Tough night at Coubertin

Comptes-rendus

On Thursday, Paris Saint-Germain handball fell to Füchse Berlin at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin (34-37). Here's our look back at the EHF Champions League Matchday 9 clash.

More than three weeks after their last meeting at Coubertin, our Parisians were finally back in their home arena. Les Rouge et Bleu fans had a gala encounter against Mathias Gidsel's Füchse Berlin to look forward to, but it was also a crunch clash between the capital club and the Foxes, who sat fifth, four points behind Paris. Although a small gap had already opened up between the two sides, Raul Gonzalez's men were keen to extend their lead over the German outfit and close the gap on Veszprém, who had beaten Pelister earlier in the evening and taken control of Group A.

Coubertin stepped up for this crucial encounter which was also the last home match on the continental stage before 2025. Spurred on by a crowd they had missed during their three-game run away from home, Les Rouge et Bleu got off to a flying start. Handed a starting berth, Gautier Loredon got the ball rolling, the youth academy product confirming his recent fine form by scoring twice and putting the capital club in front despite fierce opposition from Berlin (8': 6-5). From one homegrown talent to the next, Wallem Peleka then took his turn, scoring a splendid spin-shot to keep Paris in front despite the Germans‘ being a man up (11’: 8-7). And when Les Rouge et Bleu started slowing down offensively, Jannick Green was more than ready, pulling off three saves in the space of a few minutes to keep his side afloat (15': 9-9).

After a brief lapse in concentration that saw Berlin go a break clear, the capital club immediately got back into the game, thanks to Luc Steins, back on the court after a three-week absence (18': 12-12). After our playmaker made his mark, it was our Polish goal machine's turn to makr his return to action in superb fashion. Kamil Syprzak's clinical finishing was stil clearly intact, and he duly scored twice to level it up (22': 14-14). As expected, the first half was already exceptionally intense, with the two sides going hammer and tongs in a bid to pull clear, but to no avail. The Berliners made a few tactical adjustments as they stopped play for the first time in the match (24': 15-14). These changes soon paid off and the Germans regained their rhythm - as well as the lead (28': 16-18). After a time-out called by Raul Gonzalez, the capital club managed to reduce the gap and go into the break just one goal behind at the end of an exciting first half (30': 18-19).

Paris were quick to show their intent after the re-start. Yahia Omar scored his fifth goal of the evening to equalise (33': 19-19), while in defence, Andreas Palicka prevented Berlin from extending their lead (36': 20-22). Although the Germans were still in control in the early stages of the second period, Les Rouge et Bleu kept up the pressure (39': 22-23) and their efforts finally paid off as they came back from two goals down to level the match in front of a raucous Coubertin crowd (43': 26-26). Berlin took another time-out to remobilise their troops, but it was the Parisians who regained the lead following a German turnover (45': 27-26). Driven by star right-back Mathias Gidsel, Berlin were far from giving up and immediately came back to level terms, heralding a wild final ten minutes (49': 29-29). At such intense moments, sometimes all it takes is one touch to make the difference. Andreas Palicka is a specialist in this area, and he pulled off a trademark save to keep his side in it, before Yahia Omar finished the job on the counter-attack. It was a classy move, completed not once but twice in quick succession. Paris took the lead and Coubertin almost boiled over (53': 31-30).

But the Foxes, who had been pushed around, were determined to fight all the way to the end to get a result in the Parisian fortress, where Les Rouge et Bleu had gone unbeaten since the start of the season (55': 32-32). Unfortunately, Berlin were cruelly incisive in attack and had the imperious Dejan Milosavljev firing to create a lead at the worst possible moment for the Parisians (58': 32-35). At the end of an intense battle, Paris fell at Coubertin for the first time this season (60': 34-37) - a bitter defeat for Les Rouge et Bleu, who lost second place in the standings to Sporting CP, who beat Dinamo Bucharest in a parallel fixture. The capital club will look to get back to winning ways against the Romanians next week on Matchday 10, the last European fixture of 2024. In the meantime, Raul Gonzalez's men will be back at Coubertin on Sunday against Cesson-Rennes in the league.

Reactions from Raul Gonzalez, Mathieu Grébille and Luc Steins:

(Credits: E. Renard/Team Pics/PSG)