The French men’s handball team, Olympic champions in Tokyo in 2021, failed at the gates of the European final, beaten by Sweden (34-33) and their heroic goalkeeper Andreas Palicka. The Blues will now seek Sunday (3:30 p.m.) to console themselves with a bronze medal once morest Denmark, who fell earlier once morest Spain (29-25).
A last Swedish walk, a last French action to come back to 34-34 in the last 10 seconds. Like a memory of France-Denmark two days earlier. But in front of Ludovic Fabregas, there was Andreas Palicka. The Swedish goalkeeper, author of 12 saves in the meeting, was undoubtedly erected as a hero in his country on Friday evening. Sweden was deprived of several executives on Friday, affected by the Covid-19: Hampus Wanne, Felix Claar, Lukas Sandell or Niclas Ekberg. But the future Parisian goalkeeper was making his return following contracting the Covid. Not for nothing.
In the oven and in the mill, he kept his team afloat once morest the good start to the match of the Blues, before almost single-handedly reversing the course of the match, with five saves in the first period but above all three goals including that of the equalizer (10-10) in the empty goal before the 20th minute, which then allowed the Swedes to take the lead. He was also at this precise moment the top scorer of the meeting!
“The three goals that we take in the empty net, with one player less, and the last goal at the end of the half are the goals that we run following in the second”, hotly analyzed Nikola Karabatic. The three exclusions on the French side hurt, but above all the defense did not show itself sufficiently up to the task, in great difficulty on the offensive actions of Jim Gottfridsson (9 goals) and Jonathan Carlsbogard (5 goals). The Swedes took control during the first period to never let Guillaume Gille’s players come back in front once more, with a gap that long fluctuated between two and four goals in favor of the Scandinavians.
If Andreas Palicka had an almost perfect match, the same cannot be said for the French goalkeepers: 3 out of 28 saves for Vincent Gérard, and 1 out of 9 for Wesley Pardin. “We conceded too many goals, we did not find the solution in defense and they have an attack that is difficult to control, they are struggling. This is really where the shoe pinches today,” regretted, disappointed, Aymeric Minne.
The 24-year-old from Nantes certainly stands out as the greatest satisfaction on the Blue side. Entering the second half, he tried everything, repeatedly managing to find solutions in the face of the solid opposing defense: “I went there, I insisted on my duels. It worked pretty well but we needed more stops in defense. And he would certainly have dreamed of a comeback as fantastic as the one achieved once morest Denmark in the last minute, but “the miracle did not take place tonight”.
No miracle, and no double possible following Tokyo. Since its last coronation in 2014 in Denmark, the French team has not managed to reach the final of the Euro, without doubt the most challenging competition in world handball. From now on, the French will have to find the ability to quickly turn the page to get a bronze medal once morest Denmark on Sunday (3:30 p.m.), before the Sweden-Spain final. Aymeric Minne (8 goals), who is experiencing his very first major competition, knows how important it will be: “There are players like me who have never had a medal. Nobody spits on a medal.