HERNING — Comments from players and coaches after the Men's EHF EURO 2026 semi-finals and 5/6 placement match.
5/6 PLACEMENT MATCH
Luís Frade (POR) – line player
On finishing the tournament with a victory:
“This is the perfect ending for us, we get the best position ever in this championship, the scenario tonight was crazy again. The main round was not the best for us, we lost one game too many and of course, when you only qualify for the placement game, you are not that happy. But I am proud because we managed to focus again in order to deliver tonight.”
On writing history for Portuguese handball:
“Right now, it does not feel like anything, I have been physically dead for the last 20 minutes of the game. But I am sure that, in a few days, we will look at the ranking and tell ourselves that what we did is just, crazy. We have been writing the history of our sport in Portugal for the past few years, and the only thing I can hope for is that we can continue on this road.”
On the final minutes of the game:
“Honestly, I did not feel anything anymore. It was just pure adrenaline. The main round we played was so aggressive that to play one last game felt like a huge task. Even though you prepare for that, it’s still very tough. Of course, you can say that Martim (Costa)’s goal was amazing, and it was, but it was really a teamwork.”
Mikael Appelgren (SWE) – goalkeeper
On the defeat:
“It’s a big disappointment, of course, because everything is decided on one shot and I feel like we had played pretty good before. We would have deserved to play in the overtime, but there was not much we could do on the last action. It is a disappointment, of course, because we would have liked to finish the tournament on a high.”
On the tournament as a whole:
“We would have liked to fight for medals, this was our main goal before the tournament. But I think that we did not play well enough in the main round to get there, especially against Iceland. Playing this placement game was definitely not what we expected. There things to take and things to work on from this championship.”
On the retirement of his goalkeeper teammate Andreas Palicka:
“It would have been cool for him to finish a victory, I am quite disappointed I was not able to help him do that. He is one of the guys who has so much experience that he always helped his teammates, he was not only my teammate but also someone I like as a person. He was a massive worker and an impressive player on the court.”
Photo © kolektiff images
TEXT:
European Handball Federation