“We could have won at Plock, but we also could have lost, as they had the last chance. So a draw is ok, better than a defeat. A quarter-final always includes two times 60 minutes, and now it is half-time,” says Jensen. And the tall, 28-year-old Dane does not see a favourite, “It all starts at zero. Maybe with our full squad we would be the favourites, but we have the situation with many injured players.”
Magdeburg’s base has been weakened further since the first leg; after key players Omar Ingi Magnusson and Magnus Saugstrup had been ruled-out for months with severe injuries and will not play anymore this season, Icelandic playmaker and top scorer Gisli Kristjansson broke his ankle after only 15 minutes of the match at Plock and is out for the rest of the season. Besides, centre back Philipp Weber and line player Oscar Bergendahl got injured last week and are doubts for the second leg at home.
“Without all of them, we won our Bundesliga match at cup winners Rhien-Neckar Löwen on Sunday 37:35. This proves the strength we have coming from the bench. We have a wide squad full of quality, and currently those players, who were on the bench more often, are now in the spotlight, like me or like Michael Damgaard, who scored ten times against Löwen. But of course it is a pity that Gisli is out now. Still, we are aiming to beat Plock and make it to Cologne for the first time in the club’s history.”
Magdeburg are extremely strong on home soil. In their GETEC Arena, they have only been defeated by Paris in the current Champions League season. “This arena is something like a fortress, our fans put a lot of pressure on the away team and boost us. Therefore it is an advantage for us, having the second leg against Plock at home. But a home advantage does not guarantee automatically that you win the match. You still have to give 100 percent,” says Jensen, adding, “Of course it felt great to have 15 saves in the first leg, but It was the strong defence which made my job much easier.”
Jensen, who started his career at Danish side GOG and was U21 World Champion in 2013 with the Danish team, arrived in Germany in 2019 and played two seasons for HBW Balingen-Weilstetten, before he joined SC Magdeburg as the successor to Swedish goalkeeper Tobias Thulin. In his first season at SCM, when he became German champion and IHF Super Globe winner, he formed a duo with his compatriot Jannik Green. When Green left to Paris Saint-Germain, Swiss Nikola Portner and Jensen shared the job between the posts.
Currently, Jensen is on his farewell tour, as he will leave Magdeburg after the end of this season - destination officially unknown at present. “I do not that have that farewell on my mind, when I enter the arena, it is just the focus on the match. And looking on our schedule it is pure fun at the moment - two top matches in Bundesliga against Löwen and Flensburg in-between two Champions League quarter-finals. But to be honest, for me a match is a match, regardless, if we face Barcelona or Minden - it is always about winning.”
Jensen does not want to speculate about the number of trophies he is going to raise on his farewell tour - as in the Bundesliga, defending champions Magdeburg are currently second, two points below Kiel. “Of course, we all dream of making it to Cologne and we even dream of winning the Champions League trophy. Aiming for those two titles is a long, steep way, but we will keep on fighting until the end.”
