Defending champions SC Magdeburg lost their lead in the top game of the Champions League. The Bundesliga leaders lost to record winners FC Barcelona 29:36 (16:16) and thus suffered their first defeat in the current premier class season. Coach Bennet Wiegert’s team has had a ticket to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for some time now.
As in the first leg, which Magdeburg won 22:21 in a foreign hall, a close duel developed in which the guests found the better solutions in crunch time. With the score at 29:29, nothing was going according to plan for the hosts. Barca scored the last seven goals and took the win.
The best thrower in the error-prone SCM was the Swede Felix Claar with seven goals, while Aleix Gómez also scored seven goals for Barcelona.
Barca ended a long negative streak at SCM. The Spanish record winner won in Magdeburg for the first time since December 2005, when the Catalans later reached the final of the Champions League and won the title. It was also Barcelona’s first win in the premier class after three defeats against Magdeburg in a row.
Berlin continued as group winners
The German runner-up had only given up points in this premier class season in the hard-fought 29:29 against Wisla Plock the previous week. On the last match day, the SCM will play at Paris Saint-Germain Handball next Wednesday (8.45 p.m./DAZN and Dyn) and still have a chance of winning Group B, but the advantage now lies with the Catalans.
In parallel group A, the second German representative had already created facts on Wednesday. The Füchse Berlin are already group winners after beating Danish top team Aalborg HB 35:31 (16:15).
The quarter-finals will be on the 29th/30th. April and 6th/7th Held in May. The Final Four will take place on June 13th and 14th in Cologne.
