Magdeburg tops the table despite draw

Magdeburg's home curse in the Bundesliga 2 continues. Despite taking the lead against Eintracht Braunschweig, FCM were unable to get past 1:1 (1:0) - but are still temporarily top of the table. Baris Atik (5th) put FCM in front, Lino Tempelmann (69th, penalty) equalized. With 32 points, Magdeburg are now level on points with Kaiserslautern and are in first place thanks to their better goal difference.

Both teams commemorated the victims of the attack on Magdeburg's Christmas market, and the fan scenes had also agreed on six minutes of silence at the start of the match. The commemoration was interrupted by Magdeburg taking the lead: Atik shot from the middle, the ball hit the inside of the post and went into the goal. Braunschweig had more of the play on the pitch until then, but a series of three corners in a row fizzled out without danger.

Magdeburg at a loss

"Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I don't know: do we have a curse?" said Atik. They would have had the chances for the second goal. "We completely dominated the game, but we didn't close the bag. I'm stunned how we could only take one point here," said the goalscorer.

"Football can be cruel sometimes. We don't really know how the draw came about. We were sloppy towards the end and no longer consistent in defense and attack," said FCM coach Christian Titz on "Sky".

Flattening game

FCM coach Titz had only made changes in one position after the clear away win in Elversberg, bringing Silas Gnaka back into midfield after his infection. Magdeburg stuck to their tried-and-tested passing game, but it was difficult to get a shot on target against the now more compact visitors. FCM failed to add to their tally, but at the other end had no problems at all with the harmless visitors from Braunschweig.

Magdeburg also got off to the better start after the break, but Mohammed El Hankouri (46) struck the ball over the top after a pass from Atik. However, the game quickly returned to its usual pattern: Magdeburg tried to combine in front of goal, Braunschweig failed in their attacking play right from the start.

Foul penalty brings Braunschweig back

When the visitors did make an appearance in the FCM penalty area, it was usually the result of carelessness by Magdeburg, but Eintracht were unable to get a shot on goal. After Daniel Heber brought down Braunschweig's Sebastian Polter in the penalty area, Tempelmann converted the penalty to equalize.

The game now became more open as Braunschweig became more active and no longer just lurked for mistakes by the hosts. Magdeburg struggled to regain control of the game, but now lacked the necessary composure on the ball. Instead, the visitors repeatedly got a shot on target. Magdeburg also had opportunities in the final phase, but ultimately had to accept the blame for not taking their chances.