PSG won on November 23 at home against the Danish champion, Gudme, (41-36).
After 7 games (6V, 1D), Paris is still in the nails to go directly to the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the end of the group stage.
Remember that the first two of the group -Veszprem and Paris at this time- will be directly qualified, the next four will have to go through always tricky round of 16.
Without Luka Karabatic (calf) or Elohim Prandi (abdominal injury) but with Nikola Karabatic back after a concussion, PSG had a complicated evening (16-16, 30th).
Without any known player, the Danish club was more than valiant.
To get by in front of 2,708 people, Paris relied heavily on the collection of saves (17) from its Danish goalkeeper Jannick Green.
Green, Green, Green!
🟢📗💚🥬🍏 Jannick and another double save coming right from heaven#HandmadeHistory #ehfcl @psghand pic.twitter.com/ri4YeZRxPy
— EHF Champions League (@ehfcl) November 23, 2022
But what was buzzing on this Wednesday evening was the information released a few hours earlier by the team stating that coach Raul Gonzalez would not be retained at the end of his contract which runs until June 30, 2023. The club have not confirmed anything but it would indeed be a very high probability.
Arrived in 2018 to replace Noka Serdarusic, the Spanish coach who won the Champions League with Vardar Skopje, extended in March 2021 until June 30, 2023, should not go beyond.
“At the moment, I'm in Paris, I'm focused on the season and nothing else matters.
I have no comment to make,” replied the Spanish coach at the end of the game.
Two indices support this trend.
First, in a very closed hand coach market, Raul Gonzalez Gutierrez would already have a way out.
The Hungarian club of Szeged will release its bench in 2023. After 10 years there, Juan Carlos Pastor a close friend of Gonzalez will hand over.
It's official.
Discussions between the latter and the club have even already begun.
If this is confirmed, for the current PSG coach, it would not be a closet.
New rich, Szeged is very ambitious and wants to be a candidate for victory in the Champions League in the next 5 years.
And Raul Gonzalez is one of the best coaches in the world.
Secondly, PSG would be eyeing another Iberian coach: Xavi Pascual.
The current Romania manager led Barca from 2009 to 2021. With Barcelona, ​​he won three Champions Leagues.
He is one of the best in the world in his position.
Francophile, speaking our language perfectly, he managed Nikola Karabatic in Catalonia from 2013 to 2015. At a time when the triple Olympic champion is wondering whether or not to pursue his career, the upcoming arrival of a coach he esteem and respect could be a strong argument.
Small problem, however: the 54-year-old Iberian coach has a contract with Bucharest until 2024. But it is always possible to undo contracts.
“There is no better and he is a hard worker”
A respected man, endearing, discreet, fleeing the light and an outstanding tactician, Raul Gonzalez Gutierrez is always unanimous in the corridors of Coubertin: "Since he has been there, slipped Thierry Omeyer at the start of the season, PSG has won more 85% of its matches in all competitions.
Who says better ?
Raul has an impressive consistency in results.
He offers continuity in the PSG game and at the tactical level, he is really very, very strong.
There is no better and he is a hard worker.
»
However, when he will have reached the end of his contract in 7 months, the bronze medalist at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 as a player will have spent 5 years on the Parisian bench.
Whatever the section, it's a record lease on a PSG bench since the takeover of the club by QSI in 2011. He has won everything: four league titles winning all matches in 2021-2022, two French Cups... Everything yes, except the Champions League.
He's never even made it to the final.
In Paris, it is a lack that rarely forgives.
Will he finally win it in 2023?
It is obviously possible but this time, Paris which lost its executives last summer (Hansen, Remili, GĂ©rard ..) is not one of the favorites.
Going to lift the trophy in Cologne in mid-June will be even more complicated than usual.
While waiting to find out if Nikola Karabatic will continue him or not until 2024 with the Games in focus – this time, it is the player who will decide – Paris would therefore seem to want to start a new cycle.
It could be done with a new staff and without some current players like the Spaniard Ferran Solé and the Latvian giant Dainis Kristopans who will also arrive at the end of their contract in 2023 and who for the moment have not (yet) been renewed. .
