Great defending for a great victory

Match reports

On Thursday evening, Paris Saint-Germain Handball took part in Liqui Moly StarLigue Round 24. They had the opportunity to take sole control of the league standings ahead of Montpellier home clash with Sélestat on Friday evening. But for that, they had to win at the Glaz Arena against Cesson-Rennes - a team that is not easy to handle, as Andreas Palicka reminded us before the match. 

From the start, the Parisian defence looked strong and kept the home side off the scoreboard for several long minutes. The attack thus had time to make the break (5': 0-3). The home team's rearguard (the best in the league) was aggressive, but sometimes overdid it. The Parisian attacks were therefore slower, but most of them found the target (11': 2-5). As solid as ever in front of goal and well helped by an excellent Jannick Green, the capital club had an excellent start to the match (16': 3-6).

However, things became more balanced and the two teams started to go at it blow for blow (19': 6-9). Raul Gonzalez's men missed several chances to go four goals to the good and their opponents did managed to stay within striking distance (23': 8-11). The minutes ticked down with successes and failures on both sides and a lead that varied little(27': 9-12). At the break, the Parisians were still ahead, with a two-goal lead.

Although the battle resumed as the second half began (33': 15-17), Les Rouge et Bleu managed to go to +4 after a goal from Kamil Syprzak (36': 15-19). The advantage could have been even greater with more precision in the final movement (44': 19-23). Andreas Palicka came on as a substitute and made three saves in a very short space of time, including one from a penalty. He then prevented Cesson from coming back and teed up Elohim Prandi to put Paris five goals to the good with a beautiful spin-shot! (49': 19-24).

It was thus with much more serenity that our players approached the last ten minutes (51': 19-25). Once again, the Parisian defence was is at the origin of this very good period and they conceded almost nothing (54': 20-26). A few moments later, Paris Saint-Germain Handball were declared winners! A victory acquired thanks to some very nice defensive work, which will posed plenty of problems for the Cesson attack over 60 minutes. The capital club now has provisional lead of the league standings!

REACTIONS FROM RAUL GONZALEZ, MATHIEU GRÉBILLE AND FERRAN SOLÉ SALA:

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)