The youngest team in the Champions League has yet to learn to threaten the best. In the match of the last round of the main stage, which did not matter for either team, the female handball players of Budućnost lost to Vardar 30:25 in “Morača”, reports Vijesti on March 10, 2018.
For the triumph over such a powerful rival, the extraordinary game of Milena Raičević, who had ten goals and shared excellent assists for her teammates, was not enough; 100% of the chances had to be used and the defense lacked much more aggression.
The fact is, however, that Dragan Adžić's team has no quality to play defense on a recognizable level against the strongest teams. If the injured Ema Ramusović was playing, not to mention Suzana Lazović, which were planned for this season, maybe everything would be different.
After the teams had a minimum advantage of one goal nine times (Vardar eight, Budućnost one), the guests first came to plus two (10:8 and 11:9). Then Đurđina Jauković and Raičević equalized with fantastic goals, but just after that 11:11 the crisis in the attack started, which lasted eight minutes.
In that period, Sanja Premović sent the ball from the penalty over the cross, and Ina Susljina saved the penalty and a 100% chance from “the Blues” captain. This increased the advantage to 15:11 in the last minute of the first half.
Raičević immediately brought down the result from the fast center, and together with a sixth goal and two assists for Dijana Ujkić and Tatjana Brnović allowed equalization (15:15). Soon, the errors started in the attack, so Vardar easily reached a three-goal advantage (20:17). There was no second comeback against such a quality rival.
Budućnost, as expected, will play in the quarter-finals against the current European champion Gyor, who secured the 1st place in the group with an easy victory over Krim (34:25). The first match is on April 7th in Morača in Podgorica, and the rematch is scheduled a week later in Hungary.
Budućnost - Vardar 25:30 (12:15)
Podgorica - Hall "Morača". Spectators: 1,800. Referees: Bruner and Salah (Switzerland). Penalties: Buducnost 7 (4), Vardar 5 (5). Exclusions: Budućnost 14, Vardar 12 minutes.
Budućnost: ZOKEBI DE PAULA (12 saves), Babović, Batinović, UJKIĆ 4, Konatar, JAUKOVIĆ 3, PLETIKOSIĆ, Laslo 2 (1), Godec, MaloviĆ, PremoviĆ 4 (3), BRNOVIĆ 2, Pavićević, RAIČEVIĆ 10, GRBIĆ.
Vardar: LEJNO (two saves), Susljina (seven saves and two penalties), RADIČEVIĆ 4, Klikovac, Sazdovska, KUZNJECOVA 1, Bajramoska, LAZOVIĆ 2, PENEZIĆ 10, Keramičijeva, Čanađija, Lakrabe 7 (5), HMIROVA 5, CVIJIĆ 1 , Petrović, Ristovska.
This article was translated from an article by N. N. on Vijesti.me: Budućnost failed against Vardar, Gyor rival in the quarter-finals
