by Simon Daish
The tie was closely poised heading into the match following a narrow 3-2 home win for Borussia Düsseldorf, but there was still plenty of work to be done with the prospect of a difficult away fixture in Russia for the return leg.
Astoundingly, Düsseldorf prevailed in the 2nd leg by an even greater margin than they achieved in the opening fixture, beating Orenburg 3-1 in their own backyard.
The warning signs of an upset for the home crowd were apparent right from the offset as Stefan Fegerl recovered from a game down to claim a massive scalp, defeating Jun Mizutani across four games (11-13, 11-8, 11-9, 13-11) to give Düsseldorf the early lead.
Timo Boll, who was the hero of the home fixture, then added to Düsseldorf’s advantage with a noteworthy display against fellow countryman and close friend Dimitrij Ovtcharov (7-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-7).
With the prospect of defeat looming Orenburg needed a quick response and it came courtesy of Vladimir Samsonov: he accounted for Kristian Karlsson in straight games (11-7, 11-7, 11-9) but another fine showing from Timo Boll in his encounter with Jun Mizutani (11-5, 11-7, 11-7) put the result beyond any doubt in favour of the visitors.
This is Borussia Düsseldorf’s 11th title win on the Champions League stage and their first since the final of the 2010-2011 season when the German side, coincidently, beat Orenburg across two legs to lift the trophy.