After a good first period (14-11), Paris SG hand “exploded” after half-time against FC Barcelona according to Nikola Karabatic, conceding a heavy defeat at home on Thursday (30-22) which places it on the verge of abyss before the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League.
“There, I am not thinking at all of the return, but of showing another face against Dunkirk at home (Sunday in the championship, of which PSG is leader). In Barcelona we will have to show another face and more qualities. We showed them in the first half, in the second we collapsed,” the French international told the press.
He also underlined a “lack of confidence latent for a while”, while PSG was slapped on Saturday in the final of the Coupe de France by Nantes (31-23), and the numerous absences (Grébille, Balaguer, Prandi injured from the start of the match) “even if that doesn’t excuse anything”.
His brother Luka, the Parisian captain, felt that his team had “paid off” after the break for the efforts made before, where they were “perhaps a little in overdrive”.
“It was playing at a very high intensity, it’s hard to maintain this rhythm for 60 minutes, and somewhere we gave up mentally and physically in the second period,” explained the pivot.
“Of course there is always hope” for the return, “in sport you must never give up even if it will be complicated,” he added.