Paris (AFP)

A third of the season, are the games already made? Paris Saint-Germain has in any case taken an option on a sixth title in a row by dominating Montpellier (35-30) in the match at the top of the French Hand Championship, Thursday in Coubertin.

After nine games (out of 26), all won with a nice margin, PSG is six points ahead, the equivalent of three wins, on the quintet Montpellier, Nantes, Nimes, Aix and Toulouse.

Parisians are not going to sell the skin of the bear. They remember that two years ago, they had recovered the same delay on the Montpellier to finish champions. But in view of their mastery against their biggest rival, we see them badly squander such a capital.

The teammates of Luka Karabatic (5 goals) have left no room for suspense against this opponent they dominate the most often in the league: 11 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw since the club capital has the financial means from Qatar.

At the end of ten minutes, they had already widened the gap (8-3) thanks to a hermetic defense and counter-attacks most often concluded by the Icelandic veteran Gudjon Sigurdsson (7 goals, all in the first period), and Vincent Gérard (7 before the break, 10 at the end), the former goalkeeper of the MHB spent in Paris this summer.

Patrice Canayer's players spared some semblance of uncertainty by narrowing the gap to 20-15 at the break after being one-time led by eight goals. But Paris hit the nail on the back of the locker room (+8 again in the 40th minute) and Montpellier was never able to return to the match despite the efforts of Valentin Porte (5 goals) and a close four goals in the end meeting.

"We were consistent for 60 minutes, when there was a strong start, we put a boost ... Montpellier is a very good team and it took a big Paris tonight," commented Luka Karabatic.

"We defended well, we collected more balls and we put them in difficulty on all their shoots, we try to impose a big psychological pressure on the opponents, they know that it's very hard to come win at the home, "said winger Luc Abalo, whose team has not lost at home since 54 games.

The good news for the coach of Montpellier, and for the Blues to less than two months of the Euro-2020, was the return of Melvyn Richardson, in good shape, after a broken hand (4 goals).

The Parisians were also reduced by the wounds of Mikkel Hansen and Sander Sagosen for several weeks, but had continued to win anyway. Now that the Dane (6 goals on 6 shots) and the Norwegian (4 goals) have returned, they are practically unplayable, at least at the national level.

© 2019 AFP