Serbia's Nemanja Zelenovic (C) vies with Croatia's Zeljko Musa (L) and David Mandic during the 2020 Men's European Handball Championship qualifying match between Serbia and Croatia in Belgrade, Serbia, on April 11, 2019. Match ended in a 25-25 draw. (Xinhua/Predrag Milosavljevic)
BELGRADE, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Serbia and Croatia played an even match (25-25) in qualifications for the 2020 Men's EHF European Handball Championship in Belgrade on Thursday.
The match between Serbia and Croatia within the Group 2 of the qualification phase two of the 2020 Men's EHF Euro was played at the Belgrade Arena in front of thousands of spectators.
The Croatian team gained the early 3-1 lead at the beginning of the match, and managed to maintain it during the most of the first half, until Serbia equalized at 8-8 in the 22nd minute of the match.
Home team took over the advantage after the halftime, that was marked by the 13-13 deadlock, and managed to build a two-goal advantage at 16-14.
However, just ten minutes before the end of the match Croatian team managed to get back in to the match and set the score even again at 20-20.
The even score was maintained by the end of match despite efforts of both sides, to the final score of 25-25.
With this draw, coming after two victories in previous rounds, Croatia managed to maintain the leading position in the group, while Serbia remains in the back with two defeats from previous matches against Switzerland and Belgium.
The two teams will play another match in Croatia on April 14.
2020 EHF Euro will take place in Austria, Norway and Sweden.
