Decoding EHF FINAL4 MVP Gísli Kristjánsson

In two breath-taking matches SC Magdeburg defeated first Barça and then Barlinek Industria Kielce to win the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2023 and thus the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2022/23. As usual for a final the match was a bit slower pace as both teams tried to minimise the room for mistakes even more than usual. The German side managed that a little better.

While Kielce had the better overall shooting percentage with 65.9 per cent compared to 61.2 per cent by SCM, the difference was even better from the field where Magdeburg shot 11.2 percentage points worse (57.1 per cent vs. 68.3 per cent). But Magdeburg managed win the game by preventing turnovers. In the whole 70 minutes they lost the ball only four times.

Adjusted to 50 possessions (including overtime SCM had exactly 50 possessions) to make games fairly comparable this was the ninth best performance in this category of the whole season and Magdeburg’s second best of the season. The Polish side, in contrast, turned the ball over 10 times.

Mr. Clutch

One of the main reasons for Magdeburg taking care of the ball that well was Gísli Kristjánsson. The linchpin of Magdeburg’s offence did not turn the ball over even once. In addition, he was the best field goal scorer of his team with six goals from eight attempts. (Michael Damgaard had six goals on 11 attempts).

The Icelander was also very strong in the semi-final against Barça with five goals from eight attempts. However, there he had three turnovers, which is to be expected given his style of play. The fact that he did not lose the ball in the final was absolutely outstanding and he more than deservedly earned the title of TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 MVP with his performance.

But it wasn’t just his performance in the EHF FINAL4 that was amazing but in the whole season. With 5.1 field goals per game he was the best scorer of his team this season. With a field goal shooting efficiency of 78.9 per cent Lukas Mertens was Magdeburg’s most efficient scorer this season. But Kristjánsson was just slightly behind with 74.4 per cent and took almost twice as many shots as the German left wing.

Amongst all 25 very high-volume shooting players that attempted at least 6.5 field shots per game just Dainis Kristopans was more efficient with 77.1 per cent. Third-placed Timur Dibirov's field shooting percentage was more than nine percentage points worse than the MVP.

Even more impressive are his crunch time statistics. Crunch time is defined as the last six minutes or overtime if the goal difference during this time is at least once two or less. Kristjánsson is not only the player that scored most crunch time field goals with 12 (second placed Sergei Mark Kosorotov had nine goals), he also just missed once! Thus, he scored 92.3 per cent which is by far the best amongst players that attempted at least eight field shots in crunch time this season.

In the final 'Mr. Clutch' scored twice on two attempts as well as receiving one penalty throw in crunch time. What makes all of this even more remarkable is that he dislocated the shoulder in his shooting arm in the semi-final.

The isolation king

Magdeburg’s offence is tailored to Kristjánsson’s stellar one on one abilities. Again and again, he attacks the opposing defense in isolation situations. In the knockout stage 25.4 per cent of Magdeburg’s possessions ended in a shot, turnover or penalty received after an isolation. That’s by far the most and they are the only team where one on one situations were the most used way to end a possession.

But it is of course not always just isolation situations that immediately end the possession as one of Kristjánsson’s strengths is to find his teammates while he creates space in the defence with his one on one. Extending this to possessions that not just directly ended with an isolation but where the end of the possession resulted in the immediate aftermath of an isolation the share increases to 35.1 per cent, which is as well the highest.

Over half (52.2 per cent) of Kristjánsson’s own shots, turnovers or penalties awarded in the knockout stage were out of isolation situations, the highest amongst all players with at least then isolation situations (he had 12). In addition, he was the second-most efficient player of this group causing 32.3 goals per 50 possessions, slightly behind Miha Zarabec (33.8).

In the final he just finished three possessions with one on one situations (37.5 per cent) but created perfect 50 goals per 50 possessions. He was simply unstoppable for Kielce’s defence.

More from data analyst Julian Rux can be found at Handballytics.de. There you can read his latest articles, in which he analyses all kinds of handball topics from new, data-based perspectives. You can also find him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Gísli Kristjánsson © Axel Heimken / kolektiff