Les Rouge et Bleu in control

Comptes-rendus

Paris Saint-Germain Handball beat Dunkerque 34-27 at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin on Sunday. Take a look back at this Liqui Moly StarLigue Round 26 encounter.

With the end of this turbulent season fast approaching, Les Rouge et Bleu take on Dunkerque at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin this Sunday. The capital club's objective was simple: to win and move three points clear of Nantes, who had won at Limoges on Friday.

As if to symbolise their respective fantastic seasons, it was Liqui Moly StarLigue's two top scorers who got the game underway, Kamil Syprzak replying to Tom Pelayo's opener (3'd: 1-1). However, Valentin Kieffer was on hand to deny the Parisians early on, and they found themselves falling behind (8': 2-4). For Dunkerque, Tom Pelayo was imperious and scored his fifth goal of the evening to extend the lead, forcing Raul Gonzalez to stop play (11': 3-7). Les Rouge et Bleu reacted immediately, growing steadily stronger and closing the gap at the end of a high-intensity first quarter of an hour (16': 8-10).

As the minutes ticked by, the Parisians found their rhythm - thanks in particular to Jannick Green's numerous saves - and managed to reset the score, this time leading to a Dunkerque time-out. Thanks to Kamil and then Luc, Les Rouge et Bleu made their first break of the match with a few minutes remaining in the first half (26': 15-13). At the end of an action-packed first period, the capital club were leading Dunkerque by two points (30': 17-15).

After the break, Les Rouge et Bleu maintained their intensity and went thre egoals to the good thanks to a brace from Nikola Karabatic (35': 20-17). The two teams battled back and forth as the second half played out, but Paris held firm to stay in the lead (40': 24-22). As the match entered its final quarter, Kamil restored Paris three lengths clear with his ninth goal from as many attempts (45': 26-23).

The Polish international added two more goals in the final ten minutes, and Paris pulled further ahead (51': 29-24). Just as the game seemed to be over, Léo Plantin and Wallem Peleko joined the party by finding the back of the net themselves (59': 34-27). It was with this commanding lead that the match ended. Les Rouge et Bleu are now three points clear at the top of the Liqui Moly StarLigue table, and their confidence is boosted ahead of Thursday's EHF Champions League quarter-final return leg against Barcelona.

REACTIONS FROM RAUL GONZALEZ, JACOB HOLM AND SADOU NTANZI :

(Credits: L. Valroff/ Team Pics/PSG)