Belgrade (AFP)

This time the Bleues were very far from gold: in their fourth final of the Euro lost in a row, the French basketball players were corrected by their major Spanish rivals, 86 to 66, Sunday in Belgrade.

This is the third time in four attempts that the Blue hit the Spanish after 2013 and 2017. But this time, the defeat also hurts by its magnitude.

The wait for the third title, already ten years long, will extend at least until the 2021 edition, which may take place in France. France is a candidate to organize the event (including the semi-finals and the final at Bercy) jointly with ... Spain, and hopes to be appointed on July 15th.

Too many balloons lost, too many rebounds dropped, and especially a very porous defense against Spaniards devilishly deft in the image of Marta Xargay (23 points), there was no suspense in the strange atmosphere of the huge Beogradska Arena almost empty.

At the break, the defeat was practically consumed with 50 points conceded! And 14 lengths of delay (50-36). Without the work of Sandrine Gruda inside (12 points out of a total of 18 late in the game), the case will even turned to disaster.

The Blue tried to react to the return of the locker room, with their American Bria Hartley (17 points), but the gap has never fallen below eight points.

- Still proud -

When it has already been touched three times, the money is obviously not enough and with this scenario the French women may have difficulty to take a step back. But they can still be proud of their regularity at the highest level. Especially since the team is young (24 years average).

She was deprived of several injured players and had to shoot with a tight group mainly on seven players. Among them, a major trio emerged from the beginning: Sandrine Gruda, dominant at the post of pivot, in attack as in defense, the leader Olivia Epoupa and her 164 cm elusive, and the American Bria Hartley.

The latter, who was playing her first major competition after obtaining a French passport thanks to her Alsatian grandmother, saved the team from elimination in the quarterfinals by snatching an extension thanks to a three-pointer second of the end against the Belgians. This match will remain the highlight of the Euro.

One of the great regrets of the tournament is that Marine Johannès, the pearl of the French basketball that we may have put a little too much pressure, had only a jolt in the semifinal against Great Britain, before going out again the next day (7 points).

Still in the top of the continental basket, the Bleues dream now of an Olympic medal in Tokyo. The pinnacle would be money, as in London, knowing that unless a miracle Americans are untouchable. Gruda and captain Endy Miyem (11 points on Sunday) are the only ones who were already in the "Braqueuses" group in 2012. It will first go through an Olympic qualifying tournament, which has a good chance to smile.

? 2019 AFP