The Covid-19 continues to torment the Final Four 2019-2020 edition of PSG Handball. After center-half Luc Steins, Paris will have to do without a second player, its pivot Henrik Toft Hansen. Information confirmed by the Parisian club via its website on Monday a few hours before its semi-final (18 hours) of the Champions League against Barcelona in Cologne.
The Dane tested positive on Sunday evening during a test carried out on the Parisian players and staff upon their arrival in Germany. “The player was isolated and placed in quarantine”, explains the European Handball Federation. Its partners and technical support were forced to retake new tests this Monday morning to participate in the competition. All negative which allows them to go to the Lanxess Arena where the Final Four takes place.
One more absent against the Barcelona favorite
One of the two referees of the match, whose identity has not been disclosed, was also infected with Covid-19. The Swedish duo, composed of Mirza Kurtagic and Mattias Wetterwik, will be replaced by the Croatian tandem Matija Gubica and Boris Milosevic.
The absence of Henrik Toft Hansen, 34, leaves PSG Handball with two pivots, its captain Luka Karabatic and the Pole Kamil Syprzak to face the Catalans, favorites of the competition with 25 wins in as many games this season. PSG is also deprived of Nikola Karabatic, operated on the right knee, and therefore of his replacement, the Dutchman Luc Steins.
