Rapid Bucharest had a poor day in their Champions League Women’s Handball quarter-final play-off match, with the Romanian champions losing 29-24 away to Crim Ljubljana.

Rapid Bucharest, women’s handball teamPhoto: Alex Nicodim/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Editorial/Profimedia

The girls, coached by Kim Rasmussen (who joined the team just two weeks ago in place of Carlos Weaver), got off to a great start and the Rapid led 10-5 after the first quarter of an hour.

Unfortunately, that was the climax of the game for the Romanian champions, with the level of play getting worse and worse after that.

Rapid went into the break with a one-goal advantage (13-12), but the second half was littered with mistakes, predictable attacks and a great lack of inspiration.

The biggest advantage of “Crimea” was six goals (28-22), and at the end the table recorded an important victory of the hosts with a score of 29-24.

The main scorers of the game were Radichevich with 8 goals, Stanko with 8 for “Crimea”, Kanor with 5, Bucheski with 4, and Fernandez with 4 for “Rapid”, respectively.

The decisive match (second leg) will take place in Bucharest on March 26. The winner qualifies for the quarter-finals, the stage of the competition, where the Norwegian team Vipers Kristiansand, the defending champions, await them.

Know:

  • CSM Bucharest have already qualified for the quarters for Cristina Nyagu and company after a double with a winner between Brest and Team Esbjerg.
  • The quarter-finals of the Champions League will take place on 29/30 April and 6/7 May, while the Final Tournament4 will take place in Budapest on 3 and 4 June 2023.