SC Magdeburg underlined its championship ambitions in the handball Bundesliga in a complicated away game.
The Champions League winner won against the in-form Frisch Auf Göppingen team after a show of strength and a brilliant performance from national player Lukas Mertens 27:23 (13:14) and now maintained a comfortable lead of 50:4 points over his pursuers SG Flensburg Handewitt (43:11) and defending champion Füchse Berlin (42:12).
Mertens with nine goals and goalkeeper Sergey Hernandez (10 saves) were the guests’ guarantees of victory on Easter Sunday. Göppingen benefited for a long time from compact defense and goalkeeper Kristian Saeveras, who made seven of his ten saves in the first half alone. For the hosts, who went into the game with the confidence of four wins in a row, Marcel Schiller and Erik Persson (5 each) scored most often.
League leader Magdeburg, who had taken a huge step towards their fourth championship with their 35:33 win against Berlin the previous week, had an extremely difficult time in the first half and were three goals behind at times. It was only in a hard-fought second half that Magdeburg’s individual defensive class prevailed. The 26:23 (58th) broke Göppingen’s resistance.
Füchse Berlin wins clearly
The Füchse Berlin had previously temporarily reduced the gap to Magdeburg with a 39:26 (20:10) win against bottom team SC DHfK Leipzig. The best Berlin throwers were Mathias Gidsel and Lasse Andersson with six hits each. But the outstanding man was goalkeeper Lasse Ludwig, who had recently made his debut for the senior national team and was the face of a strong Berlin defense with 19 saves.
Berlin dominated the game from the start, and by half time the Foxes were clearly on course for victory with a ten-goal lead. After the break, the lead continued to grow, even after a few personnel changes, and the team also did something for the goal difference in the tight race for the Champions League places.
