SC Magdeburg fought for a draw in the heated East derby at Füchse Berlin thanks to a furious comeback. Despite an outstanding performance at times by world handball player Mathias Gidsel, the German handball champions overturned a six-goal deficit at the break and went home with a 31:31 (17:13) victory. The best scorers were Gidsel with eleven goals and Magdeburg's Matthias Musche with seven.
The duel between the German Champions League contenders quickly developed into Gidsel's one-man show. Berlin's guarantor of success scored ten goals in the first half alone and played a key role in the six-goal lead at the break. Magdeburg's defense found no means against the Füchse offense, which played very close to its optimum.
Defender Christian O'Sullivan only knew how to help himself with a foul and was shown the red card. The goalkeeping duel also clearly went to the home side. Neither Sergey Hernandez nor Nikola Portner were able to save a Berlin shot in the first half.
First Magdeburg save after almost 36 minutes
The double winners scored quickly after the break and Hernandez even saved a seven-meter penalty after around 36 minutes. SCM now benefited from missed shots by the home side and from a Hernandez who came up trumps. The German champions had Gidsel under control with 16 minutes remaining and equalized to make it 27:27.
Both teams suffered lapses in concentration in attack in the final spell. After two completely different halves, the draw was fair.
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