Spain and Germany fight for gold at Men's 20 EHF EURO

Only six months after Germany and Spain met at the final of the Men's EHF EURO 2016 in Poland, the two nations meet again in a handball final - this time at the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2016 in Denmark.

On Friday night, Spain first took a very convincing 31:21 (17:8) win against Croatia, then Germany went through extra time to eventually battle down France, the winners of the Men's 18 EHF EURO 2014 and the Youth World Championship 2015, 35:33 (30:30, 15:15).

The final will take place on Sunday, 7 August at 17:00 hrs, the match for third place between Croatia and France throws off at 14:30 hrs local time on the same day. Live streams for all matches are accessible via http://livestream.com/m20euro.

Even though it is a different generation of players on court, the final poses the possibility for Germany to defend the title won at the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2014 in Austria.

Ahí están en la final. #HispanosJunior #balonmano pic.twitter.com/tj88r18FVH

— PACO BLÁZQUEZ GARCÍA (@blazquezbalonma) August 5, 2016

Dujshebaev made the difference

The first semi-final between Spain and Croatia was an even affair only for its first ten minutes when Spain led 4:3. Spurred on by the outstanding Dani Dujshebaev, who scored nine goals and was named his team's player of the match, Spain then scored four goals in a row and Croatia never recovered from that blow.

At half-time Spain led 17:8. Two minutes into the second half Spain led by 10 for the first time, and Croatia never got any closer than eight goals as Spain cruised to unthreatened win.

So sehen Sieger aus!!! Das EM-Finale für die U20 ist tatsächlich perfekt, jetzt wartet als letzte Hürde #ESP pic.twitter.com/CwPPWuNRvC

— DHB_Nationalteams (@DHB_Teams) August 5, 2016

A fierce battle

The second semi-final though turned out to be all different as Germany and France fought for every inch of the court.

None of the two teams was able to carve out a considerable lead at any point of the first two halves. After 30 minutes the score stood at 15:15; 30 minutes later exactly the same amount of goals had been scored by both teams again - extra time was needed.

France scored the first goal, but Germany stroke back with four unanswered ones (34:31). France did not score again until there was only one minute left - too late to turn the match around.

In the cross matches for places 5 to 8, Denmark beat Iceland 34:28 and will play for fifth against Norway on Sunday. Norway beat Poland 35:28; the Poles will hence play Iceland for seventh place.