Men's EHF EURO 2026 post-match flash quotes: 17 January
HERNING/OSLO/MALMÖ – Comments from players and coaches after Men's EHF EURO 2026 round 2 matches in groups A and C and round 1 matches in group E on 17 January.
AUSTRIA VS SPAIN 25:30 (12:19)
Iker Romero (ESP) – Austria head coach
On the defeat against Spain:
“Today Spain was better in all the options in the first half, there was a really good defence of Spain against our seven-against-six. Also their goalkeeper saved a lot of balls, clear balls. We lose a little bit of our brain in the first half. In the second half I think everything was much, much better. We are not qualified for the main round and we have to give everything in two days, a really important game against Serbia.”
On how hard it will be to motivate the players for the last match:
“That is the work for the trainer, in the good moments everybody is happy and is easy to motivate, now is my work to do that.”
Tobias Wagner (AUT) – line player
On the defeat against Spain:
“We had pretty high expectations after the draw and ahead of the tournament. We didn’t play that bad, but when we are not all on our top level, then we have no chance against Germany or Spain. For example against Germany it was me, and today were other players, so this is an easy conclusion why we lose these two games.”
On what he expects from the next match:
“We have to win it because if we win it we’ll get an easier opening for the World Championship qualification. This is our goal and the most important thing is we stay together as a team.”
Elias Kofler (AUT) – centre back
On the defeat:
"They were a better team than us today, they played a really good match and we didn't get intensity in defence like we did last game. I think Sergey Hernández saved every second ball of ours and it's difficult for us to win this game."
On whether their team's spirit is crushed a bit after the two losses:
"Yes, for sure, and we wish that we've won this game and had a big finale against Serbia, but unfortunately that's not the case. However, we have a national team game for our country in two days and we have to do everything for our country to win."
On the team's performance in the first two games:
"We are not happy, in the first game against Germany we played a good game and lost, but today we were just not good enough and that's not enough and we are definitely not happy."
Ian Barrufet (ESP) – left wing
On the win:
"We are so happy and with the group that we have, we had to fight until the end in all the games and played against two really good teams already and now we are thinking about Germany."
On whether the team's performance will continue to improve:
"I don't know if things will be good or bad, but what I'm sure about is that we will fight until the end and we will prove this quality that we have."
On their final match in group B, against Germany:
"We have been excited about this match since many months ago, but we are already through two really hard games. Now we have Germany, that we think is one of the top national teams in the world, and we will fight until the end against them."
Ian Tarrafeta (ESP) – centre back
On how happy he is with the performance of the team today:
“So happy, it’s been a game a bit like the one against Serbia. First half we dominate and the second half their keeper did a lot of saves that put us in difficulty at the end. But it’s always the same with Spain, we have issues with everybody, it’s hard to win every game, but we are so happy with these four points now.”
On the next match, against Germany:
“I’ve seen a lot of Germans here in the arena, so it’ll be hard for us. We were thinking first against Serbia, after with Austria and now we are going to start thinking about Germany. It’s going to be a day of rest, of video analysis, so we’ll see, looking forward.”
FRANCE vs UKRAINE 46:26 (12:24)
Vadym Brazhnyk (UKR) – head coach
On whether his players delivered as expected against France:
“We were preparing very seriously. We understood who was against us at the European Championship. Also they had two squads and that was key today.”
On the mental aspect in games like this:
“We were inspired before the games, it’s an opportunity for us to play against teams [with] such level, like the Olympic Championship and European Championship as titles.”
Ihor Turchenko (UKR) – left back
On the defeat:
“We enjoyed 15 minutes of the game, but I’d say that the last 45 minutes were a little bit painful. We played very well, actually, in the first part of the game, especially defensively. We recovered a lot of balls, managed to score fast breaks. But we should have played like that for 60 minutes if we wanted to take more points.”
On the experience Ukraine could get from that kind of game:
“It can’t be a bad thing to play against the best teams in the world, as we did against France and Norway. But it’s really hard to tell yourself that when you have just lost by 20. I am sure it will be a benefit on the long run, but it’s a bit far away from us at the moment.”
Oleksandr Onufriienko (UKR) – line player
On whether the game against France matched his expectations:
“Of course it’s hard to expect a win against the current champion of the EURO, but we expect the best game we can and maybe today we had a lot of mistakes, but we want to show our best game here.”
On the positive aspects he takes after the game:
“Big experience for us, because we play against the best players in the world. We check how they play, what they do, how they play one-on-one, the play in defence, maybe we take something for ourselves.”
