Preview: 5 things about Paris - Veszprém

News

On Wednesday evening, Paris Saint-Germain Handball closes its EHF Champions League group stage campaign with a prestigious match, playing host to Veszprém at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

1 - THE TABLE

Winners in Plock last week (26-32), Les Rouge et Bleu have already secured their immediate European future: they are sure to finish at the top of the group, whatever the result against Veszprém. Thanks to this great group stage effort, the capital club will not go through the round of 16, going instead directly to the quarter-finals.

It's a bit more complicated for the Hungarians... Despite a very good start that saw them in first place for a long time, the second part of the group phase was more difficult, to the point where they sit third heading into this final match. To get back to second place (and go directly to the quarter-finals), they need to do better than Magdeburg, who will play at home to Bucharest on Thursday. 

2 - SOME KEY STATS 

With one day to go in this group phase, Paris' attack is still the competition's most prolific, with 455 goals scored. Kamil Syprzak has scored 77 goals, making him the second-highest scorer in the competition despite his having missed a few games. The Hungarians will be able to count on Rasmus Lauge Schmidt (91 goals) and an attacking line that has scored 414 times. 

At the other end of the court, Jannick Green (104 saves) will be up against a counterpart who has just as strong a pedigree: Rodrigo Corrales. Rodrigo is well known in the French capital, having played there for three seasons. The Spanish international has made 103 saves in the current European campaign. Paris and Veszprém's defences have conceded 404 and 392 goals respectively.

3 - POTENTIAL OPPONENTS 

While Les Rouge et Bleu are now guaranteed to finish top of the group, they will know this week who their quarter-finals opponents will be. They will have to watch the last 16 fixtures between the fifth-placed team in Group A (Bucharest or GOG) and the fourth-placed team in the other group (Nantes or Kiel) for an answer. 

4 - A LOOK BACK AT THE FIRST MATCH

In the opening match of the campaign, Raul Gonzalez's men travelled to the Veszprém Arena. They played a very good match, and were in with a chance of victory right up to the end. However, spurred on by their fans - but also by the eight goals from Yahia Khaled Fathy Omar - the hosts finally took the lead in the last minutes and held out for the win (36-34).

5 - TO FOLLOW THE MATCH

Throw-off: 20:45
At Stade Pierre de Coubertin: sold out
Television: Eurosport 
Social networks: Live-tweet

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)