MADRID, 27 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s handball team fell this Thursday by a tight 29-31 against Denmark in the fifth and penultimate day of the EHF EURO Cup 2024, in a match played with a good capacity at the Juegos Mediterráneos Municipal Palace in Almería.
The push from the public was key to embolden the ‘Hispanos’ midway through the second part of the match, culminating in their comeback with a goal from Miguel Sánchez-Migallón and standing up to the current world champion, in an appointment that also had pending accounts for the pupils by Jordi Ribera.
Not in vain, the Danes had been the executioners of Spain in the semifinals of the last World Championship, something that had also happened in the Tokyo Olympic Games and also in the 2021 World Championship. Thus, led by the goals of central Rasmus Lauge Schmidt, it seemed that history was repeating itself now in Almería.
The first half showed Danish power while Spain successfully responded to the counterattack. From the opening quarter of 6-3 it went to a dangerous 12-15 for the team coached by Ribera, who despite everything reduced the gap at half-time (14-15) with two quick targets from Ian Tarrafeta and Jorge Maqueda.
Denmark’s growth on the return from the locker room, with Lauge Schmidt quite inspired in front of goal, was reflected with a +4 lead in favor of Nikolaj Jacobsen’s charges on a couple of occasions (15-19, 16-20). That advocated for the ‘Hispanics’ to press down on defense, with no margin for error on the offensive line.
In this way, they had arrests first to tie and then to lead by a single goal until the final moments, where the balance settled for the visitors after a mistake by Imanol Garciandia. His outside shot, which would have made it 30-30, was repelled by a good stretch from the Danish goalkeeper; on the counter, Emil Jakobsen closed the final 29-31 that signed Spain’s fourth defeat in this tournament.