Victory as goals rain down at Coubertin

Comptes-rendus

Paris Saint-Germain Handball turned in a masterful performance to beat Dunkerque 39-31 at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. Here's a look back at the Liqui Moly StarLigue Matchday 3 encounter.

After avoiding the traps set by Nîmes (36-33) and Limoges (29-30) in the first two rounds of the Liqui Moly StarLigue campaign, Les Rouge et Bleu were aiming to make it three in a row in the league. To do so, they had to overcome Dunkerque, who were intent on disrupting the careful plans laid by Raul Gonzalez and his men. Still in search of their first point of the season, the Lions were hungry and shaping up to be another tough opponent for the Parisians.

In the opening minutes, Paris hit the ground running and quickly opened up a lead, thanks to a sparkling start from Elohim Prandi, scorer of three early goals (6': 4-2). The whole of the Rouge et Bleu team shone in a perfect start, both in attack and defence, with Andreas Palicka making one save after another (9': 7-3). However, the match evened out as the minutes ticked by, and Dunkerque managed to make up some of the deficit although they were unable to hamper the particularly skilful Parisians in front of goal (15': 9-7).

As is often the case, Raul Gonzalez's men redoubled their efforts when Dunkerque started to influence the game. Spurred on by their fans, the capital club shifted up a gear and put four unanswered goals past the northerners (17': 11-7). Even at a numerical disadvantage, our players proved to be extremely effective, extending their lead in a first half in which almost everything went their way (23': 15-10). As the end of the first half approached, Paris rpushed to extend their lead, and succeeded in doing so after a double from Kamil (28': 18-11). At the end of a first half that was controlled from start to finish, Paris went into the locker room with a seven-goal lead (30': 20-13).

Despite their comfortable advantage, the Parisians did nothing to reduce their as the second half got under way. While Andreas made some imperious penalty saves, Luc Steins found gaps in the visitors' defence and increased Les Rouge et Bleus' lead (35': 24-16). Faced with the capital club's attacking prowess and the growing gap on the scoreboard, Franck Maurice decided to call a time out to remobilise his men (38': 27-16). Les Rouge et Bleu were not to be deterred, however, and continued to press forward, led by a superb performance from Jacob Holm, who scored six goals (46': 33-21).

With victory already sealed, Raul Gonzalez decided to give his youth academy products a chance to shine, with Gautier Loredon, Wallem Peleka and Léo Plantin all coming on and scoring (53': 36-27). Solid throughout the match, Paris pulled out all the stops to topple Dunkerque at Coubertin (39-31) and continue their unblemished run in the league. Next up for Les Rouge et Bleu are two away games: firstly in Plock, for their EHF Champions League Matchday 3 clash on Thursday, and then in Tremblay on Sunday for their next Liqui Moly StarLigue encounter.

Reactions from Raul Gonzalez, Andreas Palicka and Gautier Loredon:

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