Preview of Women´s EHF Champions League Main Round, Round 1

Preview of Women´s EHF Champions League Main Round, Round 1

The long winter break in the wildly entertaining Women´s EHF Champions League came to a close last week, when Norwegian champions Larvik beat Randers at home in the opening match of the competition’s Main Round, featuring Europe’s top eight teams in women’s club handball.

The upcoming weekend offers three more exciting games, with the clash between last season’s finalists Györi Audi ETO and Budućnost Podgorica undoubtedly the pick of the lot.

Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea, one of this season’s hot favourites to lift the trophy, are slight favourites at home against plucky Ferencváros while the encounter between Zvezda Zvenigorod and Krim Mercator should be a finely balanced contest.

Group 1:
Györi Audi ETO (HUN) vs Budućnost Podgorica (MNE)  
Saturday, 16:00 hrs local time in Györ

Payback time. Having lost last season’s final on away goals to the Montenegrin giants, Györ most certainly have a score to settle and will be strong favourites to pick up two points on home court against a youthful and vastly talented Budućnost team.

Although news that Serbian left back Andrea Lekić and Montenegrin winger Jovanka Radičević are set to leave the club at the end of the season could affect the Hungarian champions, they boast a squad full of international stars capable of dealing with any kind of setback.

Budućnost, on the other hand, have much bigger and more pressing problems to deal with, as left wing Majda Mehmedović and right back Elena Gjorgijevska were hit by long-term injuries.

Mehmedović has still not recovered from a knee injury she suffered playing for Montenegro against Hungary in their triumphant EHF EURO 2012 campaign in Serbia, when they won the title with a memorable extra time win against Norway in the final.

"Majda took part in preparations with the team in Budva, but further medical examinations revealed that the injury she suffered at the EURO in Serbia is more serious than expected,” said Budućnost coach Dragan Adžić, who is also in charge of Montenegro.

“It means she will be out of action for some time to come. For now, it’s certain that she will not be able to play the first two Main Round games," he specified.

FYR Macedonia’s Gjorgijevska was injured in mid-October of last year, when Budućnost started their title defence with a home match against Russians Zvezda Zvenigorod. She fractured her right ankle and consequently underwent surgery, but might get a chance in Györ.
 
Group 2:
Zvezda Zvenigorod (RUS) vs Krim Mercator (SLO)   
Sunday, 17:00 hrs local time in Zvenigorod

Krim Mercator scraped through the first stage of the competition, having clinched the runners-up position in Group B by the skin of their teeth. They  edged Croatia’s Podravka Vegeta on a better head-to-head record after beating them by a decisive margin at home.

The Slovenian champions will in all likelihood be much stronger in the Main Round, having been boosted by the return of their sidelined leaders who missed most of the Group Matches.

Most of all, Krim will be bolstered by the return of Brazilian line player Daniela Piedade, who has made a full recovery from a stroke she suffered in mid-October and scored one goal in a friendly against none other than Podravka last weekend to celebrate her return to action.

Just as significantly, Croatian left back Andrea Penezić, who missed all six Group Matches with an ankle injury she sustained during the London Olympics, will add bite to the attack with her shooting prowess.   

Susanne Müller and Jelena Grubišić are also back to full fitness and hence Krim will head out to Russia confident of getting their Main Round campaign on the right track.

Zvezda too, however, will have high hopes of registering their first win in the second group stage of the competition after overcoming a poor start in the Group Matches to storm into the last eight. The Russian side were overran by Budućnost 29:21 but then earned five wins in a row to finish top of Group D ahead of the Montenegrins.

They have one of the competition’s top performers in left back Liudmila Postnova, who scored 33 goals in the Group Matches, seven of them in the decisive 23:20 win at German rivals Thuringer HC. And also an additional motivation to start their EHF Champions League history in the new hall in Zvenigorod on the winning note...

Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea (ROU) vs FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN)
Sunday, 19:00 hrs local time in Râmnicu Vâlcea  

Oltchim waltzed through the Group Matches with six wins out of six and showed in no uncertain terms that they are the strong favourites to win this season’s EHF Champions League alongside Györi Audi ETO.

However, they have been rocked by the news that 2010 World Handball Player of the Year Cristina Neagu will be out for the rest of the season after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament during a training session.

Oltchim and Neagu will be bitterly disappointed with the setback after the inspirational left back had made her comeback to handball after a 20-month lay-off due to a shoulder injury. Neagu’s first injury, cartilage damage in her right shoulder, sidelined her for a lengthy period after she underwent a special recovery procedure in the United States.

FTC Rail Cargo will draw their confidence ahead of the match from a superb Group C campaign, having won five of their six matches to finish level on 10 points with Larvik and cruise into the Main Round, albeit as runners-up after losing to the Norwegians 30:23 in the final game to fall behind in the head-to-head as they won the reverse fixture 28:24.

Further information
Follow the matches live on ehfTV.com and find the results here