Paris on the gong

Match reports

After the Coupe de France in midweek, the Liqui Moly StarLigue is already back! On Friday evening, Paris Saint-Germain Handball played their Round 10 fixture, travelling to face Chartres, who are never easy opponents at the Halle Jean Cochet, as was the case last season.

Galvanized by their public, the hosts succeeded in getting off to a good start and took an early lead (4': 3-2). But our team was hampered by a rigorous defence and a fast attack, and even went down a break (10': 8-6). In spite of some nice play from Yoann Gibelin, which allowed Les Rouge et Bleu to briefly level it up (12': 9-9), Les Rouge et Bleu were still behind at the end of the first quarter (16': 11-10). 

But after 17 minutes, the Parisian machine seemed to have hit cruising speed (17': 12-12). The shots started going in and the rearguard raised the tone, and this mix saw the capital club take the lead (20': 13-14). The momentum had changed sides! Ferran Solé Sala, well inspired in his duels with the goalkeeper, gave us a two-length lead (25': 15-17) and at the break, after a last goal by Dainis Kristopans, Paris were still +2.

Although the Parisians had done a masterful job of getting back in to the game (33': 17-20), they then faced a fight-back from Chartres (37': 22-20). Fortunately, Andreas Palicka made several saves to get his team back on track (40': 23-23). The storm had effectively passed and Raul Gonzalez's men regained their lead (42': 23-25). But this game was decidedly indecisive and, a few moments later, it was the hosts who had their noses in front again (46': 26-25).

As money-time approached, the tension continued to climb (48': 26-26). For several long minutes, the two teams were locked up (53': 28-28) and, with five minutes to go, the outcome of the match was still unclear (56': 30-30). In the end, Les Rouge et Bleu did better in the final five minutes, scoring with each of their attacks as well as drawing a number of fouls from their opponents. After an breathless few minutes, the buzzer sounded and the as winners of a seventh-straight Liqui Moly StarLigue clash! 

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