League rival Kiel with Elias Ellefsen (M.) was also too strong for Magdeburg.
Photo: imago/Maximilian Koch
Bennet Wiegert is a declared friend of numbers. The SC Magdeburg handball coach’s game idea is based on close-range shots and mathematical probability: Anyone who throws at the goal from six or seven meters is proven to hit the goal more often than from eight, nine or ten meters. With this seemingly simple, yet revolutionary tactic, the traditional club from Saxony-Anhalt has recently stormed through the competitions and collected all the major trophies from the German Championship to the Champions League. But it wasn’t enough to defend the title in the premier class last weekend.
When Wiegert stood in the catacombs of the Cologne Arena late on Sunday afternoon and reflected on what he had experienced, he had to look at a statistic that didn’t suit him at all. “We lost as many games in one weekend as we lost in the entire Bundesliga season,” said the 42-year-old. Namely two: In the final tournament of the Champions League, the Magdeburgers initially failed with 26:28 in the semi-final against the top Danish club Aalborg HB. In the game for third place they finally had to admit defeat to the second German participant THW Kiel, who in turn had badly blown their semi-final against the eventual winners FC Barcelona with 18:30. “Even though the four best teams in Europe were at the start here, it’s difficult for me not to be extremely disappointed now,” said the Magdeburg coach, “in a week or two it will probably be easier to understand the season as that, what she was without a doubt: absolutely outstanding.«
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For the Magdeburgers, who are used to success, the defeat against Aalborg also meant the end of an incredible series: since 2021, the SCM had reached the final in every competition in which it took part. “Is that really true?” Captain Christian O’Sullivan asked later in the mixed zone, almost incredulously, mentally doing the math again in his head. Of course it was true.
At the same time, Magdeburg’s handball players had to put aside their dream of a historic season with four possible titles. They had previously defended the World Cup, won the DHB Cup and won the German Championship. »We really had an incredible run. Nevertheless, after this weekend, of course, the disappointment outweighs the disappointment,” said O’Sullivan, “at the moment I’m just incredibly empty, it doesn’t feel good at all.” And coach Wiegert self-critically noted: “If you want to win this tournament, you have to compete in two reach its absolute performance limit for days. Unfortunately, we were a long way from that this year and in contrast to 2023.”
Unlike the national competition, which found no effective means against the SCM’s game throughout the season, Aalborg succeeded at the weekend: the Danes with the outgoing former world handball player Mikkel Hansen and exceptional goalkeeper Niklas Landin deciphered the Bundesliga team. “They defended extremely well and had a great attitude,” analyzed O’Sullivan. This circumstance was also reflected in the fact that the Magdeburgers lost themselves a little during the game and often quarreled with the referees. At times they even shouted at each other.
In the end, they accepted defeat like good sportsmen and acknowledged without envy that, for once and for the first time in a long, long time, the competition was better. Finally, Captain O’Sullivan took a look ahead and sounded much more optimistic: “We’ll all go on vacation now and then attack again in the new season,” said the Norwegian. After all, the Magdeburg squad is at its core, all key players have long-term contracts – and you don’t have to be a handball expert to hypothesize that the SCM will continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
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