Last-minute come-back!

As was the case against Brest the previous evening, the Rouge et Bleu took several minutes to get into the swing of things. Meanwhile Vardar, who were playing their first match of the tournament, took advantage of this slow start to carve out a handy early lead (7': 2-6). Our forwards were up against a tough defence, while at the other end of the court, Dimitar Dibirov and his teammates were in clinical form (15': 6-13). This proved too much for Nikola Karabatic, and the France playmaker promptly set about scoring four stylish goals in quick succession to get the first half going in earnest (18': 10-13). However, this outpouring of energy cost Raul Gonzalez's men and, after a point, the shots stopped going in and gaps began to open up at the back (25': 12-18), leaving them well behind at the break (14-20).

The capital club came out for the second half in much better form and, while they didn't level matters right away, they stayed in the running thanks to the exploits of Rodrigo Corrales and Uwe Gensheimer (40': 19-25). With the final minutes approaching, the Paris Saint-Germain Handball machine seemed to have hit top gear and the gap steadily narrowed (52': 27-29) before Nedim produced a superb Schwenker to level the scores (56': 31-31). Paris were more effective in every sector and could even have won the match after Thierry Omeyer saved a penalty. Unfortunately, Sander Sagosen's shot on the final buzzer crashed back off the frame of the goal and the match ended honours even (33-33).

Despite trailing for a long time, Paris Saint-Germain Handball dug deep - just 24 hours after their previous outing - to match it with a side playing their first match of the Eurotournoi. Paris play their next match on Sunday, with their opponent to be determined on Saturday.

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)