Paris SG Handball won the Champions League on Thursday in the Polish venue of Plock (24-23). A week after the slap experienced in Veszprem (41-28), the Parisians are relaunching during this 3rd day of the European Cup. Elohim Prandi’s teammates, sluggish opening winners over the North Macedonians of Pelister (31-29), remain level with third place in Group A (4 pts), one victory behind the leaders, Sporting Portugal and Dinamo Bucharest.
At the heart of this victory in extremis, one man: Andreas Palicka. The Swedish goalkeeper of PSG notably scored 2 valuable goals during the game, while Plock’s cage, outnumbered, was deserted. Above all, Palicka made a decisive save, at the siren, on a final Polish penalty which would have been synonymous with an equalizer.
PSG, in a beautiful white jersey with a blue and red Eiffel Tower, a replica of a legendary jersey from the 1990s from the club’s football section, is doing well thanks to its goalkeeper. Even if they did not master this match overall, they provided the essentials and regained a little confidence, four days after dominating Dunkirk in the championship (39-31) in the wake of the Hungarian slap.
They still scared themselves when they led by three goals (24-21) four minutes from the end. They even thought they were four lengths ahead when Elohim Prandi scored from nine meters, but his goal was canceled after video refereeing for a foul by Kamil Syprzak, who was also temporarily excluded.
The Parisians were scared
Feverishly outnumbered, PSG then saw the Poles of former Nantes goalkeeper Viktor Hallgrímsson (six saves in the first quarter of an hour, 13/33 in the end) come back within 1 min 30 of the end.
But Palicka (13/27 including 2/5 on penalty and 4/9 at 6 m), imperial in the goal in the second half (point-blank save on a +3 ball for Plock, 35th) in addition to his two goals scored, preserved the lead for the first time by winning from point blank range in front of Lovro Mihic 30 seconds from the end.
Before doing it again at the buzzer, after a last possession poorly controlled by his team, punished by a forceful pass (Luc Steins). PSG must hope that this precious forceps victory will finally launch its season on the right track.
