Füchse Berlin and TBV Lemgo Lippe each missed the quarter-finals of the European League after a handball thriller.
Last year’s finalist Berlin lost to French top club HBC Nantes in the Max-Schmeling-Halle 30:33 (15:14) and was eliminated after 24:25 in the round of 16 first leg. The 28:28 (13:12) at Wisla Plock from Poland was not enough for cup winner Lemgo.
Berlin needed a home win with a two-goal lead, and it was a neck-and-neck race against the 2018 Champions League finalists from the start. The foxes were still on target up to the 25:23 lead after 45 minutes, but then lost the thread.
League competitor Lemgo was also eliminated. The team coached by Florian Kehrmann should have won in Poland after the 28:31 defeat in the first leg by three goals.
With a score of 10:7 in the first half, this target was reached, but Plock didn’t let himself be shaken off. Even eight goals by former Bundesliga top scorer Bjarki Mar Elisson were not enough for Berlin.
On Tuesday evening, defending champion SC Magdeburg is the last Bundesliga team to face Sporting Lisbon.
Last season three German teams reached the semi-finals, and in the past 17 editions of the competition the winner only once did not come from Germany.