Looking to try to equal or improve the sixth place obtained in the 2020 edition, the Portuguese team entered the field forced to beat the Spanish, winners in 2018 and 2020, and the signs given in the first minutes, namely the important saves by Diogo Valério, now the starter, suggested that the outcome could be happy for the Portuguese.
The good contribution between the posts from one of Portugal’s usual substitutes ended up making the difference, as did the effectiveness in attack, with the score quickly rising – 4-9 after 15 minutes of play.
Olympiacos’ Greek goalkeeper maintained his level, making the Spanish discredit, but in the last minutes of the first half, the Portuguese team gave in on defense and went into the break with a four-goal lead (16-12), instead of a six-goal difference.
The one who has been Spain’s best player in the 17th edition of the European Championship, Sporting player Jan Gurri, was unable to prove himself, nor was fellow ‘Leonine’ player Victor Romero, unlike the brothers Martim (six goals in the game) and Francisco Costa (seven).
In Herning, the team led by Paulo Jorge Pereira maintained their concentration levels upon returning from the changing rooms, managing to hold on to the advantage, which briefly returned to six, while the 2018 and 2020 European champion was increasingly anxious, which led her to commit several technical errors.
Trailing 27-21 with 15 minutes to go, Spain ‘handed over’ the game to the ‘heroes of the sea’, who took advantage to score the biggest difference of the entire game – eight goals.
In addition to Gurri and Romero, Spain also had the contribution of Natán Suárez, from Sporting, and Javi Rodríguez (two goals), from Benfica.
Now, Portugal is hoping that defending champions France will lose to Germany and that Norway will not beat four-time world champions Denmark, already qualified for the semi-finals.
Jogo na Jyske Bank Boxen, em Herning.
Spain – Portugal, 27-35.
At half-time: 12-16.
With refereeing from the Danes Mads Hansen and Jesper Madsen, the teams lined up and scored:
– Spain (27): Hernandez, Garciandia (2), Rodriguez (2), Fernandez (1), Gurri (6), Tarrafeta (3) and Odriozola (1). Serradilla, Alex Dujshebaev (1), Fis (1), Daniel Dujshebaev, Gomez (6), Suárez, Romero, Biosca and Barrufet (4) also played.
Coach: Jordi Ribera.
– Portugal (35): Diogo Valério, Salvador Salvador (2), Luís Frade (2), Miguel Neves (1), Victor Iturizza (4), António Areia (6) and Diogo Branquinho (1). Leonel Fernandes (3), João Gomes (3), Martim Costa (6), Francisco Costa (7), Rui Silva, Ricardo Brandão, Gabriel Cavalcanti and Gustavo Capdeville also played.
Coach: Paulo Jorge Pereira.
Attendance: 6,267 spectators.
