19.03.2016, 08:00
Jakobsson’s buzzer-beater ends Flensburg’s French curse

MATCH REVIEW: The 2014 VELUX EHF Champions League winners open the gate to the quarter-finals widely with an away win, and they have their Swedish stars to thank

Jakobsson’s buzzer-beater ends Flensburg’s French curse

Up until this point Flensburg had not taken a win on a French court.

Two weeks after another defeat in Paris in the group phase the German side luckily ended this curse.

By winning the first leg of the Last 16 in Montpellier, the foundations for making it to the quarter-finals seem to be solid – thanks to the saves from their incredible goalkeeper Mattias Andersson and the last-second rocket from another Swede, Johan Jakobsson, who was Flensburg’s top scorer with five goals; Dragan Gajic netted six for the hosts.

The team of head coach Patrice Canayer might need a miracle to be the second French team in the next stage (apart from PSG who qualified directly).

Montpellier Handball (FRA) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt 27:28 (13:15)

The first 20 minutes were controlled well by the hosts – with their extremely efficient counter attacks and with their powerful line player Matej Gaber, who netted five from five before the break.

Flensburg needed some time to adapt, but then managed to turn the tide thanks to a 5:1 run taking the score from 8:10 to 13:11.

In this period, the basics were key: turning turnovers into counter-attack goals, and punishing mistakes with extremely well executed fast breaks.

Putting on a stellar performance Danish left back, Rasmus Lauge Schmidt, proved why he was awarded EHF Player of the Month for February.

Down by a two-goal deficit at the break, Montpellier tried everything to take control again after the second half threw off.

Arnaud Siffert saved several shots and he supported his team well during an early bright spell in the second.

Scoring four consecutive goals they turned a four-goal gap into a one-goal lead (18:17), but this in turn woke the German side up.

The left-handed stars Glandorf and Jakobsson took on the responsibility, putting their team ahead with another three-goal lead at 22:19.

In addition, goalkeeper Mattias Andersson started to shut up shop again, as he already had done in the first half.

A highlight of Andersson’s performance was in the 55th minute when he saved Dragan Gajic’s counter attack in an incredible fashion.

With only less than a minute left on the clock Andersson shattered the hosts’ chances with another great save.

Even though Gajic & Co improved after the break, they never really seemed like they would gain the momentum needed to push on for the win.

And with three seconds left on the clock the score was 27:27, and suddenly Flensburg found themselves with a free throw and Jakobssson found a gap to net for the win.

TEXT: Björn Pazen / bc