For Germany, it was the first EHF EURO win against the Spaniards since the final in 2016. The back-court trio of Renārs Uščins, Juri Knorr and Julian Köster netted 19 goals combined for their side, who were again backed by thousands of fans among the 9,526 spectators in Herning.
GROUP A
H2H: 10-2-21
Top scorers: Renārs Uščins 8/10 (GER); Jan Gurri 7/8 (ESP)
Goalkeeper saves: Andreas Wolff 6/26, David Späth 3/15 (GER); Sergey Hernández 4/28, Ignacio Biosca 3/12(ESP)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Renārs Uščins (GER)
- as usual against Spain, German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff showed a great performance in the first half and his teammates could have benefitted much more from his saves, but they had too many mistakes in attack
- starting from 3:2, Germany were always ahead, sometimes even by four goals, thanks to the hammer-shots of Julian Köster and Renārs Uščins, but until the break Spain managed to reduce the gap to two
- the restart was just like the opening minutes — full of high-speed and goals on both sides and a rare number of positional attacks; but then a fierce defence started, with tough fights on both sides
- Germany kept the upper hand, but could not cast off the Spaniards despite a constant two-three goal advantage — until minute 58, when Renārs Uščins decided the match with his eighth strike for 33:29
- five of the six teams for the main round in Herning are confirmed: Denmark, France, Norway, Germany and Spain — a great set-up for the next stage in Jyske Bank Boxen
Another classic clash of two top teams
When Spain lock horns with Germany, it is never boring, but always thrilling. In the overall balance, Spain are clearly ahead, but they actually suffered their most painful defeat against the Germans, the 17:24 in the EHF EURO 2016 final.
Then they were beaten twice at the 2024 Olympic Games, when Germany won silver and Spain bronze. The biggest pressure for Spain — missing the main round like in 2024 — was taken away by the Austrian victory against Serbia before. For Germany it was still a do-or-die in terms of proceeding to the next stage. And their performance was incomparable to the defeat against Serbia before — full of fire, will, enthusiasm and power.
On the other hand, Spain were hungry for the points that they could carry to the main round. After Andreas Wolff showed an outstanding first half, he could not save a ball after the break and was replaced by David Späth — after Spain had also changed their goalkeepers, from Sergey Hernández to Ignacio Biosca. Finally, the question was which back-court shooters score more, as in the crucial stages, the high-speed game from the start of both halves came to a halt, and the match was imprinted by two emotional defensive sides.
I'm really happy, really proud about the team and yes, it was many pressure before the game, but our defence and our attack were great for 60 minutes. Two amazing goalkeepers and I'm really happy.
Taking points to the main round is super-important, this game was basically the first game of the main round for us and we lost it and don't have points. Now the error margin is close to zero, but we need to believe as this team always believed and achieved great things like this, so we will continue.
