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Paris to defend title

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The Parisians faced Toulouse in the semi-final of the Coupe de France at Coubertin. At stake was a place in the final...

On Saturday evening at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, Paris Saint-Germain Handball hosted Toulouse in the Coupe de France semi-finals. Les Rouge et Bleus' objective was to qualify for the final of the competition, but they had to be wary as well-ranked Toulouse came to the Stade Pierre de Coubertin to take their revenge on their hosts (our players had beaten them in the league and in the Coupe de la Ligue). 

Raul Gonzalez's men got off to a great start in all areas of the game. After only a few minutes, Yann had already made three saves and in attack it was all systems go as well, with Elohim and Dainis hitting the mark (4': 2-0). Paris got off to the perfect start while Toulouse had difficulties converting their moves into shots, and even when they did manage to pull the trigger, they still had to get past an excellent Yann (8': 6-1). After ten minutes, Les Rouge et Bleu had ten goals (12': 10-4). 

The Parisians combined well, the movements are good around the six-metre line and the pivots were in fine form, with Kamil hitting his first goal of the evening (19': 14-8). Aggressive defence by the Parisians saw Toulouse continue to struggle. Yann produced a quick restart by getting the ball to Ferran, who made no mistake and bagged his fourth goal (22': 16-9). The lead kept increasing, as did the number of players with four or more goals: Ferran, Elohim and above all Dainis (seven goals), after a last spectacular kung-fu on the buzzer (30': 22-14). 

Paris got off to another good start in the second half. Toulouse were kept at a seven-goal distance and the statistics continue to climb - notably through Elohim, who was already at the six-goal mark (39': 28-21). Le Fenix tried to catch up and got back to within five goals, but it was at this moment that Benoît Kounkoud intercepted and passed quickly to Elohim, who found Luc, who produced a no-nonsense finish six metres (42': 29-23). 

Trying everything possible to get back in the match, Toulouse switched to a seven-man attack. Note that for Paris, Vincent had taken his place in goals. In the scorers' ranking, Dainis confirmed top spot ahead of Elohim with an eighth goal (48': 32-25). While he was not among the top scorers tonight, Lus Steins' passing was on point and the Dutchman racked up the assists. With an pass that pierced the defence, he set up Kamil to score his fifth goal (53': 34-28). Paris Saint-Germain Handball held out for the 39-32 win and will face Nantes in the final at the Accor Hotel Arena on 11 June. 

(Credits: A. Gadoffre/Team Pics/PSG)