THE ETERNAL CHAMPIONS: Water polo players of Serbia are the Champions of Europe! Spain defeated after the penalties! (PHOTO)

Foto: Tanjug/AP

Foto: Tanjug/AP

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Foto: Tanjug/AP

Water polo players of Serbia won the title of European champions after they beat the host Spain in the dramatic final after the penalties.

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The result was 7:7 in the regular time and our players had more focus and knowledge during the penalties. Our players scored all five and won the fourth consecutive title of the champion of the old continent!

The decisive goal was scored by Milos Cuk, our best scorer in this championship, and Prlainovic, Filipovic, Aleksic, and Mandic were precise as well. Fernandez was the most tragic, who hit the post during the penalties.

Andrija Prlainovic was the most efficient during the regular time with two goals, while Mandic, Cuk, Aleksic, Jaksic, and Mitrovic scored one each. The goalkeeper Branislav Mitrovic has to be praised, who was even better in the second half, especially in the last quarter when he prevented the Spaniards to reach the goal in the finish of the match which could have brought them the title.

Foto: Tanjug/AP

Serbia nervously entered the finals. That was the most nervous quarter for our team, where we missed a lot of chances in the attack, but the defense was strong and had only one failure when Mallarach used the extra player and brought the home team into the lead in the great finals.

In the second quarter, Andrija Prlainovic breached through the psychological block of our team at the start with a great goal, and he played great in the attack. However, Spaniards retaliated with two goals for 3:1.

Foto: Tanjug/AP

However, our players had the answer, Aleksic reduced the advantage and then Stefan Mitrovic equalized after the great action by our team.

The sadness remains that Perrone scored a goal for Spain in the next attack, so they had the advantage in the halftime.

Foto: Tanjug/AP

And Spain started the third part, boosted by the goal. Del Toro Scored a goal for Spain at the start of the second halftime, but Milos Cuk reduced the advantage in the next attack.

In the next few minutes, we could see good defense by both teams, Branislav Mitrovic woke up on our goal and he prevented Spain to get two goals of advantage, then Dusan Mandic brought the equalizer with his goal.

Andrija Prlainovic scored a goal in the last minute of the third quarter and brought Serbia ahead for the first time in the finals, but Spain scored a goal in the next attack, again in the last seconds of the quarter. We entered the last quarter with the score of 6:6.

Foto: Tanjug/AP

After a few minutes without a goal in the decisive quarter, Serbia issued a first blow, over Nikola Jaksic who scored from the center position for 7:6. However, Spaniards scored a goal in the next attack when Mallarach found a crack in our defense.

After that, Serbia tried to score a goal with shots from distance, but Spain's goalkeeper miraculously prevented Mandic and Aleksic from scoring. On the other side, Branislav Mitrovic was phenomenal on the Serbian goal, when he prevented Mallarach from scoring a goal. Our team was decisive in defense and they prevented Spaniards from shooting at the goal.

Foto: Tanjug/AP

After that we had the final attack, Dejan Savic took the Time-Out to plan out the action for the remaining 13 seconds. And after the obvious foul over Prlainovic, the referees didn't sound off and the match was over with 7:7 in the regular time so the decision had to be made with penalties, and our boys were more concentrated and had more knowledge.

The decisive goal was scored by Milos Cuk, our best scorer in this championship, and Prlainovic, Filipovic, Aleksic, and Mandic were precise as well. Fernandez was the most tragic, who hit the post during the penalties.

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MEDALS THAT SERBIA WON SINCE INDEPENDENCE 

2006 World League (Athens) - gold, European Championship (Belgrade) - gold

2007 World League (Berlin) - gold

2008 Olympics (Beijing) - bronze, European Championship (Malaga) - silver, World League (Genoa) - gold

2009. World League (Podgorica) - Bronze, Mediterranean Games (Pescara) - Gold, World Championship (Rome) - Gold

2010 World League (Nis) - gold, World Cup (Oradea) - gold, European Championship (Zagreb) - bronze

2011. World League (Florence) - gold, World Championship (Shanghai) - silver

2012 European Championship (Eindhoven) - gold, Olympic Games (London) - bronze

2013 World League (Chelyabinsk) - gold

2014. World League (Dubai) - gold, European Championship (Budapest) - gold, Alma Ati - gold

2015 World League (Bergamo) - gold, World Championship (Kazan) - gold

2016 European Championship (Belgrade) - Gold, World League (China) - Gold, Olympic Games (Rio) - Gold

2017. World League (Ruzi) - gold, World Cup (Budapest) - bronze

2018. Mediterranean Games (Tarragona) - Gold, European Championship (Barcelona) - Gold!

(Telegraf.co.uk)