06.03.2016, 08:20
Paris win the jackpot after a world-class match

GROUP A REVIEW: The French champions finish on top of the group table and skip the Last 16, booking their ticket to the quarter-finals with a win against Flensburg in the Match of the Week.

Paris win the jackpot after a world-class match

Paris Saint-Germain Handball have finally made it: Thanks to a hard-earned victory against SG Flensburg-Handewitt in the ehfTV.com Match of the Week, the French champions have finished the VELUX EHF Champions League Group Phase on top of Group A.

The revenge for the 32:39 opening defeat at Flensburg was a true promotion for handball and another hint for the role Paris might play when this season comes to an end.

While the team of head coach Noka Serdarusic will skip the Last 16 to qualify directly for the quarter-finals, the second-ranked team, MVM Veszprem, will face play-off winners HC Motor Zaporozhye in the Last 16. Flensburg will have another ‘Tour de France’ as they are to duel with Montpellier in the first part of the knock-out stage.

“We are extremely happy to win this really tough group. We needed to give all we could today against a strong Flensburg side. But we were eager to take revenge, and we did it. I am sure that we deserved this victory,” said PSG match winner Thierry Omeyer.

GROUP A
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt 35:32 (16:16)

It was a match between the two oldest players on court: Goalkeepers Omeyer (39 per cent save rate) and Mattias Andersson (36 per cent) were the heroes of a brilliant show-down.

Nearly all statistics between the sides were equal except one, which was decisive in the end. While Paris were short-handed for only four minutes, Flensburg were down by one player for twelve. And those periods were the crunch times in a true top-class match.

PSG started in express mode with strong saves from Omeyer helping the hosts move ahead to 10:6 before Flensburg started their engines. Andersson shut up his shop to equalise at 11:11, then it was the visitors turn to take the lead at 13:12.

At the break, the result was well-deserved 16:16.

With fewer world-class options and more suspended players on the bench than Paris, Flensburg could not turn the match around. PSG were constantly ahead by at least three goals, as Samuel Honrubia (eight goals), Mikkel Hansen (seven) and Sergiy Onufryienko (six) were determined to punish all of Flensburg’s mistakes.

SG still stood strong and had the chance to get closer several times at 30:33, but failed constantly against Omeyer.

“We can play better. There’s still room for improvement,” said SG coach Ljubomir Vranjes about the weak moments.

When Mikkel Hansen netted a penalty for 35:30, the deal was sealed.

“We are only two steps away from the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne now, this is our dream destination, this is where we all want to go to,” said Omeyer, while Vranjes is already focused on the Last 16:

“Montpellier can count on individual class, but we all hope to make it to the quarter-finals to remain in the race for Cologne.”

TEXT: Bjorn Pazen / cg