Paris and Kiel put weak starts behind them

Two of the main contenders for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne overcame their disappointing opening defeats in their second matches.

While THW Kiel expectedly had an easy outing against Besiktas, PSG Paris struggled against Wisla Plock, but could rely on their goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer to deliever.

Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) 29:24 (16:13)

Two brothers and a brilliant Omeyer provided PSG with their first win in this VELUX EHF Champions League season - but the score line flattered the hosts as the tie was in reality much tighter.

After their draw against Veszprem last week, Plock were going to be no easy task for PSG, but finally 23 saves from Thierry Omeyer and an overall of 13 goals from the Karabatic duo (seven for Nikola, six for Luka) sealed the deal for the French champions, who had lost their opener at Flensburg 32:39.

“It was a hard game for us,” said PSG coach Noka Serdarusic, “but we are happy with the victory.”

Omeyer was satisfied with the defence and his performance: “Conceding only 24 goals against a team like Plock is a good result.”

Paris were up 5:1 thanks to line player Luka Karabatic.

But Plock improved in defence and had solutions for most of the Paris attacks.

Despite being down by three goals at the break (13:16): “We played well in the first half,” said Serdarusic, while his counterpart, Plock coach Manuel Cadenas, was only disappointed with the last ten minutes: “The defence decided the match.”

His team pulled it level at 20:20, but then the Thierry Omeyer show started, leading his team to increase the gap goal by goal.

Even a late red card to Nikola Karabatic after his third two-minutes suspension did not stop PSG in the final minutes.

“We were really aggressive in defence against Plock’s tall shooters, this was key,” said Luka Karabatic to TV station beIN Sports.

Plock player Rodrigo Corales praised the Paris trio too: “Omeyer and the Karabatic brothers were fantastic during the last 10 minutes.”

Barachet spoke post-match: "We were disappointed after our loss to Flensburg, so we are very happy with this first victory."

The new arrivals Thiago Rocha and Dmitry Zhitnikov were the top scorers for the Oilers with five goals each.

THW Kiel (GER) vs Besiktas Jimnastik Kulubu (TUR) 32:21 (16:12)

Besiktas Istanbul were taught a lesson in modern defence by the three times EHF Champions League winners.

Thanks to their goal machine Ramazan Döne (in total six goals), the Turkish champions managed to stay in touching distance up until the 24th minute.

With 11:9 on the score board in Kiel’s favour, the “Zebra machine” started its engines.

Backed by strong goalkeeper Nikolas Katsigiannis, who replaced Niklas Landin between the posts.

Besiktas found it extremely difficult in attack as they lacked creativity moving forward.

Led by line player Patrick Wiencek and young left wing Rune Dahmke (six goals each), Kiel steamrolled Besiktas after the break.

The Turkish side went eleven minutes without scoring, while THW forged ahead after netting six in a row to give themselves a double-figured gap at 22:12.

“We started badly in attack, you could see that our players were nervous after two straight defeats in the Champions League and Bundesliga, but Katsigiannis played well and this was key for the half-time score line.

After the break our defence stood strong and the victory was deserved,” said THW coach Alfred Gislason to TV station SKY.

The only question was, whether Besiktas would manage to score 20 goals or more, but they managed to in the end, when Serbian Darko Djukic netted to make it 20:29 five minutes before the end.

With 20 minutes to go, Kiel rotated their bench giving young guns Rogerio Ferreira and Alexander Williams their first ever Champions League goals in a THW jersey.

Goalkeeper Katsigiannis was satisfied with the final result: “This win was important for us. We want to make it to Cologne, but everybody saw that we have a huge amount of work ahead of us.”

Kiel are ready for their next big clash against their German rivals SG Flensburg-Handewitt, while Besiktas (the only team in Group A with no points after two match days) are again the underdogs against Paris.