For such a prestigious match, the Parisians had to pull out all the stops. Facing a team that had won two of the last three Champions League titles, Les Rouge et Bleu knew that their destiny was in their own hands as they sought to clinch fourth place.
In a frenzied atmosphere, the Parisians got off to a flying start, with Prandi opening the scoring and Steins putting Les Rouge et Bleu ahead. Elohim even fired in a thunderbolt from ten metres out to make the first break (3-1, 4').
Offensively and defensively, Stefan Madsen's men rose to the challenge posed by the Bundesliga leaders early in the game. Karl Conan took charge, firing up the Coubertin crowd before Prandi scored his third of the match (5-2, 7'). Jannick Green joined in the fun, stopping Albin Lagergren's powerful long-range shot with his foot at the end of a fine defensive sequence by Paris (9').
The Parisian goalkeeper made another huge save to deny Saugstrup moments later, allowing his team to stay ahead after just over ten minutes of play (7-3, 11'). It was a very determined start to the match for our Parisians, who were fully focused on this important fixture. The capital club even took a five-goal lead when Kamil Syprzak scored his second seven-metre throw just before the first time-out of the match (8-3, 14').
Then it was Yahia Omar's turn to hit his stride, the African champion riding his current good form to score his first two goals of the match, in quick succession. Paris continued to lead the way against a German side struggling to find solutions (12-6, 20'). The reigning European champions ended the first half slightly better, with Mandic repelling several attempts on his line and Lagergren adjusting his aim to cut Paris's lead to four goals at the break, a gap that could have been only three if Green hadn't made another decisive save against Bergendahl (15-11, 30').
The second half started just like the first, with Paris flying out of the blocks, Prandi relishing the opportunity to tear apart the opposing defence and Green ever-vigilant, even coming to the rescue when needed. Magdeburg were struggling after almost 40 minutes of play (22-13, 38'). Our Danish goalkeeper continued his momentum with an eighth save at the start of the final quarter, just before Peleka scored to widen the Parisians' comfortable lead (25-18, 47').
With about nine minutes to go, Stefan Madsen's men remained solid and focused - Syprzak was still shooting at 100% (7 from 7) and Green made his tenth save of the match, stopping a 7-metre throw - and it was all roses for Paris (28-22, 52'). Our Parisians had no intention of letting the match slip away, and even when they were down a man in the final moments, they remained strong and never let up. Loredon scored the last goal of the match (34-26, 60'), putting the finishing touch on a stunning victory! Prandi finished with 11 from 14, Syprzak confirmed his perfect performance with a 9 from 9 and Green could celebrate a double-digit save tally (ten).
All that remains now is to wait until Thursday evening to find out who will finish in fifth place in Group A and face Luka Karabatic and his teammates in the EHF Champions League play-offs!
