The Greek team observes an emotional minute's silence at the European Water Polo Championships to mark the loss of more than 70 lives in wildfires around Athens ©LEN

An emotional minute's silence was observed before tonight's men's quarter-final at the European Water Polo Championships in Barcelona between Spain and Greece to mark the tragic impact of wildfires in the latter country which have claimed at least 70 lives.

On a hugely difficult night, Greece were only 4-3 down at the halfway point, but theiir opponents won the third quarter 4-0 before sealing a 10-6 win.

Spain will now meet Italy, who secured an 11-1 win over Russia.

Earlier, Olympic and defending champions Serbia and arch-rivals Croatia earned the right to play each other in the first of the men's semi-finals on Thursday (July 26).

Serbia won the first of the men’s quarter-finals at the Piscines Bernat Picornell, defeating 2016 bronze medallists Hungary 8-5 with Nikola Jaksic contributing three goals.

The Serbians took control of the match from the off, taking a 4-0 lead by the end of the first of the four periods.

Croatia stepped up their game in the second quarter-final of the European Swimming Federation (LEN) competition to earn a 9-7 victory over the side beaten by Serbia in the 2016 final, Montenegro.

The Croatians found  themselves 4-2 down at the halfway point, but rallied to win the two final quarters by 4-2, and 3-1.

The Netherlands and Germany will play off for ninth place on Thursday af’'ter respective 9th to 12th place semi-final wins over Romania, by 12-7, and France, 12-5.

Georgia confirmed a 13th place finish with an 8-6 win over Slovakia, while Turkey beat Malta 13-12 in the match for 15th place.

Tomorrow the women’s competition will resume with action culminating in semi-finals between defending champions Hungary and the Netherlands, and Greece and Spain.