It was a handball-style “hello.” Just a few minutes on the field, Berlin’s Mathias Gidsel found himself on the linoleum floor and had to sort himself out after a slap in the face. For the Danish backcourt player it was the first clear sign that it would not be an easy task to make up the 33:37 deficit from the first leg in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the European League.
With full physical effort, the foxes secured a ticket for the Final Four in Flensburg at the end of May against the Kadetten Schaffhausen on Tuesday evening with a 30:24 (17:15).
The arena gave us that extra push today.
Mathias Gidsel
“It was a tough fight today. But I have to say that the arena gave us the extra push today,” said Gidsel after the final whistle, for which it was not the only scene where he had to take a beating.
Lindberg brought the momentum
Unlike last week, however, the foxes also distributed accordingly. And yet the feature film initially resembled that of the first leg. After eight minutes, the foxes were down by two goals for the first time (4:6), or six if the tally was consulted. And that’s what it came down to in the end. It was therefore of little use that the foxes were able to equalize a little later.
Coach Jaron Siewert reacted, brought in Paul Drux and Gidsel, who was fit again after his ankle injury two weeks ago. However, it was not enough to gain a decisive advantage. But then the momentum changed. After the veteran Hans Lindberg converted a penalty throw to 19:18 after surviving a broken metacarpal, the Berliners improved continuously and played themselves into a frenzy – cheered on by the 7911 spectators.
However, the joy was once again marred by a duel that ended on the floor. Schaffhausen’s Zoran Markovic collided with Füchse goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev and had to be carried off the field in a daze by paramedics. At the same time, the Berlin goalkeeper injured his foot.
