The Hispanics make their debut in the pre-Olympic with a quick victory against Bahrain

Dani Fernández, in a counterattack against Bahrain.JLRECIO (Europa Press)

Not even a quarter of an hour of suspense did Spain grant Bahrain in the debut of the handball pre-Olympic tournament.

4-0 in the sixth minute and 10-2 in the 12th. And that's it.

The shaved Asian team, which arrived in Granollers with five of its most important players suspended for incidents during their continental championship, did not alter the placid afternoon of the Hispanics.

Jordi Ribera's group deployed appliedly, constantly doing what they did.

This Friday's event (9:00 p.m., Teledeporte) against Slovenia, the other great favorite of the group (they beat Brazil 27-26 in the last second; there are four teams and two pass), will multiply the level of demand and will be the thermometer to measure the true level of the team after the disappointing European Championship last January.

A victory would leave Paris one step away, or even already confirmed (depending on the other results).

A defeat would trigger the red flag for Sunday's game against Brazil.

Against Bahrain, Spain had no problems finding the way that best suited them, the fast game.

Rodrigo Corrales stole, stopped or, if not, he easily found solutions in a static attack to score on the run.

The instant 10-2 paved the way for victory in a Granollers pavilion that was less populated than desired.

Jordi Ribera was able to rotate early and spread out kilometers in an event of three games in four days.

The afternoon immediately left one of the most anticipated scenes, the return of the defensive couple formed by Gedeón Guardiola (he completed 200 games) and Viran Morros, 39 and 40 years old, respectively, together for a decade to build the most distinguished period of the history of the Spanish team.

The calmness of the match meant that the coach was able to bring them together for the 10th minute and they helped without problems to keep the Asian team at bay.

The clash played downhill was also joined by

local

Antonio García, another forty-year-old, who played at home every day.

The left back, back in the national team to add even more experience to the roster, scored early and well: three goals without a mistake before the break.

The reduced Bahrain hardly offered any opposition with Mohamed Mohamed, Ali Eid and goalkeeper Hesham Isa, who had nine interventions at that point, one less than the effective Corrales.

After the break, Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas came out under the sticks to finish sharing efforts and the field became a launching pad for one of the youngsters, the left winger Dani Fernández, who scored eight goals at will and without error.

He pushed back and ran to shoot up the statistic.

He earned him the MVP of the match.

Bahrain had achieved a 0-3 partial midway through the second act, but nothing compromised the Spanish victory.

The controlled match led to a comprehensive victory: 33-20 in the final stretch.

The Asians could only respond with Ali Eid's seven goals in as many shots and Hesham's saves (13).

The final result served Spain as a buffer in case the total goal difference was the tiebreaker on Sunday.

Spain, 39 - Bahrain, 27

Spain

: Corrales, Á.

Fernández (3), Tarrafeta (2), D. Dujshebaev (1), G. Guardiola (2), Garciandia (3) and Solé (2) —starting seven—;

Pérez de Vargas (ps), Á.

Dujshebaev (1), Figueras, Morros, Casado (5), A. García (4), Gómez (4), D. Fernández (8) and J. Rodríguez (4).

Bahrain

: Hesham Isa, Khamis, Fadhul, Alzaimoor (3), Madan (3), Mohamed (5) and Alsamahiji (1) – starting seven;

Madfoodh (ps), Eid (7, 1p), Alfardan (2), Rabia, Qambar (2), Abdulredha (2), Redha (1), Alzaimor and Ali (1).

Partials every five minutes

: 3-0, 9-2, 10-3, 12-5, 15-9, 18-11 —rest—;

21-13, 24-18, 29-19, 33-21, 35-23 and 39-27-final.

Referees: A. Biro and O. Kiss (Hungary).

Exclusions for Abdulredha, Fadhul, Guardiola and Morros.

Granollers Pavilion.

2,000 spectators.

The other pre-Olympic

Croatia, 35 - Austria, 29 and Germany, 41 - Algeria, 29

Norway, 32 - Portugal, 29 and Hungary, 33 - Tunisia, 24

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on

Facebook

and

X

, or sign up here to receive

our weekly newsletter

.