Paris, France, September 28, 2019.  Poland rejoiced with the bronze medals at CEV EuroVolley 2019 Men. In front of almost seven thousand fans, split between France and Poland seemingly at half, the reigning world champions disappointed the home team with a hard-fought shutout to at least partially make up for their semifinal loss to Slovenia on Thursday. The remaining two medals, gold and silver, will be distributed in the final between Serbia and Slovenia set to take place on Sunday at 17:30 local time at the magnificent AccorHotels Arena in Paris.

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FRA vs POL 0-3 (24-26, 22-25, 21-25) in Paris, France

In the fantastic ambience of the magnificent AccorHotels Arena, where fans of both teams packed the stands so that it was hard to tell who is the host, France stormed to a 3-0 opening and extended it as far as 9-4, with Earvin Ngapeth leading the way with excellence in both reception and offence. Capitalising on the multiple opponent errors and their good blocking, the Poles gradually caught up and took control on the way to a 26-24 finish, stamped by a Wilfredo Leon hammer for the last point. The second set was just as hard-fought as the first one and unfolded in a similar manner. France had the early lead, but with some top-notch contribution from captain Michal Kubiak on all fronts, the Poles took over and hammered out a 25-22 win. With the momentum on their side, coach Vital Heynen’s team maintained the upper hand throughout the third set. With Leon now on fire (nine points in the set) and staying more focused than the opponents, the White-and-Reds managed to keep pace towards the victory, which came at 25-21 on an ace by Maciej Muzaj. Leon and Ngapeth split the best scorer honours with 18 points each.