A cursory look at the statistics of the match for 3rd place in the European Championship between Montenegro and France reveals a very interesting fact - the third longest minutes in the match was played by Tatjana Brnović, who was out of the game for only eight minutes and 24 seconds.
When you know that she had two suspensions, the second one in the 17th minute, and that she stayed on the field until the end, it shows how stable a player the 24-year-old pivot is.
Although she covered the middle of the defense, where exclusions are the most common, she was perfectly careful of the red card, and even better, together with Đurđina Jauković, Emma Alivodić and others, she "built" a rampart in front of the goal of Marta Batinović and Marina Rajčić.
She finished the match with three goals each, forced sevens and assists, as well as a stolen ball and several forced penetrations. She found the last atoms of strength to knock down the Olympic champion, just like her teammates, although there was a fear that fatigue could decide the "lionesses".
"It was not only adrenaline, but also an abnormal desire to win, a desire to prove ourselves, but also to finally win a medal for Montenegro. We had a huge motive, I am very proud of all of us", said the French Brest player, who showed at this championship that she is one of the best pivot and defensive players in the world.
Bojana Popović's team led for a long time, in the 48th minute they had 20:17, but they did not find the net for more than 10 minutes. In the finish, however, he turned it around at 22:21, and it seemed that everything was over when Alivodić forced Debora Lasurs to break through with 37 seconds left.
13 Tatjana Brnović forced seven matches and 15 exclusions in seven games at the European Championship. Against the Netherlands, when the place in the semi-finals was decided, Bojana Popović did not put her in the game
The Lionesses, however, played the ball for a long time, the referees quickly awarded a passive attack, and then a red card to Itana Grbić and a seven-pointer, which was realized by Gras Zadi for extra time.
"It was a 'crazy' game. When we had a goal difference with about 30 seconds left, hands were quickly raised for a passive attack and there was a lot of tension. A seven-point penalty and a red card for Itana were awarded, and we just prayed that they would miss the penalty. Even though that didn't happen, we didn't fail morally, that's what I'm most proud of. We stayed strong, composed, we just continued to play, even though we had a big handicap due to Itana's expulsion. We didn't give up for a single moment, but continued to play even harder."
What happened in the break between the end of the regular course and the start of extra time?
"We were so calm, nobody heard each other. The head coach said, we were all completely concentrated and calm, that's what I will remember this game for. That was the decisive moment and the reason why we won", Brnovića points out.
It wouldn't even be fair to get lost in that kind of atmosphere in "Arena Stožice". More than 2.000 Montenegrin fans flocked to Ljubljana and created an atmosphere to remember, the likes of which cannot be remembered at the European handball championships.
"This is really a miracle, we are really grateful for every message of support, for every encouragement near the small screens, let alone in the hall itself. The merit of the fans for the success is huge, we are very happy that they were with us to celebrate every victory, but also to help us overcome defeats. Their abnormal energy gave us extra élan", points out the "lioness" pivot.
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Just seven days before the match for 3rd place, Montenegro lost 27:19 to France at the start of the main stage. But, in Ljubljana, the fast in duels with another world handball giant, which lasted since the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games in London, was broken.
"In Skopje, we made 21 technical errors. Of those, in half of the cases we gave the ball directly into the hands of the opponents, that decided everything. Now we had a more serious and calm approach to the game in attack, so we solved that problem", concluded Tatjana Brnović.
NOW WE HAVE MATURED AND GROWN UP
Since 2012, when it won two medals, Montenegro has missed several chances to get on the podium.
At the World Cup in Serbia in 2013, she was surprisingly defeated by Denmark in the round of 2015, a year later she was fourth at the EHF Euro in Hungary and Croatia, and in XNUMX in Denmark, she lost to Norway in the quarter-finals of the WC, although she had many chances to break the match in her benefit.
The next chance was waited until 2019, when the combination of the trophy generation "lionesses" and players born in 1996 and younger had everything open until the semifinals of the planetary championship in Japan, but lost to Spain in a strange duel.
Now the prize has arrived, and the biggest burden was carried by the generation of 1996, for which Tatjana Brnović, who was two years younger, also played for the cadet and junior competition.
19 the goals were scored by the Brest center from 25 shots. She shot an almost perfect 12 out of 13 from six meters, two out of two from penetration, two out of three from the counter and from the wing, and she only shot poorly into an empty net - she was accurate only once out of four attempts.
"We may have been too young before, I think now we have matured enough, grown up and gone through some mistakes that we had to go through in those years. Now everything has come together, we have become a serious team that knows what it wants and knows the way to get it", said the center of Montenegro.
The Lionesses will now be the target of their rivals, as everyone is aware that they have the character and quality to do great things.
"I don't know if it will be more difficult for us or not, but I think we are on the right track of building a serious team. The most important thing is that we have unity, this championship is a real guide for the future. It is certain that we will not back down in front of any team, we will always go with our hearts and we hope that there will be as many successes as possible", Brnović said.
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