Berlin having their spot in Flensburg, is mainly connected with Gidsel’s masterclass in the second leg of the quarter-final. After 12 victories in the same number of European League matches, Füchse had lost the first leg 37:33 to Kadetten Schaffhausen - when Gidsel was ruled-out. In the second leg, he ran over Kadetten and netted ten goals: First, Gidsel provided Berlin with the first four-goal gap at 27:23, then for that five-goals-gap, they needed to proceed, at 28:23 - his ninth of ten goals. “Gidsel sends lucky Füchse to Flensburg” was the headline on eurohandball.com
“I was really surprised how strong Kadetten were, and we had a really bad result in the away match, but finally, our team proved its strengths and ambitions; we did a great job, turned it around and reached our first goal: the EHF Finals 2023. Of course, now we want more after we had shown this long unbeaten series.” In general, Gidsel is very pleased with his first season at Berlin, he likes “this ambitious and amazing club”, he likes to play in Max-Schmeling-Halle with up to 9,000 fans cheering for them. He simply likes to live in a city like Berlin.
“I have this trophy on Sunday in my mind since it was clear that we made it to Flensburg,” Gidsel looks ahead to the EHF Finals 2023, but he is looking even further ahead when he talks about his long-term contract: “I came to Berlin not to win the 20th trophy in club history, I want to be part of this team, from which in 2028 they say that it made history, for example by winning the German Bundesliga trophy for the first time. This is my ambition. We have a team which can play together for many years, a team which was close to finishing on top in the Bundesliga, which now is part of the EHF Finals and which hopes to be part of the EHF Champions League sometimes and which can prove that we belong to the top of European club handball. This is why I signed for Berlin and no other club. I want to win something in handball. I am sure Füchse is a team you can count on in the future. And I hope that at the end of my first season, we will win the European League and that my journey with Berlin will begin on a winners’ podium, with a trophy.”
But Gidsel also knows from his experience at big tournaments with the national team that the way to this podium is hard and steep: “All teams which made it to Flensburg have the same chance to win. You need two top performances within 24 hours in the final tournament format. It is all about the current form on that specific weekend. And there is no favourite and no underdog in this stage of the European League anymore. The level of competition is rising year by year. Just look at Granollers, they played amazingly against Flensburg, and now they have the same chances to win the trophy as we have. Both German teams did not play that well in Bundesliga in the last weeks, and we missed the chance to stay on top of the league with some weak results - and now four teams have it in their hands to make the season a perfect one – with just 120 minutes of handball in their way.”