Barbic’s perfect shooting leads hosts to opening victory

10 goals from 10 shots by Croatia Ivan Barbic encapsulates a day full of high scores in the Men’s 19 EHF EURO 2021 as the hosts scored their first victory and there was a big surprise in group A.

GROUP A

Iceland vs Slovenia 22:26 (8:14)

• Five first-half goals from Celje player Mitja Janc handed Slovenia a commanding six-goal lead at half-time
• Iceland looked a different side in the second half and brushed off a red car for Isak Gustafsson to draw level at 18:18 with 13 minutes left on the clock
• Slovenia found another gear in the final stages to come out on top of a suspension-heavy clash, with 16 two-minutes suspensions dished out

Serbia vs Italy 26:28 (13:13)

• Italy pulled off one of the first big surprises of the competition with an impressive win
• it was a perfect start for the Italians as they raced into a 6:1 lead but Serbia managed to draw level before the break
• Serbia momentarily gained control of the game, taking a three-goal lead, but Italy were dominant in the final quarter and came away with the big win as Thomas Bortolo and Nicola Fadanelli combined for 16 goals

GROUP B

Spain vs Israel 34:23 (18:15)

• Israel did well to stay in touch for three-quarters of the match but eventually ran out of steam
• Spain were relentlessly good in attack, producing a brilliant 72 per cent shooting efficiency
• Jan Gurri's six goals led a balanced Spain attack, in which 10 players scored at least two each

Sweden vs Hungary 36:35 (19:17)

• Sweden and Hungary treated us to the highest-scoring game of the day, full of counter-attacks and players in no mood to hang about
• despite the flurry of goals, Sweden held the only significant lead of the game for a short period early in the second half
• Gergo Fazekas gave Hungary the lead with two goals in a minute but it was Elliot Stenmalm who had the last laugh as he scored the winner, his 13th goal of the day, in the dying seconds

GROUP C

Denmark vs Norway 29:19 (16:8)

• after taking a 4:3 lead, Norway saw the game slip away as Denmark went on a 7:0 run in 10 minutes
• a second-half surge saw Norway get back within four goals but Denmark had too many options at their disposal and quickly regained control
• Norway’s five missed penalties hurt them but Denmark were the better side overall

Germany vs Russia 35:27 (15:10)

• Niclas Heitkamp started this game as he meant to go on, scoring three early goals as Germany stamped their authority
• Russia round their rhythm after the 10-minute mark but were always playing catchup
• Heitkamp kept popping up with the goals, nine in total, as Russia had no answer in defence

GROUP D

France vs Austria 32:24 (15:14)

• the Olympic champions’ newest generation of internationals displayed a hint of their trademark flair as 11 players got on the scoreboard in a comfortable win
• having gone 9:2 down, Austria produced a remarkable second-quarter comeback to get back within one goal at half-time
• but France regained control in the all-important third quarter of the game and rebuilt their lead with solid defence and good decision making in attack

Croatia vs Portugal 35:31 (17:15)

• the host nation treated us to a goal fest against Portugal in their opening clash
• Portugal were creating more chances for themselves but could not draw level with the home side, who always kept their noses in front
• Ivan Barbic put in a perfect shooting performance, with 10 goals from 10 as he led Croatia to an irreversible lead in the final 15 minutes

Widespread coverage on EHFTV and EHF social media

The Men's 19 EHF EURO 2021 will receive widespread coverage on the various EHF channels.

The entire event will be streamed live on EHFTV. Also, the Home of Handball social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as well as the reports on eurohandball.com will keep fans up to date throughout all the events.