10.02.2016, 11:00
PSG conquer Zagreb's fortress for the first time

GROUP A REVIEW: Omeyer brings French champions back on the top of the table, while bravely fighting Croats miss early qualification for the Last 16

PSG conquer Zagreb's fortress for the first time

Winning the first match of the VELUX EHF Champions League in 2016, Paris Saint Germain are back on top of group A with 18 points, passing Flensburg and Veszprem.

For the first time, the French side managed to conquer Zagreb's fortress - and again goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer was PSG's hero. PSG gave an eight-goal advance from their hands in the final stages to finally win 25:23.

Hence, Zagreb miss an early qualification for the Last 16, remaining on nine points, but still have their fate in their hands.

GROUP A:
HC Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb (CRO) vs Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA) 23:25 (10:15)

He came, he saw, he conquered: Thierry Omeyer conserved his brilliant form from the EHF EURO on club level, leading Paris Saint Germain to their ninth win in their eleventh group match of the VELUX EHF Champions League season.

After 30 minutes, the four-time Champions League winner had eight saves and a saving percentage of 48 on his tally, after the final buzzer it were 14.

After their 24:25 defeat in the Arena Zagreb in the previous season, Paris prevented another defeat, though they still had to replace their injured back court aces Xavier Barachet and William Accambray.

Like in the match against Veszprem, again more than 15,000 spectators were on fire, but finally their injury-struck team - Stepancic, Sabljić, Šprem, Mihić and Šandrk were missing - had to accept that the star-studded French side was too strong this time, though they had the chance to take a draw.

Attended by Croatian national team coach Zeljko Babic, Zagreb had the better start, led 3:0 (including the premier Champions League goal of 2016 by Stefan Vujic) but then Paris started their engines.

PSG improved in defence, Omeyer shut up his shop and within ten minutes, the 3:0 had turned into a 6:8. Nikola Karabatic and Mikkel Hansen were unstoppable and at 11:6 the advance was five goals for the first time - a gap, which remained until the break.

"We opened the match badly, missed some clear chances," Paris coach Zvonimir Serdarušić said. "After that, our defence started working much better and we were slowly enlarging the gap."

Zagreb were lacking the means in attack, causing too many turnovers. As a consequence Paris forged ahead to 20:13, causing an early time-out of Vujovic only eight minutes after the re-start.

Like in the 34:23 in the first leg, Paris managed to keep control of the match until minute 50, thanks to their outstanding defence stronghold.

But then, the young guns from Zagreb showed moral, reduced the gap to only three goals at 21:24 thanks to the saves of Ivan Stevanovic and a triple strike, and forcing PSG coach Noka Serdarusic to use his green card five minutes before the end.

PSG's scoring rate had dropped to zero, but also Zagreb failed to score three straight times - and the clock was ticking against them. When Luc Abalo netted in for the 25:21 the deal was sealed, though his side finally lost the second half by 10:13.

Mikkel Hansen added seven goals to his tally to lead the top scorer ranking by 82 goals. Zagreb's best scorer was Stipe Mandalinic by five in their third home defeat in this season after they had already been beaten by Veszprem and Flensburg.

Zagreb coach Veselin Vujović called it a "well deserved win for Paris. Paris of course remain one of the Champions League's biggest trophy candidates and our goal is still to beat Celje at home and play well in Kiel and Veszprem."

TEXT: Björn Pazen / ew