You can be one of the greatest teams in the world and still have one opponent you cannot beat. That has been the case for Paris Saint-Germain HB, as their last three games against SG Flensburg-Handewitt resulted in a loss or a draw.
At home on Thursday night, the French side set things straight, beating Flensburg to remain in the running for the first two places in group B of the EHF Champions League Men.
Although the visitors offered a challenge for the first part of the game, they were outpaced by PSG’s speedy handball, which helped the home team break away on the scoreboard early, never to be caught again.
GROUP B
Paris Saint-Germain HB (FRA) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) 33:30 (17:13)
- the teams played head-to-head in the first minutes of the game, before PSG changed gears, scoring a 5:0 series within five minutes to take a five-goal advantage they would almost keep until the break
- the gap between the two sides remained more or less the same during the whole of the second half, before Benjamin Buric came back into Flensburg’s goal
- three consecutive saves by the Bosnian goalkeeper Buric put the visitors back on track, even giving them the opportunity to level the score with two minutes left — but they did not succeed
- with this win, Paris jump to third place in the group, ahead of Veszprém, while Flensburg remain in fifth
Luc Steins' amazing comeback
The Dutch centre back had not played a single game with PSG since his return from the EHF EURO, but tonight, his coach Raul Gonzalez proved how important Steins is for his team. Playing all 60 minutes, he scored seven but also created big gaps for his teammates to use. Not showing a sign of tiredness, he was even more important in the second half, scoring four in that period and keeping Paris ahead on the scoreboard.
