After a big win, the German handball champions SC Magdeburg have the best chance of jumping directly into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Coach Bennet Wiegert’s team won the top game against KC Veszprem 32:25 (16:15) on Thursday evening and is now aiming for the important second place in Group A. Philipp Weber and Kay Smits stood out with nine goals each for Magdeburg.
Paris Saint-Germain (20 points) remain at the top, while Magdeburg and Veszprem are now level on points with two games remaining in the group stage (16 points each). The Bundesliga team won the direct comparison, and another fact speaks for Magdeburg: Veszprem still has to travel to Paris on the last day of the group match.
The German record champion THW Kiel, on the other hand, suffered a bitter defeat and now has to worry about a strong position for the knockout round again. Despite a strong first half, Kiel lost 33:36 (17:14) to Hungarian champion Pick Szeged. Sander Sagosen was Kiel’s best thrower with seven goals.
In Group B, Kiel (12 points) is now in fourth place again: Szeged is only two points behind in fifth and there are still two games to play. Only the two best teams in each group of eight are directly in the quarter-finals. The teams in third to sixth place first go into the play-offs, the better the performance, the “easier” the opponent from the parallel group.