Handball Bundesliga
Top game as a duel for pursuit: Magdeburg and Kiel under pressure
The Kiel team will be playing at SC Magdeburg on Saturday. photo
© Axel Heimken/dpa
With victories in the Champions League, SC Magdeburg and THW Kiel have prepared themselves for the direct Bundesliga duel. For both teams it is forbidden to lose.
“This is a very special game that we are really looking forward to. There was always a lot of explosiveness in this game, and it has even increased in recent years. The hut will burn,” said Kiel’s managing director Viktor Szilagyi.
Wiegert: “We’re looking forward to the highlight game”
After two defeats in the league, THW returned to success with three wins in the Champions League group phase. But the pressure is great. In the event of a bankruptcy, the Kiel team, who currently have a score of 6:4, would already have six minus points more than the top duo MT Melsungen and Füchse Berlin (both 12:0) and at least three more than their rivals from Magdeburg (9:3). .
The latest results are encouraging, as the Kiel team recently emerged victorious twice at the SCM. “We want to keep calm again and not let ourselves be infected by the hectic pace that is transferred from outside to the pitch,” said right winger Niclas Ekberg about the heated atmosphere in the sold-out Magdeburg Arena.
In order not to waste any regeneration time after the 23:20 defeat in the premier class on Wednesday evening at the North Macedonian champions HC Eurofarm Pelister, the Kiel team flew to Leipzig on Thursday instead of to the fjord, where they will also complete their final training on Friday. “The schedule is certainly not an advantage for us,” said Szilagyi about the stress of travel.
However, Magdeburg’s coach Bennet Wiegert does not see this as a disadvantage for the record champions. “Both teams already know the stress and are quite experienced with it,” he said. The 41-year-old has ticked off the home defeats in the past two seasons. “The game on Saturday starts again from scratch. We’ll see where the truth lies. We’re looking forward to the highlight game.”
Kiels Ekberg: “We want to get two points”
With the highest Champions League victory in the club’s history with 39:23 against the Slovenian record champions RK Celje, the runner-up regained their self-confidence at the right time. There had previously been some setbacks with two premier class defeats against Veszprem and Barcelona and a draw in Leipzig. “It was not to be expected with this level of clarity,” said Wiegert.
Against Kiel, however, the successful coach expects a very close match in which everything “has to be right. We need the direct match-ups. If we win them by 80 percent, then we will be eligible for points,” said Wiegert. But that’s what the people of Kiel are after too. “We want to get the two points there,” THW veteran Ekberg announced the route.