Magdeburg were convincing in their first encounter with CSKA for a fresh two points. It looked in the beginning that the German side had underestimated the opponents, but their experience came to light after all. Fast CSKA, who haven’t played a match for a month, were able to keep up with the home team only for some period of time.

Group C:

SC Magdeburg (GER) - HC CSKA (RUS) 37:30 (17:11)

• Magdeburg’s goalkeeper Tobias Thulin was on 45% save efficiency in the first half with 9/20 saves
• Home team was on their best tonight, as they had 74% first half and 77% second half shot efficiency, led by Omar Ingi Magnusson with eight goals from eight attempts
• the visitors had a lead only once in the match, (5:4, 7th minute), Magdeburg broke away with a few easy goals by Christoph Steinert and were in the lead for the rest of the match
• CSKA came with only 12 players and acting head coach Igor Levshin; Viktor Kireev, Ilya Ryabov, Andrei Klimovets and Gleb Leuhkin were not in the squad list, and head coach Velimir Petkovic had to stay in Russia due to sickness
• CSKA’s top scorer in the first half, Dmytro Ilchenko, suffered an ankle injury in 26th minute and was out for the rest of the match

Magdeburg’s Icelandic duo

Magdeburg had nine scorers in tonight’s 37:30 victory over CSKA, but two players stood out. They scored 14 goals combined: Omar Ingi Magnusson (8/8) and Gisli Thorgeir Kristjansson (6/9). With Lukas Mertens scoring another six goals, they were the basis for Magdeburg’s second win. What a performance for a new celebration in Magdeburg.