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On Monday night, Paris Saint-Germain Handball got their Liqui Moly StarLigue schedule back on track as they travelled to the Palais des Sports in Orléans for their Round 13 fixture. The match had initially been scheduled in December, but was postponed following several cases of Covid in the Saran squad. The objective was clear for the capital club: to continue their perfect start to the season (15 wins in as many games) and to take a seven-point lead over nearest chasers Aix and Nantes. As for Saran, they were in the drop zone and could go levelon points with safety in case of a positive result.

Although the beginning of the match was balanced (4': 2-2), Les Rouge et Bleu quickly took the lead through their pivots Luka Karabatic and Kamil Syprzak, who scored their team's first five goals (9': 2-5). But the locals weren't about to tae it lying down and, little by little, they made up the deficit and then levelled matters thanks to a penalty from their top scorer Vasko Sevaljevic (15': 6-6).

The storm seemed to have passed and after a few minutes, our team fired five unanswered goals to regain a comfortable lead (19': 6-11). The Parisian defense grew in power throughout the first half, Yann Genty setting the tone with a stunning double save (22': 8-12). Our keeper was also well helped by his rear-guard, whose sharpness saw them make several interceptions that led to lightning-fast goals (27': 15-10). With Mikkel Hansen marking his return to action with a trademark penalty, Raul Gonzalez's men lead comfortably at the break.

As the second half began, Les Rouge et Bleu reasserted their dominance (36': 14-20). Well led by captain Luka, who turned in an excellent performance, they increased their advantage as the minutes passed (39': 15-23). Vincent Gérard, who stopped a penalty directly after making his entry in to the game, did nothing to increase the suspense (43': 17-25). The last quarter of the game arrived and our team looked to be in a very favourable position (47': 19-26).

In spite of their big lead, the Parisians remained very serious and continued their efforts, Ferran Solé Sala notably dropping deep to prevent a Saran player from scoring in an empty net (49': 20-29). This sense of sacrifice allowed them to go to +10 when Mathieu Grébille powered home (52': 20-30). Our Paris Saint-Germain Handball academy players then took advantage of some game time to distinguish themselves! While Baptiste Clay and Wallem Peleka took turns to hit the top corner of Dan Tepper's net (54': 23-32; 57': 24-33), Loïck Spady won a one-on-one with an opposing striker in the dying seconds. Paris Saint-Germain Handball thus clocked a handsome win in the rescheduled fixture and continued their perfect league record to emerge, more than ever, the league leaders!

(Credits : J. Azouze/PSG)