Six months they waited for this moment.
For their big comeback to competition, the Parisians however missed the appointment with their public.
A week after the match postponed to Szeged due to covid in the Hungarian ranks, Raul Gonzalez's men bowed to Coubertin against the Germans from Flensburg (28-29), winner of the competition in 2014. Their season is off to a bad start.
What you must remember
Very quickly, the seven-time champion of France takes the measure of his opponent, who has already won when he entered the running against the Poles of Kielce (5-2, 7th).
The recruits did not take long to shine, starting with the Spaniard Ferran Solé, who arrived from Toulouse.
Mathieu Grébille (ex-Montpellier), Elohim Prandi (Nîmes), and the immense (2.15 m) Latvian Dainis Kristopans (Berlin) are not to be outdone.
At the break, PSG has four lengths ahead (18-14).
The second period continues at the same pace (23-19, 39th).
It is at this moment that the beautiful mechanism begins to jam.
A quarter of an hour from the end, Flensburg comes back to height, then passes in front (24-25, 50th).
Luka Karabatic allows his team to pick up (27-27, 58th), but the Swede Gottfridsson does not miss the last German action.
Infuriating.
😥 It's over at Coubertin.
Even if Paris led for a long time, the club of the capital concedes a first defeat for its opening match in @ehfcl #PSGSGF #MOTW pic.twitter.com/muz5aGos1z
- PSG Handball (@psghand) September 23, 2020
The player: Nikola Karabatic
It had been 199 days since Paris had scored.
As a symbol, Nikola Karabatic put an end to this forced famine by opening the scoring first.
Author of a good first period, the French international then witnessed the rise of his opponent.
The resumption of the championship on Sunday (5 p.m.) against Aix already sounds the hour of redemption for him and his teammates.
The number: 4
Now the number of defeats (against nine victories) of PSG against this same opponent in the European Cup.
The two clubs had already met in 2005-2006, before not leaving each other in the group stage since 2015-2016.
Flensburg's last victory dates back to September 30, 2017. Uwe Gensheimer's 9 of 11 was not enough that night.