Cruel but not undeserved, Kielce beat Paris Saint-Germain by a small goal in the Champions League semi-final. Paris came very close to a second Champions League semi-final in its history. Favorites Barcelona’s surprise defeat to Magdeburg earlier in the day raised hopes for a more open end to the European Cup, but the capital club did not reach the final step in Cologne.
The Polish club will have been in the lead for a large part of the meeting. Trailing 16-14 at halftime, Raul Gonzalez’s players always stayed in contact with their opponent without ever taking the break. Author of a superb score at the start of the match thanks to the duo Luc Steins and Dainis Kristopans, PSG dictated their game against a Kielce first asleep and kept alive thanks to their goalkeeper Andreas Wolff author of 7 saves in 30 minutes . Kielce, well helped by a weak time from the Parisians at the end of the first half and by the wonders of his siblings Dujshebaev were able to lead by two goals after returning from the locker room.
In the second half, the two teams first neutralized each other. The first goal arrived after five long minutes. Beyond the goalkeepers Palicka and Wolff in great shape who went blow for blow, the respective attacks multiplied the loss of balls by wanting to play too quickly. Thanks to an excellent base-back and pivot relationship from Kielce with five goals (100%) for Karalek and two fine goals for Tournat. PSG relied on their left-back Eloim Prandi to break the lock Andreas Wolff. Shy at first, the 24-year-old has become indispensable. For each of its offensives the Parisians relied on their bison which dropped its arm and sent missiles into the skylights of Kielce. PSG gradually caught up and hoped to qualify in the snatch at the end of the match. But that was without counting on the German goalkeeper who, after a short empty period, came out of his bowl to disgust Luc Steins and Eloim Prandi on the last two strikes of the match. The 32-year-old goalkeeper of his 98 meter made 12 decisive saves over the entire meeting.
Kielce with its French (Nahi, Tournat, Kounkoud) will try to win this Sunday against Magdeburg its second C1 after 2016. For its part, PSG will face FC Barcelona to climb on the podium.