The current European and world champion stands in the way of the Montenegrin water polo team in their quest to reach the semifinals of the Old Continent championship.
This first sentence alone says how much hard work awaits the "Sharks", and it is even harder if you know how they have fared in duels with Spain in major competitions recently.
They mostly lost convincingly, with only a few draws and the last win back in 2013, but even that tradition must come to an end sometime - maybe Friday (3:30 p.m.) is the ideal moment, but there are many factors that need to coincide for Montenegro to even think about a surprise in the Belgrade Arena.
Montenegro achieved two victories in Group A (over Malta and France), lost to Hungary, and carried three points into the main round - this means that it needs all three triumphs in the duels with Spain, the Netherlands and Serbia to advance to the top four.
It doesn't seem realistic after everything we've seen in the past six days, but the "sharks" have an obligation to believe and try to reach the final.
In announcing the duel with the "red fury", coach Dejan Savić first touched on the match with the French and the 13:12 victory in which his team once again showed two faces.
"We had a wonderful start, we played two quarters perfectly, and later we had a slump, primarily psychologically. We knew what could happen, that France would chase, but we couldn't allow ourselves to suddenly stop playing," said Savić.
Montenegro seems to have consciously started wasting time.
"There was no need to 'defend the result', we should have continued to play. In that last attack we broke their zero zone and scored the winning goal, but we had certain downfalls and 'slippery terrain' when we conceded goals cheaply, as was the case against Hungary," added Savić.
For the match against Spain, at least the preparation for the match is easy - everything is known about the opponent, one of the best teams on the planet for years.
"They are a team to be respected, it doesn't matter that they are the current European and world champions. Spain has exceptional individuals, a team with many players who can decide games, but I think we have a chance based on what both teams have shown so far in the tournament. But we need additional toughness, that's how we have to play against the Spanish and we have to be careful against their best players, and to be careful of counterattacks," the trophy expert is clear.
Vasilije Radović believes that our team can match the favorite.
"We have a key match ahead of us to qualify for the semi-finals, and Serbia showed in the group that it can play against Spain and that it is not invincible. I can't wait for the match to start, we have prepared well for the derby and I am optimistic," says water polo player Jadran M:tela.
Group E pairs (Friday):
Montenegro - Spain 15.30
Hungary - Netherlands 18.00
France - Serbia 20.30
Bonus video:
