Serbia and Spain met for the European title one year ago in Katowice, Poland.

Milan Macvan gave Serbia a lift with 8 points in only 14 minutes of action

Now the two basketball heavyweights are going to square off in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA World Championship after claiming hard-fought victories on Saturday night in Istanbul.

In the first Eight-Finals games played in the spectacular Sinan Erdem Dome, Serbia edged Croatia 73-72 and then Spain overcame Greece 80-72.

Serbia, the Group A winners after claiming four wins in five games, narrowly avoided an upset against a Croatia side whose only Group B victories came against Tunisia and Iran.

"We didn't want to leave the World Championship without showing our value," Croatia coach Josip Vrankovic said.

"But I'm proud of my players, they gave the right picture today and played really good basketball."

Serbia, whose leading player Milos Teodosic endured a nightmare night with just three points, two assists and four turnovers, trailed for much of the contest.

But Milan Macvan's three-pointer with 4:24 remaining in the contest gave them a 64-57 lead and they seemed to be pulling away.

Marko Popovic helped bring Croatia back.

His three-ball with 2:54 to go trimmed the deficit to 64-60.

Serbia went back in front by six but Croatia hung around and after Marko Banic made two free-throws and then scored down low, the Serbia lead was just 67-65 with 1:03 to go.

After Nenad Krstic split a pair at the charity stripe, Popovic made two free-throws with 15 seconds remaining to close the gap to 70-69.

Marko Tomas stole the pass on the ensuing inbounds play, passed to Popovic and he was fouled on the perimeter.

Popovic made one of two free-throws to knot the contest at 70-70 with 11 seconds to play.

After a Serbia timeout, the Blues inbounded the ball at midcourt to Rasic as he broke free into the open court.

Rasic went in for an uncontested lay-up with nine seconds to go.

Serbia's Milenko Tepic gave Croatia a chance to level the game almost immediately after, though, when he fouled Popovic as the veteran dribbled the ball up the floor.

Popovic calmly sank both free-throws with five seconds remaining.

Serbia inbounded the ball to Rasic who streaked down the floor in a bid to make a lay-up.

Davor Kus met him at half-court and chased him into the lane and was called for a foul after putting his hand on the Rasic's back.

Rasic made the first free-throw for a one-point lead but missed the second intentionally so Croatia couldn't call a timeout.

Popovic got the ball and tried to throw the ball the length of the court but the ball was well short as the buzzer sounded.

Spain, who beat Greece in the world title game four years ago in Saitama, Japan, had to dig deep against them this time.

They were in trouble against the Greeks late in the third quarter after two consecutive Nikos Zisis jump shots put Greece ahead at 51-45

Rudy Fernandez immediately replied with a three-ball and the excellent Raul Lopez followed with a lay-up before Sergio Llull scored in the lane to put Spain in front at 52-51 at the end of the frame.

Reason to celebrate once more for Ricky Rubio and Sergio Llull as Spain beat Greece to advance to the Quarter-Finals

Dimitris Diamantidis started the fourth quarter with a three-ball to give Greece their last lead at 54-52 but Fran Vazquez, who was arguably Spain's most important player on the night, knotted the game with a basket down low.

Felipe Reyes and Sergio Llull then added baskets for a 58-54 advantage as Spain went in front to stay.

Greece did trim the deficit to 58-57 with 6:06 to go but Fernandez again came to the fore with another three-pointer to spark a 9-0 run.

Spain's bench was terrific in the game and at one point in the second half had outscored Greece's bench 25-2.

Reyes and Vazquez came off the bench and had 17 of Spain's 29 rebounds.

Juan Carlos Navarro scored 22 points and Fernandez added 14.

Diamantidis, who announced his retirement from the national team after the defeat, had 16 points, two steals and two blocks.

Zisis also finished with 16 points.