Paris make it eight from eight!
On Wednesday evening, le Paris Saint-Germain Handball continued their flawless start to the Velux EHF Champions League campaign away to Flensburg. Thanks to a no-nonsense performance in Germany, Les Rouge et Bleu wrapped up an eighth win from as many matches (20-27).
Just as they did on Saturday against this same side (29-28), Les Rouge et Bleu took a few minutes to get into the match and the feeling of déjà vu continued as the rumbustious Benjamin Buric opened the scoring (5': 1-0). However, this time around, Raul Gonzalez's men quickly made the required adjustments and quick-fire strikes from Luka Karabatic and Luka Stepancic turned the momentum in the other direction (9': 1-3) and got their team right back in it. As usual, this was also in part due to Thierry Omeyer, who posed serious problems for the German front line, notably stopping a Hampus Wanne penalty (16': 4-7). Meanwhile, Paris were effective on the counter Paris took a promising lead (19': 4-8). Just before the break, Mikkel Hansen (28': 7-10) and Uwe Gensheimer found the back of the net to keep the capital club in front (9-12).
In the second half, Paris stayed in front but it was still a tight match (35': 12-15). Overall, the defences had the upper hand and relatively few goals were scored (37': 13-17). This state of affairs lasted just a few minutes, however, before the Parisian juggernaut stepped on the gas once more. With Mikkel Hansen bagging a double (42': 13-19; 45': 13-20) and Uwe also chiming in, Paris' lead blew out to eight goals (48': 14-22). Although the outcome of the match seemed clear, the home side never gave up trying to claw their way back as the minutes ticked down (53': 17-24). But Flensburg old boy Henrik Toft Hansen was having none of it and killed the suspense (57': 19-26) to help his side to a stylish win on foreign soil (20-27).
Deserved victors over the German side on Saturday, Paris Saint-Germain Handball once again took care of business on Wednesday, confirming their leadership of Velux EHF Champions League Group B with the eighth win of a perfect start to the season.
60’ : C’est terminé ! Paris s’impose et poursuit sans-faute européen ! Plus d’infos à venir sur notre site officiel #FLENPSG pic.twitter.com/wfMwMkYgvr
— PSG Handball (@psghand) 14 novembre 2018
The Parisian scorers:
Mikkel Hansen (6 goals), Uwe Gensheimer (5), Henrik Toft Hansen (4), Luka Stepancic, Sander Sagosen (3), Nedim Remili, Luc Abalo (2), Luka Karabatic, Kim Ekdahl du Rietz (1).
The Parisian 'keepers:
Thierry Omeyer: 10 from 30 (33%), Gauthier Ivah: 1 from 2 (50%).
(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)