The Slovenian basketball players faced the world champions Germany in the last quarterfinal of the European Championship and admitted defeat after a tense match (99:91).

The Slovenian national team was in the role of"outsider" against the Germans, who were a bit offensive towards their rivals in their pre-match comments, while our boys acknowledged the Germans as favorites. They justified the latter, as after falling behind through the first three quarters, they caught up and overtook the Slovenians in the final quarter to win (99:91).

The current world champions Germany will face Finland in the semi-finals, which defeated Georgia this afternoon. The other semi-final pairing is Turkey and Greece.

• This was announced by the Los Angeles Lakers before the match between Slovenia and Germany

The first goal for the Germans was scored by Dennis Schröder, who was successful after breaking through. On the other side, Edo Murić"unleashed" the German net with a shot from half-distance. Luka Dončić soon scored for our team's first lead, but in the 3rd minute, the referees gave the Slovenian superstar a technical foul for allegedly objecting, although it did not appear that Dončić was angry in the direction of the referees.

The Slovenians jumped well in attack, with Martin Krampelj and Gregor Hrovat scoring early and taking the lead to 11:8. Meanwhile, the Germans scored almost exclusively from free throws, led by their first ace Franz Wagner. The Germans punished several unused attacks by Slovenia, and after a three-pointer by Andreas Obst , they took the lead 15:11. After a minute of break by Aleksandr Sekulić, Slovenia quickly equalized, but only in the 7th minute did the referees call the first foul on the Germans, predictably on Dončić. The Slovenians continued to control the rebound well, and after Dončić's first three-pointer, they took the lead by five - 22:17. Towards the end of the quarter, Dončić scored again from distance, Klemen Prepelič did the same, and Slovenia went into the first break with a nice lead - 32:21.

Even in the introduction to the second quarter, the referees quickly whistled fouls to the Slovenians, and after three minutes the Germans closed to a manageable deficit - 34:27. Sekulić's team was stopped on a three-pointer, but in the middle of the second quarter they still led by seven points. But the Germans did not stop and after five consecutive points they were completely in the lead again - 36:34. Another Slovenian minute of timeout followed, during which Dončić explained the pitfalls of the German defense to his teammates, and after it, after a foul, he successfully completed the breakthrough.

The Germans came within a point after Maod Lô's three-pointer . Dončić took matters into his own hands and scored Slovenia's next eight points, but in the meantime he received his third personal foul and went to the bench just before halftime. He scored 22 points in the first half, while Wagner scored 15 in the second half. Prepelič took over and hit a three-pointer, and Slovenia took a four-point lead into the break - 51:47.

Sasha Despot

Already in the 3rd minute of the third quarter, the referees awarded Dončić a fourth personal foul, which the Ljubljana native did not agree with, the Slovenian bench also protested, but the referees remained unmoved. Dončić remained in the game, after Kramplj's basket the score was 59:52 for Slovenia. The referees continued to have a slightly unbalanced criterion when awarding fouls, after a personal foul by Daniel Thies in attack, they watched the video and looked for an unsportsmanlike reaction by Murić, but they did not find it.

A few minutes of torn play followed, during which the difference did not change significantly. Dončić scored another three-pointer after an excellent assist from Rok Radović, and with 90 seconds left in the quarter, Slovenia led 70:64. Then Prepelič scored from behind the line and increased the lead, forcing the Germans to take a minute break. Alen Omić fought well under the basket, but in the last second Tristan da Silva scored a lucky shot from the middle and Slovenia took a four-point lead into the final break - 74:70.

Right at the beginning of the last part of the game, the Germans tied the score and Sekulić was forced to activate Dončić from the bench. After Obst's three-pointer, Germany took the lead for the first time since the very beginning of the match, soon the world champions led by five 82:77 and Sekulić took a minute's timeout. After that, Dončić stopped the rush of his rivals with a forced foul, while the Slovenians continued to parry excellently in the jump.

Dončić put Slovenia back in the game after another exceptional three-pointer and even took the lead, while Schröder returned the lead with the same amount. Three minutes before the end, Omić got his fifth personal foul, and the Germans took a 92:87 lead from free throws and maintained that advantage in the last two minutes. The Croatian scored twice from the free throw line to reduce the deficit. On the other hand, Wagner scored twice and brought Germany to the brink of victory. In the last minute, the Slovenians failed to eliminate the deficit and lost with a final score of 99:91.

Sasha Despot

For Slovenia, Dončić scored 39 points, ten rebounds and seven assists. Prepelič added 13 points and Hrovat 11 points. For Germany, Wagner contributed 23 points and Schröder had 20 points and seven assists.

EuroBasket, quarterfinals:

Slovenia - Germany 91:99  (32:21, 19:24, 23:25, 17:29)

Dončić (10 rb, 7 ace) 39, Prepelič 13; Wagner (7 rb) 23, Schröder (7 ace) 20.

Finland - Georgia 93:79 (28:15, 29:25, 14:22, 22:17)

Jantunen 19, Markkanen (6 sk) 17; Mamukelashvili 22, Sanadze 19, Shengelia (5 aces) 18.

Turkey - Poland 91:77 (19:19, 27:13, 19:18, 26:27)

Şengün (12 sk, 10 ace) 19; Loyd 19, Ponitka (6 sc, 6 ace) 19.

Lithuania - Greece 76:87 (19:24, 19:20, 14:20, 24:23)

Valančiūnas (15 sk) 24. Velicka (7 as) 12; Mr. Antetokounmpo (6 sc) 29, Toliopoulos 17.