Handball goes "Supernova"

For all you amateur astronomers, get your telescope ready, because this Sunday sees a spectacle of paramount proportions. The constellation of “Handballus Majorus” will be appearing in the night sky of Paris. Yes, in the immortal words of “Take That”;

“All the stars are coming out tonight,
They’re lighting up the sky tonight
For you”.

The two most star-studded teams in the Velux EHF Champions League are in action against each other in the “Halle Carpentier”, this Sunday live on ehftv. The “nouveau riche” of Paris St. Germain, will play the “aristocratic” FC Barcelona.

It is a “hall of fame” of who’s who in handball. The names are a roll of honour and individual players’ trophy cabinets are stuffed with Olympic Gold medals, CL winner medals not to mention World and European winners as well. If this were a restaurant, it would be a 10 star Michelin, 5 course meal with a bottle of “Henri Jayer Richebourg Grand Cru” as an aperitif.

It is difficult to gauge how these two teams will fare against each other. We have no history in the CL in the past seasons. In fact all we have to go on is the few matches in which we have seen them play this season. Barcelona has been untested at home romping to an easy win against Metalurg. PSG by contrast lost away to the same team in Skopje. But this is not comparing like with like.

If we look at a constant, then both have played Vardar away and both have drawn in a very hostile environment. So the mathematical theory is as follows

If Vardar is C, Barcelona is B and PSG is A
Then on the results
C=A, C=B, then it should follow that A=B

I loved that as a kid trying to figure out who could beat who based on previous results. The fact is that in Vardar it was PSG’s second trip and they let a 5 goal lead slip in the last 5 minutes, which does not bode well for a tight situation in Paris. By contrast FCB was on its first visit to Skopje and although leading had to fight back to gain a draw. Neither situation is identical, so the constant of Vardar doesn’t really help us.

So let’s look at the shape of the teams. Both have game changers, for PSG Vori, Hansen and Narcisse for FCB Rutenka, Karabatic and Sterbik.

Each team varies in its tactic. FCB is more fluid and team based. PSG by contrast have great individuals, but like all solar systems they rotate around a pivot. Vori is the star and has become pivotal to everything PSG do and this is the area I expect the game to be either won or lost. Stop Vori and you can stop PSG. It’s easier said than done.

Pound for pound the teams are very close to each other in their individual parts with perhaps only the goalkeeping area showing a slight advantage in favour of FCB. SAS are on a world class level and Annonay and Sierra are not quite there yet. The coaches also differ. Gardent changes very little (just look at the classy Csaszar wasting away on the bench) whereas Pascual seems to have more faith in his entire squad.

A wise man was once asked: “When is the best time to plant a tree”. He answered “50 years ago”. The truth of the matter is that the Barcelona roots are deep and strong in this competition and their tradition makes them one of the strongest teams regardless of personnel. PSG is not even a sapling at present, but rather a seed, that has not come to fruition.

You can argue that “ParisHand” has been around for years, but the time it takes to become a force in CL is not judged by how deep you pockets are, or by how many world class players are sitting on your bench. AG Copenhagen is an example to all.

If I had to make a call on this game, I would say that the all-round team play of Barcelona should conquer PSG. My caveat is that Rutenka is available to play. If he is then I believe that Barca will win this game in the “Halle Carpentier” and that PSG may be seeking inspiration from the son of the most famous carpenter of all time. (PS I know that the French for carpenter is actually charpentier)

Whatever the outcome, I will be privileged to have a ringside seat and anyone watching will see a handball game on a level with anything any final could ever produce.

It will be stellar.
It will be cosmic.
Heliacal even and most of all electrifying.

Two giant stars are about to collide. Handball is going “Supernova”.

Further information

Follow the Round 4 Match of the Week live on ehfTV.com on Sunday, at 17:00 hrs. local time