Spain wins its fourth Eurobasket by beating France 88-76 in a grand final

The Spanish basketball team rounded off the Eurobasket fairy tale in Berlin with a gold medal to remember by beating France (88-76), in a final in which the choral play of Sergio Scariolo’s team tamed the physique of the Olympic runner-up with a fantastic Juancho Hernangómez from the perimeter (27 points and 7 hits from 9 triples).

The world champion was proclaimed champion of Europe for the fourth time in her history. And she did it perhaps at an unexpected moment against an experienced opponent, with notable NBA players like Rudy Gobert (6 points and only 6 rebounds) and Evan Fournier (23 points) in her ranks. But Spain, led by the Hernangómez brothers -Willy finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds-, kissed European glory at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Spain has become the last Europeans in the kryptonite of France, which added its eighteenth defeat in twenty-two games against its neighbors in the continental competition. Pau Gasol’s exhibitions in the Lille 2015 semifinal, with 40 points, or the 27 scored by Juan Carlos Navarro in the 2011 final, remain in the memory.

From now on, September 18, 2022 will be another of the memorable dates in the history of the Spanish team. Exactly on the eleventh anniversary of the European gold won in Kaunas (Lithuania), Spain again punished the French team. And this time without the stars that have led the team in the last fifteen years, but with an author team, in which the group is above the individual ones.

Under the baton of Sergio Scariolo, La Roja, with up to seven debutants on the squad, put the finishing touch to a memorable championship, with some players who, despite the youth of many of them, have not shaken their pulse in any of them of the heads or tails matches of the Eurobasket.