After more than two months on hiatus, the EHF Champions League finally returned! For this first European match of the year, Paris travelled to Zagreb for their Matchday 11 clash. Currently sixth -the last qualifying position for the play-offs - the capital club had to notch an away win to put pressure on their rivals and potentially widen the gap over Pelister, just two points behind.
Paris understood what was at stake in this match and quickly imposed its will in the Zagreb Arena, which struggled to play its role as the eighth man in the opening minutes. After turning in strong performances against Saran and Dunkerque last week, Jannick Green seemed to be raising his game even higher against the Croatians. In less than ten minutes of play, our Danish goalkeeper had already made three saves. The attack, meanwhile, was flawless, with Mathieu Grébille giving his team their first break by converting a fine pass from Elohim Prandi (9': 3-5).
Elo' was also playing well, having been involved in more than half of Les Rouge et Bleus' goals by the end of the first quarter of an hour, with two goals and two assists to his name (15': 5-7). Lagging behind in defence and lacking cutting edge up front, Zagreb were struggling. After seeing his players concede three goals in quick succession, Boris Dvoršek decided to call the first timeout of the evening (19': 5-10).
However, Paris's strong spell was far from over, and it turned into a veritable festival in the last ten minutes of the first half. When Jannick wasn't repelling the opponents' attempts (ten first-half saves at a 50% clip), Karl Konan was blocking the Croatian shots like an impenetrable wall. The attack was not to be outdone, Ferran Solé scoring with a splendid lob from a tight angle to give his team an eight-point lead (28': 9-17). And it was with this same lead that our Parisians returned to the changing rooms at the end of a first half of rare intensity (30': 10-18).
As soon as play resumed, Les Rouge et Bleu showed that they were far from done. Yahia Omar continued his perfect performance in this match, taking his total to five goals with a quick-fire double (33': 11-20). The Croatians already seemed resigned to defeat, and Paris took advantage of this to blow the lead out to ten goals thanks to Luka Karabatic, who, in a nod to his iconic number, scored the capital club's 22nd goal (38': 12-22). In defence, Jannick had racked up 15 saves, just two lengths shy of his personal best against GOG three seasons ago (45': 15-25).
The minutes ticked by, and it was in the dying moments that the famous record was broken, Green making an 18th save to cap a flawless performance (55': 21-32). The capital club made the best possible return to the Champions League, in all areas of the game. Yahia Omar, who hit seven from seven, and Kamil Syprzak (six goals) led the way in attack (60': 24-35).
The final sprint is underway, and now the capital club turns its attention to the visit of Szeged on Thursday 26 February at 20:45. Before that, Les Rouge et Bleu will return to Coubertin for an exciting league match against Aix on Sunday.
Yahia Omar, Kamil Syprzak: seven goals, Mateo Maras: five goals, Ferran Solé, Mathieu Grébille, Elohim Prandi: three goals, Wallem Peleka, Noah Gaudin: two goals, Luc Steins, Sebastian Karlsson, Luka Karabatic: one goal. Jannick Green: 18 saves.
