Gutsy Dinamo fail to spoil Magdeburg’s celebration
Magdeburg secured their ninth win in the group phase and their sixth in seven matches at home, 34:33, against Dinamo Bucuresti, to celebrate a quarter-finals berth in style in front of their own fans.
GROUP A
SC Magdeburg (GER) vs C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) 34:33 (19:17)
- after being down five goals in the 47th minute, Dinamo delivered a superb comeback; a penalty converted by Tim Hornke clinched the win for Magdeburg
- with a ten-goal outing against the Romanian champions, right wing. Tim Hornke recorded his second double digit game of the season and improved his overall tally to 42 goals
- this was Dinamo’s sixth loss of the season and their 40th in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League; the Romanian side have won 30 of their 78 games played in the European premium competition
- Magdeburg secured a quarter-finals berth and will return to this phase of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League for the first time since the 2003/04 season, when they made the semi-finals
- with a single win in their last five games of the season, Dinamo ended up in fifth place in the group and will now face another German opponent, THW Kiel, in the play-offs; they hope to see the likes of line player, Mamdouh Shebib and left back, Ali Zein return after injuries earlier in the season
Magdeburg’s experience helps save win for the German champions
Dinamo were decimated by injuries, but tried to put a brave face on, despite a tough proposition against SC Magdeburg. If they had won, the Romanian champions would have avoided THW Kiel and their fourth-place finish would have set a crunch tie with Aalborg in the play-offs. Fourth place would also have seen the second leg played in Bucharest, with plenty of fans flocking to see their favourites.
Dinamo were no pushovers against Magdeburg and they put up a strong display, even with some key players out due to injury. With the game tied, 33:33, and only 90 seconds remaining Magdeburg's greater experience came into play as the German side scored and then forced Ante Kuduz to make an attacking foul to clinch a 34:33 win. This sealed second place for the Bundesliga champions and Dinamo learned the hard way how difficult it is to win against such tough opponents.
It was a great group stage for us. It was the first Champions League game for us in many years and we are very happy that we were able to qualify for the quarter-finals early.
My team kept coming back and that's why I'm very proud of my team. We showed that we can keep up in the Champions League.
