PSG Handball beaten by Barcelona: "Paris is weaker than a few seasons ago"

PSG failed once again on Monday in their conquest of the Champions League.

Beaten by Barcelona (37-32), Paris will still have to wait.

Winner of the trophy in 2003 with Montpellier, Grégory Anquetil did not miss the performance of the Parisians.

What did you think of the PSG semi-final?

GRÉGORY ANQUETIL.

It must first be said that Barcelona made a huge, strong, powerful game.

But we expected it and there were no surprises.

When you're Barca and playing a Champions League semi-final, you are necessarily strong.

What did PSG miss?

The big problem with PSG is that it has sorely lacked rotations.

He did not have enough solutions in his squad to face that of Barcelona who, conversely, has no flaws.

Where Barça has no weakness, Paris has too many.

Paris was weak at its rear base, too weak to compete at this level.

Paris has no worries in the Starligue but at this level, when you have to go coal for an hour, that's another story.

At what level ?

The absences of Niko (Karabatic) and Steins have not been filled.

In the story, Steins is unhappy: he comes to Paris to play the Final Four after Niko's injury and the poor man, he catches the Covid.

Paris does not have the players to replace its star Karabatic?

Nedim Remili did it and did it well.

Like Hansen, he had a good game but was forced to play a center-half, which is not his usual position.

To hope to win, Paris had to count on a very good Kristopans but the giant was not up to the event in my opinion and that's a shame.

It is in these matches that we can regret the departure of Sagosen this summer.

Perhaps a boy like him could have changed the tide of the game.

Is Paris as strong as it was a few seasons ago?

It seems to me that Paris is less strong than a few seasons ago.

When Narcisse was still there for example, Paris was stronger but Daniel was not replaced in my opinion.

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Should PSG have any regrets?

I think there was a good thing to do with this tournament so weird, without an audience.

We could say that it is a Final Four at a discount but conversely, we could think that the absence of pressure and of the public could work in favor of Paris.

I assure you that playing a Final Four in Cologne with the Germans in Kiel and their 10,000 supporters is something else.

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Will Paris be able to win this Champions League one day?

We will see if the club returns to Cologne to play in the Final Four of the 2020-2021 Champions League.

I wish him, of course, but I don't know if Paris will be stronger than today at that time.

Why ?

In the spring, in 4-5 months, I am not sure that Niko Karabatic will be able to play with 100% of his means in a Champions League final.

Even if he is thought to be unbreakable, he will be 36 years old and will come back from a long injury.

Paris will perhaps have the same worries in the spring as it does now.