Barça entered the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 aiming for a different outcome compared to the 2022/23 season, when they were knocked out in the semi-final by Magdeburg — after overtime and penalties. As he prepares for the last matches of 2023/24, Frade looks back on how difficult the end of the previous season was:
“You’re put the work of the whole season on the seven-metre decision. How do you recover from that?” says Frade. Recover they did, to win the final 31:30 and secure their 11th EHF Champions League title.
And that is where the heart of the story comes — Mikkel Hansen. The TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2024 was Hansen’s last chance to win the one trophy that had eluded him throughout his legendary career. He won every national team title available, was named IHF World Player of the Year three times, and MVP or All-star Team member at numerous championships. He was top scorer of the EHF Champions League twice, but never celebrated the trophy.
“First and foremost, the most important thing to me is to win,” says Hansen, setting the stage in the opening moments. “The perfect goodbye, of course, would be to finish off with the trophy at the FINAL4.”
The final could hardly have unfolded more perfectly to deliver extreme tension, as it all came down to a post-buzzer free throw by Hansen from the nine-metre line, which would have sent the match into overtime. It was a similar shot that first catapulted Hansen into global stardom, back at the 2008 Olympic Games, and he has proven himself in such situations over and over since. But this time, the shot hit the crossbar and Barça celebrated while Hansen walked away with the chance for the missing title lost.
