Györ take huge step towards EHF FINAL4

This season, the two rivals had already met in the DELO EHF Champions League group stage, and Györi Audi ETO KC beat Buducnost twice by five goals, 34:29 and 26:21.

Now their paths crossed in the quarter-final, and in the first leg, the Hungarian heavyweights claimed a more commanding victory. By winning 30:19, Györ extended their unbeaten streak in the competition to 54 matches and took a huge step towards the DELO EHF FINAL4.

QUARTER-FINAL, LEG 1
Buducnost (MNE) vs Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN) 19:30 (11:16)

• thanks to early saves by Amandine Leynaud as well as goals from Veronica Kristiansen and Viktoria Lukacs, the Hungarian side created a comfortable 7:3 lead by the 10th minute
• Jovanka Radicevic, who scored all her five goals before the break, helped Buducnost to close the gap to 10:9, yet Györ then enjoyed a 6:2 run to lead by five goals at half-time
• Stine Oftedal, who was the game’s top scorer, scored six of her nine goals in the second half, helping the visitors to create a double-digit advantage (24:14) by minute 46
• another heroine for Györ was goalkeeper Leynaud, who recorded 13 saves for a 41 per cent save efficiency
• the second leg will be played on 10 April in Györ, and Buducnost will need a miracle in order to go through

Old rivalry becomes one-sided

Buducnost vs Györ is an old rivalry, as the teams have already met as many as 24 times in European club competitions.

It looked more balanced some years ago, but after the Montenegrin side won 25:22 in February 2016, the teams have played nine mutual games, and each of them has ended in Györ’s favour.