The season, which proved to be quite challenging, concluded in a disheartening manner—the Buducnost handball team exited the Champions League after drawing with Rapid (21:21).

This came after they held a 21:18 lead with just three minutes remaining.

“Such things happen to more experienced teams than ours. I have no complaints about the girls; they fought hard… While there were areas for improvement, this serves as a significant learning experience,” stated Bojana Popović, head coach of the “blue and white” team, during a press conference.

She maintained this sentiment regarding the closing moments of the match in “Morača.”

“They lost focus; it was tough, and fatigue set in, but we should have remained composed. I feel very sad, but Rapid is a strong team, and we missed numerous opportunities. However, I’m proud of their effort until the end, and this is definitely a valuable experience for them.”

The season, which began with uncertainty about the club’s future, has now finally concluded. What lies ahead? Is Bojana motivated to continue?

“We’ll see. Developments are expected this week, a Board of Directors should be established, and we will gain clarity on our team’s future and next steps. A significant challenge is that the players still lack information about where they will play next season,” she elaborated.

She does not shy away from the complexities…

“It’s genuinely tough, but we must search for new motivation and believe things will improve… However, we should allow others to take necessary actions now. With our current squad, this is the peak we could achieve; even advancing further would have been a remarkable feat. It’s worth noting that we only have four defenders,” concluded Bojana.

Defender Jelena Vukčević also highlighted that this experience will contribute to the team’s growth.

“It’s a challenge we need to learn from; we lacked the experience for this type of finale and should have approached it with more calmness,” remarked the player who scored seven goals against Rapid.

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