lifts his second European followed by another goal from Dujshebaev |

The Spanish team defeats Croatia in Stockholm, revalidates the continental crown and wins the direct ticket to the Tokyo Games

There are things that are carried in the blood. lex Dujshebaev He is a man very different from his father Talant: is calm, allergic to discussions, does not have an enemy. He is the son of the most passionate central in the history of handball, a coach as great as a copian, but his character is the opposite. My father has very hot blood, I take it another way, admit long ago. But there are things, alas! That are carried in the blood. As he did in the semifinals before Slovenia, in the European final against Croatia lex claimed the decisive ball, which separated the glory from pain, and sank it into the rival goalkeeper as his father would have done, as he now does. Spain raised its second European followed with a great goal from Dujshebaev in a demonstration of what the national team is: resistance, first and foremost.

It will be two minutes in a documentary that lasts hours or a few pages in a thick book, but from here to 20 or 30 years, when someone decides to remember the most successful little of the sport in Spain and mentions handball, it should be stressed so exaggerated virtue of this equipment: endurance. Neither football, whose successes were concentrated in four years, nor basketball, which has already celebrated with two different generations, can boast something like that. The same group, forever. Here are eight players who were world champions seven years ago; here is a leader, Ral Entrerros, which raised the first World Cup in Spain in 2005, 15 years ago. Only through the strength of this selection is it explained that yesterday he won a match that Croatia had obscured him, a match in which he was never comfortable. The outcome, with a Balkan ensemble, shouted Danger !, but no one ever resisted, but a Dusjhebaev is a Dujshebaev.

It is also true that Spain was not successful as on other occasions. In fact, the coach Jordi Ribera, impeccable throughout the European, tried a frivolity and failed. Input present to Iosu Goi, a side that had only played three shortly before, and a Rodrigo Corrales, in principle the substitute goalkeeper. It was a beautiful bet, a romantic message – this is everyone's business – but it was a mistake. Until minute 18, when the coach called for a timeout, Croatia enjoyed the back of a misplaced Goi in the 5: 1 defense and Corrales did not stop even one of the pitches he received. We had to rectify, to recover the 6: 0 defense with the two specialists, Viran Morros Y Geden Guardiola, and what to call the starting goalkeeper, Gonzalo Prez de Vargas. From there, the team lived its best moments. With Jorge Maqueda inspired, passed from being dominated to dominate and even, at the beginning of the second part, opened an advantage that could have been definitive (16-12, min. 35).

But Croatia must be killed 100 times and, in such a favorable pavilion, maybe 200 or 300. The Stockholm Tele2 Arena was delivered to the Balkan team and when its end, Zlatko Horvat, I broke the bad streak, the bleachers almost fell apart. Despite the fatigue from his semifinal against Norway, Domagoj Duvnjak, Igor Karacic And they knew they shouldn't give up and they didn't. With a change in defense and many strokes they managed to get Espaa to score only two goals in 20 minutes and squeezed the outcome. Although the gain claimed sacrifices. Because of its performance back, Croatia lacked forces and did not take advantage of the Spanish sequa. With 20-20 on the scoreboard in the absence of two minutes, there were three decisive actions: the youngest in Spain, Aleix Gmez, noted a penalty, Karacic committed some incomprehensible steps and finally, lex Dujshebaev, as Dujshebaev, as his father.

The launch of the side and the endurance allowed the selection to lift the title, becoming the second that chains two Europeans after the Sweden of Magnus Wislander and, above all, qualify directly for the Tokyo Games. After the hit that marked the absence of the 2016 Ro Games, the group, more united than ever, had promised that it would not go through a Pre-Olympic, if they did not win the 2018 World Cup, they would win the European of the following year and complied His merits will be dwarfed with history, when the great landmarks of Spanish sport are reviewed, the handball will continue in its corner, but at some point we must remember that there was a stronger selection than none, an eternal selection.