Spain beat Greece 9-5 in a prolific performance by their goalkeeper Unai Aguirre who led the team to the semifinals of the European Championship in Split (Croatia) where they will face off against Hungary (Thursday, 6 pm).
Coach David Martin has placed Spain among the top four since 2018 in all the international competitions he has played in - World Cup (2019 and 2022), Olympic Games (2021) and European Games (2018, 2020 and 2022).
Spain began the match by scoring distances with two goals from Martin Famera and Sergi Cabanas that gave them a quick 2-0 scoreline at the Spaladum Arena.
Greece returned the play with goals from two of their figures - Genidounias and Vlachopoulos - for the only equalizer of the match since Alvaro Granados and Alberto Munárriz then placed the advantage of two goals again (4-2).
Unai Aguirre was a giant under the sticks throughout the match and as shown by the penalty that stopped Argyropoulos on the last play of the first set. The Atletic Barceloneta goalkeeper finished with 69% effectiveness with 11 stops from 16 shots.
From the offensive effervescence, they moved on to the defensive priority more in line with the planned script that attended a match with few goals.
Martín Famera - who had not scored in the three games of the first phase - scored his second goal in the match for 5-2 with a Helena response also with the second by Angelos Vlachopoulos.
The team pressed the accelerator in the third quarter with goals from Felipe Perrone and Alberto Munárriz that gave the maximum advantage of four goals. Spain's extraordinary defense only allowed Kakaris to cut it to three (7-4) late in the third quarter.
The start of the last quarter brought the award for Roger Tahull who scored his first goal for Spain's eighth goal while Vlachopoulos, the best of the Greeks, made it 8-5 which lasted for almost the entire quarter. Alvaro Granados put the finishing touch, from a penalty, in the last minute for the final 9-5.
Spain repeats as in the last two Europeans with both male and female teams in the semifinals. The girls play against the Netherlands this Wednesday (7:00 p.m.).
9-Spain: Aguirre; Munarriz (2), Pomegranates (2.1p.), Sanahuja, Of Bull, Larumbe, Famera (2), Cabanas (1), Tahull (1), Perrone (1), Muddy, Busts, Lorrio
5-Greecia: Tzortzatos, Genidounias, Skoumpasis, Gkiouvetsis, Argyropoulos, Papanastasiau, Dervizis (1), Alafragkis, Kopeliadis, Kakaris (1) Nikolaidis, Vlachopoulos (3), Limarakis
Referees: Margeta (Slovenia) and Putnikovic (Serbia).
Partials: 4-2, 1-1, 2-1, 2-1.
Incidents: Quarterfinal match of the European Championship played at the Spaladum Arena in Split (Croatia).
