Spain’s defence of their back-to-back EHF EURO titles will continue after the ‘Hispanos’ secured a 28:25 win against Denmark in the opening semi-final on Friday night, booking their fourth straight final in the competition.
Spain lost both the World Championship and Olympic semi-finals to Denmark in the last year but avenged those defeats in the first game of the penultimate stage in Budapest. Spain were led by big games from Barça stars Aleix Gómez and Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, but also rotated their on-court line-up with a little more frequency than Denmark and seemed to have more power in the critical closing minutes.
Gomez was named Grundfos Player of the Match after scoring 11 goals.
SEMI-FINAL
Spain vs Denmark 29:25 (13:14)
- Spain were on the back foot in the first half but owned the second 30 minutes. Perez de Vargas made three critical saves in the last 10 minutes to prevent a Danish comeback late in the game
- it was a huge goalkeeper battle early on, with both Niklas Landin and Perez de Vargas on at least 50 per cent until near the 15-minute mark. Landin was still on 60 per cent in the 15th and 58 per cent in the 20th, but it was Perez de Vargas who made the saves when it counted in the final stages
- due to the number of saves plus a number of turnovers, the score progressed very slowly at first, with only one goal in the opening five minutes — and on a penalty, by Mikkel Hansen, no less. But from 4:5 in the 15th minute, the teams began to score with more frequency
- Denmark created a lead as clear as four goals multiple times in the first half, latest at 10:6 in the 23rd, before Spain’s right side — back Joan Cañellas and wing Gómez — powered a comeback that saw the half-time distance at just one goal
- it was Gómez who struck for Spain’s first lead in the game, 17:16 in the 41st minute, and the defending title holders held an advantage of one to three goals from that point to the buzzer
Spain book fourth straight EHF EURO final
Can Spain make it three EHF EURO titles in a row and become true legends in the competition? Only one team have done it before and it was two decades ago — Sweden in 1998, 2000 and 2002. Spain not only won the last two trophies but also contested the final in 2016.
The victory against Denmark is Spain’s first in an official competition since 2015. In the last year, Spain lost both the World Championship and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games semi-finals to Denmark, but on Friday night they showed once again they are the masters of the EHF EURO.
