Finished as a gallop: SC Magdeburg narrowly beat Dinamo Bucharest at the end of the group stage. A top game is now waiting in the Bundesliga.
The German handball champion SC Magdeburg won the last group game in the Champions League. Even before the 34:33 (19:17) against Dinamo Bucharest, Magdeburg, second in Group A behind Paris Saint-Germain, was directly qualified for the quarter-finals. The best Magdeburg thrower on Thursday evening in front of 5,195 spectators was right winger Tim Hornke with ten goals. In the quarterfinals in May, the SCM meets the winner of the pairing HBC Nantes against Wisla Plock.
SCM regulars rested
Magdeburg took the chance and rested some regular players, such as Lukas Mertens and Christian O’Sullivan. Marko Bezjak, who was most recently active in defence, directed the game. Nevertheless, the SCM initially dominated the Romanians, leading early on with three goals. When the SCM lacked consistency, Dinamo shortened the lead and even briefly took the lead at 10:11 (18th minute), but the first half went to Magdeburg.
On Sunday against BL leaders Füchse Berlin
After the break, SCM was too shaky in attack and Bucharest equalized again. But again, the hosts increased the tempo to set themselves apart. In the meantime, the SCM led with six goals, but conceded another equalizer three minutes before the end. After a hard foul against Magdeburg’s Philipp Weber, Robert Militaru saw the red card (59th), and the SCM got the narrow victory with a seven-meter penalty from the outstanding Hornke. Magdeburg warmed up for the top Bundesliga game on Sunday (2:00 p.m./live ticker in the SpiO app) against Füchse Berlin. Then the master calls for the leader of the table.
dpa/cke
