All-Romanian play-off battle in MOTW

The first steps towards the quarter-finals in the DELO EHF Champions League 2020/21 will be taken this weekend, when eight clashes in the play-offs stage take place.

The domestic derby between CSM Bucuresti and SCM Ramnicu Valcea has been named the Match of the Week for the first leg of the play-offs, with the Romanian sides set to meet at Saturday at 16:00 CET in Valcea (live on EHFTV).

The special MOTW coverage begins with the Breakfast for Champions series live on the EHF Champions League Instagram profile. Throughout the day, there will be plenty of exclusive coverage across all the EHF Champions League channels as well as on the live blog on eurohandball.com.

A match steeped in domestic history

In domestic matches, CSM have the clear upper hand overall, having won 17 of the prior meetings with Valcea. However, Valcea snatched the Romanian Super Cup in 2020.  

If CSM can overthrow Valcea in the play-off stage, they will continue along the path towards their fourth EHF FINAL4 and keep their hope of taking a second trophy after the debut title in 2016 alive. Valcea want to reach the pinnacle event in Budapest for the first time, although they have made it to the final stages of the Champions League before the EHF FINAL4 format was introduced.

The teams arrive at the MOTW clash with completely different seasons behind them — Valcea started with six consecutive defeats before taking three wins in the last four games, while CSM began strong, collecting 11 points in the first seven matches, before suffering four defeats in their last five games.  

Aside from the prospect of a derby clash, there is the standout form of Cristina Neagu to look out for — the Romanian back is second on the season’s top scorer list, with 76 goals.