Four in a row!

News

Three days after their victory in Saint-Raphaël (23-37), Paris Saint-Germain Handball were back in Lidl Starligue action on Friday evening, hosting the Round 4 clash with Toulouse at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

In the lead-up to the match, the capital club paid tribute to one of its former youngsters, Édouard Kempf. After four seasons in Paris, the young right-winger returned to Coubertin and played against his boyhood team for the first time.

Moments later, the mood was still celebratory when Mikkel Hansen found the back of the net for the 1100th time in the Lidl StarLigue!

But very quickly, the good mood gave way to tension... While the exchanges were balanced (11': 9-9), the physical engagement was at times stormy. Things got rough, sometimes too much, and the temporary suspensions rained down. In this context, neither could manage to pull clear.

Seemingly unscathed after their match two days ago in Nantes (31-28), Toulouse put a serious pace on Les Rouge et Bleu. Thankfully there was Viran Morros to help dig them out, first with an inverted spin-shot (22': 16-15) and then with a superb block of an opponent's effort on goal. His self-sacrifice proved contagious, with Elohim Prandi bagging a quick-fire hat-trick (28': 20-17) to send Paris into the break with one foot out of the trap set by Toulouse.

Unexpectedly, the two sides Egan the second half with the feeling-out process that had failed to materialise at the beginning of the match. The rhythm of the game decreased considerably, but it was the Parisians who continued to race ahead, increasing their lead thanks to the very efficient Nikola Karabatic (36': 25-20).

The minutes ticked by and the visitors started to flag (38': 27-21). Les Rouge et Bleu had control of the situation - thanks also to another fine performance from Vincent Gérard. Ably aided by a very solid rearguard, the French international won most of his duels with the opponent's offensive line (42': 30-25). At the other end of the court, Niko continued his masterclass and Paris pulled further away!

Not satisfied with his efficiency, our centre-half decided to also put on a spectacular show, bagging yet another goal with a sublime chabala (46': 34-26). Then Kamil Syprzak followed suit, scoring form a seemingly impossible angle (50': 36-28), as he had done last week, when he earned first place in the Top Goals of Round 2.

Thus Paris went into the final minutes in a much more comfortable position than they could have been in (53': 39-30), and this proved an opportunity for the youngsters to have a run. Thus, in addition to Loïck Spady, who made his senior-team debut in Saint-Raphaël, Louis Despreaux and Valentin Bzdynga made an appearance. Louis even bagged himself a first goal in the elite of French handball, converting from the penalty line (57': 40-32).

Thus Paris Saint-Germain Handball ran out 41-35 winners, bagging a fourth consecutive Lidl Starligue victory. Their next match sees them return to the European stage, playing host to the Norwegians of Elverum in their EHF Champions League Round 3 fixture on Thursday.

(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)