The reactions of French players after their defeat in the Euro final on Sunday evening (88-76), on Canal+.
Rudy Gobert (pivot of the French team, after the defeat in the Euro final against Spain) : «Difficult to get this silver medal? Yes… We wanted the gold. So close to the goal… It’s hard… It’s hard to let that pass. They made a very good start, it was hard for us, we were behind in the score throughout the match. Players like Juancho (Hernangomez) came in and had a big impact. We had good sequences, but it was not enough. (…) Personally, I have to be better, to be able to raise my team more than tonight…»
Gerschon Yabusele (strong winger of the France team) : «It hurts… We were there for gold. The Spaniards have won, we are going home… It will make us better. (…) We can always review the matches, talk about mistakes, this, that… Despite that, we were in the game. We should have started better but we managed to come back. They won and voila… (…) Nice medal? With hindsight, we will think like this. But there, we just lost… We are competitors, we were there for the gold, to win. So we can’t be happy at the moment. We will see with hindsight.»
I await revenge.
Terry Tarpey
Terry Tarpey (French national team winger) : «Spain stronger? I’m not going to say that (smiles). But tonight was not our best game. He missed small things, Spain put in complicated shots, more intensity, and they stayed in their systems. For us, it was hard… Their defense, key to La Roja’s success? Yes, but also the attack, a bit of everything. It was important to control the offensive rebounds but they took I don’t know how many (11, against 5 for France, editor’s note). They took more shots than us… It’s not easy to win with these kind of statistics. Nice medal? Yes… We weren’t playing the final for second place. In a few years, at the time of retirement, I may say to myself that the agent is not bad. It will be a source of motivation for me. I want to continue. We will still meet Spain, we will always play against them… I am waiting for revenge.(on Canal+)