At the turn of the two millennia, Sweden was the biggest handball power. The famous "Bengan boys", named after the famous coach Bengt Johansson, were European champions three times in a row - in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
The feat of the officially best player of all time, Magnus Vislander, Štefan Levgren, Štafan Olsson, Ljubomir Vranješ, Peter Genzel and others, could be repeated by Spain tonight (18 p.m.) in Budapest, and Sweden will stand in their way to a golden hat-trick. The "three crowns" selection won the second grand final in 12 months from the edge, and they will be looking for the first cup after two dry decades.
Since 2002, she has played in three finals and lost them - in 2012 to France at the Olympic Games in London (22:21), in 2018 to Spain at the European Championship in Croatia (29:23) and last year to Denmark at the Planetary Championship in Egypt (26:24).
The "Spanish" are slight favorites according to the bookmakers, and the fact that they last lost to the "Vikings" in major competitions was 13 years and 11 days ago, in the group stage of the World Cup in Croatia (34:30). Since then, they have registered five victories, including the one in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo (34:33) and in the group stage of this EP (32:28).
The trump cards of both teams will be the goalkeepers. Andreas Palička saved Ludovic Fabregas' zicer nine seconds before the end to win over France in the semi-final (34:33), and Giordi Ribera has the phenomenal tandem of Gonsalo Peres de Vargas - Rodrigo Korales at his disposal.
- In every match, you see that small, small things decide the winner. It's handball, that's why it's an amazing sport. We will see what will happen in the final - said the 35-year-old Palička.
After the bronze medal in Tokyo, the legendary captain of Spain Raul Entrerios ended his career, the great pivot Đulen Aginagalde and the phenomenal defender Viras Moros said goodbye to the national team, and the great brothers Alex and Danijel Duyshebaev left the championship due to injuries. The games were not promising, but Ribera showed that he is one of the best coaches today and outwitted the favored Danes in the semi-finals.
- No one believed that we could reach the final weekend with this new team, and now we are in the final. This is a wonderful story, but we have one more game left and we can make history - said Corrales.
In the match for 3rd place, from 15.30:XNUMX p.m., Olympic champion France and world champion Denmark meet.
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