A week after its victory in Porto (31-34), PSG finds the Portuguese club, this Thursday at the end of the afternoon (6:45 p.m.), at the Coubertin stadium (Paris XVI).
This new meeting in the Champions League will be the opportunity to discover Luc Steins, 25, medical joker on loan from Toulouse for seven months to make up for the long absence of Nikola Karabatic, victim of a rupture of the cruciate ligament of the right knee end of October.
The Dutch center-half is no stranger in France where he arrived four years ago.
In Massy, Tremblay, and therefore Toulouse, the qualities of the smallest Starligue player (1.73 m) left no one indifferent.
Benjamin Braux, the former Massicois coach, remembers the player's first steps in January 2016. “I loved his video game, and I invited him to give it a try,” says the man who now directs Nancy, leader of Proligue.
Before starting the session, Johann Caron, my captain, asks me who is this player whom I presented as an under 18… Luc immediately imposed himself by dropping a big guy on the buttocks, and of which I will be silent the name!
"
Definitely convinced, he signed his discovery in stride and made him his leader for the coming season in D2: “Luc has evolved a lot during his year at Massy.
For the first few months, he was all crazy and played a little too fast.
He had to master his velocity.
He also worked a lot tactically and physically.
“To the four collective training sessions per week, the Dutchman thus adds three individual sessions and three others of weight training!
A meteoric rise
Massy emerges victorious from the playoffs for the rise in Elite in 2017. Braux, who decided to join Tremblay, already in Starligue, persuades his new leaders to recruit his pocket leader.
“He still had to win in a D1 collective,” explains his ex-trainer.
The player shares his center-half position with Henrik Olsson, a fellow newly arrived from his native Sweden.
"Luc is naturally kind and helpful," said his locker room neighbor at the time.
He helped me a lot to integrate myself, for administrative things for example.
He always had a little joke, but he was, deep down, a quiet person.
The only time I saw him get excited was during the first internship in July.
He is passionate about cycling, and he kept cheering on the riders of his country during the Tour de France!
"
Luc Steins and Philippe Gardent, his coach in Toulouse.
LP / Icon Sport / Aude Alcover
Faced with much stronger opponents and on a whole different level, the player is struggling to find his soul as a leader.
After two years at Tremblay and despite the decline in his statistics, Luc Steins continues his progress by joining Toulouse, which plays the top of the table.
At Fenix, he rose from the ashes and contributed to the 5th final place of his team, qualified for the European League.
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"It's funnier to have him as a teammate," underlines Rémi Leventoux, pivot (2.02 m) from Toulouse who had him as an opponent when he played at Pontault.
He lives a great story and deserves what happens to him.
He is a huge hard worker who leaves nothing to chance.
And then, he is as humble as he is small!
It was an open secret that he would go to PSG.
I just hope he succeeds and doesn't get eaten up by the locker room.
"
"He shines and makes others shine"
From Lorraine, Benjamin Braux approves the choice of Luc Steins: “A great opportunity presents itself to him and I have no doubt that he will succeed in Paris.
He could even have gone faster in his evolution.
He shines and makes others shine.
This kind of player is a treat for a coach, even if he does not have the big and beefy stereotype of the current handball player.
Of course, it is not immune to a physical glitch.
But he is preparing so well that it never happened… ”