Croatia loses to Italy at European Championships

The Croatian national water polo team will miss out on the semi-finals of the European Championships in Belgrade after a 10:13 loss to Italy on Wednesday.

The defeat means Croatia will face Spain on Thursday at 20:30 in a match to decide fifth place.

Despite having a player advantage 23 times during the game, Croatia converted only nine of those opportunities.

Coach Ivica Tucak reflected on the loss:

"The general conclusion is that we spent the whole game scrambling to keep up and wasted too much energy in the process. When we needed to be mentally sharp at two or three key moments on offense—moments that could have turned the game in our favor—we had some major mental lapses. Italy deserved the win."

The semi-finals are set for Friday, with Greece taking on Hungary at 17:00, followed by Serbia versus Italy at 20:30.