Olympic champion France suffered a historic defeat at the European Handball Championships and has to worry about reaching the semi-finals.
The team of former Bundesliga star Guillaume Gille, who, like two of his players, is currently in quarantine after a positive corona test, lost 21:29 (10:17) to Iceland in Budapest – for Les Bleues it was the highest bankruptcy in exactly 100 games so far EURO finals.
Superstar Nikola Karabatic only scored one goal in six attempts. The performance of the three-time world handball player was an example of the weak chances of the record world champion, who is tied with Iceland with 4:2 points and is suddenly under considerable pressure because of the lost direct comparison: Only the best two teams reach the semi-finals, France is still playing against Montenegro and world champion Denmark.
The Danes are already well on the way to the semi-finals. The team around backcourt star Mikkel Hansen (eight goals) defeated Vice European Champion Croatia 27:25 (12:11) on Saturday evening and is enthroned with 6:0 points in main round group 1 at the top of the table.
The Dutch had previously scored their first points in the main round by beating Montenegro 34:30 (18:16). With 2:4 points, both teams have little chance of reaching the semi-finals. Croatia is last with 0:6 points.