Stopped for ten days, the Parisian handball players approach their round of 16 first leg in the position of favorites, today in Celje (Slovenia), while Nantes will be an outsider against the Polish club Kielce. The path to Final 4 of the 2021 Champions League in Cologne (Germany) in mid-June is strewn with pitfalls for clubs engaged since mid-September. After a group stage affected by the Covid-19 pandemic (11 out of 112 matches could not be played in time), the knockout stage risks being disrupted by the wave of variants.
And the Covid-19 threat becomes more pressing when it comes to these upcoming meetings, because the EHF excludes moving the round of 16 beyond April 8. If a first leg cannot be disputed (case of Covid-19 or new government measures), it can be postponed to play the outward and return leg in two days (or more if the two teams agree to integrate one day rest). On the other hand, if a team cannot play the second leg, it will be eliminated from the competition, regardless of the result of the first leg.
Paris SG, six-time reigning French champion, recorded two cases of Covid-19 on March 22, and the entire group was placed in isolation for seven days. Direct consequence on the preparation: the staff had to return to the system D of the confinement of March 2020, with physical exercises at home and in video so as not to be completely at a standstill.
The two matches of the French championship in Chambéry and Toulouse have logically been postponed and the Parisians travel to Celje in Slovenia having played for the last time on March 20. Luka Karabatic’s teammates were able to resume training on Monday, after the tests carried out and all negative returns. Faced with the Slovenes who won three matches in the first phase, PSG will be a huge favorite, with a positive dynamic after a sluggish start to the European campaign (3 defeats in the first 4 matches), and the advantage of receiving the return to Coubertin .
Tournat finds Nantes
For Nantes, the round of 16 against Kielce will be the opportunity to see again at the H Arena the French international Nicolas Tournat, who left for Poland in the summer of 2020 after having been trained and then turned professional with the “H” as pivot. “It’s a pleasure, because beyond having been a teammate, he’s a friend,” Nantes captain Rock Feliho said on Tuesday. “We are going to be adversaries, but it shows how far we have come.” Alberto Entrerrios’ players have experienced an uneven group stage, between matches in contact with European leaders FC Barcelona, Kiel and Veszprem, and more complicated matches against less famous teams. In 8th, they will face Kielce, very solid third in their group behind the Germans of Flensburg and PSG. “Kielce, it may speak less to people, but it is a top club. They have a lot of very good players. It is a club that has won the Champions League,” warns Feliho.
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