After their opening defeats in the EHF EURO Cup, Spain and Germany fought an equal battle for the first points - and finally the hosts celebrated their first victory in Jaen - by the narrowest of margins.

A draw would have been deserved, but Germany’s last shot from line player Tim Zechel crashed against the crossbar with the final buzzer. After their 33:37 defeat to Sweden, EHF EURO 2024 hosts Germany remain on zero points, while Spain - boosted by eight goals of Aleix Gomez and even more saves of Gonzalo Perez de Vargas - are on two points after opening defeat against Denmark. 

EHF EURO Cup
Spain vs Germany 32:31 (13:13)

In contrast to their goalfests on Wednesday and Thursday (both with an overall of 70 goals each), the duel in Jaen was a constantly close defence battle, in which no team managed to get ahead by more than two goals throughout the whole 60 minutes.

In the first half, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was Germany’s assurance with 11 saves, while Spain counted on their extremely rehearsed defence and right wing Aleix Gomez in attack. After the lead had changed several times, Germany had the upper hand, leading 26:24, before Spanish goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas shut up shop - he and the aggressive offensive defence paved the winners’ way for the hosts - who were lucky in the end. Best scorer of the match was Germany’s Kai Häfner with nine goals, one more than Gomez. 

KEY FACT: It was Spain’s fifth straight win against Germany in four different competitions. Twice they took the points at the EHF EURO final tournaments 20120 and 2022, each once at the Olympic Games at Tokyo and the 2021 World Championship in Egypt - but still, Germany have won the most prestigious duel, the EHF EURO 2016 final.