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First minutes for Barachet after seven months

The right back got injured while he was still at Atletico. He signed for the Parisians, who sent him on a loan to St Raphael. He is expected to make his debut today

It will be an extremely intriguing encounter tonight in the south of France. When Atletico Madrid dissolved last summer, many teams signed players from the Spanish giants. One of them, right back Barachet, went to PSG. But since Barachet was long-term injured, and coach Gardent already had Kopljar and Hallgrimson under contract, a loan agreement was made and Barachet went to St Raphael. 

He will play tonight for the first time after a seven-month hiatus. He was in the team already last week on the road in Rennes, at Cesson, but they didn't return with a win. When playing St Raphael, the key thing is to stop their center back Morten Olsen, and that's just what Cesson did. Olsen had only four shots from open play, converting just one. It was his least efficient game. It didn't start off well, it didn't end well either. After Aix, St Raphael lost to Cesson, who have proven themselves as "giant-slayers". They took a point against Chambery, beat Montpellier on the road, and now they knocked down St Raphael.

No miracles should be expected from Barachet. He will hardly be able to play some 20 minutes, if that much, and it's hard to believe that coach Gaudin will force his involvement today. Stehlik and Di Panda will carry most of the weight on the right back. Much more important for St Raphael is that Olsen and Atlason will play. The Icelander too had a lot of injury problems at the start of the season, he is still not in the right form, and he was at his most active so far against Cesson, scoring three goals from six attempts.

St Raphael will certainly look for their chance in fast-breaks, transition, surprise shots from Olsen, and the way PSG have been playing in the defense, this could be very effective.

- We'll try to run with them whenever there's a chance. Paris are playing with Gojun in the center of the defense, and Vori often plays 2x30 minutes, mostly at the heart of the defense, and he is a heavy fellow, so we need to look for easy goals from the first and second wave - pivot Alexander Lynggaard made this interesting statement for the Danish media. He came from Nordjaelland to St Raphael last summer.

The Parisians demolished feeble Aix last week, getting 39 goals in, even though coach Gardent rested Mikkel Hansen. It was an introduction to the Champions League derby against Barcelona, where they had a 5-1 lead, but were the inferior team for the rest of the game, especially in the second half. They have much more work to do if they want to reach Barcelona's level, especially in terms of team spirit and teamwork, as PSG are miles away from Gardent would like to see in that department.

- The game was decided early in the second half. We were static, Barcelona were good in defense. Barcelona is an institution that has been around for 40 years, we've been here for a year and a half. Even with good players, it takes time - the PSG coach said, continuing to offer alibis and beg for more time.

They have no significant absences ahead of today's game, and if they aren't fully cautious and don't take the right approach in the defense, which has been a major problem for them so far, it will be a hard 60 minutes. This St Raphael team is anything but harmless.

Coach Gardent has decided to leave long-term injured Zacharia N'Diaye out, as well as young left wing Jeffrey M'Tima and Mladen Bojinovic.

The Paris locker room is rather disunited, PSG seem nothing like a real team. This is reflected in their results, and especially in their game. St. Raphael are a team who can beat any team in France on a good day, I am sure of that. If Barachet contributes another 10 minutes of top-quality handball today, although it will be questionable after a seven-month break, they will do even better. But even without him, they are capable of threatening the stars from Paris. This season, in the matches against stronger rivals, the Parisians gathered a defeat against Metalurg, a draw against Vardar, +1 against Chambery and Montpellier, a draw in Toulouse, +4 against Minsk... You can forget about the demolishing of Aix and Cesson. That has nothing to do with today's match, and you should make the most of this handicap.