The Debrief: Caen - Paris
Handball•
Paris Saint-Germain Handball secured their biggest win of the season across all competitions against Caen (28–42) on Saturday 17 October. Here’s a look back at this Daikin StarLigue Matchday 7 fixture.
For the third time in four matches, the capital club surpassed the 40-goal mark in a single game. Following two victories against Celje by an 11-goal margin, Les Rouge et Bleu are going from strength to strength, racking up a 14-goal winning margin against Caen.
Stefan Madsen’s men are brimming with confidence as several key fixtures loom, from next Wednesday’s home clash against Aalborg in the final round of the Champions League group stage to the league clash with Montpellier a few days later.
Already holding a comfortable lead after the first quarter of an hour (15': 4-9), Paris coach Stefan Madsen opted to hand around some game time. By the final buzzer, every outfield player had found the net at least once. Among the key contributors were two rather unexpected names: Mateo Maras and Sebastian Karlsson. And with good reason: with six goals apiece, our two internationals delivered their best league performance yet in the Rouge et Bleu shirt.
Another performance worthy of praise was that of Simen Lyse! With five goals and eight assists to his name, no one was more decisive than the Norwegian left-back, who produced a landmark performance in his Parisian career. With just a few days to go before the trip to Zagreb – the third away game in a row across all competitions – several players were given a rest. This was particularly the case for Bjarki Elisson, who was not selected for this fixture, as well as Ferran Solé, who was present at the Palais des Sports Caen la Mer but did not feature in the match.
“We’re pleased because we controlled the whole match. We were also able to rotate the squad a lot, which is really important for us. Tomorrow, we’ll be able to rest before we’re back in action next week. The most important thing for winning big matches is defence. We’ve got the best defence in the league, and that’s important to us. In attack, we managed to set the pace, which allowed us to score plenty of goals.”
On Friday evening, Nîmes confirmed their strong start to the season with a win over Tremblay at Le Parnasse (36-34). Unable to find a way past Toulouse (35-31), Saint-Raphaël are still struggling to get going ahead of their clash with Les Rouge et Bleu on Sunday. They sit just above the relegation zone, which is currently occupied by Cesson Rennes and Dunkerque, who were beaten at home by Sélestat (33-36) and Chartres (25-27) respectively. On Sunday, Chambéry got back into the race for European qualification by securing an important victory over Aix at Le Phare (34-33), while Nantes (34-31 against Saran) and Montpellier (35-33 against Limoges) consolidated their places on the podium.
