Preview: Barcelona - PSG Handball

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On Saturday evening, Paris Saint-Germain Handball arrive at a turning point in their Velux EHF Champions League campaign. As Matchday 5 gets under way, the Parisians travel to the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona to challenge the Catalans in a match that promises to be electric!

A real four-pointer
After winning their first four matches, the capital club have sole control of Group A, one point clear of Flensburg. On the other hand, Barcelona fell to a shock early-season defeat away to Szeged (31-28), meaning that - with a win - Les Rouge et Bleu could really steal a march on their Catalan rivals. If all goes to plan for Raul Gonzalez's men, they will leave a direct competitor for first place (which qualifies directly for the quarter-finals) four points behind them. However, should they lose to their hosts, the Blaugrana would replace Paris Saint-Germain Handball atop the Group A standings on head-to-head goal difference, a factor that could weigh heavily come the end of the group stage.

No more secrets
Whether by reputation or personally, all the players who will take part in the game know each other very well. First of all, there are the former members of the Catalan side now playing in Paris: Nikola Karabatic, Kamil Spyrzak, Gudjon Sigurdsson, Viran Morros, Rodrigo Corrales and Mikkel Hansen. There are also those who play for La Roja (Viran and Rodrigo), who will be joined by Gonzalo Perez de Vargas and Victor Tomas (the team's top scorer with 18 goals). There will also be many Experts, since Barcelona have four French internationals in their ranks: Dika Mem, Cedric Sorhaindo, Ludovic Fabregas and Timothey Nguessan. They will face the Karabatic brothers, Luc Abalo, Vincent Gérard, Benoît Kounkoud, Dylan Nahi and Nedim Remili, all of whom have represented France.

A look back at recent matches
Paris and Barcelona last met during the 2016-2017 edition of the competition, fighting a big battle to determine who would finish top of Group A. In the end it was the Catalans who earned the right to go directly through to the quarter-finals, ending the group stage with 25 points compared to Paris' 24. Nonetheless, the two matches between the sides were spectacular! Thanks to an excellent Nedim, who was making his first steps in the competition and finished the game with nine goals, Les Rouge et Bleu won the first leg at Coubertin (33-26). Despite their defeat at Palau Blaugrana (35-32), they did have an aggregate advantage over the two legs, but the Parisian defeat in Kiel, in the opening match (28-27), proved the factor that finally allowed the Spaniards to make the difference.

Our key stats
Despite their opening defeat in Hungary, Barça have some very good statistics at the start of the group phase. In particular, they boast the comeptition's best attack, with 142 goals scored. A fine performance that came in part thanks to two big home wins, against Celje (45-21) and Elverum (33-24). Confirmation therefore that it will be necessary to defend well, but above all to score a lot in order to hope to bring something back from this trip. Fortunately, our team is doing well in both areas. With 119 goals scored (19 by Nedim and 18 by Niko), Paris Saint-Germain Handball have the third-best attack in the group. At the other end of the court, Vincent Gérard's 11 saves against Celje (27-18) helped our team to second-most effective rear-guard, with only 94 goals conceded (+25 difference, compared to +47 for Barcelona).

To follow the match (kick-off at 20:00)
- Television: beIN SPORTS 3
- Live tweet: our official page

(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)