Paris-SG’s bad period stretches into the Champions League. This Wednesday, the capital team conceded a draw at home against Kolstad (28-28), a third match without a victory in a row in the premier competition. The French champion suffered two losses, the second a week earlier against the same opponent in Norway (36-31).
Elohim Prandi, who played a fantastic duel with former Parisian star Sander Sagosen (10 goals each), hoped to give PSG victory at the start of the last minute (28-27), but Göran Johannessen snatched the equalizer for the Norwegians 13 seconds from time (28-28, 60th).
An incredibly tight group
Nothing serious, however, for the Ile-de-France residents, who remain tied for third in the standings of an incredibly tight Group A. Paris is only one point behind second place (directly qualifying for the quarter-finals) and three lengths ahead of Zagreb, 7th and first potential non-qualifier for the round of 16, which has one match in hand. The road is long, with six more days to go in the group stage.
For PSG, the most important match of the week remains that of Sunday (7 p.m.), the clash at the top of the French Championship against Montpellier, 2nd, one point behind the Parisian leader.
At the break, Luka Karabatic’s teammates were trailing by two points (13-15, 30th) after a good start (7-5, 14th) then a big gap, marked by numerous errors. The most unfortunate was this excess game after having suffered two temporary exclusions (25th): the Parisians found themselves for a minute with… three field players against six. Kolstad took the opportunity to widen the gap (10-14, 27th).
Paris is still slipping at the end
At the restart, the French champion turned the tide by raising the tone in defense around David Balaguer, sent to the advanced post to slow down the Sagosen bulldozer. The energetic Spanish right winger provided an assist for a fantastic goal from Elohim Prandi, with a shot behind his back (17-18, 38th), and took charge himself, as leader, of putting his team back in front (20-19, 45th). Prandi, excited, drove the point home in a burning room (23-20, 48th).
But, as against Kiel (28-34) and in Kolstad, Paris – deprived of its pivot Kamil Syprzak, injured in an ankle (43rd) – lost ground at the end of the match. After another save from Torbjörn Bergerud on a penalty from Ferran Solé, Sigvaldi Gudjonsson brought Kolstad back level (26-26, 54th). Despite the exploits of Andreas Palicka in front of the Parisian cage (9 saves at 39%), the Norwegians held on until the end. In the final action, Prandi’s free kick was blocked.
“We had our periods, they had theirs, the draw is fair
Raul Gonzalez, coach of Paris-SG
“It was a very difficult match, analyzed Raul Gonzalez, the Parisian coach. We started well, but in the second part of the first half they were much better than us. It got better in the second half when we put a player on defense (David Balaguer) on Sander Sagosen and we got ahead. But towards the end, Kolstad played better and better and we had problems in defense and attack. We had our periods, they had theirs, the draw is fair. »
“It was a fun match to play, very physical, with a lot of tempo, appreciated Sigvaldi Gudjonsson, the captain of Kolstad. We showed a lot of character for 60 minutes. It’s hard to play here, there aren’t many teams who bring home points. »