COLOGNE - Comments from Austria head coach Ales Pajovic (SLO) and goalkeeper Constantin Möstl (AUT), and France head coach Guillaume Gille (FRA) and line player Luka Karabatic (FRA) at media calls on Sunday.

AUSTRIA

Ales Pajovic (SLO) - head coach, Austria

On defence during the game against Germany:
“I’ve said it yesterday and I said it again, we made an incredible performance on defence yesterday. Every player did an amazing job and that was a huge part in our success. Constantin was incredible between the posts, super strong.

“In the end, we were a little bit disappointed to get only one point, because we let by four. But we have to keep in mind that to take a point against Germany in front of 20,000 fans remains something special.”

On why Austria were not able to close the game against Germany:
“We had the chances, but Andreas Wolff is an amazing goalkeeper and they remain really good players. Maybe we were a little bit tired as well, but I’m glad the boys were able to fight and come out with one point already.”

On France, their next opponents:
“They look like an All-star Team, when you look at the players on all the positions. This will be our sixth game in 10 days, about, this is very tough, but we will keep fighting. We are going to analyse them, train a little bit but the most important is to rest.

“We have been able to beat big handball nations before, we took a point against Germany, but this is another level. France is a contender for the gold medal. Their players are like machines, the threat comes from every player, this will be very, very hard.”

On the feedback the team gets in Austria:
“It’s fantastic, it seems like everybody is suddenly paying attention to what is happening here. Football teams, the vice-chancellor, everybody’s been congratulating us, there is a lot of interest in our performance. We know we are doing something great, maybe we don’t realise it while we are in the competition, but when we see that, it all comes to life.”

On the chances for Austria to qualify for the semi-finals:
“We have our chances, I think we have to take a least a point, but it’s going to be hard. The game against France will be very, very tough, but I don’t know how the game against Iceland will be. I don’t know tired we will also be. We saw that anything is possible in this EURO, seen strange results, so we’ll just see how things go.”

Constantin Möstl (AUT) - goalkeeper

On his performance yesterday against Germany:
“It was cool, fantastic, the kind of games I never thought I would be playing, let alone fighting for the win in. As au Austrian, you are not used to that, compared to players from other nations, so we really enjoyed it, especially since we were able to fight for a point.”

On the collective strength his team shows:
“Everybody talked before the game about the German offence, but it was cool to show that our defence was up to the level as well and that we were able to do great things. We believe in ourselves and that’s what has kept us going since the beginning of the EURO.”

FRANCE

Guillaume Gille (FRA) - head coach

On the forthcoming game against Austria:
“They are the surprise guest in the EURO. Yesterday, they came back to the hotel and I can guarantee you that we would not have made less noise if we had won the title.

“What they have showed on the court implies that we have a lot of respect for them. They beat Spain, they almost did the same thing with Germany. Yesterday they lost a point more than they snatched one. We are playing the team that is ranked right behind us, and that shows their quality.”

On how to beat Austria:
“They showed enough experience in this EURO for us to be able to know that they won’t panic if the end of the game is tight. They already had three draws, they are used to these tough ends of games. We want to play our game, no matter who we are playing against, and tomorrow will be the exact same thing.”

On the seven-against-six system Austria play:
“The last memory of seven versus six is not a good one, as Switzerland caused us a lot of trouble in the preliminary round. Austria also use this tactic a lot, and we have to prepare. But this is just another tactic, another way of doing things, and we will try to do everything to beat them.”

On how to adapt to the different playing times:
“Every evening we have a small meeting to determine how the next day is going to be. On Saturday, we played at 3:30pm, a time that is not usual for an athlete. But in the meantime, it was good for the players to go to bed earlier than usual, to rest a little bit more and to feel fresh again. We try to adapt everything every day.”

Luka Karabatic (FRA) – line player

On Austria, their forthcoming opponents:
“We played against them at the 2021 World Championship, there are not that unknown to us. I remember it was a tight game, even though we won by five or six. Everybody seems to be discovering them little by little at the EURO, it is good to play against them now as we won’t be surprised anymore.

“They are euphoric, with a lot of confidence. They sing, they laugh, it seems like the atmosphere in the team is really good. They have nothing to lose as they have probably already exceeded their expectations. We will have to calm them down if we want to win.”

On Austria’s game against Germany:
“It was crazy, they deserved to win, they were really close, maybe they missed experience in the last five minutes. But during 55 minutes they played at a very high level. To me, they are level with Germany for example. Yesterday we watched the game, either in our rooms or in the physios. Some felt like they had to get away from handball for a while, but we all kept an eye on it.”

On playing every two days:
“We try to make everything optimum, every minute is important when it comes to recovery. We used 16 players since the beginning of the EURO and it’s very good because we have been able to rest, if only for a little bit. Especially days off are really important, we try to recover.”

On whether the Men’s EURO EHF 2024 is tougher than previous editions:
“I do not think so, EUROs have always been the toughest of competitions, with the most density. The game is only quicker and more physical but I don’t see much difference. The only one is that some nations come and go, but this EURO is as tough as the previous ones.”