Paris Saint-Germain Handball return to Lidl StarLigue action on Friday night following a week-long international break. On the occasion of The league leaders will be looking to maintain their cushion atop the standings as they travel to season revelation Limoges.
1 - The Table
Defeated by Nantes in their last match (24-25), Les Rouge et Bleu saw their league record 22-win start to the season come to an end, but the result did nothing to topple Raul Gonzalez's men from top spot - they still have a four-point lead over second-placed Montpellier. As for Limoges, they were the season's over-achievers for a long stretch before dropping to seventh on the back of some adverse results in recent weeks. Promoted at the end of the last ProLigue season, Limoges arrived in the French handball elite with a squad capable of troubling even the top sides, with a notable win over Nantes (32-31) emblematic of form that had them in sec and place for a long stretch of the season.
2 - An excellent squad
The team from the Limousin region's strong performances owe plenty to the backbone provided several quality players. Indeed, even before they made it to the top flight, Tarik Hayatoune (former coach of Billere and Massy) had created a solid squad by signing players with first-division experience like Yassine Idrissi (ex-Toulouse 'keeper) or Juan Andreu (Spanish international). This summer, other quality reinforcements arrived, such as Julien Emonet (European vice-champion with Nantes) and Micke Brasseleur (former Ivry striker with 102 goals in 2017-2018). But while we're on the subject of high-end recruitment, The LH's biggest coup was recruiting Slovenian international Dragan Gajic, twice voted best right-winger in the French championship with Montpellier as well as earning the same honour with his national team at the 2015 World Championships, where he finished top scorer with 71 goals.
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3 - Duking it out
Despite being 36 years old, Gajic continues to trouble Lidl StarLigue defences - and he does it bette than anyone, currently sitting atop the Lidl Starligue scorers chart with a 178 goals. His two closest rivals in this area are fellow Balkanites Vanja Ilic (Chartres) and Nemanja Ilic (Toulouse) respectively on 133 and 131 goals. However, Paris have their weapons too! Indeed, our two best scorers are not far off the pace: Nedim Remili and Mikkel Hansen have both exceeded the 100-goal mark this season (101 for Nedim, 103 for Mikky). The latter has the opportunity to score his 400th penalty in our championship, if he converts his next seven-metre throw. So it is that we have an attacking battle on the cards this Friday evening, two of the Lidl StarLigue's most prolific attacks - Paris top the table 791 goals while Limoges are fourth with 642 (and a game in hand) - getting sent to duke it out.
4 - A look back at the first match
The first time the two sides met this season, the goals rained down! But it was fairly one sided; Les Rouge et Bleu put on their best offensive performance of the season by scoring 42 times (42-20), thanks in particular to an excellent Elohim Prandi, who fired a ferocious 13 from 14! In fact our whole team was on fire in front of goal, six of our players ending the game with a 100% success rate: Luka Karabatic, Ferran Sole Sala (4 from 4), Mikkel Hansen, Kamil Syprzak (3 from 3), Henrik Toft Hansen and Dainis Kristopans (1 from 1). For Limoges, Gajic scored 11 his side's 20 goals. Note that it was the first direct opposition between the two side in the Lidl StarLigue, but the Parisians know Friday night's venue the Salle Henri Normand very well as it wads the scene of their Trophée des Champions over Montpellier (34-27) in 2019.
5 - To follow the game (kickoff at 20:00):
• Television: beIN SPORTS 3
• Live tweet: our official page
(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)