After an exciting group phase, Paris Saint-Germain Handball are now preparing to enter the final phase - the next step on the road to the Final4 in Cologne in June. Before that, they will have to make it through the play-offs and qualify against Veszprém. It's a high-level duel between two teams with the same ambition: to win their first Champions League.
However, the two teams are in very different form on the continental stage. With three wins and a draw in their last four European meetings, Les Rouge et Bleu have climbed from sixth place in December to fourth at the end of the group stage. The opposite is true of Veszprém, whose three defeats across the last four matchdays have allowed Nantes and Kielce to leapfrog them. However, the Hungarian outfit remain dangerous on all fronts.
Rodrigo Corrales
The Spanish international, who will be making his return to Paris after seven seasons in Hungary, could well play one last nasty trick on the capital club. The Hungarian side's last line of defence has been decisive on numerous occasions this season. As early as the second matchday, his 18 saves in the hard-fought 30-25 victory over Nantes showed just how important he is in high-stakes games.
Hugo Descat
Veszprém are the second-highest scorers in the tournament so far (473 goals scored, just twelve fewer than Barcelona), and they have plenty of attacking talent. Players such as Ahmed Hesham, Yahia Omar's team-mate in the Egyptian national team, and Hugo Descat, who seems capable of making a splash in games where his side is struggling to get going. Although he kept a low profile during the defeats to Nantes and Aalborg in the last two rounds, the left-winger nevertheless turned in a top-class performance across the group phase, scoring 61 goals, including nine against Bucharest (35-28) and Sporting (32-31), and eight against Nantes (30-25), Kielce (35-33) and in the defeat in Berlin (38-34).
Nedim Remili
The Hungarian side's other former Parisian scored no fewer than 75 goals in the group phase, and has helped his side to victory on several occasions. The French right-back, who seems to be particularly passionate when playing in front of his home crowd, will need to be wary, as evidenced by his nine goals against Kielce (35-33) and his six goals against Sporting (32-31) in two matches that came down to the last detail at the One Vezprém Arena.
Veszprém may have a number of danger men in their squad, but the Parisians are not to be outdone. Stefan Madsen's men, who finished fourth in the group stage, will have the advantage of playing the return leg against Veszprém in front of a home crowd that will be out in force to help Paris book their place in the quarter-finals against Füchse Berlin. Several of the capital club's players turned in historic performances during the group stage.
Elohim Prandi's 111 goals so far are already a competition record for a French player, and his 14 goals in Barcelona - his career high - proved that he excels in big games. Yahia Omar, Paris' second-top scorer in the Champions League, also set a new record by finding the net ten times at Pelister. Our goalkeepers were not to be outdone either, as Jannick Green turned in the best performance of his Parisian Champions League career away to Zagreb last February, saving 18 of the Croatians' attempts (24-35).
The capital club will kick off the first leg of the Champions League play-offs on Wednesday evening. A few hours later, it will be Nantes' turn to try and take an option on quarter-final qualification by getting a good result against GOG in Denmark. On Thursday, Szeged will be looking to do the same in front of their home crowd against Kielce, third in Group A. Finally, the last clash of the play-offs pits Sporting CP against Wisla Plock in what promises to be a thrilling encounter.
You can watch the match between Veszprém and Paris live and exclusively on Eurosport from 18:45 on Wednesday 1 April.
