SC Magdeburg loses to Kielce despite improvement

German handball champions SC Magdeburg have conceded their second defeat in the Champions League. The Bundesliga club narrowly lost 26:27 (15:19) to Polish champions Industria Kielce in their home Getec Arena. Magdeburg's best scorer was Omar Ingi Magnusson with seven goals. It was the SCM's fifth defeat in its thirteenth competitive game.

Kielce had only ten outfield players, but took the lead after just under five minutes. Magdeburg had little grip in defense, but remained in contention. However, Kielce consistently punished several mistakes in attack and took a three-goal lead (9:12/17). "Our problem is clearly our defense. Please, defend!", coach Bennet Wiegert demanded of his team. Magdeburg then had problems in attack in particular, only managing an attacking rate of 36 percent.

After the break, SCM capitalized on a number of mistakes by the visitors to cut the deficit to two goals (19:21/39), but continued to miss too many attacks - such as two seven-meter penalties and a fast break. The game became increasingly intense and SCM kept in touch through Philipp Weber, but was not able to reduce the deficit for a long time. After 50 minutes, the deficit was only one goal for the first time, but despite a total of thirteen saves by goalkeeper Sergey Hernandez, the mortgage from the first half was too great.