Paris take the points

News

The context:
Ten days after their last Velux EHF Champions League outing - Round 7's trip to Flensburg (29-30) - Paris Saint-Germain Handball faced off against the Germans once again at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin on Sunday afternoon. The Round 8 clash (the first match of the second half of the group stage) was an opportunity for the Parisians to get a win and go level with Barcelona, big winner's Aalborg 24 hours earlier (44-35). Meanwhile, the Flensburgers had to win to avoid being knocked out of the race for first place (which earns direct qualification for the quarter-finals).

The match:
After a brief feeling-out period (4': 2-2), Les Rouge et Bleu took the lead thanks to the thundering start of Scandinavian stars Sander Sagosen, Mikkel Hansen and Kim Ekdahl du Rietz (8': 7-5). Despite Nedim Remili's ankle injury, the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian rear-guard stars continued to shine (16': 9-8) and, even when the Germans were two steps ahead (21': 10-12), Paris could rely on Sander's precision to reset the counters to zero as they faced up to a defence that proved aggressive - sometimes too much so (23': 12-12). Both sides continued to find the target (26': 14-14), but in the midst of this very physical battle, Nikola Karabatic looked to his technique to conjure a superb lob - form a chabala! - from the tightest of angles (27': 16-15). At the break, the capital club emerged a single strike in front after a very intense first act (30': 17-16).

After the break, the match was still as close and engaged as ever (34': 18-18). Led at the back by the excellent Rodrigo Corrales, Raul Gonzalez's men thought they had the measure of their opponents in defence (40': 22-20), but quickly relinquished their lead (43': 22-22). Neither side gave an inch as money time approached (46': 24-24) and for several long minutes, they continued to duke it out (50': 27-27). With less than ten minutes to go, Dylan Nahi put an end to the deadlock with a deft interception his capital club team-mates pounced on the opportunity and re-worked their lead (53': 29-27), finally going +3 (54': 30-27). After a suspenseful end to the match, in which Vincent Gerard proved decisive (59': 31-30), Dylan finally put the result beyond doubt as he scored on the buzzer (32-30).

The Parisian of the match: Sander Sagosen
Sander Sagosen was nearly perfect in front of Benjamin Buric's goal. The Norwegian international, co-top scorer in the match with seven goals (along with Mikkel Hansen), failed with just the one effort - a great performance for our left-back, who managed to score his 200th Champions League goal in the process!

The word: Battle
This match was as physical as it gets, the battle raging for all 60 minutes. But, over and above the competitive satisfaction, this victory allowed Les Rouge et Bleu to get back on level terms with Group A leaders Barcelona. The race for top spot is also shaping up as an extremely intense one!

Coming up:
Paris Saint-Germain Handball return to Lidl StarLigue action again on Wednesday evening, travelling to neighbours Créteil looking to confirm top spot on the table with a tenth win from as many outings.

(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)