Paris (AFP)

The French volleyball players finished "their" European Championship without the medal that made them dream, beaten for bronze on Saturday by the Poles (3-0), and now have their eyes turned to Olympic qualification in three months in Berlin.

The final will be Sunday (5:30 pm) in Paris between Serbia, European Champion for the last time in 2011, and Slovenia who will play its second final after the 2015 lost against France.

Mentally touched by his defeat in half less than 20 hours before against Serbia (3-2), the band Earvin Ngapeth has given up against Poland, double world champion in title (2014 and 2018) and simply stronger.

"It was hard especially mentally because yesterday it was a big disappointment, it hurt so bad it was hard to ignore, the Poles had one more day to digest their defeat against the Slovenes. To return the next day is hard, "said Ngapeth.

In front of Poland, the Blues missed some chances in the first and the second round, where they made the race in the lead before yielding on the end.

Ngapeth has once again released a very big performance, with 18 points in three sets, but insufficient to get the podium.

Opposite, the best player in the world Wilfredo Leon, Cuban naturalized Polish and who evolves with the red and white selection since the end of July 2019, was simply too strong (18 points), countered on rare occasions by the tricolor block.

- "Fantastic Communion" -

"It's very cruel, it missed a little something, we had a good game, this first set was a bit bad, because we were in front," commented the passer and captain of the Blues, Benjamin Toniutti.

If they finish the competition without the medal in front of their supporters, the players of Laurent Tillie however evolved in rooms copiously filled, that it is in Montpellier for the first round - 5,500 spectators of average on the five meetings -, in Nantes - more than 7,000 for the 8th and the quarter - or Paris - 12,500 for the half.

The fad was also visible on television, as the semi-final against Serbia gathered an average of 1.7 million viewers Friday night - 2.1 million peak - the historic record of the chain L? Team .

"The course was beautiful, we started from scratch, we were afraid of playing in empty rooms, there was a fantastic communion with the audience, there was a nice show and I hope people have discovered volleyball, "said coach Laurent Tillie.

After two and a half months in clubs, they will meet at the end of the year to prepare the most important tournament of the Olympiad, the one who will deliver the last ticket to compete in the Tokyo Olympics next year.

It will take place in Berlin from 5 to 10 January 2020. Benjamin Toniutti's teammates will meet seven other nations including Serbia and Slovenia, but also Bulgaria, Germany, or the Netherlands.

"It's going to be horror, we played a TQO a month ago against Poland and Slovenia and we will have to repeat a tournament with Serbia and Slovenia, it will be extremely hard," warned. Totti ".

© 2019 AFP