In a dramatic, historic night at the Men’s EHF EURO in Oslo, Slovenia stunned Montenegro 41:40 in a match that will be remembered for both its chaos and quality.

A staggering 81 goals were scored — the most ever in EHF EURO history, surpassing the previous record of 77 — as both teams delivered an all-out attacking spectacle. Slovenia controlled long stretches of the game, but Montenegro repeatedly fought back, even taking the lead on several occasions and pushing the favourites to the limit.

The decisive moment came in the final seconds, when Borut Mačkovšek struck the winner to secure Slovenia’s first victory at the championship and set the tone for what promises to be a wide-open Group D.

Zorman: “It means nothing to me”

Despite the record-breaking scoreline, Slovenia head coach Uroš Zorman insisted the numbers are irrelevant compared to what his team must do next.

“Honestly, it means nothing to me,” Zorman said, before adding: “If it had been 60:20, that would be a good record for a coach. Like this, we only wrote ourselves somewhere down in history.”

With Switzerland next, Zorman underlined there is no room for calculations:

“For us, this is a key match — a final before the final. Against Switzerland we cannot speculate, we have to go for the win.”

He also highlighted Switzerland’s main threats, particularly their power on the left side and aggressive approach:

“On the left they have an extremely strong shooter (Manuel Cendera). They play very fast, and their defence is aggressive. It’s hard to draw conclusions because the Faroe Islands played seven-on-six the whole match, but we have to break the game in our favour,” Zorman told the Slovenian Handball Federation (RZS).

Montenegro hurting, but already looking to the Faroe Islands

On the other side, the pain of defeat was obvious — but Montenegro are refusing to dwell on it. Captain Vuko Borozan described the loss as brutal, yet pointed to the attacking performance as a foundation.

“A defeat that hurts — of course it was hard to fall asleep,” Borozan said. “We played a man’s match and in the end lost by one goal. I think we were excellent in attack. Scoring 40 at the European Championship isn’t easy, but they scored one more. We want to forget that game and turn to the Faroe Islands. That’s the final for us.”

Coach Didier Dinart echoed the message: Montenegro must improve defensively, insisting that against Slovenia they were missing “one save” — one key intervention — but that the match has to be left behind immediately as preparation begins for the decisive next step.

Next matches (Group D)