Guillaume Gille (FRA) – head coach
On the victory:
“We had a large win, we remained serious throughout the whole game and we managed to have all 15 players to play. We rested Aymeric Minne a little bit, because I am sure that we will need him for the next games. Now, we are heading towards the first corner in this competition, the game against Norway, and we are very excited to see where we are at.”
On the first quarter of the game:
“No matter how hard you try, sometimes it is hard to concentrate when the game is uneven on paper. Maybe that is what happened, but the thing that I want to keep is the reaction, how the substitutes helped us with their intensity and their energy and how, within 15 minutes, we managed to take a 12-goal advantage.”
On what he said on his first timeout:
“When you have such good players, they know exactly that they are not playing very good and you don’t need to say much. I just told them to be stronger defensively, I put some other players on the court and, little by little, things turned around.”
Melvyn Richardson (FRA)
On the match:
“It was a good game for us. We are happy with the result. Everybody played good, everybody played, everybody’s in good health, which is the most important for us.
“At the beginning it was a little bit hard for us. We missed some shots. Still, we had a good reaction, and after we finished the game really good. It’s really positive for the next. Now we have to have a good rest and prepare for the next game, because it will be a really tough game.”
On the next match, against Norway:
“Our goal is always to be better and better every game. The result was good for us, but I think the next game against Norway will be really difficult. But if we come with our strength I hope we will be ready physically and mentally, and we’ll see that we are.”
Ludovic Fabregas (FRA) – line player
On what he said to his teammates on the first timeout:
“I wish I did not have to say anything, but I felt like not everyone was on the same page, that we lacked collectively some intensity and that we needed a boost. What I want to remember, though, is the reaction we had afterwards, how we did not make the same mistakes in the second half and how we managed to have a good game afterwards.”
On playing against Norway in the last game in Oslo:
“It is exciting because we will see exactly where we are and what we are capable of. It is always a great moment to play such a nation in front of its fans. It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere, but it’s also an important game for us, as we need the points ahead of the main round.”
Thibaud Briet (FRA) – left back
On the victory:
“We enjoyed the game, we all managed to play and score and this is very satisfying. But I guess that the real thing is coming to us now, with that game against Norway in two days. No offence to anyone, but we managed to win the games we were supposed to win, and quite easily. I expect Norway to be a completely different matter.”
On France beating the records for biggest EHF EURO win:
“I did not even know and I could not care less. It’s an anecdote to me, nothing else. It’s not really important. If we do fine, but I wanted the team to progress through tonight’s game and it did, that’s the most important.”
CROATIA vs GEORGIA 32:29 (15:14)
Dagur Sigurdsson (ISL) – Croatia head coach
On the match:
“The first game is always tricky. It took us a long time to find our feet. We were six goals back, but after that I think we control the game a little bit better.
“In the second half we were stronger, even though we missed a lot of good chances. Also the first half, a lot of technical errors.”
On their win:
“In the end it was experience. We got the defence a little bit better, and got some balls. That was the key factor.”
On the next games:
“We want to do better in all departments – fast breaks, and running back. Defence and offence. Everything must be a little bit better, coming up (against) strong teams in every game. We have to do better ourselves and see what that brings.”
Ivan Martinović (CRO) – right back
On the match:
“Respect to Georgia, how they played the 60 minutes. It was a really bad start from us. We played a little bit like a cramp, we didn’t find solutions, everybody was doing it on his own and we didn’t play like a team.
“Thankfully with our fans we didn’t gave up, we fight until the end, and at the end we win well-deserved.”
On their comeback:
“We know that nowadays every country in the European championship plays really good fast handball, and they saw our mistakes.
“But with our fans we didn’t want to give up. We have experienced players, we gave 10 per cent more, and goal by goal we found solutions.”
On what they need to improve:
“Everything.”
Nikoloz Kalandadze (GEO) – left back
On the defeat:
“Of course we are disappointed, because the start was very good for us. It was obvious that we had some turnovers and everything, but it’s part of the game.
“But I’m so proud of my team, because we gave everything. Four or five players had the cramps, but we did our best.
“I’m really proud of me, because it’s my first game in the EURO, and we tried our best. We showed, not the first time, that we can play everyone. We will try to qualify (from) this group.”
On when they were leading by six goals:
“Of course it was a surprise, but we are here to win all games. We came here to win against Croatia, against everyone. It was a surprise, but not too much.”
On why Croatia won:
“They have more experience, because we’re still a young team – I think we are the youngest team in the EURO – so game by game we get experience, game by game we are better every game. We have to learn, we have to experience every game.”
Photo © Kolektiff Images
