Paris win before the international break

Comptes-rendus

Paris Saint-Germain Handball won a hard-fought 34-33 victory over Chambéry on Saturday - here’s our look back at the Liqui Moly StarLigue Round 20 clash.

A few days after concluding the EHF Champions League group stage with a win over Szeged (37-33), Les Rouge et Bleu returned to league action against Chambéry. Held to a draw by Toulouse (29-29) last time out, Raul Gonzalez's men were keen to get back to winning ways in front of their home crowd, against a Savoyard side intent on getting a result.

The game got off to a lively start, with the goalkeepers taking centre stage - and neither side managed to break away (5': 2-2). As the minutes ticked by, Paris got into their stride and Jannick Green did his utmost to paw a penalty wide and set up Luc Steins perfectly (16': 9-8). As the Parisians began to build momentum in the first half, Chambéry opted to call a time-out.

Les Rouge et Bleu had Elohim Prandi's splendid double to thanks for their first break of the game (26': 14-12). The French international took his tally to six goals just before the end of the first half. Paris went into the locker room with a two-goal advantage in a particularly tightly contested game (30': 17-15).

Les Rouge et Bleu took advantage of Queido Traoré's red card to extend their lead at the start of the second period (35': 20-17). Andreas Palicka came on for the second half and pulled off a string of saves to all the capital club to pull further clear (41': 26-21). Back against the wall, Erick Mathé decided to call another time-out to try and get the match back on track, but Paris kept up the pace and extended their lead thanks to Elohim Prandi's tenth goal of the evening (47': 29-23).

Just as Chambéry managed to claw back some of the deficit, Raul Gonzalez called his own time-out (53': 31-28). Taking advantage of a numerical superiority, the Savoyards pulled back to within one point of Les Rouge et Bleu, promising a thrilling finish (58': 32-31). But after being pushed hard by a valiant Chambéry side, Paris held firm to claim a dramatic victory (60': 34-33). Now it's back to the international duties for our players, who will be back in action fo their club in a Coupe de France semi-final in Montpellier.

REACTIONS FROM RAUL GONZALEZ, RUBEN MARCHAN AND WALLEM PELEKA :

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)