Handball fans are in for a real treat on Thursday. In the Champions League, SC Magdeburg welcomes FC Barcelona in the penultimate group game (8:45 p.m. in the live ticker and audio stream), who have already qualified for the quarter-finals. The GETEC Arena is of course sold out.
After a good 18 years, FC Barcelona is visiting Magdeburg again for the first time. In the 2005/2006 season, the SCM suffered a 24:26 defeat in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League in what was then the Bördelandhalle and were eliminated after the second leg (23:27).
December 4, 2005: Magdeburg’s Steffen Stiebler (l.) in a duel with Iker Romero
Debacle in the first leg
In contrast to back then, there will be no knockout game on Thursday evening, as there are still two group games left. The anticipation for the handball classic is huge. “It’s something special. Barcelona is one of the best teams, maybe the best team if you look at the last few years. We think we have a good chance of winning the game,” says SCM backcourt ace Christian O’Sullivan , who doesn’t have good memories of the 20:32 debacle at the Catalans: “That was our worst game (…) after that we won a lot of games and now have enough self-confidence for the home game.”
Group phase: SCM with a false start
The group phase started anything but optimally for the SCM. At the start there was a 28:33 defeat against the Hungarian top team Veszprem, before the defeat against Barcelona followed. After that there were ten wins in a row, which gave the Green-Reds second place in the table, which entitles them to participate directly in the quarter-finals.
Magdeburg facing a mammoth task
The starting position for the defending champions is therefore clear: FC Barcelona (22:2 points) is already confirmed as a quarter-finalist two match days before the end of the group phase. Magdeburg, in second place (20:4), now has to play against Barcelona and Veszprem (18:6). SCM success coach Bennet Wiegert expects a mammoth task: “I think, even though we are currently second, that we perhaps have the most difficult program to maintain second place due to the constellations. I’m not even looking at first place anymore. “
SCM head coach Wiegert: “We have the hardest program”
Positive Wiegert record against Barcelona
Despite the first leg defeat, Wiegert can certainly look back on a positive record against the Spaniards. Magdeburg won three of the last four duels. The SCM won the Super Globe finals in 2021 (33:28) and 2022 (41:39 nV) as well as the Champions League final round duel in 2023 (40:39 after seven-meter throws).
2021: Magnus Saugstrup in the three-way battle in the Super Globe final against Barcelona
More top duels are coming up
After the cracker against Barcelona, Wiegert and his protégés will continue in the Bundesliga on Saturday against VfL Gummersbach, before the next top duels in Veszprem (Thursday) and on Sunday in Magdeburg against Bundesliga leaders Füchse Berlin in the coming weeks .
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