Dainis Kristopans: 'No match is easy'

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On Sunday afternoon, Paris Saint-Germain Handball defeated a feisty Istres side 22-32 in their Lidl StarLigue Round 18 clash. Raul Gonzalez, Nedim Remili and Dainis Kristopans gave us their thoughts on perfect Paris's 16th win of the campaign.

Raul Gonzalez (Paris Saint-Germain Handball coach):
"It's difficult because we play a lot of matches. It's complicated to prepare well for each match because we have very little time. We travel a lot and we often change venues... Today, we missed several easy shots, as we did in Flensburg. The second half was better though and we made the difference. The championship is very strong! We have to win everything when we can, because we do not know what will happen afterwards. For the moment, we have won all our matches, even away from home, and even against Nantes and Montpellier. Against Szeged and Elverum, they are important matches, but we can't control anything as far as COVID is concerned. Our next match is on Tuesday!"

Nedim Remili (Paris Saint-Germain Handball right-back):
"Obviously, we would like to - and certainly should - start our matches better. But it's the fourth match in a week, it's tough... It not an excuse, but it is getting us into trouble. Despite the fact that we're doing everything we can to deal with the situation, it was still two trips and two away games in the space of a few days. But we're managing to react very well in the second halves of matches, so things are very positive for us right now. Today, everyone was able to have some playing time. The most important thing is to win. We didn't manage to do it against Flensburg, but we did it today. It was important to bounce back after that defeat, but this game was similar to the one on Thursday, a game of two halves. We need to be good for 60 minutes. We've done it in the past, against Kielce and Brest for example. Next week, two EHF Champions League matches await us. We have to give everything! We dropped important points, but we can still clinch second place. No matter our ranking, we know that the the season to come will not be easy."

Dainis Kristopans (Paris Saint-Germain Handball right-back):
"In the French league, no match is easy... We know that all the teams will fight, especially at home. In the first period, the opposing goalkeeper gave us a lot of problems with some nice saves. We needed more concentration and to play better as a team. Then, we had a good defence and a good goalkeeper, which allowed us to score on counter-attacks. We took the lead and we were leading by six goals, which made it easier for us. We have to play like this the whole game. We've had a lot of games in a short period of time and some players are getting tired. Next week we can't afford to lose to Elverum and Szeged. We're going to fight for second place in the group. We need points! We have to do our job through to the international break and then get right back to work afterwards."

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)