Preview: PSG Handball - Szeged

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Velux EHF Champions League is back at Stade Pierre de Coubertin! ON Sunday afternoon, the Parisian arena will be treated to the Matchday 2 clash between Paris Saint-Germain Handball and Hungarian heavyweights Szeged.

Two good starts
Matchday 1 was a success for both teams, Les Rouge et Bleu getting the better of Zagreb (29-37) with seven goals from Kim Ekdhal du Rietz, and the Hungarians pulling off a huge feat with victory over Barcelona (31-28). Former Nantes native, Jorge Maqueda, was one of the main architects of his team's success. With seven goals, he led by example - especially in the first half, when the home side were seven steps ahead of their visitors at the break. Before the match on Sunday, Szeged and Paris each have two points in the standings and can catch up with Flensburg, who beat Elverum in mid-week (26-19), at the top.

Luka's return
Most of the opposition players are well known to our lads. But one of them will go even less unnoticed than the others: Luka Stepancic, who returns to the Stade Pierre de Coubertin three months after leaving the capital club. In good shape against the Blaugranas, with three goals, the man who won three French league titles (as well as two Coupes de la Ligue and a Coupe de France) with Paris, could be one of Szeged's main assets. But he is not the only one to have bolstered the Hungarian ranks this summer, as Veszprém's former 'keeper, Roland Mikkler, joined his former team-mate Mirko Alilovic.

A look back at recent clashes
Last season, this match-up proved a spectacular one, with the two teams fighting hard to finish top of Group B and qualify directly for the Champions League quarter-finals. While Raul Gonzalez's men won the competition on the group table (with 26 points for Les Rouge et Bleu, compared to 20 for Szeged), they also slugged it out in direct confrontations. Paris won the first leg (33-31), before losing away (33-32) and dropping their only points in the group stage. In 2017, these two opponents also faced each other in the quarter-finals. Once again, the capital club secured their place in Cologne and the Final4, thanks to a very good performance in Hungary (27-30) and a draw at home (30-30).

Invincibility and records
In all competitions, Luka Karabatic and his team-mates have gone 47 matches without defeat at home. In the Champions League, they remain undefeated at Coubertin as their last continental reverse dates back to 2014, when they lost to Kiel at the Halle Carpentier (where the team played its European matches before 2016). Since then, they have been on a run of 25 games without losing (23 wins, two draws. More generally, Paris Saint-Germain Handball could become the first team to exceed the 100-point mark in the group stage since the new formula was introduced in the 2015-2016 edition. Heading into Sunday's game, they have collected a total of 99 of a possible 114 points, with nearest rivals Barcelona on 92. Finally, it should be noted that our Swedish left-back, Kim Ekdahl du Rietz, is only 6 goals away from a career total of 200 in the competition.

To follow the match (kick-off at 19:00 CET)
- Television: beIN SPORTS 3
- At the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium: get your tickets on our official website
- Live tweet: our official page

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)