Through drama and 12 penalty shootouts to another great success - young sharks in the semifinals of the European Championship

Montenegro's water polo players defeated Greece in a super exciting quarter-final of the Old Continent U20 Championship - 30:29, after 32 minutes it was 18:18

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Great Sharks: Andrej Durutović and Danilo Stupar during the match against Greece, Photo: VPSCG / Dimitar Vasilev
Great Sharks: Andrej Durutović and Danilo Stupar during the match against Greece, Photo: VPSCG / Dimitar Vasilev
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Another summer, another confirmation that Montenegro is a land of water polo talent. There were difficult periods in Varna, almost all matches were full of drama, but the "young sharks" showed how strong they are when it was the hardest and are once again among the four best teams in Europe.

And this after a huge drama and even 12 series in penalty roulette.

Our national under-20 team advanced to the semi-finals of the European Championship - Nebojša Milić's team defeated Greece in a super exciting match - 30:29, after 32 minutes it was 18:18.

Montenegro will face Spain in the final - that match is scheduled for tomorrow at 4:45 pm. Croatia and Italy will meet in the other semi-final.

Radivoj Radanović in a duel with the Greeks
Radivoj Radanović in a duel with the Greeksphoto: VPSCG / Dimitar Vasilev

The first two quarters at the "Julijan Rusev" pool brought many goals, and ended with an identical score (6:6). The "Sharks" were a little slower to get going, so the "Hellenians" took a 3:1 lead, and our national team mostly chased the advantage of their rivals until the break.

Montenegro only had a lead in the first half at the beginning of the second quarter when Danilo Stupar scored for 7:6, but the Greeks turned everything in their favor again with a new 3:0 run. However, after 16 minutes the scoreboard showed 12:12, and Tim Perov was also in the mood alongside Stupar at those moments.

The rest of the game was not as effective, but it was just as dramatic. Tadija Matijašević and the excellent Andrej Durutović brought Montenegro a big 18:16 in just under two minutes, it seemed that our guys had turned the match around, but the tenacious Greece came back in the end and took the quarterfinals to the fifth place (18:18).

In the penalty shootout, Strahinja Gojković and Ognjen Moračanin were safe three times, Stefan Vraneš, Danilo Stupar, Andrej Durutović were safe once, and the tragic figure for Greece was Konstantins Belesis at the moment when Marko Pejović was in our goal.

The most efficient player for the "Sharks" was Stupar with five goals, Durutović and Perov scored three each, Gojković two, and Matijašević, Vraneš, Moračanin, Nikola Petrović and Radivoj Radanović one each. Pejović made four saves, and Danilo Rajević made one.

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