Füchse secure opening victory in the final stages
In the first-ever duel of double Men's EHF Cup winners Füchse Berlin and Fenix Toulouse, the host side were the better side early on in their opener of the European League Men group phase on Tuesday night.
The 2020/21 European League Men finalists from Germany had a flying start but after half-time the visitors turned the match around to lead 28:26. However, they could only score twice more as the home side took a 32:30 victory.
Like in the 2020/21 quarter-finals against Montpellier, Berlin were celebrating another success against a French side.
GROUP A
Füchse Berlin (GER) vs Fenix Toulouse Handball (FRA) 32:30 (15:12)
- Berlin started incredibly strong, pulling ahead to 5:1 and 8:1 inside the first 10 minutes, overrunning the visitors with counter-attacks
- Eventually Toulouse found their rhythm, closing the gap to three (9:12) thanks to efficiency in attack and stability in defence
- Three-goals was the different at half-time (12:15), but Fenix struck back, turning around the match from 15:20 behind to 28:26 ahead within only seven minutes remaining
- The Toulouse trio of Fredric Petterson, Erwin Feuchtmann and Uros Borzas had put the visitors in command, 29:28, but the rollercoaster changed direction again in the final stages with Berlin going on a 4:0 run (32:29) to seal victory
- Jacob Tandrup Holm, Lasse Bredekjaer Andersson and Fabian Wiede (7 goals each) top-scored for Berlin, Borzas (7) and Feuchtmann (6) were top scorers for Toulouse
Füchse's tradition with 'French openings'
For the fourth time since the 2016/17 season, Füchse Berlin played their first home match of the group phase against a French team – this season, it was the first time Saint-Raphael were not the opponents.
Berlin won both their 2016/17 (33:31) and 2018/19 (33:29) Men’s EHF Cup matches, but in the 2017/18 season, they lost in the group stage (21:26). However, they got their revenge later beating the side from France 28:25 in the final in Magdeburg.
Can the Foxes take the trophy again this season?
Our defence and goalkeeper were on point. I was not happy with the half-time result (and) in the second half we make some stupid and easy mistakes. But with our self-confidence we managed to win the game in the last 10 minutes.
