The first half of the game was a constant up for Füchse Berlin. With Tim Freihöfer and Lasse Andersson on scoring duties, the German side created a clear advantage at the break. The second half did not see much of an improvement for Nantes, as Berlin kept pushing, with Dejan Milosavljev locking the door behind his defence. The German side took a maximum advantage of 11 goals with four minutes left to play — more than enough for their fans to start celebrating their team’s qualification before the final whistle.
SEMI-FINAL
Füchse Berlin (GER) vs HBC Nantes (FRA) 34:24 (18:12)
- led by a stunning Dejan Milosavljev performance (nine saves in the first half and 15 in total), Berlin broke away in the first half to lead by six at the break, 18:12
- Berlin’s Mathias Gidsel received a direct red card at minute nine for a foul on Kauldi Ordriozola
- after being clearly ahead at half-time, Berlin kept pushing the pedal, reaching their maximum advantage of 11 goals at minute 56
- Berlin wing Freihöfer scored 10 while line player Nicolas Tournat netted six times for Nantes
- the game set a new record for the EHF FINAL4 attendance, with 20,074 spectators in LANXESS arena
- Berlin will face the winner of the second semi-final between SC Magdeburg and Barça in the final tomorrow at 18:00 CEST
Historic final for Berlin
Despite being the first Füchse Berlin team to reach the EHF FINAL4 since 2012, Gidsel and his teammates did not seem to feel the pressure at the start of the game. With the help of great defence and some crucial saves from Milosavljev, the German side were ahead by three after seven minutes (6:3). The first turning point happened just minutes later, when Gidsel was ejected for a foul on Odriozola. But this did not stop Berlin’s momentum. With Freihöfer scoring three in the first quarter, Füchse took a four-goal lead, forcing Nantes to take a timeout (10:6). But this break did not enable the French side to turn things around, as they made turnovers that were immediately punished. And at the break, Berlin had things firmly in hand.
The half-time break did not give Nantes the possibility to solve their offensive problems. Worse for the French team, their deficit went to eight goals when Freihöfer netted his seventh goal in the 36th minute (21:13). With Milosavljev still making wonders between the posts, Berlin increased their advantage further — up to nine goals at the 41st minute. But, realising they had nothing to lose anymore, Nantes threw all they had left onto the court. Helped by a good entrance from goalkeeper Ignacio Biosca, they came back within six with 12 minutes to play (25:19). But Milosavljev, definitely the hero of the day for Berlin, kept his team well ahead. And when Andersson put his team 10 goals ahead at five minutes left to play (31:21), it was clear that Füchse had booked their ticket to the final.
This is incredible. No words. We had an almost perfect game, and there was no fear at any point. We really played well. We gave them so many problems defensively and offensively as well. Even without Mathias [Gidsel], we moved a lot and managed to find solutions.
We did not exist and Berlin played at the level that is required at this level of competition. Defensively, nothing worked. We tried various combinations, but nothing really worked. Usually, we rely on our defence to find trust, but we were not able to do that tonight, and their goalkeeper had an amazing game.
