Paris beat Istres to maintain perfect record

Comptes-rendus

Paris Saint-Germain claimed a 30-34 win in their Liqui Moly StarLigue Matchday 8 clash away to Istres on Sunday. Here's a look back at the match.

A few days after coming out on top against Füchse Berlin (38-40), Raul Gonzalez's men were right back on the road on Sunday. Despite this tough schedule, the Parisians have so far shown themselves to be serious and courageous. Co-leaders of their Champions League group, the capital club also headed into the match on top of the league standings thanks to a perfect winning record in their first seven games. Paris were therefore determined to continue their run against Istres, a newly-promoted side who have been impressing the rest of France at the start of this campaign.

In a sold-out Halle Polyvalente, the capital club immediately got into their stride and made an early break. And it was no wonder: Andreas Palicka made his presence felt early by deflecting Torben Petersen's penalty (3': 0-2). The Parisians took advantage of several losses of possession by Istres to open up the lead thanks to doubles from Yahia Omar and Kamil Syprzak (10': 2-6). However, the home side's first time-out had a huge effect. Taking advantage of being a man up, Istres made up some of their deficit, but Paris remained in the lead (13': 4-6). However, the gap shrank with each passing minute, despite four saves from Andreas. Spurred on by their home crowd, the side from Provence levelled it up on the quarter-hour mark (16': 7-7).

Les Rouge et Bleu remained focused throughout the first half, but were hampered by the efficiency of Romain Mathias, who denied Jacob Holm, David Balaguer and Elohim Prandi in quick succession. At the same time, Istres were proving clinical in front of goal and duly took a three-point lead (24': 12-9). Stung into action, the capital club pushed back abd, buoyed by a fine double from Wallem Peleka and Elo's first goal of hte match, Les Rouge et Bleu put four unanswered goals past the Istrians and regained control of the match (27': 12-13). Scoring on the buzzer, the home side went into the locker room with a narrow lead, so everything remained to be done for our Parisians, who were clearly up against veyr worthy opponents (30': 16-15).

Les Rouge et Bleu got off to a flying start in the second half and immediately turned the match on its head. In addition to his role as an outstanding goal maker, Luc Steins demonstrated his scoring talents with an early hat-trick (33': 16-17). In defence, Andreas continued his masterclass, taking his tally to nine saves as Paris took the lead (37': 17-19). Yahia Omar, who had already impressed against Füchse Berlin on Thursday, was once again one of the main attacking threats for Les Rouge et Bleu (42': 18-22). With fifteen minutes remaining, the Parisians looked to have taken a decisive lead in the match (45': 24-30).

Although Istres did not give up, they could do little about our Swedish goalkeeper, who by this point had 12 saves to his name (45': 24-29). With victory all but secured, Paris took care of business in the final ten minutes. Gautier Loredon, who had just come on as a substitute, made the most of his chance and scored a hat-trick to round off a splendid second half for the capital club (56': 28-33). Faced with a strong team, Paris managed to find a way through to continue their unbeaten run in the Liqui Moly StarLigue and consolidate their position at the top (30-34). Raul Gonzalez's men return to Coubertin on Wednesday when they host Sporting CP in the EHF Champions League, before welcoming Montpellier in the league on Sunday.

Reactions from Raul Gonzalez, Andreas Palicka and Gautier Loredon:

(Credits: L. Valroff/PSG)