Paris (AFP)

The Parisian handball players signed Thursday evening at home their first victory in the Champions League this season, by winning against the Norwegians of Elverum (35-29), thanks to the good performances of the Danish Mikkel Hansen and the French Elohim Prandi.

After a false start in mid-September - meeting in Szeged in Hungary postponed due to cases of Covid-19 in the Hungarian workforce - the Parisians had bowed against the Germans in Flensburg (29-28), then traveling to Belarus in Brest (32-31).

Thursday in Coubertin, Raul Gonzalez's men have always been in the lead against Elverum, but were hooked until the 42nd minute (23-21).

But unlike the match against Flensburg, they did not crack in the last quarter of an hour and on the contrary broke away to afford a quiet end to the match.

If Mikkel Hansen missed his first throw of seven meters early in the game, the Danish left-back did not miss anything during the rest of the meeting, to sign eight goals (including three penalties), the best total for the Parisian side.

His five goals in the first period, as well as the nine saves of Vincent Gérard allowed the Parisians to return to the locker room with an advantage of four goals (17-13).

In the second half, it was left back Elohim Prandi who delighted the spectators of Coubertin, still in limited numbers due to health measures.

The 22-year-old Parisian, who arrived at PSG this summer, returned to the locker room.

He succeeded in everything he tried and finished with six goals on the clock.

Once the gap was made (32-24, 53rd), Vincent Gérard was able to rest and let the young Léo Villain (18 years old at the beginning of November) play the last minutes, because PSG was still deprived of its usual goalkeeper N.2 , Yann Genty, stopped after a positive Covid-19 test on October 3.

Paris was also evolving without its pivot Luka Karabatic, not yet recovered from a stretch.

After the meeting, the Parisian public paid tribute to French right-winger Luc Abalo, who spent eight seasons at PSG before taking over the management of Elverum for a season, with the goal of playing in the Tokyo Games. 2020 to summer 2021 with the Blues.

On Thursday, he scored four goals.

With this success, the Parisians scored their first two points in the competition.

A victory that will have to be confirmed in a week by traveling to the hall of the Poles in Kielce, who share the head of the group with Flensburg (6 points, three wins and one defeat each).

© 2020 AFP