Germany's severely decimated handball players leave the European Championship, which was shaped by the Corona chaos, with a sense of achievement.
Thanks to a strong fighting performance, the DHB selection, which had shrunk to 13 players, prevailed against Russia on Tuesday evening with 30:29 (16:12).
Captain Johannes Golla, Tobias Reichmann and Patrick Zieker were the top scorers in Bratislava with five goals each for the German team, who had no chance of reaching the semi-finals of the tournament in Slovakia and Hungary before the game.
Instead, national coach Alfred Gislason and his remaining protégés will be making their journey home by charter flight to Frankfurt on Wednesday morning.
A number of his players had already left the team hotel in the Slovakian capital. For the final tournament game, the already decimated squad of the DHB selection had become even smaller. National coach Alfred Gislason is actually allowed to call up 16 players for the European Championship games, at least 14 were planned this time - but then the Icelander also did without Hendrik Wagner at short notice. The backcourt player made his debut in the tournament against Sweden last Sunday after his corona infection and several days of quarantine, but complained of breathing problems after a few minutes.
So this time there were only 13 players in the German squad, fewer than ever before at this curious European Championship. Gislason wasn't even able to put up a real defense because after the positive corona tests from Patrick Wiencek and Simon Ernst, only Golla was left as a defensive specialist. Nevertheless, the DHB selection got off to a good start, which was also due to the strong goalkeeper Daniel Rebmann. The post-nominated tournament debutant from Frisch Auf Göppingen was allowed to start at the European Championship for the first time and impressed with numerous saves. Germany was quickly leading by four goals.
But who can blame Gislason's side for the mistakes that followed?
Of the original squad with which the Icelander started the journey to the European Championship, only Julian Köster, Philipp Weber, Lukas Zerbe and Golla were spared from the virus - a total of 15 players were caught.
This is another reason why the DHB selection lacked automation.
Instead of managing the lead, they kept making mistakes in attack.
Weber in particular caught the eye with numerous misses, and other experienced players such as Tobias Reichmann and Fabian Wiede also missed some of the best chances.
But Gislason stayed calm on the sidelines this time.
Instead of despairing of his team's deficits, the 62-year-old was patient during his time-outs.
What should he have asked for?
Due to the chronic lack of defenders, 21-year-old Köster from second division club VfL Gummersbach had to help out in the center of defense, and at some point there was a lack of stamina on offense.
Nevertheless, it was enough to succeed in the end.
Zieker scored the winning goal with a Kempa trick.