By Ulrike Krieger
Finaaaaale! The handball stars of Füchse Berlin are in the final of the European League, beating the top French team Montpellier 35:29 (16:16) in Flensburg in front of 4000 fans.
The final rises on Sunday (6 p.m. / DAZN). Opponent is BM Granollers. The Spaniards won the semi-final against Frisch Auf Göppingen 31:29 (16:18) on Saturday evening.
Berlin celebrates goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev (27). The foxes heavyweight in the box (125 kilos) stops a shot by Kyllian Villeminot (25) with his face in the 36th minute. With the pain parade he wakes up his foxes, who have been tired until then.
Foxes goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev cheers after a save Photo: picture alliance/dpa
Keeper Dejan Milosavljev: “It doesn’t matter if I only had one save in the first 20 minutes, it’s always about the team, in the end there were 13 but I don’t care, the defense helped me a lot in the second half. That was the cornerstone of victory. My performance is only one percent of the success, the rest is all the team. Now I hope that my second Euro final will go better than in 2021 against Magdeburg.”
When he was hit in the face, he says with a grin: “It’s my job, it doesn’t bother me at all. Already forgotten.”
Foxes Marko Kopljar (l) and Mijajlo Marsenic (r) try to stop Valentin Porte from Montpellier Photo: picture alliance/dpa
The Berliners don’t find their way into the game for a long time. Running behind from the first minute. The French have a three-goal advantage up to the 25th minute, but then the knot bursts a bit before half-time. At 16:16 we go on break.
Coach Jaron Siewert then finds the right words there, and the Berliners take the lead for the first time after three goals in a row from pivot Mijajlo Marsenic 20:18 (34th).
When keeper Milosavljev (a total of 13 saves) then got Villeminot’s shot straight in the face and thus prevented the goal (36’/21:18), the foxes and their 400 fans who had traveled with them ran really hot – 28:21 (48′).
Youth beats experience: Strange, Füchse coach Siewert was born in the year when his French colleague Patrice Canayer (62) took over Montpellier as coach. He has been a coach there for 29 years. This experience didn’t help him this time.
Foxes sports director Stefan Kretzschmar (50): “The thing is not over yet. After the first half I thought the best thing about it was the result, we didn’t play well. And then came Dejan, he was the game changer. He made sure that we got there step by step.”