2. EHF Champions League Semifinal

PSG Paris vs Barlinek Industria Kielce 24:25 (14:16)

Result

In the second semifinal of the day, Kielce prevailed after an exceptional low scoring second half (9:10) against the French champions. The win by the narrowest of margins allow Kielce to fight for gold come Sunday.

What They Said

Luc Steins

On the reasons why PSG lost the game:

“It’s details, we were missing shots in the most important moments and in attack we had some
problems to find the solutions.  Normally, we always score more than 30 goals – today it were only
24. I think we have to look at our attack today. Congrats to Kielce – they did a great job and
good luck for them in the finals. I’m really disappointed about the game and the result.”

On eight minutes without a goal starting the second half:

” This is where we probably lost the game because we were way better in defense than in the first half,
but we could’t close the gap. It took some time after we came back in the game, everything was open until the end.  Then, again we missed some important shots and like I said, now I’m disappointed and I don’t know what to say.”

On his missed shot attempt a minute before the end:

“I’m free, our line player is making a good block for me.  It works out really well and I’m completely open.
But, I missed the shot. Of course, it’s easy to say afterwards, but Wolff did a good job and I failed. It’s really painful.”

On the overall season of PSG:

”Of course we came here with high ambitions, but all games are really close. A lost season? I don’t know.
We became champions in France and of course we really wanted to play the Champions League final.  But we can also be proud of some games we played this season and of course I am not thinking about it at this moment. But maybe, when the holiday begin everything calms down a little bit and you can be happy and proud about all  we did all season.”

Nicolas Tournat

On why Kielce return to the final once again and the low scoring result:

“It was a really tough game. They played hard in the second half and we came back from the locker
room a bit unfocused. We didn’t play well at the start of the second half, but mentally we found a way to get back to our level. I think the group is really strong because it was not easy.  Yet, in the end, we still won the game.  Our goalkeeper helped us a lot. Both teams missed a lot of shots and that’s why the result is a low score. I don’t care, we won and that’s all that matters.”

On the next opponent Magdeburg:

“They are a really good team. They showed it all the season. They can beat everyone. And, they beat
Barcelona three times, by now. Only Magdeburg beat them.  That says it all. It will be a really tough game, on Sunday. That’s for sure. We need to be focused and prepare as good as we can.”

If experience will make a difference in the final:

“I think they play at home. The whole arena will support them, so I’m not sure if it will make such a big
difference. We need to be really strong mentally, because it’s a final and we want to win the
title and lift this trophy. Everybody will play with their heart and we will see where it will take us. But, we need to be strong
mentally. We know what we can do, but as I said before, Magdeburg is very strong. It doesn’t matter
that they miss some key players. It’s a very good team overall.”

On what’s up until the final:

“Just going to the hotel, to the physio, eat and sleep. If we can.”