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COLOGNE - Comments from France head coach Guillaume Gille (FRA), right back Nedim Remili (FRA). goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene (FRA) and left back Nikola Karabatic (FRA), and Denmark head coach Nikolaj Jacobsen (DEN), left back Henrik Møllgaard (DEN) and right back Mathias Gidsel (DEN); Sweden head coach Glenn Solberg (NOR), left wing Hampus Wanne (SWE) and centre back Jim Gottfridsson (SWE), and Germany head coach Alfred Gislason (ISL), right back Kai Häfner (GER) and line player Jannik Kohlbacher (GER) after France beat Denmark 33:31 in extra time in the Men's EHF EURO 2024 final, and Sweden beat Germany 34:31 in the bronze medal match, at the LANXESS arena on Sunday.
FRANCE vs DENMARK
Guillaume Gille (FRA) – head coach, France
On what winning the first European championship since 2014 means to him and his team:
“It’s all about the team and what we achieved this month. I want to congratulate Denmark because oh, what a fucking game it was.
“Of course we found the key to win against Denmark and that’s why I’m so satisfied. How complicated it was, how many difficulties we had against Denmark this time. It was so difficult to find a way to the win that’s why I’m only happy and want to enjoy the rest of the day and the night with my boys and my team.”
Nedim Remili (FRA) - right back
On winning the title:
"I don't think I realise yet. At the end of the first part of the overtime, I was ready to explode and just go for it, I was completely lost. It's been completely crazy, to be honest, I will need a couple of days to think about it.”
On the game:
"I think we prepared that game very well, we could feel they struggled to find solutions. The only difference in the first 40 minutes was dressed in grey and his name was Emil Nielsen. But we could feel we were slowly but surely taking the upper hand, especially physically."
On the mindset France played with in the EURO:
"Beyond the title and the gold medal, that's probably the thing I'm the most proud of. That we never stopped battling, that we never stopped believing in ourselves. After the draw against Switzerland, the media said we could not do it, but we kept our heads up and carried on working.
“Maybe it is the fact that we love pressure, but of course, we are not going to be the best team in the world at every minute of every game. But we managed to play really well in the moments that mattered, and that's the main thing."
Samir Bellahcene (FRA) - goalkeeper
On the feeling of winning a title:
"It's crazy. Everything went too fast, six months ago I was not even playing the Champions League and now the first title that I win, the first title in my career, is the EURO with the national team. How better could things be?"
On his decisive saves in the last minutes:
"I knew I was not going to make 20 saves against Denmark, this just does not happen. They have such amazing players: Mathias Gidsel, Simon Pytlick. But I tried to stay focused even in the moments when I did not stop the ball. And it worked, I think my save on Mikkel Hansen's shot in the overtime is a turning point.
On staying focused:
"Thierry Omeyer was in the stands and at some point, he made a sign that meant I should keep the faith. I remember when France last won the EURO, in 2014, he did not play good but saved the day with two saves in the overtime and I kind of feel that way, up to a point, tonight."
Nikola Karabatic (FRA) - left back
On winning the EHF EURO:
"Winning a title with this team, with boys who had never won gold before, it’s fantastic. I’m proud of what we showed throughout the competition and I think we deserve our win."
On sharing his emotions with his family:
“You never know when you will be able to live these emotions again, these gold medals that you can share with your family. It’s just pure magic, when you are an athlete, to live these moments.
“So of course I wanted to share it with my kids, take pictures with them and everything. But I’m also looking forward to going back to the locker room and having a beer with my teammates.”
On this EHF EURO being his last one:
“Being European champion, deserving it when you are 40 years old, I would have never imagined that I could do that in my last season. It’s completely surreal, it’s hard for me to realise.
“I’m proud of this title, I’m proud of the way we won the title, even more since I think we’ve been the best team of the competition. We are the only one that has not lost a game, that says it all.”
Nikolaj Jacobsen (DEN) – head coach, Denmark
On the match:
“I don’t like silver medals. I think it was a tough game. A game on a very high level. Both teams played very well.
“The key today was when we have our chances and the opportunities today we didn’t take them and therefore we’re sitting here now and are really disappointed. But there were chances today and we couldn’t take them and that’s why France took the win today. They were a little bit better than us in the last 10 minutes.”
Henrik Møllgaard (DEN) - left back
On the game:
"I am disappointed of course, but we feel like we lost to maybe the best team of the tournament. We had the opportunities but we missed them. Which is why we are disappointed, because we might have won the game if we had converted them."
On France, their opponent:
"We've got the speed and amazing technical skills, but physically, they are a machine. For seventy minutes, tonight, they had players after players after players, a lot of rotations and that was really hard to follow. It is extremely difficult to play against France because they basically put you to the physical test for 70 minutes."
