Paris prevail in Romanian pressure cooker

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On Thursday evening, Paris Saint-Germain Handball travelled to Bucharest for their EHF Champions League Matchday 13 clash with Dinamo. The two teams had different objectives heading into the match, but the game was always going to be a close one. Indeed, the capital club, four points behind Group B leaders Kielce (with a game in hand), could still aim for the top two places (directly qualifying for the quarter-finals). Dinamo, on the other hand, were in the red zone, but had the opportunity to get out of it with a win. The task was not easy, especially in Dinamo's Sala Polivalenta, where Kielce and Veszprém had already fallen this season.

As expected, the home team started well (3': 2-1). But after a few minutes, several saves by Vincent Gérard and a thunderous start by Nikola Karabatic saw Les Rouge et Bleu make the break (7': 3-5). However, this advantage wasn't enough them to take off on the scoreboard, and the Romanians proved that they were going to be difficult to handle for 60 minutes (13': 9-9). Not surprisingly, the first quarter of the game was very tight (16': 11-11).

The two teams gave each other a hard time, with neither of them managing to make the difference (20': 13-13). In the last moments of the first half, our team accelerated, first regaining their two-point lead thanks to a magnificent Schwenker from Nedim Remili (24': 15-17) and then going to +3 after a counter-attack concluded by Mathieu Grébille (27': 15-18). And they kept it up until the break, when they return to the dressing room with a four-poibnt lead (30': 16-20).

The second half started with a penalty save from Vincent and a superb chabala from Benoît Kounkoud (32': 16-21). Raul Gonzalez's hit the ground running and saw their lead increase to +6 after a long shot from our goalkeeper, who was in blinding form (38': 18-24). He was also perfectly supported by his defence, as shown by Luc Steins' magnificent save to prevent a long shot from going into the empty goal (40': 19-24). After a save-goal combo from Vincent, the capital club were in a favourable position (45': 22-28).

Despite this domination by the Parisians (47': 24-30), Bucharest were spurred only their fans and never stopped believing they could make up their deficit. But our team simply wouldn't let up and made the most of every possession, as evidenced by their switch to a seven-man attack. The fate of the match was not yet sealed - thanks to Saeid Heidarirad, who won several duels with our offensive line (53': 27-31) - but fortunately our attackers rediscovered their superb form at the right moment and took what proved a decisive advantage (55': 27-34). A few moments later, Paris Saint-Germain Handball ran out winners and got to within two points of group leaders Kielce, who lost to Veszprém on the same evening (35-33).

RAUL GONZALEZ AND NEDIM REMILI'S REACTIONS:

(Credits: A. Gadoffre/TeamPics/PSG)