The Malta U-18 waterpolo national team entered the history books of the sport after they defeated Germany in a penalty shootout to secure a ninth-place finish at the European Championship, in Oradea, Romania.

This was Malta’s second success over powerhouse Germany in the tournament after they had similarly defeated them during the group stage and had ensured they return home with the country’s best-ever result in a European Championship from all age groups.

It was another sublime effort from Jonathan Valletta’s boys, who were on top of the game right from the outset. Although Germany fought back strongly in the match, the Maltese showed their resilience to stay with their opponents throughout.

The Maltese finally applied the coup de grâce in the shoot-out when Dzanovic saved a penalty and his team-mates converted all their shots to complete a historic victory.#

Malta were off to a fast start as they produced a near-perfect performance in the first session, scoring three times and managing a clean sheet.

Malta’s scorers here were Jayden Cutajar, Sam Engerer, and Giancarlo Gatt.

In the second session, the Germans came back strongly to bridge the gap to 3-2, but the Maltese failed to panic and goals from two penalties converted by Julian Chircop and Luigi Dimech to change ends 5-3 ahead.

The Germans continued to grow in stature and seemed at one point set to turn the match in their favour.

But the character of the boys stood out, netting three times through Philip Tabone, Jayden Cutajar, and Luigi Dimech, and started the final session 8-7 ahead.

The last session was a real nail-biter with both teams continuously trading blows. Jayden Cutajar stood out for Malta with some crucial goals, but the Germans managed to edge it 5-4 to level the match at 12-12 to force a penalty shoot-out.

Here, both teams scored their first three penalties before Germany’s Marian Kob’s effort was saved by Malta goalkeeper Zack Dzanovic.

Luigi Dimech converted the next penalty, and although Aleksander Mitsyka kept the German hopes alive, it was young Sam Engerer who buried the decisive penalty to kickstart Malta’s celebrations in the pool for a historic victory.