By going up on the floor of Coubertin, the Parisians knew the facts of the equation: to beat by two goals the THW Kiel, reigning European champion and who had pocketed the first leg 31 to 29 in the north of Germany he a week ago. From the first minutes of the meeting, Raul Gonzalez's players took control to never be led in this return match. It was still necessary to widen the gap sufficiently. This is what they did gradually, giving a big boost in the middle of the second half. And it is by perfectly managing a numerical inferiority after the temporary exclusion of the Latvian from PSG Dainis Kristopans, that the teammates of Luka Karabatic finally took three goals in advance to take shelter permanently (26-23,46th) thanks to a goal from right-back Nedim Remili.
“It's crazy, it's the first time in many months, almost a year, that we have our fans with us.
We knew that winning this kind of match, after losing the first leg by two goals, was going to be difficult, ”commented Remili after the meeting.
For the return of spectators to the Coubertin stadium, in limited numbers (800) of course, the Parisians were able to count on their nugget Elohim Prandi, who enjoyed and achieved his most successful match under the colors of PSG, he who arrived at the six-fold reigning French champions in the summer of 2020 from Nîmes.
51 ': He is IN-A-RE-TA-BLE!
@PrandiElohim !!!!!!
(31-25) # PSGKIELpic.twitter.com / xYR5i8qvDV
- PSG Handball (@psghand) May 19, 2021
Nikola Karabatic restored for Final 4?
Prandi finished the game with nine goals from ten attempts, all against the one who is considered the best goalkeeper in the world, the Dane Niklas Landin, who made only 7 saves (20%), passing by. his two matches in the quarter-finals (16 saves over the two matches). Very logically, Prandi was named best player of the match and sends a message to the coach of the France team who must give his list of players for the Olympic Games in a few weeks. In front of Landin, the French international pair led by Vincent Gérard and Yann Genty mastered the Kielers attack much better, with in particular the entry into play in the second period of Genty who made several saves (seven in total in thirty minutes ).
Kiel completely gave up the game six minutes from time, when the Norwegian left-back Sander Sagosen, a former PSG from 2017 to 2020, received three temporary exclusions, one for a foul on Remili, and two for too many protests. vigorous in the eyes of the referees. The rare parades of Landin at the end of the meeting did not change the turn of a meeting in favor of Paris. In a little over three weeks, the Parisians will go in search of a first European championship title that has eluded them for several years. And if all goes well they could well recover their center-half Nikola Karabatic, who suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in mid-October and who could well return to competition in the three week interval until 'on the trip to Cologne, the fifth in six seasons for the six-fold reigning French champions.
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