PSG Handball clinch Round of 16 spot

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Paris simpose à Pontault-Combault et poursuit sa route en Coupe de France ! #PCHBPSG

A post shared by Paris Saint-Germain Handball (@psghandofficiel) on Dec 8, 2019 at 9:39am PST

The context:
A few days after qualifying for the Coupe de la Ligue Final4 with a win over Montpellier (34-30), Paris Saint-Germain Handball returned to action in the Coupe de France on Sunday afternoon. The Lidl StarLigue leaders travelled to neighbours Pontault-Combault, who sit sixth in the Proligue. The two teams know each other well, having played each other three times in the last two years (three wins for the capital club).

The match:
From the outset, Les Rouge et Bleu lived up to their favourites tag. After edging in front with a goal from Gudjon Sigurdsson (5': 2-3), they broke clear thanks to Kim Ekdhal du Rietz's goals (11': 2-8) and Rodrigo Corrales' several saves. The Spanish international won 75% of his duels with the opposing strikers in the first quarter of an hour (15': 3-10). But the Parisian machine did not stop there and saw its advantage increase to +10 when Benoît Kounkoud pulled off he sought-after intercept-and-goal combo (21': 5-15). Despite a home-side fight-back in the last moments of the first half (25': 7-15), Raul Gonzalez's men were comfortable heading in to the break (30': 10-18).

As the second half began, the Parisians maintain their lead (37': 12-22) but Pontault-Combault started to have more of a say. Thanks to the clinical finishing of Spanish pivot Gonzalo Carro Castro (5 from 5), Pontault-Combault made up some of their deficit (44': 17-23). But that was not enough to put Rodrigo, just as imperious in the second half (47': 18-25), off his game. In the last ten minutes, our Spanish coaching duo (Raul and Jota) opted to rotate their squad and thus, Benoît Kounkoud, Adama Keita, Louis Despreaux, Edouard Kempf and Dylan Nahi found themselves on the court at the same time (54': 21-28). Our youngsters resisted an onslaught from the home side in the dying stages and made sure that the Parisians punched their ticket for the round of 16 (26-28).

The Parisian of the match: Rodrigo Corrales
As soon as the match began, Rodrigo Corrales announced a huge performance with a magnificent double save. The first 15 minutes were very long for the opponent's attack, which had only managed to beat him three times. In the end, he finished his match with 18 saves and 41% of his challenges won.

The word: Qualification
Les Rouge et Bleu managed to get what they had travelled to Pontault-Combault for: a place in the Coupe de France round of 16. Mission accomplished! See you in February for the next round!

In the viewfinder:
After this week of cup action, Paris Saint-Germain Handball will return to the Lidl StarLigue for their next match travelling to another Paris-region side, Tremblay, for their Round 12 clash on Wednesday evening

(Credits: Gustavo SportsPictures)