We expected a victory for PSG in Porto on behalf of the 9th day of the Champions League: it has arrived. We were planning an easy match for the French champions against a team that hadn’t won a match (7D, 1D) so far. On this point, the trip to Portugal was less obvious: PSG had some scares.
After a good start, the Parisians let the best team in Lusitanian handball gain confidence and come back to score. At the break, the two teams were side by side (19-19). Surprising from a PSG which remained so far on a series of 16 victories in a row. But not too worrying either.
Raul Gonzalez’s players came back from the start of the second period. And when things aren’t going very well, you have to call the boss. In the sticky ball world, the boss is called Nikola Karabatic. It was the triple Olympic champion who took matters into his own hands to revive PSG (23-26, 40th). Helped by a very good Kamil Syprzak and the Latvian giant (2m14) Dainis Kristopans, the manager put PSG back in the right direction. As his brother Luka and Elohim Prandi also played their match, PSG took a little lead. Not enough to fall asleep either (31-33, 52nd). But enough to leave the Portuguese at bay. In the end, and after a more complicated match than expected, Paris won 35-33.
This is good news for the ranking. While waiting for Veszprem’s match, which plays this Thursday in Plock in Poland, PSG are alone in the lead of group A. It’s still going as well in the race for direct qualification in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. You have to finish in the top two of the group to go there. In the standings, Paris is 4 points ahead of third place, Magdeburg, the German champion. A priori, it is the only team that can prevent the capital club from finishing in the top two. In a week, on December 14, an enticing PSG – Magdeburg is scheduled. If Paris wins, he will (almost) directly qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League, a performance he did not achieve last season.