Preview: PSG Handball - Aalborg

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After a two-weeks international break, Paris Saint-Germain Handball return to competition on Saturday afternoon, playing host to Group A rivals Aalborg in Velux EHF Champions League Round 6 action.

A top-of-the-table clash
Before the start of Round 6 (and before Barcelona's mid-week victory in Flensburg, 27-34), three teams lead Group A. The Blaugranas are there (not counting their provisional two-point lead), along with Aalborg and Paris. The Danes have made an almost perfect start to the campaign, starting with three consecutive wins (over Elverum, Zagreb and Celje) before they were beaten at home by Szeged (28-35) and then recovered in style against Flensburg (31-28). For their part, Les Rouge et Bleu racked up four consecutive wins before their defeat in Catalonia (36-32). After five matches, the three teams each have eight points from four wins and one loss.

A quality striker
The reigning Danish champions have achieved such good results because they can rely on a very prolific attack, led by the most prolific player in the competition (before the brought-forward matches), with 33 goals in five appearances. He is none other than Norwegian left-winger, Sebastian Barthold. Zagreb's defence have particularly bitter memories of his visit, since he managed to score no fewer than 12 goals in the Round 2 clash. Among their other skilful players in front of goal is former Parisian Henrik Mollgaard, who has scored 19 times since the start of the competition.

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God start på CL med 4p etter to kamper 👌 Foto: Nordjyske

A post shared by Sebastian Barthold (@sbarthold) on Sep 23, 2019 at 2:53am PDT

A look back at recent matches
The last time these two teams played each other was in 2017-18. At the time, in Denmark, Les Rouge et Bleu had to face Buster Juul-Lassen, who managed to score eight goals despite his team's defeat (26-33). The performance was extra impressive as he was up against the always excellent Thierry Omeyer, who had notably pulled off an exceptional double parry. A few weeks later, at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, the battle, once again fierce, was won once again by the capital club (31-28). Uwe Gensheimer, who scored 10 goals, was one of the main architects of Paris' success.

Key stats
Let's face it, Saturday we should see a game packed with goals. Indeed, this headliner pits two of the competition's best attacks against each other: in Group A, with 151 and 152 goals respectively, Paris and Aalborg have two of the most prolific offensive lines. Only Barcelona, with 212 units (and one more match), have done better. Defensively, Raul Gonzalez's men had the third most effective rearguard in the group after Matchday 5. Before the start of this weekend's match, they have the best with 130 goals conceded. It should be noted that a victory would allow the Parisians - who count fit-again Sander Sagosen among their ranks once more - to join the Blaugranas in the lead and open up a gap in front of third place, but also to continue their impressive unbeaten run at home (52).

To follow the match (kick-off at 17:15)
• Television: beIN SPORTS 1
• Live tweet: our official page

(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)