A successful return
The context:
After two months and one day of separation, Paris Saint-Germain Handball and Stade Pierre de Coubertin were reunited on Wednesday evening for Round 16 of the Lidl StarLigue season. On this occasion, the league leaders played host to bottom club Créteil, who had only won two games before coming to the capital. As a preamble, our team took the opportunity to honour Sander Sagosen (Norway), Rodrigo Corrales and Viran Morros (Spain), all of whom distinguished themselves at the recent Euros.
The match:
Despite a difficult start (5': 1-4), Les Rouge et Bleu put on a show for their fans. The first to come to the fore was Sander, who lobbed a beautiful penalty past Mickael Robin (6': 2-4). The second was none other than Rodrigo. The Spanish international made up for his front line's difficulties by making several key saves (8': 3-4). Both men inspired their team-mates and Paris turned the game around (16': 10-6). Raul Gonzalez's men, who were in front at the scoreboard, managed their lead perfectly and increased it further after a kung-fu save from our Norwegian left-back (25': 17-11) and a penalty saved by Vincent Gérard (28': 18-11). At the break, the club from the capital still had a comfortable lead (30': 19-13).
After the break, Raul Gonzalez changed the line-up but Paris' lead remained (35': 22-16). Sander and Rodrigo continued to shine, the former scoring his tenth goal of the night and the latter making a magnificent double save (38': 24-17). The performance of the two men, combined with their partners' stunning saves, gave Paris a +10 advantage (42': 27-17). The Parisian attack was on fire in the second half and had all but killed off the match as the last ten minutes approached (40': 34-21). Edouard Kempf scored twice in the closing stages (53': 36-24) before Kamil Syprzak scored the final goal of the game (39-26).
Player of the Match: Sander Sagosen
Twelve attempts, 11 goals... That's the sum total of a very successful evening for Sander Sagosen. Only Robin's left-hand post resisted him, from a free-throw after the first-half buzzer. Aside from that setback, the Norwegian international did everything he set out to do and delivered a near-perfect performance. It should be noted that he beat his record of strikes in a single match (previously nine, at Tremblay, in 2018-2019).
The word: Efficiency
Despite a timid start to the game, Sander's efficiency was infectious, with the Paris Saint-Germain Handball attacking line going on to score with 76 per cent of their attacks (compared to 54 per cent for Créteil), with 39 goals scored on their 51 shots. Since the start of the season, Paris have has scored at least 30 times in every league match. Not surprisingly, they sit atop the scoring charts with 568 goals (Nantes is second with 497).
Coming up:
On Saturday afternoon, Les Rouge et Bleu will once again be in action at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. In Velux EHF Champions League Round 13 action, they will play host to Norway's Elverum, who are struggling to qualify for the Round of 16. If they win, our team will take second place in Group A, at the expense of Szeged, who lost Wednesday evening in Flensburg (34-26).
(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)