Quarter-final: Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA) vs Esperance Sportive de Tunis (TUN) 38:31 (21:18)
The second match of the day, featuring a second VELUX EHF FINAL 4 side, told a very similar story to that of the first. The first period was level most of the way through before the European team pulled ahead to create a difference at the break, which grew by the time the final buzzer sounded.
After five minutes PSG held a narrow lead at 5:4 before Tunis took the lead with a fast break from Anis Mahmoudi while Jesper Nielsen was out on a two-minute suspension (7:6, 10th). The African team added another fast break that put them in front 8:6 as PSG returned to full strength, but a suspension for Marouen Chouiref would cost them as PSG’s Nedim Remili closed the gap to one with a goal off a rebounded penalty (7:8).
As PSG continued to trail by one coach Zvonimir Serdarusic called his first time-out in the 13th (8:9), and his team soon equalised. Thierry Omeyer made a great save that kept the game level, and the European squad wasted no time creating a one-goal advantage to lead 12:11 when new Slovenia keeper Gorazd Skof took Omeyer’s place between the posts.
Luka Karabatic created the first two-goal difference of the game in favour of PSG in the 18th when he scored from his position on the line, but he received a suspension in the next defence that enabled Tunis to decrease the deficit to one at 12:13. The African team levelled in the 21st as PSG seemed to have trouble gelling their defensive system with the new players on their roster (14:14), though as the half progressed the French side just as Kielce had before them.
The French champions opened a more decisive advantage in the last five minutes of the half as Daniel Narcisse took the score to 19:16 on a successful fast break in the 27th. The score line stayed at three at half-time, and in the second period Tunis slowly came back within two as Remili missed a fast-break opportunity when his shot was saved by goalkeeper Marouen Maggaiz.
Despite a third two-minute suspension for Marouen Chouiref, which sent him off court with a red card, Tunis closed the gap to one (27:28) by the time the last quarter of the match began – but when another suspension followed (for Mohamed Ali Bhar) the African team began to lose their footing.
After being behind by just one minutes earlier they fell back to a three-goal deficit when Uwe Gensheimer scored on a penalty in the 46th (30:27) and from there the three-goal distance persisted. Though Maggaiz caused some trouble for PSG’s shooters, making an impressive breakthrough save inside the last seven minutes of the game (33:30 to PSG), he could not do enough for his team to level.
In the last five minutes PSG were clearly on their way to victory, as Narcisse opened a six-goal advantage at 36:30 in the 57th, and they held on to finish with a lead of seven.