The Spaniards, current world champions, are struggling to withstand the Croatian downpour, a start that is as dizzying as it is committed: two thousand throats shout in the Bazeni Mladost pool in Zagreb and the locals, champions every time they have held a European Championship (in 2010, in 2022), they intend to win by KO.
They will not achieve it, victims of their vehemence and the genius of Álvaro Granados, author of two goals in the final stretch, the last an impossible reverse: with the help of Granados, Spanish water polo manages to break another myth.
Right now, Spain is already champion of everything.
European Champion, too: to achieve the latter, she has had to wait 98 years, 36 continental editions.
(...)
If there is a sport in which the Spanish show off tradition and prestige in the international showcase, it is water polo. Theirs are the pools, in men and women, in all categories, in all championships and in all settings.
And yet, no one would have imagined such an outcome three quarters of an hour earlier: Croatia detects cracks in the Spanish defensive system, which has been three-time world champion and Olympic champion, but until now has never won a European Championship, and that's where it sneaks in.
That beginning is a carousel of sensations.
Croatia pushes hard, clings to Bukic's hand (two goals in the first quarter, four at the end of the game), and the Spanish are in tow.
Felipe Perrone and Granados squeeze each other, Unai Aguirre shouts from the goal, celebrating each of his interceptions. However, Croatia flies. He goes up to 5-3, makes his way through all the cracks of the Spanish, and David Martín calls for the first timeout. His instructions temper the nerves of the Spanish, who take a breath at the close of the first quarter and climb to 7-6 at halftime.
Not so bad, given what we've seen.
Caps fly, temporary expulsions abound (in the middle of the match, the superiorities are counted at seven per side), the underground game is a festival.
Zagreb surrenders to its people, just as Eindhoven, days ago, surrendered to the power of its Dutch, when the Spanish were looking for gold in the women's European Championship. They wouldn't make it then, punished in the last six seconds.
In Zagreb, Bukic, hammer until now, has already given everything and is giving no more, and Croatia is showing signs of weakness. Kharkov, his man-franchise, does not care, he does not find angles to shoot or spaces to place balls on the buoy, and in Spain everyone comes into action. Although the third quarter closes at 10-8, the Croatians feel the weight of the pressure and lose steam and strength.
The Croatians deflated like Mike Tyson when the fight was prolonged. They stagger and the Spanish feast. Now Sanahuja (three goals at the end of the game) and Granados are in charge. His last goal, an artistic reverse, made Bijac blush, until then a magnificent goalkeeper. Granados's push, 48 seconds from the end, freezes the atmosphere of the Croatian pool. Until that moment, Croatia had always been ahead on the scoreboard.
The Spanish finally prevail, and the title has a double prize because it is more than just a title: it is also an accreditation for the next Paris 2024 Games.
Croatia: Bijac; Buric (-), Fatovic (1), Loncar (-), Biljaka (-), Bukic (4), Vukicevic (1), Zuvela (2, 1p), Marinic Kragic (2), Vrlic (-), Butic ( -), Kharkov (-) and Popadic (-).
Spain: Aguirre (Edu Lorrio); Munárriz (2), Granados (3), Sanahuja (3), De Toro (-), Larumbe (1), Biel (-), Cabanas (-), Tahull (1), Perrone (-), Mallarach (-) and Busts (1).
Referees: Boris Margeta (ESL) and Georgios Stravidis (GRE). Eliminated: Cabanas.
Partials: 5-3, 2-3, 3-2, 0-3.
