PSG did not have the perfect season: they did not win the Champions League. He didn’t even qualify for the Final Four, his goal for the year. He only missed one goal, a very small goal in Kiel (32-33) in the quarter-finals to touch his Grail with his fingertip. If we want to nitpick, Paris also let the anecdotal Coupe de la Ligue slip away because of a defeat just before Christmas against Chambéry. So no, Paris has not achieved the absolutely ideal season but no one will ever be able to come close to it, at least in France. In Starligue, captain Luka Karabatic’s team cleaned up the corners by winning 30 games out of 30, an unprecedented feat and probably very difficult to repeat in the future. PSG also won the Coupe de France this Saturday, beating Nantes (36-31).
To say goodbye and thank you to his invincibles, Nedim Remili, Benoît Kounkoud (Kielce), Mikkel Hansen (Aalborg), Vincent Gérard (Saint-Raphaël) and Yann Genty (Limoges) who will play at the start of the school year under other skies, he this Paris really lacked a Cup. PSG won it on June 11. It is the fifth in the club’s history after 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2021.
In a very generously furnished Accor Arena, PSG ended their record season by beating the second best French team: Nantes. Exactly a year ago, these two teams were in contention for third place in the Champions League Final Four in Cologne. We are therefore talking about two formations of the European Top level. Nantes is also the one that gave the Parisians the most trouble in the league (30-29 then 34-28). A PSG – Nantes is therefore the guarantee of a bitter and close duel, a match which is also played in the stands with the two hottest audiences in France.
And it did not fail. Parisians and Nantes residents remained neck and neck throughout the first quarter of an hour (8-8, 14th) before PSG broke away slightly (11-8, 20th), then a little less slightly. At the break, Paris had a 5-goal lead (18-13). Opposite, however, Nantes did not want to say goodbye to a monument of the game like the Montenegrin Kiril Lazarov who retires without a fight. So the Nantes people fought and came back (21-18, 35th), a little. But not enough because, we must not forget a basic rule in this sport. Handball in France is a simple sport that is played seven against seven and in the end for quite a while, it’s PSG who wins. So, PSG won and won the Coupe de France. Without surprise. “It was important to win this match which was not easy at all, recognizes the Dutchman Luc Steins, elected in the week best player of the championship. We had to finish the season by staying focused until this last game. After remaining undefeated in the league, it would be a shame not to get this trophy. We can go on vacation knowing that the mission is accomplished. The season is almost perfect but I don’t want to think about the Champions League anymore. We have to look ahead now…”