As Berlin struggled to find solutions offensively, especially against Barça goalkeeper Emil Nielsen, the Spanish side sat in the driver’s seat in the first half. As a symbol of Berlin’s difficulties, the top scorer of the season, Mathias Gidsel, only netted his first goal after 25 minutes, when his team was already down by five.
Many times throughout the game, it felt like Barça were beating Berlin at their own game, playing at full-speed to score easy goals. Although the German side came within two several times with only a handful minutes to play, they never levelled the game — and Barça extended their record of title wins to 12.
FINAL
H2H: 2-0-1
Top scorers: Luís Frade 7/7 (Barça); Mathias Gidsel 8/11 (Füchse Berlin)
- the two teams fired on all cylinders right from throw-off, scoring a combined 15 goals within the first 10 minutes, as Barça took an early three-goal lead
- though Berlin came back within one midway through the first half, the Blaugrañas were clearly in control, creating their first five-goal advantage in the 22nd minute on the back of a very strong performance from Nielsen
- it was only thanks to an incredible goal from Gidsel, as the ball hit the crossbar before crossing the line, that Berlin were down by four when returning to the dressing room
- the all-time top scorer in Cologne, Barça’s Aleix Gómez, became the first to hit 100 goals at the EHF FINAL4 Men when he netted for the fourth time in minute 30
- despite losing Ludovic Fabregas to a red card halfway through the second half, Barça kept putting pressure on their opponents and never allowed them to come closer than two goals
- Fabregas was not the only player to be sanctioned with a red card in the final, as Berlin’s Max Darj was also ejected seven minutes before the end of the game
- after scoring eight in the final, Berlin’s Mathias Gidsel locked up the award as top scorer of the 2025/26 season, with a never-before-seen total of 161 goals
- Barça’s Domen Makuc was elected MVP of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4, as he scored five in the final after he netted five times on Saturday in the semi
Emil Nielsen: The deciding factor
Nielsen will be leaving Barça in a few days, heading to Veszprém, but in Sunday’s final, the Danish goalkeeper showed zero emotion about the end of his Spanish adventure. His eight saves in the first 24 minutes, at an impressive 42 per cent, set the tone for his team, putting them on the right track. And he did not stop there, completely taking the upper hand on almost every Berlin player.
Nielsen was the one to put the nail in Berlin’s coffin when he stopped a wide-open shot from Tim Freihöfer, with just under two minutes to go, as he took his second EHF Champions League trophy with Barça.
It feels amazing, honestly. After what happened yesterday in the semi-final, where we had to play the overtime, we had almost no time to concentrate again, but still, we did. Everyone did an amazing job today — our goalkeepers, our defence did not let anything through. We did a great job from the first minute. We can be very proud of ourselves because winning this one was not easy.
It feels really, really bad. Like, it hurts. We were close, but at the same time, we felt like Barça were always on top. We really gave everything across the weekend, we really tried, but sometimes, you just don’t succeed. I am sure we will be proud in a couple of days but really, right now, it is painful.
