Pas de vainqueur, mais un beau duel

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On Wednesday afternoon, Paris Saint-Germain Handball played the second match of their two-pronged road trip. After leaving the capital on Saturday and facing Aix on Sunday (28-29), they travelled to Le Phare to face Chambéry in their rescheduled Round 15 Lidl Starligue clash. In case of victory, the Yann Genty's former side would consolidate their place in the upper reaches of the table, while his current teammates could move closer to the title and put nearest rivals Montpellier four points adrift - with a match still in hand.

Boosted by the return of their fans, the hosts had a good start to the game (4': 4-2). Les Rouge et Bleu had a lot of difficulties beating Nikola Portner and saw their opponent make the break (6': 5-2). As was the case against Aix, our players took a few minutes to get into the game. And, as was the case against Aix, they could count on Nedim Remili, who scored a quick-fire double (7': 6-5). However, due to some unforced errors, they missed three chances to level it back up (10': 7-6) but the fourth time was a charm, with Dylan Nahi hitting on the counter to make it even stevens (11': 7-7).

Now much more solid in defence, Raul Gonzalez's men took their turn to stymie their opponents efforts on goal, while also turning up the heat offensively and taking the lead through Luka Karabatic (15': 8-9). The two teams then started to duke it out, but neither outfit managed to get the better of the other (19': 11-11). Little by little, our team looked to be winning the battle, and went two lengths clear when Mathieu Grébille broke on the counter (22': 11-13). The rhythm accelerated and most of the goals are scored on fast breaks as free-flowing, fast-moving handball took centre stage.

Before the break, Luka hit the gas a little more! Our captain hit the net several times and took the Parisian lead to +3 (27': 14-17). Meanwhile, Chambéry's attack weren't scoring at all and Les Rouge et Bleu pulled further clear (38': 14-18) and were four goals to the good at half-time.

That lead blew out to six after the first successful attacks of the second half went Paris's way, Mikkel Hansen (31': 14-19) and Mathieu (32': 14-20) doing the damage. Unlike in the first half, it was Chambéry who started slowly in the second, but they came back strongly and got back into the game (37': 19-21). In the space of a few minutes, they were back on level terms, thanks mainly to top scorer Benjamin Richert (39': 21-21). The lack of offensive action from the Parisians lasted too long and it took some fine work from Mikky to keep them in it (40': 22-22).

The match once again entered an evenly balanced period (44': 24-24). Several of our players hit their straps in this slightly more difficult stretch, with Mikkel powering home at the far post and Yann making a magnificent save at close range. It was enough to allow Paris to take back the lead (46': 24-25), but not to break clear (48': 26-26). The final minutes were approaching fast and the atmosphere in Le Phare was close to boiling (51': 28-28) - and even more so when Iosu Goni put his team back in the lead (52': 29-28). But the lead continued to change hands and a few seconds later, it was Paris who edged in front once more, thanks to a goal from Luc Steins (54': 29-30).

Although Les Rouge et Bleu had managed to start firing in the dying minutes - with Nedim scoring his 500th goal for the a capital club (55': 30-31) - they were put onto the back foot when Dylan received a third two-minute suspension. Raul then opted for a seven-man attack, with two pivots to hinder the Savoyard backline. It proved successful, with Mikky managing to score from the nine-metre line (58': 31-32). In the end, Vincent Gérard made a final save at the buzzer and the two teams were left locked in a stalemate after an epic contest. Paris Saint-Germain Handball thus took a three-point lead over nearest rivals Montpellier, with one match still in hand.

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)