Mathias Gidsel (DEN) - right back
On the defeat:
"We are extremely disappointed, but France had an amazing game. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half, even though we were ahead on the scoreboard. I felt in the second half that this could be our game, when we were three goals ahead but in the end we could not keep it. I felt like France were really strong physically at the end of the game, really impressive."
On playing against France:
"Physically they remain very strong, with massive line players that it's hard to get around. That was the main problem we had, we had some problems getting around them. They are incredible and I really feel like we lost against an amazing team tonight."
SWEDEN vs GERMANY
Glenn Solberg (NOR) – head coach, Sweden
On how satisfied he is with bronze:
“It was a really hard battle today, very tough. After what happened on Friday we needed some time for each other before we prepared for this match, but I think we started fantastic today. I’m so proud of my team that we came out as we did.
“In the second half it was harder to make goals as Germany played better but in the end of course we are extremely happy to win this medal.”
Hampus Wanne (SWE) - left wing
On the game:
"We are really happy we were able [to win] as it was one very tough game. We played very good in the first half, with a good defence and a lot of saves from Andreas Palicka. We also played very good in defence.
“The second half was much tougher, you could really feel that the arena was pushing for Germany to come back. But we hold tight, we still manager to score goals to remain on top. It was really important to stop them from coming back too close and Andreas was key for that."
On focusing after losing the semi-final:
"It was hard, especially yesterday morning, some of us barely had any sleep. But at the end, you have to bounce back when you play for your country. You can't just say ‘I'm done’. You have to fight until the end to bring a medal home, for many reasons. But it gives us the feeling we have not been working for nothing for the last month."
On the overall result for Sweden:
"I'd be a liar if I told you we are completely satisfied with this bronze medal. When you are in the semi-finals, you only think of one thing and that's not the bronze medal. Life can be brutal, we took a huge blow on Friday, but we were able to forget about it and come back. It's still great to win a medal."
Jim Gottfridsson (SWE) - centre back
On the feeling of winning a medal:
"It's great. It would have been greater if the medal was another colour, but right now, I'm still happy to go back home with something in my hands. It is always a pleasure to win a medal at the EURO."
On the overall outcome for Sweden:
"It has been one of the toughest EURO I've ever played. There were some crazy results and with the level of the other teams improving every time, there was no easy games. We had to battle at every game, be focus 100 per cent every two evenings and that takes quite a lot of energy. So, in this context, to think that we are the third best country in Europe, it's nice."
Alfred Gislason (ISL) – head coach, Germany
On the game:
“We had extreme problems with [Andreas] Palicka first half. He was fantastic of course, but we were also making some silly shots. He came really hot into the game. Sweden could go defensive and then we made a lot of technical errors. In the end we are really down in the half-time.
“Huge compliment for my team in second half. It was not looking good and they played a lot better defence, then the goal keeping came also and attack. It was quite good and almost twice I think we had chance to go to one goal. We put a bit more pressure on Sweden.
“But we didn’t get this moment because Palicka had two really great saves. And then Sweden is too good and experienced to get out of control. They deserved to win. They were great.”
On the team:
“’m really proud of my team. They have not so much experience like Sweden or Denmark and France, but they are great talents and I think this tournament has improved the team a lot of experience and I am very proud of my guys. “
Kai Häfner (GER) - right back
On the game:
"The first half was very, very hard for us, Andreas Palicka made some incredible saves and we could not score as many goals as them. The second half was much better, we found many easy solutions and we defended way better.
“But still, Andreas Palicka had an amazing game, he basically kept us from coming back all by himself. That's hard, but I guess we made too many technical mistakes to hope for anything else."
On the feeling of losing the bronze medal match:
"When you hit the semi-finals at a home competition, of course you think that you can win the title. So it's bitter that we lose the last two games and go home with nothing in our hands. During the last two games, we played very good halves twice but did not manage to keep our performance at a high level for 60 minutes. The overall feeling right now is bitterness, definitely."
Jannik Kohlbacher (GER) – line player
On the game:
"The first half was really difficult, they showed that they had recovered well from their loss in the semi-final. Our second half was much better, but it was not enough for us to come back."
On the overall result for Germany:
"Our goal ahead of the tournament was the semi-finals and we reached it. But of course, when you are there, you hope for more. And on Friday morning, I would have said no if you told me I would be happy with the fourth place.
“But then, we showed a lot of progress during the tournament, some young players gave some great matches. Everything is probably too fresh right now for us to have a definitive opinion on our result."
TEXT: EHF / Kevin Domas
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