Although at times it looked like it was close, Vardar failed to make up for the ten-goal deficit from the first game, and bid farewell to the appearance in Europe with a 27-24 victory over Montpellier in the quarterfinals.
At home, Vardar played much better than seven days ago in France, Montpellier led only with the initial 1-0 and in the continuation the Macedonian representative consistently had the advantage on his side.
Vlach was excellent in the goal, who recorded several excellent interventions in the opening minutes. The biggest advantage in the first part was gained by Vardar somewhere in the middle of the half when it led with 12-7 and that was half of the ten negatives from the visit to France.
Vardar managed to keep that advantage until the end of the break when the scoreboard stood 17-12. It was an impression that Vardar could have made a bigger difference, but the French goalkeeper knew exactly when his handball players made a mistake to save the situation.
Vardar’s good game continued in the second half, so with 15 minutes before the end, Vardar led with seven points (22-15). But here, Chupic’s team seemed to have already started to lose strength, Montpellier returned to a three-four goal difference and it became clear that those ten goal difference will still remain unattainable.
A problem in those moments was the lack of rotation, and there was also the exclusion of Uros Mitrović, who earned a red card in the first half.
Before Vardar is now the fight for the title in the domestic championship, to which it is extremely close and mathematically it can secure it in just two days, if it celebrates against its biggest rival, Pelister. That match is played at 19:00.
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