Handball Cup winners SC Magdeburg have taken a big step towards the triple with their dramatic entry into the Champions League semi-finals. The defending champion and designated champion prevailed in the quarter-final second leg against last year’s Polish finalist KS Kielce, led by German national goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, after a nerve-wracking thriller with 4:3 in the seven-meter throw.
At the end of regular time, the Bundesliga leaders were ahead 23:22 (11:13), thus making up for the 26:27 defeat from the first leg. The best Magdeburg shooter was Omar Ingi Magnusson with six goals. “It was an incredible game, I think it was perhaps our best game ever in this hall,” said Magdeburg’s Swedish five-time goalscorer Felix Claar on the Dyn microphone. Wolff, on the other hand, was “extremely disappointed. It hurts a lot and it boils inside me too because it’s not the first time we’ve squandered our goals like that.”
Omar Ingi Magnusson brings the turning point
Magdeburg made an unusually large number of technical errors and initially trailed by three goals. As in the first leg, the visitors’ 5-1 defense caused problems for the defending champions, and the attacking game didn’t flow. “Our problem is not defense; in attack: more calm, more control,” demanded SCM coach Bennet Wiegert during the timeout. Magdeburg worked its way into the game, but didn’t take the lead until the break.
After the break, the SCM turned the game around with four goals in a row from Omar Ingi Magnusson. However, the game remained close, Magdeburg benefited from Sergey Hernandez’s saves, but were unable to break away because the aggressive Polish defense continued to allow little. Being outnumbered, the SCM finally managed to take the first two-goal lead they needed to advance (21:19/52nd minute).
In the final minute, the SCM played down the time with a one-goal lead, but Michael Damgaard’s throw didn’t go into the goal – and since Kielce didn’t equalize, the game went to a penalty throw. Hernandez saved three of the six shots there and Magdeburg was in the Final Four. On the other hand, Wolff was unable to prevent his team from being knocked out despite several seven-meter saves.
On Thursday (6.45 p.m./Dyn and DAZN), the German record champion THW Kiel can follow the SCM into the Final Four finals (June 8th/9th) in Cologne. Like Magdeburg, Aalborg BK is also guaranteed to take part in Cologne. The Danes beat top Hungarian club Veszprem HC 33:28 (first leg: 31:32). FC Barcelona and Paris St. Germain will play another Final Four participant on Thursday (first leg: 30:22).
