With the final siren, the German handball record champion THW Kiel conceded the 30:30 (14:18) equalization against FC Barcelona in the seventh game of the Champions League.
In the 59th minute, Kiel was still ahead by 30:28, then Blaz Janc and Ludovic Fabregas saved the guests a point after a bad pass from Steffen Weinhold. Kiel remained without a win in the premier class for the fourth time in a row.
The German champion SC Magdeburg did better. Coach Bennet Wiegert’s team won 41:36 (22:17) against the still winless FC Porto. In the table of group A, Magdeburg is third after seven games, Kiel threatens to miss the connection as fifth in group B.
A few hours earlier there had also been bad news for THW. Kiel will have to do without their top scorer, Eric Johansson, for a few weeks. As the club announced on Thursday, the 22-year-old Swedish European champion suffered a metacarpal fracture in the final training session before the Champions League game against Barcelona.
“It’s not a complicated fracture and Eric doesn’t need surgery either,” said team doctor Dr. Frank Pries: “If everything goes well, he can play again in four to six weeks.” Johansson has been playing in Kiel since the summer and has scored 94 goals in 21 competitive games so far.