Paris prepare well

News

On Saturday afternoon, Paris Saint-Germain Handball played the third match of their pre-season in the opener of the Euro Tournament 2022 Final4 in Selestat. On this occasion, the capital club faced another EHF Champions League side in the form of Porto.

The first part of the match was evenly balanced. The two teams - but also the two goalkeepers - went blow for blow, with neither of them managing to break clear. Les Rouge et Bleu defended very well and made things tough for the Portuguese offensive line. But in terms of clinical finishing, Paris left something to be desired against an excellent Sebastian Leth Frandsen. David Balaguer's cool nerve was needed to overcome the 'keeper's vigilance.

With ten minutes before the break, young Gautier Loredon came on for the Parisians. In addition to being razor-sharp in front of goal, our pivot recovered several balls that led to Luc Steins' scoring on counter-attacks. Raul Gonzalez's men finished the first half very strongly by keeping their goal safe while scoring with every attack. This surge gave them a five-goal advantage at the break (30': 18-13).

The second period started the same as the first - with another goal from Luc. Jannick Green came on after the break and made some nice saves. Among them, a penalty save that prevented our opponents from levelling the score. Porto pushed hard to come back, but still were still up against a great defence, which perfectly exploited their counter-attacking chances to keep the capital club in front.

With time running out, Les Rouge et Bleu were slowly approaching the victory. Even more so when Sadou Ntanzi, who came on at pivot, won a face-off. Jannick then sealed the deal with a fine save and Paris Saint-Germain Handball won (31-28) and qualified for the final of the Euro Tournament. It will be played on Sunday afternoon, against the winner of the opposition between Nantes and Melsungen.

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)