Between two meetings against the Slovenes of Celje in the knockout stages of the Champions League, PSG warms up this Sunday at home against Chambéry (8th in the Starligue), a match counting for the 15th day which had been postponed on March 23 for case of Covid in Paris.
Raul Gonzalez's players will try to win their 18th success of the season, which would bring them even closer to an 8th title in nine years.
With each match, the scenario is invariably repeated.
Between the demonstration and the health walk, it is always the PSG which wins at the end.
Celje, crushed (37-24) at home last Thursday, can attest to this.
“We were coming back from a week when everyone was isolated,” explains Benoît Kounkoud.
There was no reason not to put all the right ingredients.
"
Luc Steins, who has definitively joined the champion of France, is ready to take up all the challenges that will arise: “The hardest part is yet to come between the Champions League and the championship, underlines the Dutch international.
For a club like Paris, this is the most important period that arrives.
You have to be 100% all the time, regardless of the opponent.
"
Another story of guardians
The competition is full of very good goalkeepers.
And that of Chambéry is no exception.
Arrived last summer from Montpellier, where he was barred by competition, Nikola Portner is one of the revelations and one of the great architects of the current very good form of the 2001 French champion (5 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat).
The Swiss goalkeeper, who created many problems with his selection to the France team at the last World Championship, was logically elected player of the month for February.
In Paris, Vincent Gérard and Yann Genty are still on the same pace.
The second did not forget that in October 2014 he had, with 18 saves, allowed Chambéry, his former club, to sign the latter's last victory against PSG.
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The capital club wants to win everything, and that's normal.
Only one title is missing: the Champions League.
Last December, Mikkel Hansen and his comrades failed in the semi-finals against Barcelona.
After a sluggish start, they then adopted a cruising speed to find themselves in a good position for the round of 16.
On Thursday, they will receive Celje without any pressure.
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No chance, however, to see them dragging their feet this Sunday against Chambéry, nor against Dunkirk (April 11), Istres (13th), Montpellier (17th) and Toulouse (20th).
Except that the players are not immune to an injury that could handicap the group in the home stretch, which will certainly start against the Germans from Kiel (winner of the Final Four in December), on May 12 in the quarter-finals. of the Champions League ...
