, with Montenegro, France and Germany battling for the two spots
Montenegro beat Romania in epic match
It was not a game for the faint-hearted, but Montenegro’s 400 fans that flocked to Skopje to see their favourites had something to celebrate, as their side put on an instant classic, especially in attack, dropping off their mantle of team that focuses on defence and delivered a superb game.
While they will be sweating on Milena Raicevic’s fitness, after she suffered an injury in the last minutes, Montenegro could make their comeback to the semi-finals of the EHF EURO for the first time since 2014, with an excellent tournament, where they won four out of their five games.
Romania are now out, but they also had an excellent game, proving that the team has huge potential and will probably rise to the occasion for the next years, even if they will not have Neagu in the squad, who has scored nine times in this game and jumped to the second place in the top goal scorer standings, with 32 goals.
It is really amazing. I am so proud of this team, we play like one. I am so, so happy we go to Slovenia. Everything is open. I am also proud of our fans, you can see they came here to support us. This is really amazing for us
Itana Grbic (MNE) – centre back: “I am extremely proud of my team. We knew that this is the most important game for us and the hardest like all games against Romania. Thy got better game by game and have the best player in the world, Cristina Neagu, It was an exciting game, and we did it as a team.”
Florentin Pera (ROU) – coach: “I am proud of my players, who fought until the end. For me, my player won this game, I am very angry, but this is life in sports. We need to focus on the next game.”
