24.09.2018, 08:08
Impressive Corrales helps Paris secure 30th unbeaten home match

GROUP B REVIEW: Paris Saint-Germain secure their second VELUX EHF Champions League win of the season, but the 33:21 score against Celje does not tell the whole story.

Impressive Corrales helps Paris secure 30th unbeaten home match

Don’t take too much notice of the score, as it might seem a little hard on Celje. For 45 minutes, the visitors were within touching distance of Paris, despite being down by five at half-time. But a last defensive effort and some saves by Rodrigo Corrales, the man of the match for Paris, helped the home team secure the win.

Paris have now got four points while Celje still remain without any points after two rounds.

• PSG won their 30th straight home game in the Champions League tonight
• Rodrigo Corrales was instrumental in Paris’ win, with 20 saves
• Top scorer of the game was Paris’ Mikkel Hansen with 8 goals, while Drasko Nenadic scored 5 for Celje

GROUP B
Paris Saint-Germain HB (FRA) vs RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko (SLO) 33:21 (17:12)

Perhaps remembering last season’s game, when Celje had given them a hard time at home, Paris took things in hand right from the start. The defence was strong, with Rodrigo Corrales making brilliant saves, while the Scandinavian pair Mikkel Hansen and Sander Sagosen were on fire.

Just twelve minutes in, the French side was already ahead by five, 9:4. But Celje are a tough team to beat, and they were going to prove why. With some defensive changes, allowing Klemen Ferlin to make some saves and an effective Rok Ovnicek scoring three in the first half alone, the visitors came back within two before the half, forcing Raul Gonzalez to use a time-out. A good one for him, as with three consecutive goals from Nédim Rémili, Paris were back up at five at half-time, 17:12.

Celje didn’t give up, despite being down by seven just after the break. Drasko Nenadic was on fire, and thanks to the goals from their left-back Celje remained in touching distance of their opponents.

But their plan failed in the last minutes of the game. Stumbling in front of an impressive Rodrigo Corrales, who totalled 20 saves in the end, the Slovenians didn’t score for the last eleven minutes, and Paris took the opportunity to widen the gap.

A last-minute goal by Henrik Toft Hansen pushed the advantage to twelve, 33:21, the biggest lead of the game, securing Paris’ 30th straight home win in the Champions League.

Skjern Handbold (DEN) vs HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) 37:33 (19:14)

Last season’s antics saw Skjern go into the quarter-final phase of the VELUX EHF Champions League mainly thanks to their superb home form, as they went unbeaten over eight games, including a win against Veszprem and a draw against finalists HBC Nantes.

The opponents are much stronger this year for the Danish side, yet they applied the same recipe this time around, with a relentless attack and a good defensive display, that propelled Skjern to a 5:1 lead after only seven minutes.

Motor had a chance to cut the gap after two consecutive suspensions for Skjern, but the Danish side showed their gritty nature and even extended their lead to six goals, 17:11.

However, it was all Motor to start the second half, as the Ukrainian charge saw the gap cut to only one goal, 23:22, with 20 minutes to go.

It was the most that the Ukrainian side could achieve, as Skjern managed to keep them at bay and record a 37:33 win, that extended their unbeaten home streak in the VELUX EHF Champions League to ten games. The Danish side are now two for two in the competition, while Motor have a mountain to climb, having recorded two defeats.

Coach Henrik Kronborg saw the pace of his Skjern side as the key ingredient of the win, "Our speed up the handball court, and our performance in the fast breaks are crucial for us today. That got us a lot of goals and through fast breaks and speed, we got ourselves in a lot of good situations."

TEXT: Kevin Domas/at