Forced to play a round-trip play-off for the quarter-finals for having finished only 3rd in group B, a somewhat smug PSG conceded a 30-30 draw at Elverum in their hall on Wednesday evening, the Norwegian club, 6th in the Group A on his side.
An opponent that PSG had beaten in their last four meetings, the last by a bitter 44-29 in early March.
The Parisian team got off to a quiet but controlled start, as a number of attacks failed on both sides in the first ten minutes at Terningen Arena in Elverum (4-4, 10th).
It took about twenty minutes for PSG to dig a first significant gap on the wide leader of the Norwegian championship, thanks to a Syprzak goal, full axis at six meters, with a shot from below (7-10, 19th ).
36': @syprzak_kamil, this goal machine!!!
(15-20) #ELVPSG pic.twitter.com/FYG5xZ0e9r
— PSG Handball (@psghand) March 30, 2022
The Parisian lead increased to four goals in the first period but the Norwegians, if they experienced difficulties against the staggered defense of PSG, sometimes proceeded to seven against six, and managed to limit the breakage and reach the rest at 13-15.
Back against Nancy in the league, Elohim Prandi made his comeback in C1, three months after the stabbing suffered on December 31.
On the side of Elverum, the future Parisian Dominik Mathé had not been selected for this part.
After the break, however, the team from the capital seemed to put their paw on the game, quickly regaining a substantial lead (17-22, 41st), thanks in particular to Syprzak, Parisian top scorer in Norway this Wednesday evening (12 goals ) and Genty, excellent, author of a dozen parades.
All without pushing the machines to their maximum power, Remili contenting himself with a single goal and Nikola Karabatic remaining silent.
Consequence: a close to Elverum, carried by Solstad, 8 goals and 100% success, to return to height ten minutes from the final whistle (24-24, 50th).
The Norwegian team even went ahead in the score six minutes from time (27-26, 54th), before recording an unexpected draw against the Parisian armada.
Nothing to prevent the players of Raul Gonzalez from sleeping in view of the return match at Coubertin next Thursday.
But perhaps it would be wise not to project too quickly on the quarter-final which then awaits them against the Germans of Kiel.
A whole different pair of sleeves.