Defeated in the tie-break Friday night at Bercy, French volleyball players see their dreams of becoming European champions fly away. They will try to win the bronze medal Saturday at 18 hours against Poland.

The French volleyball players saw their title dream come crashing in the semi-finals of Euro-2019 against Serbia on Friday night at Paris-Bercy, and will have to settle for the bronze medal fight on Saturday (18 hours) against Poland.

Hitherto impeccable especially against some strong nations of European volleyball (Bulgaria and Italy), Laurent Tillie's Bleus have lost 3 sets to 2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 17-25, 15- 7), leaving the Serbs to play in the final of the European Championship against Slovenia on Sunday (5:30 pm) in Bercy.

"Stronger than us"

The Blues have stammered their game at the worst time, on the last step before the final, which guarantees a podium in case of victory. "We have the impression that we collapsed on the tie-break, they imposed on us their attacking power, Ngapeth was not enough, technically and physically, they were stronger than us," he said. said French coach Laurent Tillie, after the meeting.

Since the beginning of the Euro, he repeated to the envy that "it remains sport" and that it is always possible to lose against stronger. On the other hand, he did not want to have any regrets or spoil a golden opportunity. "I do not know how to explain it (this defeat) I'm disappointed ... We gave everything, it was incredible tonight, but we did not manage to get the trick to win," commented at the microphone of the channel L'Equipe Julien Lyneel, author of 14 points Friday.

Friday, his players fell on a Serbian team that has gradually taken the measure of the French attack, after a first set to the advantage of the Blues. "We have not been able to find the solutions in attack, but it's not a bad match ... it's played on a tie-break, which is a shame," added Lyneel. However, this home tournament had been cleared two scarecrows of the competition - Russia and Poland respectively eliminated in quarter and semifinal by Slovenia.