Not so simple for Paris. PSG Handball had to work hard to secure an eighth victory in as many days in Starligue by winning in Istres (34-30) on Sunday. Paris remains the sole leader with 16 points ahead of the trio Nantes, Montpellier and Toulouse (14). Nantes easily won on Sunday at Créteil (38-31) with 8 goals from Julien Bos (including 4 penalties). Montpellier and Toulouse respectively dominated Nîmes (38-32) on Saturday and Chartres (31-27) on Friday.
The Parisians were held on in the first half by the Istreens, who held a short advantage at the break (16-15), and raised the tone in the second half. The ten-time reigning French champion closed ranks around his goalkeeper, the Swede Andreas Palicka, author of 14 saves, to gradually widen the gap with the valiant promoted player. Pivot Kamil Syprzak was the Parisian top scorer with 8 goals.
“The team was tired after the trip to Berlin. Istres is a good team, it was a good fight tonight. We played better in the second half, it was clearly better,” analyzed the goalkeeper after the match, according to an extract posted on the club’s X account. Palicka looked forward to the next important meeting of the Parisian season. It will be in the Champions League, during an important match for the first two places in their group, against Sporting.
