It's not the most impressive stat line of the night, with 0 points, 3 assists and 4 fouls in 12 minutes against Germany, but Romane Berniespropelled into the starting lineup, set the tone against Alexis Peterson.
Replacing Marine Fauthoux in the starting five, the Lattes-Montpellier player was the first to put pressure on the opposing ball carrier, the Germans having been very disturbed by this aggression.
For the Blues, this decisive match simply reawakened their playing identity, which had fallen a little dormant against Australia.
“There's not much to say except that it's an Olympic quarter-final. There was no need to talk for a hundred years. We knew what we had to do, we knew how important this match was and that we wanted to go to the final. It happened that way. We just said to ourselves that we had to eat them up.” explains Romane Bernies.
“The desire to walk all over them, to hurt them and to impose our strength, our identity”
Like the Blues the day before against Canada, it was necessary to set the tone from the start of the game.
“It's the intensity of the players that makes the difference” continues Romane Bernies. “We came back with a warrior mentality. It wasn't perfect and it never will be, but when you have that intensity and that desire, it makes the difference. The desire to walk all over them, to hurt them and to impose our strength, our identity.”
Now, it's Belgium's turn in the semi-finals, a team that beat Les Bleues at exactly the same stage, during the last EuroBasket.
“I'm happy to see them again. We all remember last summer, even if not everyone was there. They are our best enemies, I want to say. I can't wait to be there. It's going to be a great semi-final. But we're focusing on ourselves because we could be our first opponent. Once again, we'll have to come back with our teeth, like we were able to do in this quarter-final.” concludes the 31-year-old leader.
Interview conducted in Paris
