It was a very tough affair, especially in the first half. After the change, SC Magdeburg found its flow at times, which was enough to ultimately clearly prevail against the Croatian champions.
The series lasts! SC Magdeburg celebrates its seventh victory in the Champions League and remains undefeated first in the group. Against RK Zagreb it was 27:22 (10:9) after 60 minutes for coach Bennet Wiegert’s team, which had more trouble than expected in the first half. The man of the day at SCM was keeper Matej Mandic, who made a number of great saves. Both teams will see each other again in the Croatian capital in exactly one week.
Tough game before the break – SCM fails due to keeper Haris Suljevic
SC Magdeburg had so far been unscathed in six group games, while the guests from Zagreb had lost all six games so far. SCM coach Bennet Wiegert still warned against the Croatian title holders. And the first half showed how right he was. The Magdeburg team had a hard time getting in and left an incredible amount behind against a very good keeper Haris Suljevic. The guests led 4:3 after ten minutes. Luckily, the SCM also had a strong keeper between the posts in Matej Mandic, who was of course particularly motivated against his former club. And the SCM slowly worked its way into the game. Thanks to good defense we were able to pull away to 9:5 (23rd minute). It seemed as if the game was still going as expected. But Zagreb remained stubborn and the hosts became more sloppy at the front again, missing two seven-meter penalties. At the break there was only a narrow 10:9 for the SCM on the scoreboard.
Sebastian Barthold was Magdeburg’s best thrower with six goals.
Magdeburg is pulling away, despite a few dents
After the break, Magdeburg decided not to change specialists, bringing on Felix Claar instead of Philipp Weber in attack and Christian O’Sullivan in defense. This brought more speed to the offense and after a 4-0 run the SCM increased its lead to 14:9. Magdeburg then remained scoreless for five minutes without Zagreb being able to reduce the deficit significantly. Which was mainly due to the strong keeper Mandic. Oscar Bergendahl was shown a red card (42nd) after video evidence of a hit in the face, but the SCM was already far ahead. And even though there were occasional phases with a little less concentration at the end, the victory was no longer in danger.
Matej Mandic showed a very strong performance against his former club.
rei/dpa
This topic in the program:
MDR AKTUELL – The news radio | Sports block | November 13, 2025 | 6:40 a.m
