Zabic sees red after head hit
Magdeburg achieves a powerful liberation
September 27, 2023, 10:37 p.m
The defending champions are back on track, the record champions are clearly on course: SC Magdeburg, which has been stumbling recently, celebrated its first victory in the third game of the Handball Champions League. Competitor THW Kiel, on the other hand, is still on the move without losing a point.
SC Magdeburg finally achieved their longed-for first win in the third preliminary round game of the Champions League. The defending champion triumphed against the Slovenian champions RK Celje with 39:23 (20:13) in front of 3964 spectators. Omar Ingi Magnusson with eight goals and Matthias Musche (seven) were outstanding in scoring. With the first two points, the SCM initially jumps to fifth place in Group B.
Magdeburg gained a small lead early on and tried to control the game. However, guest goalkeeper Rok Zaponsek kept his team in the game with a few saves and laid the foundation for the guests to take the lead 6:5 (9th minute). With the advantage, Magdeburg finally regained the lead, extended it to three goals (11:8/17th) and forced Celje to call a time-out. However, this had no effect; Magdeburg extended its lead to seven goals with a 5-1 run (16:9/23.).
Early in the second half, guest player Stefan Zabic was shown a red card after hitting Janus Smarason in the head (32′) and decimated the guests, who had only arrived with eleven field players. Magdeburg increased their lead to ten goals (24:14/38.). The hosts made merciless use of the energy advantages at the end and won by a clear margin in the end.
THW Kiel, on the other hand, kept its clean slate before the Bundesliga duel on Saturday (7 p.m. / Dyn) at the SCM by winning 23:20 (11:9) against the North Macedonian title holders HC Eurofarm Pelister and goes into the games against the other favorites without losing a point in the strong Group A. For Kiel, which is aiming for its fifth Champions League success even without its departed stars Sander Sagosen and Niklas Landin, Niclas Ekberg and Elias Ellefsen (five goals each) were the most successful throwers in front of 3,000 spectators.
The THW has caught a demanding group, other opponents include Paris St. Germain, last year’s finalist Industria Kielce with national goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, the Danish top club Aalborg Handbold with Niklas Landin and the former world handball player Mikkel Hansen, and Kolstad IL with Sagosen.