A wall in the goal and a key to team spirit

The EHF EURO 2022 has been imprinted by extraordinary and impressive performances from the goalkeepers, including Niklas Landin, Andreas Palicka, Nebojsa Simic and many more.

For Spain, EHF EURO 2020 All-star Team goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas has once again been key. The 31-year-old Barça star saved Spain’s ticket to the final through his saves, and is one of the factors meaning that the defending champions still can hope for their third trophy in a row.

“Gonzalo is a great personality and an even greater goalkeeper. He has such a long experience with Barcelona and the national team, and fortunately for us, he is still quite young and have a long career ahead,”, says Spain team captain Gedeon Guardiola.

“Many thought, when Arpad Sterbik finished his career, Spain would never have a goalkeeper like him, but Gonzalo is definitely on the same level as Arpad. And we can even be luckier that we have a duo of world class goalkeeper including Rodrigo Corrales,” Guardiola adds.

Guardiola also praises the role Perez de Vargas plays off the court, noting: “He is perfect for the team spirit, he takes care of all players and that we have a great atmosphere during the tournament. But also, he is an absolute professional player.”

Spain's head coach Jordi Ribera also knows that he can count on both Perez de Vargas and his colleague Rodrigo Corrales.

“They give our team stability and they are core players when it counts and when your team is facing a weak period and tough situations. Fortunately, we can count on really strong goalkeepers with the experience in crucial matches. They are fundamental for our team, and I hope they will be in the final, too,” Ribera says.

Perez de Vargas started his career in the famous academy at Barcelona, then went to Granollers and Toulouse to gain experience. He arrived back at Barça in 2014 to succeed Sterbik.

He won the EHF Champions League three times with the Catalan side, and was part of Spain’s team for both their 2018 and 2020 EHF EURO triumphs, although he was ruled out by an injury for the 2018 final weekend. Perez de Vargas also has bronze medals from the EHF EURO 2014, World Championship 2021 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Before the final of the EHF EURO on Sunday, Perez de Vargas has made 57 saves (32.6 per cent) – but those numbers do not show that most of his saves were in crucial moments.

“I was very happy that I could help my team to beat Denmark in the semis, and I watched many of those saves later on in social media videos. But we are a team and everybody has his role, every single player. Every player contributed to this success, not only me. In general, the defence and the goalkeepers are most important for our team, as we saw that sometimes we struggled in attack,” Perez de Vargas says.

Despite beating Sweden in the 2018 final and in the EHF EURO 2022 preliminary round, Perez de Vargas warns: “There is definitely no favourite in this final, both teams have the same chances. We start at 0:0, and the chances are 50:50. I am proud of the performances we have shown so far, and I hope we can continue like this. We have the chance to win our third trophy, this is our motivation, but Sweden also want to win.”

Corrales says the teamwork between the two goalkeepers is important for Spain, and there is no rivalry between them.

“We are friends. Of course, only one of us can play at the same time, but we have a perfect relation and cooperation – and we all know that we can only win as a team, everybody is important, no matter, how many minutes you are on court. This is what makes us so strong – and the rest of the team is confident knowing that they can count on Gonzalo and me. This is one reason why we play for gold.”

“I am happy when Rodrigo saves a shot and he is happy when I do. There is no envy, we support each other. It is a tradition that Spain count on defence and goalkeeping, as during this tournament we sometimes struggled in attack. So this will be the key for the final too,” Perez de Vargas concludes.