Battle of Champions: Barça vs Magdeburg in EHF FINAL4 Thriller
The two last EHF Champions League winners, SC Magdeburg and FC Barcelona will meet in the second semi-final of the EHF Final4 2025 at Lanxess Arena (Saturday, 18.00)
Carlos Ortega (Spain) – Head Coach, Barça
Barça arrive in Cologne as defending champions, but Carlos Ortega remains grounded and respectful of their opposition.
“It means that we are among the four best teams of the season, so it is an honour and a pleasure to be here. We have worked hard all season long to arrive there and be ready. But now we also know that to win here, we have to be even stronger mentally and on the court.”
Despite Barça’s recent dominance, Ortega dismisses any notion of having an upper hand:
“To me, we don’t have any advantage. I see Berlin as being the favourites this weekend. But we also know that very rarely in Cologne does the favourite win. Maybe they partied a little bit after their [Bundesliga] title. Maybe the outsider’s status is good for us.”
Facing Magdeburg — who defeated Barça earlier this season — will be no easy task:
“Close game. SCM are one of the only teams that have beaten us this season. They are a smart team, a bright team, and they are really good on both sides of the court. The game tomorrow will be completely different to the ones we played in the group phase — that’s for sure.”
Reflecting on a challenging year, Ortega is confident the team peaked at the right moment:
“It’s been tough. We had some injuries and some tough times. Sometimes it was difficult to keep the motivation of the team, but in the last three or four weeks, the guys really got together and I feel we arrive at the EHF FINAL4 at our peak.”
Bennet Wiegert (Germany) – Head Coach, SC Magdeburg
For Magdeburg, returning to the FINAL4 is both a triumph and a fresh challenge. Head coach Bennet Wiegert praised his team’s resilience.
“We are really happy to be here. It has not been an easy season. We suffered a lot of bad injuries. We really had to work our way here but in the end, the guys put all their will into qualifying. What we did against Veszprém in the quarter-finals was impressive, but now is completely different.”
Though they narrowly missed the Bundesliga title, Wiegert insists full focus is now on the FINAL4:
“Of course, we would have wanted to win the title, but all of that is now behind us. We focus only on this weekend — not on everything that happened throughout the season. We are here, and everyone is only focused on one goal: To win the title.”
Magdeburg and Barça have already clashed multiple times this season, but Wiegert expects a brand-new dynamic on this stage:
“We play a lot against them, in the EHF FINAL4 but also in the group phase this season. Every game has been different, with different dynamics, and I don’t expect today to be any different. There are things that we can take from all of those games, but at the end of the day, tomorrow will be something different.”
