Preview

“We have to keep thinking from game to game”

Magnus Saugstrup
Magnus Saugstrup and SCM want the next points against HSV (Photo: Franziska Gora)

It is entering the final phase. After the decisive duels in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, the focus is back on the Daikin Handball Bundesliga. With HSV Hamburg, a team is now a guest that has been able to provide surprises again and again over the season.

Opening win at TVB Stuttgart, home win against VfL Gummersbach, a narrow 38-39 defeat in Berlin – HSV Hamburg has started the season in the best possible way. Although the results have been mixed in the meantime, Torsten Jansen’s team was recently able to get emotional tailwind again from the successes at HC Erlangen and at home against Stuttgart and travels to Magdeburg motivated, not least because of the narrow 29:30 first leg result in Hamburg’s Barclays Arena.

“They have recently presented us with challenges again and again. We were lucky to take two points in Hamburg, but it could have ended differently. It won’t be any easier this time,” SCM coach Bennet Wiegert looks ahead to the sold-out game against HSV Hamburg on Sunday (16:30 CEST, Dyn). “This is a team that arrives here with ease. We are warned about this. Nevertheless, it remains a home game and we are looking forward to our fans. We know our goals – for us, it’s about the maximum. Every match in the Bundesliga is now a potential final for us.”

After reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League against OTP Bank – PICK Szeged , the team had two days to prepare for the next task and refocus. Is the power lost at the high clock? “No, these are the games we want to play, the games that are the most fun. The strain takes a back seat,” explains SCM pivot Magnus Saugstrup. “We know what is at stake and what can be decided these days. It’s going to be exciting and we’re looking forward to it.”

The starting position for the final spurt of the league could hardly be better. SC Magdeburg goes into the 31st matchday with a seven-point lead over the pursuers from SG Flensburg-Handewitt as the sovereign leader of the table, compared to the Füchsen Berlin, the plus is even eight points.

Nevertheless, Saugstrup warns against overconfidence. “It always sounds strange, but we have to keep thinking from game to game. So much can happen in handball. If you’re not quite there in your head, it can quickly go in a different direction,” says the 29-year-old. “I expect another difficult task against Hamburg. We have to give everything as usual.”

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