Home game against Plock: “We have to be well prepared”

“A challenging task awaits us. Two teams are facing each other, both of whom started the Champions League without defeat and have already collected big points,” states SCM coach Bennet Wiegert before the game on Thursday (20:45 CEST), referring to the away win of the Poles at PICK Szeged (34:33) and the 30:27 at home against HC Zagreb.

Magdeburg’s Elvar Örn Jonsson also warns: “Plock is an excellent team with a lot of good handball players in the squad. We have to be well prepared. But we’re at home and it’s going to be great to play in front of our fans in the GETEC Arena again and play with them behind us.”

The team around coach Xavi Sabaté has strengthened its personnel before this season and has signed Melvyn Richardson (FC Barcelona), Torbjørn Bergerud (Kolstad Handball) and Sergei Kosorotov (Veszprem HC), among others. However, the coach also stressed before the season that it will take some time before the total of seven new signings, which are offset by eight departures, can be integrated. However, the core of the squad has been the same for some time, Sabaté has been leading the team for seven years.

“He has been working with this team for a long time, which is reflected in the versatility of their game and in their stability. This is an international top team and has a good chance of reaching the Final4 and playing for the title,” says Wiegert. “We know what to expect. But we also know what we have achieved so far in the competition. We’re unbeaten in the Champions League and we want to stay that way.”