The fans at Irun saw 67 goals and two teams fully focused on attack - but ultimately, the burden of an intermediate five-goal deficit was too huge for the hosts, as Füchse Berlin were the stronger team in the final minutes.
The 35:32 win - one week after a comfortable 35:23 triumph at home- was their eighth victory. Irun remain on six points but clinched their Last 16 berth last week.
Group A:
Bidasoa Irun (ESP) vs. Füchse Berlin (GER) 32:35 (16:20)
- thanks to their strong 7:3 start, Berlin always held the upper hand, didn’t let the lead slip, and extended the gap to five goals before the break
- the points gape remained until 27:22 - but then Irun started their engines, thanks to the efficiency of Inaki Cavero Echepare, who scored three crucial goals to reduce the gap to 28:29 and finally had 10 goals to his name, three more than Kauldi Odriozola
- in the last minutes, Füchse’s experienced stars Hans Lindberg, Fabian Wiede and Lasse Andersson took responsibility and decided the game
- last week, when Berlin won 35:23 against Irun, Danish EHF EURO bronze medallist Lasse Andersson only scored three goals in 60 minutes, tonight the powerful left back was on six strikes after 33 minutes. He finished as Berlin’s top scorer with nine goals
- after Fenix Toulouse’s win earlier tonight, Bidasoa Irun knew that they could not catch the French side and they will finish fourth in the pool
- Next week, the two tied sides Berlin and Orlen Wisla Plock will compete for top place in the group as the group stage concludes
Berlin might have an All-German Last 16 pairing
After nine rounds, Füchse Berlin are top of the table, but equal on points with Orlen Wisla Plock.
As Füchse won the first match in Poland 28:24, a draw is already enough for the 2015 and 2018 EHF Cup winners to finish on top. But in this case, an All-German duel could await the Foxes – against TBV Lemgo, the currently fourth ranked side in Group B.
We started the match well, but in the second we lost the control, and they came back. They were playing well,
