SCM coach Wiegert sets two Champions League targets

Bundesliga handball club SC Magdeburg has once again set its sights on winning the Champions League. The aim is to finish in "one of the top two places" in the preliminary round in order to "make it easier to get to the Final Four", said coach Beenet Wiegert ahead of the opener against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday in the Getec Arena (20:45/Dyn and DAZN). "That's why we have to get off to a good start. That would be good for us so we don't have to run behind from the start."

The defending champions will face the French champions with the fresh wind of three wins in three Bundesliga games, but Wiegert won't let that count because the game against Paris will be played in a different competition. On the other hand, the coach is happy to accept that the victories away in Lemgo and at Bundesliga champions Füchse Berlin, as well as at home against Eisenach, have further boosted their self-confidence: "I prefer to work with confident players rather than insecure ones."

Wiegert is particularly impressed by the physical strength and play through the opponent's circle, which features former Magdeburg goalkeeper Jannick Green. However, the former professional sees the strength within the Bundesliga, in which every game must be approached with the same intensity, as an advantage compared to French representatives, in which the teams in the bottom third have little chance of surprises: "The Bundesliga is getting stronger and stronger. That's the huge fist we have as a Bundesliga club. We don't have to go one better in the Champions League."