Bojana Popovic called the only unfortunate aspect for CSM in the Final Four: “A difficult moment”
Upon returning to the country, Bojana Popovic (46 years old), the coach of CSM Bucharest, commented on the outcome of this season: Romania's vice-champion achieved bronze medals in the Champions Leagueafter 27-32 with Metz and 32-26 with Brest in the Final Four in Budapest.
With Bojana Popovici at the helm from December 2025, CSM Bucharest ended the season without a trophy: 2nd place in the Florilor League, elimination in the quarterfinals of the Romanian Cup and 3rd place in the Champions League.
How did the Montenegrin coach comment on what happened in this Final Four?
VIDEO | Bojana Popovic: “We are sad because of Gabriela's injury”
“We feel good, it was a good tournament for us. The only thing that wasn't good was the last 10 minutes with Gabriela's injury [Moreschi]. We're a bit sad about it, it's a difficult time for her, but we hope she's OK, we're waiting for news.
Otherwise it was good, I'm proud and happy with the way the girls did. We didn't show our true colors in the first match, we were a little stiff because of the pressure on our shoulders, and that meant we didn't put into practice the things we prepared a long time.
In the second game we did really well, we picked ourselves up after a difficult night, the girls wanted to show that they can play much better handball and they did. Like I said, I'm proud and happy. We are on a good path.
Finally, Metz have shown that they have been a very good team this season, they have done a good job since the start of the season. Finally, they also won the most important match, the one yesterday.
The girls are very tired, it's been a bit longer season, it's never been this long before, but now they will have a few days off. In a maximum of 10 days, training for the next season will begin, which will come soon”, said Bojana Popovic upon her return to Romania.
Bojana Popovic: “The juniors have shown that they have attitude and character”
She also commented on the performance of the Junior 2 team, who qualified for the Champions League final at that age level. There, Alexandru Moise's students were defeated by Debrecen after overtime, score 39-41.
“We can see that things are working well at CSM and on this side, the younger generation. It's important for the girls to have players around who show them how to be professional, so they did very, very well at this tournament.
They have shown that they can come back from big differences, which shows that they have attitude and character. I'm very happy for them and I want to congratulate the whole team, the coach, the staff, they did a great job,” said the senior coach.
VIDEO | Mihaela Mihai: “The Final Four was something indescribable”
Far-right Mihaela Mihai also spoke at the airport.
“It's good that we finished with a win this season. It was quite a tough season with a lot of intense matches. I'm glad that after the semi-final we found the strength to enter the field and show our true colors. We're very happy for this medal and that we finished the season with a win.
I think it's the highest level you can reach with the club team, an experience you rarely get in your career. I am very glad that I managed to get there at the age of 21. It was something… indescribable.
They got messages, but we were very happy that there were a lot of fans there. They were with us and supported us, you could feel their energy from the stands.
We had a party, we are going to have another party. Now we can think about other things. So far it's been about handball, now we're relaxing,” she said.
