"It's been twice now," breathed captain Evan Fournier (17 pts).

"We have to stop having this air pocket during which we do nothing", he added in reference to the catastrophic third quarter of the Blues (18-31).

The French, Olympic vice-champions, will cross paths with Poland on Friday (5:15 p.m.) for a place in the final, which created a surprise on Wednesday evening by eliminating Slovenia and its NBA superstar, Luka Doncic (90-87).

The dream of Vincent Collet's men to conquer the continental title remains intact.

And here they are for the third time in a row in the semi-finals of a major tournament, after the bronze medal of the World Cup-2019 and the silver of the Tokyo Games last summer.

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However, once again, their fate slipped through their fingers, at the very end of regulation time.

Like the Turkish Cedi Osman on Saturday in the round of 16, Simone Fontecchio (21 pts) missed the two free throws which could have put the Azzurri under cover sixteen seconds from the buzzer (77-75).

And like Saturday again, the Blues offered themselves a five-minute extension by equalizing on their last possession and the same score (77-77).

"If Fontecchio puts both..."

"It is sure that if Fontecchio puts both, it changes a lot, recognized coach Vincent Collet. It is no longer the same situation."

"I don't really believe in luck," said Rudy Gobert (19 pts, 14 rebounds).

"When you're at -7 two minutes from the end (75-68), you don't need luck to get there. You have to make stops and you have to score," continued the NBA star of the Blues.

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If miracles follow one another, so do air pockets in the third quarter.

A 17-3 conceded (from 53-45 to 56-62) allowed the Italians to take the lead for the first time in the match.

"In five minutes, there was everything, loss of balls, no withdrawal, no rebounds... The total", listed Evan Fournier.

Two steps from a potential title, Vincent Collet's men are already European champions of lost balls in this tournament (almost 16 per match on average), their "sin", pointed out Vincent Collet, a sin confessed but still not corrected.

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The Blues offered too much candy to the Italians (17 loss of balls before extra time) while depriving themselves of shots (66 against 76 on the Italian side).

"Lost bullets are part of our identity, noted Vincent Collet. But the fact of not letting go too. I did not feel on the bench of renunciation."

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When Evan Fournier was sent off midway through extra time for a fifth personal foul, the Blues were able to rely on Thomas Heurtel.

With 20 points, including 14 in the last fifteen minutes, he signs his second total in the France team.

"Thomas had the ascendancy"

"Seen from the bench, we were convinced that the last balls came back to him, like creation", describes the coach.

"Even before Evan came out. We felt that Thomas had the upper hand. Several times he created a gap to go finish them."

This was particularly the case on the equalizer, when the ex-Real Madrid leader concluded his penetration of a lay-up, celebrated by hammering his fist on the chest.

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"People who know me know that I'm not afraid to take my responsibilities," explained the silent Thomas Heurtel.

"I took them and luckily it came back."

Beyond Heurtel, the only one of Vincent Collet's twelve men crowned at Euro-2013, four Blues scored 15 points or more: Yabusele (15), Fournier (17), Gobert (19) and therefore Heurtel ( 20).

At the Euro, it happened for the last time precisely in 2013, with Nicolas Batum, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Alexis Ajinça.

The French team ended up winning its first and only international title.

© 2022 AFP