A look back at some of the most notable duels that were fought between the French and the Spaniards in history.
Their competition fueled the excitement of the 2010s: the French and Spanish basketball players, sworn adversaries, will face each other in the championship game of Eurobasket-2022 on Sunday at 8:30 p.m., six years after their last matchup in a major competition. In the next six matches, we will return to this rivalry.
The birth of enmity in the final of Euro 2011
Even though the Spaniards had already defeated the British Blues in the quarterfinals of the Euro-2009 tournament two years earlier with a score of 86-66, the 2011 competition signaled the beginning of the hostilities. For the first time in the history of the European Championship, the French team can assess what still separates it from the Spanish squad, who are the defending champions. This is a historic moment for France (98-85). A high tackle on Tony Parker by Rudy Fernandez, who will still be playing on Sunday despite being 37 years old, serves as a symbolic gesture to mark the end of the game.
The impotence of the 2012 Olympics
One year after losing the championship game, the band led by Tony Parker is still not at the same level as the Roja, which consists of the Gasol brothers and Sergio Llull, and they are now on track to be eliminated in the quarterfinals (66-59). Nicolas Batum delivers a punch below the belt to Juan Carlos Navarro as the match is coming to a close because he is frustrated that the Spaniards, are likely to be the future Olympic vice-champions. At a news conference, when asked about his gesture, “Batman” will respond, “I gave her a good excuse to fall.” “I gave her a good reason to fall,”
Read more about the basketball matchup between Spain and France, as well as the other five questions surrounding the Euro final, here.
The French revenge of Euro 2013
The history between the two teams began to get more contentious, and now the Blues find themselves on the brink of a second European final. Problem: in the semi-finals of Euro-2013, their archrival, La Roja, is waiting for them on the other side of the field. In the first half, which ends with a score of 34-20, only Tony Parker floats (14 of 20 French points). The but remark of TP in the locker room, which was filmed by the cameras of Canal +, inflates the potential for the team to win the European Championship. The leader of the San Antonio Spurs is irritated by his team’s tendency to “play like we’re terrified.” “It’s written all on their face. They don’t take us seriously at all,” he reiterates. “As for me, I much rather go down swinging than quitting. However, it is not the case there… There, we are in for a bad time.” Once they are back on the floor, his troops hoist the extension (65-65), and then they qualify for the final (75-72).
The Gobert revelation at the 2014 World Cup
With a rejuvenated team, without its leader Tony Parker or Joakim Noah, Alexis Ajinca, or Kévin Séraphin, who were all taking the summer off to rest, the French basketball players eliminated Spain from their World Cup at home in the quarter-finals (65-52) with a particular three-point shot from Thomas Heurtel (who was 25 years old at the time), who has remained in the memories. A first-year player shines that day: Rudy Gobert (22), who comes out of a very quiet season at Utah Jazz, springs into the ruckus where he dominates Pau Gasol with 13 gathered rebounds. This occurs after Gobert has already had a very quiet season at Utah Jazz. According to Boris Diaw, who was the captain of his team at the time, “He had revealed himself defensively because he truly took to heart to defend on Gasol.” In the year 2014, it served as a stepping stone for him.»
The Blues were disgusted at their Euro 2015
A year after the French eliminated the Spaniards from their World Cup competition in Madrid, the Spaniards returned the favor by eliminating the French from their Euro-2015 tournament in the semi-finals after extra time with a score of 80-75. Pau Gasol exacts his vengeance on Rudy Gobert by scoring a career-high 40 points in Lille, setting a new selection record in the process. “We wanted to get even,” he says, commenting on the situation. After the game, we were in tears (from 2014). It is now France’s turn to speak. The reigning champions, the Blues, were defeated in the final by La Roja, who had a decisive victory over Lithuania.
Parker’s last at the 2016 Olympics
For the last campaign of their leader Parker, but also of Mickael Gelabale and Florent Pietrus, the Blues want to win a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games, even though TP has never been able to do it in the past. the score was 92–67. “We helped put French basketball on the map of the globe, says the lead author of his most recent fourteen points, who has kept his position. “We competed against some of the best young players in Spanish history. It was a very intense competition. That is what I brought to the attention of my teammate. We did not suffer a defeat at the hands of anyone.
