Paris hold off Créteil

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On Sunday afternoon, Paris Saint-Germain Handball faced one of their Liqui Moly StarLigue co-leaders in their round 3 clash. For this beautiful occasion, it was a derby that awaited Les Rouge et Bleu, at the Palais des Sports Robert-Oubron, in Créteil. Always a special meeting for Nedim Remili, the Créteil-born player, who came up on this very court.

The beginning of the match was very balanced (6': 3-3) and the locals gave our players a hard time. In particular the last defender, Dylan Soyez, who is at his best when protecting his cage. The capital club had to chase the match (11': 7-5)... The attacks were very fast on both sides and the goals rained down (16': 11-9). Left-back Yoann Gibelin, who will turn out for Les Rouge et Bleu next season, also caused plenty of problems for his future teammates (18': 12-10).

The Parisians had several chances to equalise, but failed to capitalise and, with less than ten minutes to go in the first half, they fell three points behind when Soyez saved again before Boïba Sissoko hit one from range (23': 16-13). But this only served to wake up our team. Yann Genty's saves, combined with Nikola Karabatic and Mikkel Hansen's goals, allowed Paris to come back, but the chance to level matters was snuffed out by the home 'keeper (27': 16-15). Fortunately, our 'keeper was able to respond in kind and Mikky took advantage and levelled it with a penalty on the buzzer.

Paris took the lead at the start of the second half through Nedim (31': 17-18) and pushed Créteil to the limit, finding themselves two men up. Vincent Gérard, who had just entered the game, followed the sterling example set by the goalkeepers during the first half and now it was Raul Gonzalez's men's turn to take control of the situation (35': 18-22). In an attempt to come back to level terms (39': 19-23), the local defence went up a notch in terms of aggressiveness -0 but also in terms of fouls committed, and Mikkel Hansen transformed them into goals.

Even when Les Rouge et Bleu had a tough stretch in front of goal, they had enough of a lead to stay calm (44': 23-26). Our wingers Benoît Kounkoud and Adama Keita rectified the situation and our team regained their five-point lead (49': 24-29). A few moments later, the lead increased once again and the team could approach the end of the match more calmly (51': 24-30). In the final moments, Ferran Solé Sala and Luc Steins put an end to the suspense (57': 29-35). Paris Saint-Germain Handball won the derby and continued their flawless start to the Liqui Moly StarLigue season! See you next Wednesday, in Flensburg, for EHF Champions League Matchday 3 action!

 

Reactions from Luc Steins, Benoît Kounkoud and Raul Gonzalez:

(Credits: A. Gadoffre/TeamPics/PSG)