The second milestone reached at the game was Anne Mette Hansen becoming Denmark's all-time top scorer at the European championship, with her tally now at 100 goals. On the Croatian side, Katarina Pavlovic scored six against Denmark for the second time in her career, keeping her as Croatia's second-best top scorer against the Scandinavian side.
GROUP D
Denmark vs Croatia 34:26 (16:13)
- Denmark had a blistering start to the game, leading by four, but Croatia found their way back into the game and narrowed it to two as Nikolina Kragulj netted her first at the competition
- Denmark's goalkeeper Anna Kristensen had already made eight saves at 53 per cent save efficiency after 17 minutes; by the end of the game she made 19 saves at 43 per cent save efficiency, earning the Player of the Match award, presented by Grundfos
- Denmark were struggling offensively, having attack efficiency at 39 per cent, forcing Jesper Jensen to make some changes but it also reflected to their defence which shifted from 6-0 to 5-1
- when Anne Mette Hansen scored for 23:17 in the 39th minute, it marked her 100th EHF EURO goal, becoming Denmark's all-time top scorer at the EHF EURO, surpassing Stine Jørgensen (99)
- the second-half performance lifted Denmark past Croatia with Michala Møller netting seven times
- all 16 of Croatia's players got their chance to feature in the game, compared to 14 out of 16 field players for Denmark
Denmark heating up
Denmark defeated Croatia 26:20 at the start of the Women's EHF EURO 1994, and 30 years later, they threw-off the 2024 tournament with another victory over the Croatians. It took some time for the Danish engines to get going after they could not make a break in the first half. The second part brought the Denmark we all know, as they powered ahead with quick goals and made Croatia suffer while trying to keep up with their fast pace thus forcing the opponents into mistakes
It has been quite some time since Croatia beat Denmark in the fight for the bronze medal at the Women's EHF EURO 2020. And it was only the second time Croatia found the solution to the Scandinavian powerhouse, and the last time. Since winning silver at the Women’s EHF EURO 2022, their first European medal in 18 years, Denmark are powering ahead and they just added their fifth EHF EURO win against Croatia to the mix.
We know if we get Anna good conditions, she will be crazy good like today. We are really happy about our two goalkeepers, both Althea (Reinhardt) and Anna. Today Anna did a really good performance. It's her first championship, so it's really cool of her and I'm really proud. It's nice for us also in the defence, because it gives us a lot of confidence that where we allow the shots, she will take.
Their goalkeeper was amazing. We did not score some easy shots that we were supposed to and she made it even harder for us. We wanted to play a good game and have a better result in the end.
