Romania lost to Montenegro in a controversial fight over semi-final tickets for European Women's Handball Championship

In a rather-controversial fashion, Montenegro won 35 to 34 against Romania in the latest Group II match at the 2022 European Women’s Handball Championship in Skopje, North Macedonia.

At 33-34, within 32 seconds before the end of the match, the two Austrian referees mistakenly gave the ball away to Romania and declared foul on Montenegrin player Itana Grbic, leaving the Tricolors with no time to equalize.

“Romania deserves more respect. I deserve more respect. What happened last night goes far beyond fair play and respect, values that I cherish so much in our sport. [A] sad moment for handball in general,” Cristina Neagu, the CSM București left-back, said in a Facebook post following her explosive rant against the referees during the match.

Neagu and co. are currently sitting at the bottom of their group after collecting just one win from four matches, with one final match of Group II against Germany to be played on November 16.

With France and Montenegro having pretty much secured their tickets to the semifinals, the stage is set for the remaining four countries to ensure their place in the fifth-place game.

Cristina Neagu, a former EHF Player of the Year, has scored 32 goals in this competition but needs to stamp the victory against Alina Grijseels’s women & positive results elsewhere by France and Montenegro for Romania to move forward.

(Photo source: Cristina Neagu on Facebook; photo by Marius Ionescu)