Handball: End for German handball duo in the premier class

First defending champion SC Magdeburg had to bury its dream of the historic quadruple, then THW Kiel’s hopes of a fifth triumph in the premier class were dashed. The German handball duo will only play for the consolation prize at the Final Four tournament in the Champions League in Cologne this Sunday (3 p.m.).

The German champions and cup winners from Magdeburg missed out on a place in the final again after a 26:28 (11:11) defeat in a dramatic semi-final against the Danish champions Aalborg HB. The Kiel team then lost 18:30 (9:15) to the Spanish serial champions FC Barcelona.

“We were not at our best”

“We played a great season. That will remain the case. But unfortunately we didn’t manage to play our best handball at the peak. We weren’t at our best. That hurts. We have to give this sporting pain a little space now,” said SCM coach Bennet Wiegert about the defeat against Aalborg.

The players were also dejected after the handball thriller without a happy ending. “I’m very disappointed and sad that we weren’t better here. They played well because they have some of the best decision-making players in the world,” said pivot Magnus Saugstrup.

Teammate Gisli Kristjansson added: “We certainly wanted more this weekend, but we didn’t have any real momentum in this game.” The best scorer for Magdeburg, who also won the Club World Cup this season, was Icelander Omar Ingi Magnusson with ten goals.

In the first Champions League duel between the two teams, the SCM failed mainly due to the strong defense of the Danes, against which the Bundesliga team could hardly even set up its feared fast-paced handball.

Wiegert’s players repeatedly ran into the opponent’s compact defense. In the final phase, the pendulum swung in favor of the Danes and their top stars Mikkel Hansen and Niklas Landin.

Kielers without a chance

Kiel had no chance in the duel with the Champions League record winners from Barcelona. Coach Filip Jicha’s team, which had only finished the Bundesliga season in a disappointing fourth place, got off to a bad start. After just a few minutes, THW was 1:4 behind in the rematch of the 2020 final, which the Bundesliga team had won.

The Bundesliga team pulled themselves together and took the lead for the first time with a 4-0 run. However, it was only a short-lived high, as the North Germans wasted too many chances. They were repeatedly thwarted by the strong Barça keeper Emil Nielsen.

The result was a four-goal deficit for the first time at 6:10. This burden weighed heavily, especially as Barcelona had extended their lead to six goals by half-time. Even after the break, THW made too many mistakes and ended up taking a heavy beating.