Paris prevail in crunch clash

News

The context:
On Thursday evening, the Stade Pierre de Coubertin was the place to be. The capital's lair welcomed its protégés from Paris Saint-Germain Handball, the league leaders, and their nearest rivals, Montpellier. This meeting, which rounded out Lidl StarLigue Round 9, was undoubtedly one of the turning points of the season. If they won, Les Rouge et Bleu had the opportunity to take a six-point lead over their rivals. On the other hand, if Montpellier were successful, they could come within two points of our team. It should be noted that this was the second match between Parisians and Montpellier this season, since they had competed in the Trophée des Champions at the end of August, with our club getting the win (34-27).

The match:
There was no time spent feeling each other out as this clash between two sides who know each other back to front (3': 2-2). The first nice move was made by former Montpellier man, Vincent Gérard. The Parisian keeper stopped a penalty throw from Hugo Descat, allowing his team to make the break (8': 6-3). Defensively, our players were immovable objects and this solidity allowed them to score on counter-attacks, notably through Gudjon Sigurdsson, Sander Sagosen and Luc Abalo (with a reverse spin-shot!), to cap a perfect start (15': 11-5). Galvanised by their supporters and ultra-effective in all sectors, Raul Gonzalez's men made very few mistakes and controlled the match perfectly (22': 16-9) and went into the break in a dominant position (30': 20-15).

When play resumed, Paris continued their forward march and carved out a seven-point lead thanks to captain Luka Karabatic (35': 23-16). Despite the efforts of our future player, Mathieu Grébille (36': 23-18), the capital club increased their advantage even further (40': 27-19). As the match fell into a false rhythm, the gap remained unchanged for several minutes and Les Rouge et Bleu were still ahead on the scoreboard (45': 29-22). But our team missed several opportunities to take off and saw their opponents make up some of the deficit as money time approached (53': 31-27). But Scandinavians Mikkel Hansen and Sander were in charge of pushing the visitors back into the depths (57': 34-29), before Kamil Spyrzak sealed the deal (35-30).

The Parisian of the match: Gudjon Sigurdsson
Gudjon Sigurdsson was one of the key craftsmen of his side's strong opening 30 minutes; the Icelandic left-winger won seven of his ten duels with the opposing goalkeepers (70% success). In the process, he was able to show off his superb technique, which allowed him to score from delicate positions. In terms of statistics, this was his best league, taking his tally in to 27 Lidl StarLigue goals.

The word: Leader
Les Rouge et Bleu are soaring in the rankings! Thanks to the win, they now have 18 points - six more than Montpellier, Nîmes, Toulouse, Aix and Nantes).

Coming up:
After this headline clash (and before the two teams meet again on 5 December in their Coupe de la Ligue quarter-final at Coubertin), Paris Saint-Germain Handball will challenge a big European team! A week and a half after winning in Germany (29-30), they will once again take on Flensburg. The Velux EHF Champions League Round 8 match - which marks the beginning of the second half of the Group A fixtures - throws off at Coubertin on Sunday afternoon.

(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)