In an Accor Arena that it had not visited for more than two years, the French handball team offered a magnificent spectacle to dominate Spain this Thursday evening in a friendly match (44-33).
A comeback after such a long absence. More than two years after their last match in their lair of the Accor Arena – the late POPB de Bercy –, during a defeat against Denmark (30-31) on January 5, 2020, the Blues obviously had ants in their legs for their reunion. Spain paid the price this Thursday (44-33), she who will have a second chance to take her revenge from the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday in Chambéry (9:05 p.m.).
The first ten minutes offered the breathtaking spectacle of a French team that looked like a handball TGV. Visibly eager to sprint at all costs, Guillaume Gille’s men delivered a magnificent recital of fast play, sharp counter-attacks, which left the unfortunate Spaniards totally out of breath. Unable to follow the furious pace imposed by Hugo Descat and his band (12-5, 12th). Nevertheless, this young Iberian team, although stunned by such an avalanche of rising balls, did not abdicate so easily, and so quickly. All it took was a simple French release for Spain, on the wings of Sole, to inflict a 3-0 in sixty seconds on the Blues (12-8). A rain of goals which resulted, at the end of the first quarter of an hour, in a score worthy of an entire period (14-9 for France).
Near-perfect descat
And it wasn’t over. After a very legitimate moment of hesitation after so many races, the Tokyo Olympic champions resumed their clear domination to reach the locker room with a comfortable lead of 9 lengths (24-15 MT), with 8 goals from a Descat who, after a first failure, did not miss anything.
A series that continued from the resumption, with a demonic left winger and a gap that exceeded ten units (27-16, 34th). In a very nice atmosphere, with a room nicely filled for a Thursday evening outside school holidays, the French team could therefore take advantage of the last quarter of an hour, approached on an Ola and a small personal festival of Dika Mem. Nevertheless, the slightly crazy hope of some to see France reach the total of 50 goals scored vanished during the last ten minutes a bit more difficult (44-33). But that took nothing away from the pleasure taken before, quite the contrary.