Paris 2024 men's water polo: Breakdown, highlights, stats and top performers from Olympic semi-finals on 9 August

In what is set to be a repeat of the Rio 2016 gold-medal match, Serbia and Croatia have fought their way through the world’s greatest water polo teams to go head to head in the final match of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, where only one will come out on top and clinch Olympic gold.

The Serbians are looking to defend their title for a third straight Olympic Games, while Croatia will try to add an Olympic title to the world title they took earlier this year, when they knocked Serbia out in the quarter-finals on their way to gold.

In the lead-up to this final, it looked like both teams might fall out of medal contention, as Croatia was set to play gold-medal favourites — and undefeated until that point — Spain in the quarter-finals. Croatia, meanwhile, had a mixed 3-2 record from pool play.

But from the jump, Croatia took control by refusing to concede a goal for the entire first quarter, holding off Spain 6-3 at the half and going on to win 10-8.

Serbia, on the other hand, kept their gold-medal dreams alive with a game-winning goal in the final two seconds of their quarter-final against Greece.

The Balkan neighbours will face off for the gold medal on Sunday, 11 August, as Croatia tries to take the title back from Serbia for the first time since 2012.

The United States and Hungary lost to Serbia and Croatia, respectively, on Friday, 9 August, and will battle for the bronze medal on Sunday, 11 August.

Game of the day: Serbia defeats USA to advance to third straight gold-medal match

The United States came into the semi-final hungry to put an end to Serbia’s reign, but after getting off to a running start with a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the first period, the Serbians took back control in the second period and went on to dominate the Americans 10-6 by the end.

Serbian veteran Nikola Dedovic was largely to thank for the win, with four goals that were accompanied by Nikola Jaksic’s three markers. Three other players had one goal each to round out the scoring.

“Every single one of [my team-mates] was amazing — first to the last — and we deservedly won this game," Jaksic said afterwards.

“We didn't come here to be second, we came here to win it … we're definitely going to give everything we have, even more than in any previous game we've had during this tournament.”

Player of the day: Loren Fatovic’s perfect 5-for-5

Though Hungary took a 1-0 lead over Croatia in the first 30 seconds of their semi-final, they were no match for Loren Fatovic, who took five shots throughout the game, landing every single one of them to carry the Croatians to a 9-8 victory and a spot in the gold-medal final.

Fatovic will pose a major threat to the Serbians if they want to hang on to their Olympic title, as he has been the leading or tied for first point scorer for the Croatians in five of their seven games.

“It's the perfect year for us,” Fatovic said after the semi-final. “But we don't want to stop here, we want to win this one last game and make it incredible.”

Croatia goalkeeper Marko Bijac, who saved 10 of Hungary’s 18 shots in the game, added: “We are the best when it's most important … we always fight till the last moment, like we showed here."

Men's water polo results from 9 August

Men's classification 5th-8th

Spain beat Italy, 11-9

Men's semi-final

Serbia beat USA, 10-6

Men's Classification 5th-8th

Greece beat Australia, 15-9

Men's semi-final

Croatia beat Hungary, 9-8

Water polo schedule for 10 August

All times local to Paris, France (CET)

09:00 Women's classification 7th-8th: Greece vs. Canada

10:35 Women's bronze-medal match: United States vs. Netherlands

14:00 Women's classification 5th-6th: Hungary vs. Italy

15:35 Women's gold-medal match: Australia vs. Spain

19:35 Men's Classification 7th-8th: Australia vs. Italy