Germany beat Croatia for the first time in seven years in an official men’s handball match on Friday, 31-28 for a place in the final of the European championships.
In Sunday’s decider they will have to repeat the trick if they want to lift the trophy, with world and Olympic champions Denmark the opponents in front of their home crowd.
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The Danes also won their semi-final 31-28, against Iceland, after having to fight harder than expected.
They have not lost against Germany since 2016, with victories including a 39-26 demolition in the 2024 Olympics gold medal match in Paris, 40-30 at last year’s world championships and 31-26 earlier this week in the group stage at the Euros.
But Germany player Justus Fischer said defiantly: “Gold is possible. Everything must come together, then we can definitely beat Denmark. I am convinced that we have the quality. We just have to bring it onto the court and we will achieve that on Sunday.”
Denmark are not invincible and suffered a surprise defeat against Portugal, who finished fifth on Friday, earlier in the tournament.
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Germany are in the final for the first time since they won the title in 2016 under coach Dagur Sigurdsson who was the opponent on Friday as Croatia helmsman.
Fellow Icelander Alfred Gislason is now in charge, and he said that “I am proud of the lads.”
Germany had not won an official match against Croatia since 2019 but gained confidence by beating them twice in tune-up games for the Euros.