The German handball champion SC Magdeburg carelessly gave up a win in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League and thus a better starting position for reaching the Final Four. Coach Bennet Wiegert’s team led the Polish club Wisla Plock for a long time, but had to be satisfied with a 22:22 (12:9).
Jensen strong as a bear – Kristjansson injured
Magdeburg could rely on Mike Jensen in goal, who initially secured a small lead for the Elbe city-dwellers (5:2/9th). After almost twelve minutes, playmaker Gisli Kristjansson twisted his left foot without outside influence and was unable to continue playing. An exact diagnosis has not yet been determined.
The five-goal lead of Magdeburg shrank to just two because Plock played well with the seventh field player (7:5/17th). Without playmaker Kristjansson, the SCM remained too imprecise offensively and missed a possible higher lead at the break.
SCM cannot maintain lead
The Green-Reds came out strong at the beginning of the second half and opened up a six-goal lead in the first five minutes. After that, however, the Elbe town lost the flow of the game, so that Plock reduced the score to three again (16:13/42.). Unnecessary Magdeburg errors in the last two minutes brought Plock the equalizer (22:22/59.). A supposed winning goal by Damgaard rightly didn’t count, Plock missed the last shot. Damgaard was the best Magdeburg shooter with eight goals. “They scored some good goals but we have to take care of ourselves,” said Damgaard. “22 goals is not enough for us. We have a lot of respect for them but I’m confident we can do better in the second leg.” The second leg will take place on May 17 (6:45 p.m. in the live ticker) in the local Getec Arena.
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