By winning (30-26) against Montpellier, this Saturday night in Créteil, PSG won their first trophy of the season, 5th in this competition.
As in the league, Raul Gonzalez's players have mastered their subject against their dolphin, which will end, except cataclysm, just behind in the standings.
The Parisians can now fully turn to their quarter-final second leg of the Champions League on Wednesday against Kiel, where they will have to recover from a handicap of two goals conceded last week in Germany.
The ❤️💙 won a 5th Coupe de France by winning 26-30 against @mhbofficiel at the end of a very good final!
👏💪🏆 # MerciParis #MHBPSG pic.twitter.com/yy8eMSncjc
- PSG Handball (@psghand) May 15, 2021
If the poster was not exceptional, the context was quite specific.
To get to this final, the two teams did not have to fight on the field.
Because of the pandemic which upset the calendar for many months, it was decided that the first two in the championship at the end of the 21 st day would face each other directly.
Before the meeting, a confirmation for Paris, which aligned 22 victories in a row in Starligue before falling against Nantes, three weeks ago.
And a great opportunity for the Hérault club to challenge the hegemony of the six-time defending champion, and thus remain unbeaten against his opponent from the capital in a Coupe de France final, for the 5th time in twenty years.
Because this match was, coincidence, scheduled between the two quarterfinals of the Champions League, PSG had the opportunity to skip for the benefit of ... Nantes, 3rd after the 21st day - and also in the running in the European Cup.
It was not: “This season we want to grab all the titles that come up.
Usually it is a direct elimination competition without the right to make mistakes ”, recalled
Élohim Prandi on the FFHB website.
No round of observation between the two best attacks of the championship. And in this little game, it is the Montpellier who start the best (5-2, 6th), an advantage immediately filled by Dylan Nahi. At the quarter of an hour of play, the PSG widens the gap (12-10), while only one stop was made by a goalkeeper, Kevin Bonnefoi. At the break, Mathieu Grébille and his teammates lead the dance (18-15).
On resumption, Patrice Canayer's players suffer but do not let go (22-20, 39th), at the initiative of Valentin Porte, one of the many internationals on the ground, who has just extended his lease until 2024 The duel is intense and physical, like the percussion between Mikkel Hansen and Lithuanian Jonas Truchanovicius. The Danish world champion stays on the ground then gets up: it takes more to put Paris on the ground, which takes off (27-22, 50th). Three minutes from the siren, Vincent Gérard leaves the necessary stop in front of Porte and buries the last hopes of Montpellier.
“We lived a match with a lot of intensity, says Luka Karabatic, the Parisian captain, at the microphone of Team TV.
We had to look for resources deep within ourselves.
The timing was a bit special between two Champions League matches.
it was not easy to manage.
When you're PSG, you have to win every trophy.
"
In the afternoon, Brest won (37-33) in the women's event against Nantes, recent winner of the European League.
The Brestoises will play the first leg of the championship on Wednesday against Metz (return 23), before going to challenge the Hungarians of Györ in the semi-final of the Champions League Final Four, in two weeks.