Portugal and North Macedonia share the points in Herning

GROUP B

North Macedonia vs Portugal 29:29 (13:15)

H2H: 4-1-6
Top scorers: Filip Kuzmanovski 15/18 (North Macedonia); Francisco Costa 11/15 (Portugal)
Goalkeeper saves: Nikola Mitrevski 3/19, Martin Tomovski 8/20 (both North Macedonia); Gustavo Capdeville 9/31, Diogo Valério 0/5 (both Portugal)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Filip Kuzmanovski (North Macedonia)

• Paulo Pereira’s squad recovered from an early two-goal deficit in the first half to take a two-goal lead of their own at the break, with Francisco Costa scoring a last-gasp penalty past goalkeeper Nikola Mitrevski
• Filip Kuzmanovski scored six goals in the first half and moved into the Macedonian national team's all-time top five goalscorers in their EHF EURO history, passing the legendary Goce Georgievski on the list in fifth place
• as well as scoring 15 goals in total, Kuzmanovski also dished out five assists to help his teammates
• veteran line player Nikola Markoski got sent off for a dangerous challenge in the 14th minute with the Macedonians playing the rest of the match without their experienced defender
• António Areia scored Portugal's ninth goal of the match, which was the national team's 1,200th goal in their EHF EURO history

Portugal and North Macedonia play a thriller in Herning

The Macedonians, supported by their few hundred passionate and loud fans at the Jyske Bank Boxen arena in Herning, managed to slow down Portugal's fast play in the first half. With coach Kiril Lazarov deploying a 5-1 defence for the best part of the opening 30 minutes, the Red-Yellow Lions kept themselves close to Portugal's lead and into the game.

The tension increased in the second half and despite the Heróis do Mar holding a four-goal lead on the wings of Francisco Costa at one point, the Macedonians never gave up. Kuzmanovski inspired a comeback with his 15 goals and Player of the Match performance; the Macedonian comeback was also aided by Martin Tomovski's introduction.

Tomovski’s presence between the posts completely changed the course of the game, as the Portuguese found it more difficult to get past him. Two attempts on goal in the closing minute, were saved by Tomovski, securing his team the crucial point.

Photos © kolektiff images