Germany and Macedonia traded blows for the 60 minutes of their mutual game, but ultimately found themselves in a stalemate, 25:25 (12:11).
The title holders had their second draw in a row, after the one against Slovenia, two days ago.
Unexpected Group C winners from Macedonia will start the main round with three points, as Germany will either start with two or with three, as they have to wait for the end of the Slovenia vs Montenegro game.
“Before the game we said that if someone gave us one point than we will sign for it, but in the end, we are very happy – we draw against the last European Champions – for our small country it’s very important!” Dejan Manaskov said.
“With three points from group stage we go to fight again! We have a chance, we are first now, but after a rest day we will concentrate on our opponents in the next round,” he added.
An aggressive Macedonian approach stunned the German side early in the game.
“We knew that it was going to be a hard game because our opponents play really smart. They showed us how good they can be and I am sorry that we did not win today. It is hard to believe that we didn’t take two points today because of that stupid pass at the end,“ German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff said.
As Raul Gonzalez, who is making his debut as the Macedonia coach in the EHF EURO, deployed a seven-player attack by taking out goalkeeper Borko Ristovski, Germany had little answer in defence, while their offence was stopped in its tracks due to a 5+1 defensive approach.
The 83% shot efficiency from the Macedonian side helped them jump to an early 6:3 lead, with Gonzalez’s side displaying a show of virtuosity with several amazing goals, including an in-flight gem from Kiril Lazarov.
