Paris clinch first-leg win in Szeged

Comptes-rendus

At the end of a particularly hard-fought encounter, Paris Saint-Germain Handball won by a whisker at the Pick Aréna in Szeged to take a step towards qualifying for the quarter-finals (30-31). We take a look back at this EHF Champions League play-off first leg.

After fourteen group stage matches, the business end of the tournament began in Hungary for our Les Rouge et Bleu. Thanks to their fourth-place finish, the capital club had earned home-court advantage against Szeged (the return leg will be played at Coubertin). But from this first leg, Raul Gonzalez's men were hoping to strike a major blow. Still in search of their first victory on the continental stage in 2025, the Hungarian teamwere hoping to regain confidence in a boisterous Pick Aréna.

An intense first 15

Faced with a crowd largely in favour of the home side, Les Rouge et Bleu were quickly put to the test. From the very first minutes, the Parisian defence had to step up, Jannick Green showing the way with a fine save against a Hungarian attack still finding their range (3': 0-1). Meanwhile the capital club's offensive sector took some time to get going. In turn, Elohim, Ferran and Wallem were denied by the home defence but, fortunately, our Spanish winger quickly hit his straps and allowed Paris to regain the lead (9': 2-3).

As the minutes passed, the Parisian leaders stepped up a gear and picked up the pace. While Luc Steins led the attacks like a conductor, Kamil Syprzak and Elo' took care of the finishing. Yahia Omar was quick to bring his dazzling technique to bear, mystifying Tobias Thulin with a splendid spin shot (15': 6-7).

Strength in depth makes the difference

But, after a solid first quarter of an hour, Szeged took advantage of being a man up to buck the trend. But there was no need for Raul Gonzalez to panic, as he called on his bench to remedy the situation. Kent Robin Tonnesen, who had just come on, took advantage of a perfect pass from Luc to level the score (19': 9-9). Immediately afterwards, Jacob Holm added his name to the list of scorers and put Paris back in front (21': 10-11).

The two teams went blow for blow as they approached the break, but the capital club took advantage of a Szeged send-off to pick up the pace and make the first break of the match (27': 12-14). However, despite two time-outs called by Raul Gonzalez in the final seconds of the first half in an attempt to maintina the two-goal lead, our Rouge et Bleu went into the dressing room with a narrow one-goal advantage (30': 13-14).

Andreas Palicka: Imperious

From the restart, both teams set a frantic pace as the high stakes wound the tension wire tight. In under ten minutes, the referees sanctioned the excessive tackling on both sides with three two-minute suspensions - two for Les Rouge et Bleu and one for Szeged. This made the start of the second period particularly disjointed, but the capital club showed the focus required to stay in the match (38': 17-17).

Yahia Omar in particular made the difference at this crucial moment. Scoring three goals in the second half, the Egyptian brought his total to six goals on the night (43': 20-20). Clinical in attack, Paris also proved up to the task in defence. Following a time-out called by Michael Apelgren, Raul Gonzalez made a few changes, notably bringing on Andreas Palicka. And, within a few minutes, the Swedish goalkeeper had completely changed the complexion of the match.

Crucial

As soon as play resumed, Pale silenced the Pick Aréna with a sensational save to deny Mario Sostaric - and then won his duels against Lazar Kukic and Richard Bodo in quick succession. This allowed Paris to move three goals ahead - their biggest lead of the match so far (47': 20-23). Faced with the Rouge et Bleu storm, Szeged decided to attack with seven men. Michael Apelgren's men then rained down attacks on the Parisian goal in an attempt to make up the deficit, but Kamil Syprzak showed no mercy at the other end. With his seventh goal, the Polish pivot helped his team to a four-goal lead (52': 24-28).

However, Szeged were far from giving up. Taking advantage of every space in the Rouge et Bleu rearguard, the home side came back to within one goal (57': 28-29) Raul Gonzalez then called the last time-out of the match. The tactical adjustments of the Spanish coach once again proved decisive, and Paris held on to clinch a hugely important success in Hungary (60th: 30-31).

Reactions from Luc Steins and Yahia Omar:

Coming up for Les Rouge et Bleu

Ahead of the decisive return leg next Thursday in the return match at Coubertin, the Parisians will play host to Créteil in another league derby on Sunday. A week after their big win in Ivry (28-41), the Parisians will try to keep up the pace at the top of the league table.

Your tickets for Paris - Créteil ! 

(Credits: E. Renard/Team Pics/PSG)