After competition slip-ups: Wiegert wants to be "ready"

SCM coach Bennet Wiegert sees the recent slip-ups of the competition in the handball Bundesliga title fight as a warning signal. "We've always been lucky that we've played afterwards, that I've been able to go into it again, that I've been able to say in the hotel where we watched the games, yes, but guys, it can happen to us too. We just have to be ready," Wiegert said in a press conference.

Magdeburg are currently only in fifth place in the table, but have played four games less than leaders Füchse Berlin and runners-up MT Melsungen. The top teams are only one point better on minus points, so SCM's championship chances are intact. The Berlin side only managed a draw against HC Erlangen at the weekend, while runners-up Hannover-Burgdorf lost to Göppingen.

Goalkeeper's deployment uncertain

Wiegert sees the fact that Magdeburg now has three home games in a row in the Bundesliga as a plus. Within nine days, they face Erlangen (April 10), TBV Stuttgart (April 16) and Rhein-Neckar Löwen (April 19). Wiegert cited the fact that the defending champions do not have the stress of traveling and have their own fans behind them as an advantage. However, there is a risk of losing goalkeeper Nikola Portner against Erlangen.

The 43-year-old does not understand why SCM has a weekend off despite being behind. Wiegert suspects that the HBL does not allow any other games on the final days of the DHB Cup. Incomprehensible to him, given the fixture list. The SCM coach left open whether he would watch the Cup games at all. He was "bleeding from the heart" that they had not qualified for the title match themselves.