A little more than a month after the painful defeat in the final of the European Championship, which will be remembered for the masterful goal of the Spaniard Alvaro Granados at the end of the duel in Zagreb, Croatian water polo players showed a reaction and conquered the world.
The "Barracudas" are celebrating their third title in history after a very exciting duel in Doha and a victory over Italy on fives 15:13, after 11:11 in the regular part.
The heroes are reserve goalkeeper Mate Anić, who in the penultimate series saved a shot by Franćek di Fulvi, and Marko Žuvela - the scorer for 15:13 by checkmating Djanmark Nicosia for the great celebration of the team led by Ivica Tucak.
Previously, Loren Fatović missed (he was stopped by Stefano del Lungo) and Gonzalo Ecenike, who lifted the crossbar.
Croatia won the top five with a goal by Rino Burić five seconds before the end, and the regular part saw an even match with many changes in the lead with big problems for the "setebel" in attack, especially when they had more players...
Before the gold in Doha, the Croats won the title in 2007 in Melbourne and in 2017 in Budapest. Italy, on the other hand, remained on four cups - the last time they looked forward to in 2019 in Gwangju.
"I'm overjoyed - this national team has never failed in morale, desire and will. Sometimes you get five prizes, sometimes not. This time they did," said Tucak and said:
"My wish in life is Olympic gold. Until I win it, I will not rest. I hope that gold will come with Croatia. Recently, they implanted a stent in me, so I told them not to throw me in the pool, but Fatović threw me anyway. Maybe they want to get rid of me," joked Tucak.
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Bronze was won by Spain, which easily beat France 14:10.
Greece is in fifth place - it defeated Serbia 15:11, while the Montenegrin water polo players finished the tournament in eighth place after being defeated by Hungary 18:16 this morning.
Bonus video:
