Bennet’s beard is short, but the run does not stop

And then this spectacular run came to an abrupt end – it had to at some point. But it did not happen in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League or in Berlin, Kiel or Flensburg, but with a 27:28 loss at Hannover-Burgdorf last Sunday.

“Every series comes to an end, that’s clear,” says coach Wiegert, before immediately following up in his own way; “I hate losing. I don't want to lose, I'm not made for losing." However, the SCM legend also spoke of a "luxury problem" if just one defeat can make one think like that.

But one fact makes the man from Magdeburg wonder: “In football, you win three titles in one season with 30 unbeaten games in a row. And in handball, you lose the 31st game and lose the lead in the table, that's unbelievable." Füchse Berlin have climbed to the top thanks to SCM's defeat, but are traveling to the GETEC Arena on 10 March.

Wiegert can still painfully remember how the series started; “First, as defending champions, we lose our first EHF Champions League game at home against Veszprém, then we get hammered 20:32 in Barcelona. And three days later we travel to Leipzig and tie. But exactly this game that was the wake-up call, and then it started.”

And how did it start? In the next EHF Champions League game, SCM swept Celje out of the hall with 39:23 success, followed just four days later by a 34:31 advantage in the Bundesliga against champions Kiel. The rot had been stopped. The next highlight was the dramatic 34:32 victory over Barça after extra time in the final of the IHF Super Globe in Saudi Arabia - Magdeburg was the first team ever to win the title three times in a row. In the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, Magdeburg rank second, just below Barça.

With every victory, a detail became more and more important that, in retrospect, really annoyed Wiegert - the beard story! NHL players from the New York Islanders once coined the saying, “The one, who shaves, loses.” In US sports, it applies primarily to the play-offs. Bennet Wiegert liked it. The well-groomed three-day beard became a bushy beard. If you take scientific figures, a beard grows one centimetre per month, which means five centimetres in 150 days.

During the EHF EURO break, Wiegert wanted to get rid of his beard, but his daughter advised him against it. Now he's trimmed down again - and the SCM coach has learned one thing from the hype about his facial decoration, "I'll never do that again." He apologised to his players after the defeat in Hanover that "it was always just about this beard, which completely distracted us from the outstanding successes of this team."

Now it is over, the team can concentrate on the sport again. Immediately after the first defeat, Wiegert feared that the players could fall into a mental hole before the weeks of truth, but on Wednesday SCM were back to the winning ways with a clear 37:27 victory in Celje.

Magdeburg now have a full week to prepare for the “revenge game” against Barça in the GETEC arena. “As crazy as it sounds, I would have loved to play at the weekend,” says Wiegert. Because from the match against Barça on, the programme is intense, four games between 29 February and 10 March - and all of them are tough: Barça, then just two days later in Gummersbach, before heading to Veszprem and then three days on they face Berlin.

“Barça and Veszprem do not have such pressure and conditions before these games,” says Wiegert, who sees his team’s most important task internationally in defending the second place against Veszprem rather than chasing Barça. “This first leg defeat against Veszprem shouldn’t have happened. But we can win there too.” Last year, SCM secured second place in the group and the last quarter-final ticket with a win against Veszprem. They even managed to do it with a short-bearded trainer.

Photos © RICARDO JR, E R P O P R E S S Presse & Sportfotografie