Leaders Füchse Berlin won the summit meeting with pursuers MT Melsungen in the Handball Bundesliga and thus continued the best start to the season in the club’s history.
Coach Jaron Siewert’s team won 37:31 (17:15) in a thrilling game in the Max-Schmeling-Halle on Thursday evening and celebrated their tenth win in their tenth league game.
With 20:0 points, the Berliners, where the Dane Lasse Andersson was the best thrower with eleven goals, consolidated their lead in the table. Surprise team Melsungen, for whom national player Timo Kastening scored seven times, is at 16:4 points after their second defeat of the season and could lose second place in the table to SC Magdeburg (15:3) on Sunday. The Champions League winner will then be a guest at TVB Stuttgart (4.30 p.m./Dyn).
Also bitter for Melsungen: Left winger David Mandic was possibly seriously injured when landing after a defensive action in the 18th minute, and the Croatian was led off the field in great pain.
The approximately 9,000 spectators saw a disjointed start; it took almost three minutes until the first goal was scored. The initial phase then belonged to the braver Melsungers, Berlin took the lead for the first time in the 22nd minute (13:12) and carried it into the half-time break.
The Foxes, who continue to have to do without injured stars like Paul Drux and Fabian Wiede, came out of the locker room as if unleashed and quickly moved to 22:17 (34th). Melsungen’s coach Roberto Garcia Parrondo took a time out and sorted his team – with success, the MT came back to 20:22 (37th) and 22:23 (41st).
Melsungen stayed at it for a long time, but Berlin had the right answers, especially thanks to the 42-year-old Dane Hans Lindberg (seven goals). From 31:30 (54th), the Foxes finally pulled away decisively with a 6-0 run.