Paris (AFP)

The Nantes handball players went to create a sensation on Sunday at the end of the afternoon by winning in Paris 25 to 24, a first setback in the Starligue since May 2019 for PSG which burns a small joker in the race for the title.

In Starligue, Paris SG remained on 43 consecutive matches without defeat.

The last setback dated back to May 12, 2019, a trip to Saint-Raphaël (33-31) when the league title was already assured for PSG.

At home in their room in Coubertin, we have to go back even further to find a Parisian setback in the Starligue: June 8, 2017, and at the time, it was already against Nantes (38-37), at the end of the season then the national crowning was already in the pocket of the PSG.

In the quest for a seventh consecutive national title, this Parisian defeat is not catastrophic.

With 44 points, they are still six points ahead of the Montpellier, who still have to play nine matches by the end of the season, against eight for the Parisians.

The mattress is also a little thicker, since the PSG has the particular difference in its favor on the MHB.

Sunday, there was a scent of the Champions League at the end of the afternoon in Coubertin, between Paris SG and Nantes, who will both play the quarter-finals of the C1 (against the German club Kiel for the PSG, against that of Hungarian Veszprem for Nantes) in mid-May.

As against Montpellier eight days ago, the Parisians started very strong, taking four goals in advance (6-2, 8th and 9-5, 15th).

- Nielsen builds the wall -

But while they clearly had the match in hand thanks to an exceptional game from their goalkeeper Vincent Gérard (16 saves, including 12 in the first period), the Parisians had a very unusual period of nearly ten minutes without scoring, a prelude to 'a very complicated meeting in attack.

Opposite, Nantes did not ask for much to inflict a 6-0 and take the lead in the 24th minute (11-9) without ever letting the Parisians take control of the score, thanks to the Danish goalkeeper Emil Nielsen who set up the wall in the second half (15 stops in total), and an iron defense.

"We had a great game of defense more than attack. As Thierry Anti said, if we want to win against Paris, we have to take less than 30 goals, and that's what we did tonight", Nantes pivot Dragan Pechmalbec explained to beIN Sports at the end of the meeting, referring to the former Nantes coach.

The "H" did not appear in the best conditions in Paris, however, with its captain Rock Feliho injured in the league in Saint-Raphaël, and on a complicated series in Starligue - a draw in Toulouse, a defeat in Nîmes, and a difficult success in Saint-Raphaël--.

"It's a huge confidence that we have just acquired. We know that we can beat the best in the best days, but when we are in less good days like in Nîmes or Toulouse, we can lose stupidly points ", underlined Pechmalbec.

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