A blast from the past

Players had their chance to recharge with a few days off one week before the DELO EHF FINAL4 in Budapest and the plan worked wonders. Everybody was buzzing and the underdog role suited CSM perfectly.

However, the Romanian side have since failed to build upon their glory, with a plethora of coaching changes and roster overhauls.

Martin herself left CSM, in 2017, before returning in 2019 after spending two seasons in France at Nice Handball.

“I felt it was the right time to come out of the spotlight and play for a team that is not aiming at winning the DELO EHF Champions League. It was nice to have a slower tempo, to play less games and let my body regenerate. But I yearned for fighting against the best players in the world.

“Coming back to CSM felt natural. I knew the club, I knew the city, I knew some of the players. The others I also knew well, playing against them many, many times,” says the 32-year-old right wing.

A game against an “excellent” Pena

In her previous two seasons with CSM, Martin scored 105 goals in the premium European competition – and she has not lost her touch, having scored 36 goals for the Romanian powerhouse in 2020/21.

“We had our ups and downs this season. We played some good games, won important matches against Metz or FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria, but also had our bad moments and now we lost three in a row,” says Martin.

Their first chance to bounce back is on Saturday, in the Match of the Week against Team Esbjerg. In the first mutual game between the two sides, CSM snatched a 30:29 win, after Cristina Neagu scored the winning goal in the last second of the game.

For Martin, the game against Esbjerg is also a chance to face one of her teammates from the Spanish women’s national team, centre back Nerea Pena.

“She is such a good player. She is excellent. I am happy that she is Spanish, that we play together in the national team. Not so happy we have to face her in the club though,” jokes Martin.

For Spain, who will be hosting the Women’s World Championship in December, 2021 is very important.

Pena and Martin are cornerstones for Spain, while national team coach Carlos Viver has also come to Romania, where he has been signed by up-and-coming Romanian side Rapid Bucuresti, CSM’s domestic rivals.

But Martin is currently focused on the task at hand with CSM:

“Being able to play here is a blessing, on the biggest stage of European handball. Of course, it would be great to repeat that magnificent season with CSM, but there is still a lot of work ahead. Despite our results, we have a great team and huge potential. We should dream, right?”