After beating SC Magdeburg in round 6, GOG were looking to upset yet another favourite in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League on Wednesday night. Paris Saint-Germain, on the other hand, were missing Elohim Prandi, their best scorer this season, due to an injury.
While the Danish side's high-octane handball gave Paris many headaches, experience ultimately prevailed. PSG goalkeeper Jannick Green stopped 17 shots to help his team take the two points, 41:36, while Nikola Karabatic was also key for the home team in the last quarter of the game.
GROUP A
Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA) vs GOG (DEN) 41:36 (16:16)
- putting their foot to the pedal right from the first second, GOG took an early four-goal lead and kept it during a major part of the first half
- Danish line player Lukas Jørgensen, who netted five times in the first 30 minutes, was pivotal to GOG's early advantage. He finished the match with nine goals – a new high for him in the EHF Champions League
- thanks to a timeout taken by coach Raul Gonzalez, Paris were able to turn things around and enjoy a quick two-goal lead before going back to the dressing room on an even score
- thanks to 4:0 series powered by Mathieu Grebille, the local side took their first proper advantage of the evening, 24:20, as Jannick Green was stopping almost every shot he faced between his posts
- even though GOG came back within two with a few minutes to play, the Danish side fell short in the money-time, with Nikola Karabatic stealing two balls to seal the deal in the last two minutes
- thanks to this win, Paris have put pressure on Veszprém. The French side now temporarily lead group A with 12 points
Jannick Green – the X factor for Paris
Looking at the match report, you might notice the 41 goals that PSG scored and how their offensive power made the difference in the game.
But you might be mistaken, as Danish goalkeeper Jannick Green was key, stopping 17 shots overall and often preventing GOG from closing the gap on the scoreboard in the last quarter of the game. He might have conceded 34 goals on Wednesday night, but his saves meant more than anything else to his team.
GOG is a very good handball team which plays very well tactically and technically. They run a lot and we had some problems coming back in defence. But we demonstrated our experience and our second half was better. Jannick (Green) was great tonight.
Tactically, we played great in the first half, but it was indeed more difficult in the second one. We conceded open goals on the fast break. We are proud to be able to compete against a great European team. Overall, it was a great fight and we are looking to be next week.
It was a tough game, difficult for us. Firstly, we didn’t feel great in attack and they had a big difference in the first half. We had to change everything very quickly. We played better in the second half – probably our best 30 minutes this season. Our defence was, for example, very good. Jannick (Green) was very important for us.
