And then there were 12!

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Three days after their EHF Champions League win over Kielce (32-27), Paris Saint-Germain Handball returned to domestic duties as Nancy came calling at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin for their Liqui Moly StarLigue Round 12 clash on Sunday afternoon. League leaders thanks to their 11 wins in as many games, the capital club were out to continue their perfect record against the division's bottom side. But they had to be wary: despite their low ranking, the team from Lorraine have notched some good results this season.

The match started evenly enough (5': 3-3), but after a few minutes, Les Rouge et Bleu made the first break of the game thanks to Luka Karabatic (8': 5-3) and took the ascendancy. Once cruising speed has been established, our team is difficult to counter - be it in defence, with Yann Genty's saves, or in attack, with plenty of cutting edge to build the lead (12': 9-4).

Nancy's rearguard opted to defend our backline one-on-one, but Elohim Prandi found the solution by scoring as he so often does - from distance and with plenty of power (17': 12-8). The visitors weren't about to lie down, however, and hustled hard to remain in the game (23': 14-12). It once again took the power of Elo (25': 15-12) - or the cunning of Mathieu Grébille, who converted smartly after an initial shot hit the post - to push them back in their tracks (27': 17-13). At the break, Paris once again had a promising lead.

After the break, Raul Gonzalez's men resumed their dominance (32': 21-14). Although Nancy once again did their best to catch up (36': 25-18), the mission looked difficult faced with the vision of Nedim Remili, who picked out delightful assists for Luka (36': 25-18) and then Ferran Solé Sala (39': 27-18). Our right-back then managed to score a couple of his own, finding the back of the net with a beautiful chabala (40': 28-19) before making an intercept and concluding the ensuing counter (44': 30-21). 

At the approach of the last ten minutes, Elohim struck with a superb Schwenker (49': 34-24) but Paris's big lead didn't deter them from keeping their foot on the gas and the division's highest-scoring attack continued to rattle in the goals (51': 35-23). And they did so in style, with Elo converting a kung-fu set-up by the eagle-eyed Nedim (54': 36-24). Paris Saint-Germain Handball thus stretched their perfect start to the season to 12 wins from as many matches and maintained their five-point lead over nearest rivals Nantes. The perfect preparation for next' weeks EHF Champions League clash with reigning European champions Barcelona!

(Credits: B. Paquot/TeamPics/PSG)