Like in 2021 in Mannheim, Füchse won the semi-final at the EHF Finals against Löwen – and this time in Hamburg even clearer. The nine-goal win was the biggest win ever at EHF Finals since 2021, beating the previous record set by Sport Lisboa e Benfica in 2022 with a 26:19 win against Orlen Wisla Plock.
Two runs (11:2 in the first half and 5:0 in the second half) paved the way to Berlin’s in seventh final, after 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 (all EHF Cup), 2021 and 2023 (both EHF European League). After winning the titles in 2015, 2018 and 2023, the defending champions aim for their fourth trophy on Sunday, facing Flensburg in the fifth all-German final of the second-tier competition since 2013, which all involved Füchse.
Rhein-Neckar Löwen caused too many mistakes to endanger the defending champions and will lock horns with Dinamo Bucuresti in the 3/4 placement match on Sunday.
SEMI-FINAL:
Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER) vs Füchse Berlin (GER) 24:33 (9:14)
- with nine saves in the first half, Füchse goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev was one key for the clear 14:9 advance of his side at the break, the second was connected to his performance as Löwen failed to score for 11 minutes, between the 18th and 29th
- Löwen missed many clear chances, starting from the opportunity to go ahead to 7:3, followed by a 11:2 run of Berlin (from 6:3 to 8:14) despite five goals of Juri Knorr
- on the other side, Füchse grabbed the chances to score from all angles, and either from position attack or from fast-breaks
- after the break, the change of goalkeeper from Mikael Appelgren to David Späth intermediately provided Löwen with new hopes; right from the start the junior world champion saved some important shots – but all hopes were shattered by Berlin’s decisive 5:0 run within two minutes for 24:15
- after 13 saves and 40% of saved shorts, Dejan Milosavljev was cheered by the Füchse fans when he left the court in minute 53, when all was long decided at 29:20
- best scorers were Juri Knorr (Löwen) and the Danish Füchse duo Mathias Gidsel/Lasse Andersson, all with seven goals
Defending champions with individual class and team spirit
In the al-time standings of the EHF European League Men, Füchse Berlin are the clear No. 1 with 45 victories in 59 matches. In the semi-final on Saturday, they underlined their dominance with a never endangered victory, which was founded on several keys: the individual class of goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev and court players such as the Danish trio Mathias Gidsel, Lasse Andersson and Hans Lindberg.
But the team from the German capital also were tactically perfectly adapted to Rhein-Neckar Löwen, taking their eighth straight against the 2013 EHF Cup winners across all competitions. The Lions caused too many mistakes in two crucial periods of the match right before the break and in the middle of the second half, when they had reduced the gap to only four goals. With their needle-pin counter attacks or simply waiting to score into the empty goal, Berlin had the perfect means to decide the match quite early. Now, Füchse aim to become the first team to defend the trophy in Europe's second tier since Frisch Auf Göppingen won it for back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017.
Backed by some easy saves from Dejan (Milosavljev), we managed to take control. With a better goalkeeper percentage it is easier to score goals. In the second half we showed fast-breaks, easy goals and a defence on a really good level, and when we were ahead by six, seven goals, we could control the game much easier. But it was only the first step to defend our trophy.
In the first 15 minutes we got chances to score, but then for 15 to 25 minutes we missed so many easy shots from six metres and we lost our power at the end of the first half. In the second half we started well in attack, but Berlin almost did not make mistakes.
