The Füchse Berlin remain undefeated in the Handball Champions League, but have to stretch a lot to achieve this.
The Foxes Berlin celebrated their fourth victory in their fourth Champions League game. Coach Nicolej Krickau’s team won their home game against bottom-placed Dinamo Bucharest on Thursday evening in dramatic fashion with 32:31. Only a seven-meter penalty from Tobias Grøndahl at the last second made the Berliners celebrate.
Gidsel leads well Foxes offensive to
The first cheers erupted on Thursday, before the game in the Max Schmeling Hall had even started. Mathias Gidsel was honored on the floor as the best right back player of the last Champions League season and as its MVP. The Dane got two trophies in his golden hands, but didn’t let them stop him for long. A few photos, a wave towards the stands – then we started.
Almost naturally, it was Gidsel himself who – together with goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev – shaped the game early on. Milosavljev made two strong saves at the back, Gidsel scored twice at the front. After three and a half minutes the hosts led 3-0. The guests from Bucharest only scored for the first time after almost five minutes had been played.
As a result, the Foxes also showed an excellent, incredibly variable game offensively. The Berliners repeatedly moved the ball well across the entire width of the parquet and, above all, gave their right winger Hakun West av Teigum good throws. But the hosts also repeatedly gave the defense of their Romanian guests needle pricks in the form of goals from the backcourt and from the circle.
The Foxes’ defense is wobbling worryingly
And yet Füchse coach Nicolej Krickau mostly looked grim on the sidelines. What’s more: The Dane not only found himself forced to take a timeout in the middle of the first half, but also became unusually loud during it. The background was his team’s major defensive problems.
Above all, Yoav Lumbroso repeatedly spun effectively in the Romanian backcourt. The Israeli, who is only 1.72 meters tall, snaked his way into the center of Berlin’s defense time and again with quick and well-trained feet. From there, with a good overview, he repeatedly created good finishes for his teammates. The result was that the unbeaten Berliners were 16:18 behind against the still winless Bucharests at half-time.
A dream start is followed by goal poverty
At the start of the second half, it seemed as if Füchse coach Krickau had once again woken up his team in the dressing room with loud words. The Berliners scored three goals in the first 130 seconds after the restart and took the lead 19:18 – thanks in part to Gidsel, who quickly intercepted a throw from the guests and sent the ball into the empty goal.
The Berliners couldn’t build on this dream start. They did noticeably improve defensively – driven by substitute Lasse Ludwig, who held strong in goal. However, they now had unusual problems offensively. Symptomatic of this: three seven meters that the Foxes received up to the 50th minute and all of them were rejected.
Left winger Tim Freihöfer in particular had a bad day, but was by no means alone in the second half. The experienced Lasse Andersson also remained unusually pale and even the almost infallible Gidsel despaired of Ionut Iancu, who was gradually outgrowing himself, in the Bucharest goal. Just under five minutes before the end the score was tied at 28:28.
Grøndahl ensures victory in the last second
In the final phase the game continued to swing back and forth. The Berliners put forward several times, but Bucharest countered several times. Then Mijajlo Marsenic was fouled while throwing in the final seconds – and because his opponent was standing in the circle, he was awarded a penalty. Tobias Grøndahl stepped up, scored the win and sparked celebrations in the Max Schmeling Hall.
Foxes meet Eisenach in the DHB Cup
The next round of the DHB Cup was also drawn in the evening. After the foxes met with one at the beginning of October Victory over HSG Wetzlar Having qualified for the round of 16, they will now face ThSV Eisenach in their own hall.
The game will be played in Berlin’s Max-Schmeling-Halle either on Wednesday, November 5th or one day later on Thursday, November 6th. An exact date is still pending.
Broadcast: rbb24, October 9, 2025, 8:45 p.m
