By Ulrike Krieger
There’s the Euro title! Füchse Berlin won the European League final in Flensburg in front of 4,500 fans against Granollers (Spain) 36:31 (16:12) and after five years they finally have a trophy in their hands again.
The scene of the game shows how much the foxes and their Danish superstar Mathias Gidsel (24) want this pot.
The World Cup MVP (Most Valuable Player) runs towards the Spaniards’ goal in a counterattack and is badly fouled by Aregay Gurri. But while still falling, Gidsel sinks the ball with a crazy spin to make it 10:9 (22nd).
The button remover to victory!
Because before that, the foxes are more than difficult against the Spaniards, they are always one or two goals behind. The Berliners go into the break at 16:12.
The Spaniards are cracked!
Gidsel (5 hits) makes everyone better. With his energy, the currently best left-hander in the world pulls all his colleagues along. Lasse Andersson (29), still weak on Saturday, suddenly hits 8 times. At Gidsel’s side, goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev (27) is also back in top form. Shows 13 great saves.
Milosavljev received neck injections before the game. Physio Ben Kuntz (37) reveals: “He was still very scarred from the head hit in the semifinals. Team Doc Sebastian Bierke wheezed him so that his neck didn’t stiffen and his muscles relaxed.” Wheezing is a technique in which an anesthetic is injected just under the skin.
Coach Jaron Siewert: “Up until midday it wasn’t clear whether Dejan could play, he was in pain. It didn’t look really good for a long, long time, whether he could play from the start. I couldn’t have stopped him from playing anyway. I am glad that our medical department did such a good job.”
Dejan (has a right black eye from yesterday): “I didn’t feel well this morning, I had a lot of pain, especially in my neck. A ball like that hits my face at over 100 km/h, but the doctor and the physios did a really good job so I could play. But no one is allowed to touch my face.”
Bob Hanning (55) jokingly to his keeper: “If he lasts for two days like in the semi-finals and finals, you can always have a ball flying in your face.”
With the Gidsel and Milosavljev boost, the Berliners are nine goals ahead in the 38th minute (24:15) and don’t give up the win anymore.
The foxes were able to win this trophy in 2015 and 2018. Three final games were also lost against Göppingen (2017), THW Kiel (2019) and SC Magdeburg (2021). The party on the floor was all the more exuberant.
It is the first title for Stefan Kretzschmar (50) as Foxes Sports Director, the first title for coach Jaron Siewert (29) and also the first Euro Club title for the new Berliner Mathias Gidsel in his first season in Germany.