HERNING/MALMÖ – Comments from players and coaches after matches in Men's EHF EURO 2026 main round groups I and II on Wednesday.

SPAIN vs PORTUGAL 27:35 (12:16)

Jordi Ribera (ESP) – Spain head coach

On the match:

“My team did not start the match. It’s very difficult after (conceding) three, four, five goals to recover. More mistakes, and lost balls in the first half; it’s not possible to have continuation in the movement of the ball.

“Today is not a very good day, it’s very sad.”

Alex Dujshebaev (ESP) – right back

On the match:

“I think we were not focused, for sure. For me it’s our worst game in the whole tournament. We were happy before the game, we managed to make a great tournament, but today really was our worst performance.

“We have to improve, and we have to be critical with ourselves because we couldn’t play in this kind of style. Especially in the beginning, we cannot go out like this today.”

On the tournament as a whole:

“If you asked me just one day ago I would have told you that I’m proud of the team, like they performed during the whole tournament, how they fight against every team. Maybe you can win, you can lose, it’s sometimes that tight especially at the end of the games.

“I hope the young guys, the future of the Spanish team, can help us as fast as possible. I think they are making a lot of steps forward.”

Ian Tarrafeta (ESP) – centre back

On the defeat:

“Nothing really worked for us today, either on offence or the defence. This was really not the ending we hoped for. Of course, we did not have much to play, but it’s always better to finish with a win, and we did not manage to. We told ourselves at the break that we had to give everything until the end, but I could feel that we were all a bit empty.”

On their defence not being as effective as it was against France:

“We tried everything, 1-5, 0-6, but they found solutions for everything. I guess it was really just one of those days where whatever must work doesn’t. In the second half, I thought we were better and then they found solutions with their seven against six offence. And offensively, we missed too many things and lost too many balls to expect a better result.”

On what Spain will take from the EURO:

“We gave some fantastic performances, against France, for example. But I guess luck was not on our side, like against Germany and Norway. If we had had three points more before this last game, then we would have had something to play for today. I guess that this is encouraging, somehow, because at some points, we were able to play well. We just have to learn how to play at this level, but for longer.”

Paulo Pereira (POR) – Portugal head coach

On the win:

“Spain is always Spain, they know how to play handball. They have very good ideas in defence and in attack. This is dynamic, everybody work and everybody try to find solutions to perform.

“Today in the plan of the game it was great for us. Everything was in time, and we play really correctly. I’m happy because everybody work at the final, everybody work a lot.

“In the past year me and Jordi (Ribera) are always the first guys in breakfast. Now we are in different hotels, but I know he is first there, I am first here in my hotel, so we work a lot. But someone must lose, someone must win. Today it was Portugal.”

On the future of the team:

“We are growing up. This team is under construction. We have some young players, step by step we continue our process, and I hope we can continue with victories.”

António Areia (POR) – right wing

On the victory:

“We said we wanted to give ourselves all of the chances to win and to go to the 5/6 placement game. And I think we took that game by the right end, like we really played well, on both sides of the court. It was a really good game from us, against a very tough team of Spain, who had just beat France. I am really proud of what we were able to do, despite being tired and already eliminated.”

On the importance of playing the 5/6 game for Portugal:

“Because if we do, we could reach the best ranking in the tournament ever. Even without that, it’s always good to leave the court feeling that you have given everything. We played to our maximum and even if we don’t qualify for the game on Friday, we can be proud of what we did today.”

On how they will spend the next hours:

“We will watch the Germany game, for sure, and hope that Germany win so we can finish third. We will watch that game, of course, and then the Denmark one as well. But whatever happens, I am happy because we now have no regrets. Everything is out of our hands, we have done our job.”

Salvador Salvador (POR) – left back

On the game and Spain changing the defence:

“I think we did a really, really good match. We entered really good in our defence, (Diogo) Valério helped us a lot. I think the defence was really good on the beginning. After, we put the game by two, three, four and we managed the lead.

“On our attack we was really efficient, we scored a lot of goals and at half-time we was winning by four. About the defence, I think it’s normal, because they lost (Abel) Serdio for this game, it’s normal that they change a little bit and they defend good 5-1 against France. So it’s normal that they changed the defence.

“In the second half I think we did an amazing job again, they put the defence by two, and after we keep our defence with a lot of aggressivity, and Capdeville entered good good with two-three saves, important saves for us, and when we need to calm down again we put the seven-against-six and it was good for us.”

On the lessons they are taking from the main round:

“I think we tried to do our job, we came to the main round with two amazing points, but I think we feel a little bit exhausted, it was a little bit tiring in the game against Germany and it was a really hard game for us and our mindsets, we lost in the last minutes. In the game against France we enter a little bit with the incorrect attitude and mentality. In the two last games we tried to correct this, we tried to be better, to do other things and I think we did an amazing job.”

Photo © kolektiff images