Füchse take major step with clear win in Hungary

Füchse Berlin are closing in on their third LIQUI MOLY EHF Cup Finals appearance in four seasons after a 30:25 away win in the first leg of their quarter-final tie against Grundfos Tatabanya on Saturday.

• The hosts were only able to keep the match close for the first 13 minutes
• Hans Lindberg scored nine goals for Füchse, while Milos Vujovic had seven for Tatabanya

QUARTER-FINAL, 1^st LEG:

Grundfos Tatabanya KC (HUN) vs Füchse Berlin (GER) 25:30 (11:17)

Füchse are close to the LIQUID MOLY EHF Cup Finals after their five-goal win in the Audi Arena of Györ on Saturday afternoon.

Tatabanya were only able to keep the game close for the first 13 minutes when there was never more than one goal separating the teams. The hosts even led briefly at 3:2.

But as Füchse scored twice in a row in an empty goal when Tatabanya were playing without their goalkeeper during a two-minute suspension, the match turned in the German team’s favour as they increased their lead to 9:6.

A timeout did not help

A timeout at 10:6 did not help Tatabanya as Füchse ran away to 13:7. The visitors held on to that six-goal lead for the rest of the first half (17:11) and for most parts of the second half.

Tatabanya reduced the gap to three goals a couple of times but never got any closer.

With Swedish international Mattias Zachrisson missing on the right wing, Danish international Hans Lindberg had to play the position during all 60 minutes for Füchse - and he celebrated his large amount of court time by scoring nine goals.

Left wing Milos Vujovic scored seven goals for Tatabanya, which were left with a mountain to climb in the second leg next Saturday in Berlin.

Post-match statements:

Petar Nenadic, Füchse centre back: "We have a very tough period behind us with two very hard championship games last week, therefore it is a big success that we could win against Tatabanya today. Our aim is definitely the Finals in Göppingen, I know that we are just half way there, but we will do our best to achieve our goal."

Velimir Petkovic, Füchse coach: "I was afraid of this game against Tatabanya because they have a very strong defence and big motivation. We had very tough games against Melsungen and Flensburg the last week, so I was a bit afraid that somebody could get injured but thankfully we could win and everybody is doing well."

Vladan Matic, Tatabanya coach: "We have only a few players with international experience. Therefore I think these games are a very good school for us. To be honest, these five goals are realistic. Berlin are stronger and we can learn from them."

Ádám Juhász, Tatabanya centre back: "I think in the first half poth teams played nearly equally. Unfortunately we made some mistakes which where punished immediately by Berlin. For a Bundesliga team these four, five goals difference were more than enough to win the game."