Paris go 40 games unbeaten at home with win over Aalborg

Paris were on a 39 game unbeaten home streak in the VELUX EHF Champions League before today. A win over Aalborg ensured they reached a round 40.

Before the game, Paris were neck-and-neck with Aalborg on eight points. The winner had the chance to join Barcelona at the top of group A, after the Spanish side won in Flensburg on Wednesday (34:27).

• Paris haven’t lost in 40 successive home games in the Champions League
• On his return after a month out, Mikkel Hansen was the best scorer of the game with 6, while Benjamin Jakobsen netted five times for Aalborg
• Paris are now top of the group with 10 points, alongside Barcelona

GROUP A
Paris Saint-Germain HB (FRA) vs Aalborg Handbold (DEN) 37:24 (18:11)

Despite Aalborg leading by two early on, most of the first half saw the two teams run it close, until Paris took a timeout in the 15th minute.
Over the following fifteen minutes, Paris scored ten times while the visitors only managed three.

From 9:9, the score became 15:10 thanks to Luc Abalo’s fastbreaks and also Mikkel Hansen, who scored four goals in the first thirty minutes alone on his comeback.

Sander Sagosen, another player that Paris had been missing lately, added three goals to help the hosts to a lead of 7 at half-time.

Luka Karabatic got three more to give Paris their first 10-goal advantage of the evening just two minutes after the break.

No matter how they changed their offensive tactics, Aalborg couldn’t beat Paris’ defence, demonstrating why the hosts haven’t lost at home in the Champions League since 2014.

Aalborg, despite Benjamin Jakobsen’s excellent performance, were 14 down with thirteen minutes to play. A time-out allowed them to at least contain that deficit, until a final goal from Benoit Kounkoud meant that Paris eventually won by 13.