When the heart wants and the body doesn't

From the special reporter "Vijesti"

"It was not easy for me to decide to play this game, you know what happened to me against Romania. I would apologize to my family, I didn't tell them until the end that I was going to play, they must have been surprised to see me on the field. My desire was greater than anything else. I'm sorry that I wasn't like in the previous games. If I had been healthy, I'm sure we would be crying from happiness now for entering the final".

Those words of Milena Raičević after Montenegro's defeat by Denmark (27:23) in the semifinals of the 15th European Championship say everything - about desire, about courage, about heroism, but unfortunately also about the impotence of the "lionesses", whose already "short" rotation was destroyed by injuries and fatigue.

The long-time organizer of the game has been suffering from a shoulder injury since the beginning of the championship, because of which she can't even shoot, and then at the end of the match against Romania, she received a gruesome knee strike in the back of the head. She wore a collar around her neck, and then a few hours before the showdown with Denmark, she decided to go out on the field.

At the beginning, it seemed like a fairy tale, because Bojana Popović's team, supported by phenomenal support from the stands, took a 6:3 lead in the 8th minute with three goals each from Jovanka Radičević and Đurđina Jauković. Then indications began to appear that there would be no happy ending, as the struggles in the attack began.

Denmark quickly equalized, and to make matters worse, Radičević and Tatjana Brnović missed shots on an empty net while the rivals had a player sent off.

That seems to have further demoralized the "lionesses", who were without a goal for almost 10 minutes, so the opponent turned the 8:1 series to 11:7. The difference was the same at the break, when Jauković scored two goals at the start of the second half, and Raičević and Itana Grbić scored one each.

About 1.300 fans of Montenegro then made a huge noise, it seemed that the Danes had killed themselves and that Montenegro could achieve a sensational turnaround, but Jesper Jensen, unfortunately, has many trump cards in the team.

He "shuffled the cards" a bit, and his chosen ones called out and again played brilliantly in defense. "Lionesses" too often had a passive attack, even with more players, and there were no balls for the wings and pivots.

Everything was attempted through the middle, which Jensen wanted, and the fact that Radičević's second and last kick from the wing at the beginning of the 5th minute, and that Ivona Pavićević only attempted (and scored) once after 41 minutes and 15 seconds, is striking. games!

Denmark knew how to punish the monotonous game of its rivals and in the 50th minute practically solved the match, when Louise Vinter-Burgord increased the score to 21:16. With a series of five goals, Itana Grbić reduced the score to 24:21 with less than six minutes to go, waking up the fans, who had already raised their hands, but there was neither time nor freshness for a turnaround.

And Grbić was "exhausted" from the merciless fight with her opponents, so with that result she had two unsuccessful shots - the first was stopped by a block, the second by Altea Reinhart in an attack with a player more, so Denmark could celebrate the first place in the final of the European championships after 18 years.

And Bojana Popović with her colleagues, above all physiotherapists Andrija Damjanović and Mitra Vujović, must do everything to recover the main players until tomorrow's match for 3rd place. A medal against the giants of world handball, be it France or Norway, would be one of the greatest achievements of Montenegrin sports.

DENMARK - MONTENEGRO 27:23 (14:10)

Ljubljana - "Stožice Arena". Spectators: 3.600. Judges: A. Kovalčuk and I. Kovalčuk (Moldova). Sevens: Denmark 4 (2), Montenegro 1 (1). Exclusions: Denmark 10, Montenegro 8 minutes.

Denmark: TOFT (nine saves), Reinhart (one save), S. Iversen, AM HANSEN 2, HEJNDAL 1, TRANBORG 3, A. Hansen, Jergensen 2, JENSEN-ESTERGORD 2, VINTER-BURGORD 2, Petersen, HEJLUND 6, FRIS 7 (1), R. Iversen 1, Halilčević, Meler 1 (1).

Montenegro: RAJČIĆ (five saves and seven goals), Batinović (two saves), RADIČEVIĆ 3 (1), Kadović, JAUKOVIĆ 7, Pletikosić 1, Godeč, Bulatović, Malović 1, Ćorović, BRNOVIĆ 1, Alivodić, RAIČEVIĆ 2, PAVIĆEVIĆ 1 , Kepić, GRBIĆ 7.