Belgrade  - Serbia departed home for the Eurobasket in Poland amid lower-than-ever expectations, but all that has changed after it routed world champions and main title contenders Spain in the opener Monday night.

"Serbia devastates Spain," screamed a headline in Sportski Zurnal. "Serbia is again a force in basketball - one match was enough to demonstrate it... The youngest team at the Eurobasket conquered the world champions, Spain," the sports daily said.

With Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia, Serbia was a major ingredient of the Yugoslav basketball powerhouse, which dominated the European and world scene over three decades, from the world title in Ljubljana in 1970 until the world title in Indianapolis in 2002.

But since then, Serbia has been in a downward spiral, eventually even failing to qualify for Beijing Olympic Games.

So when Serbia left for Poland last week with mostly rookies on the roster, it drew limited attention despite the return of veteran coach Dusan Ivkovic, who composed the winning Yugoslav team of the 1980s and early 1990s, to the bench.

The start of the Eurobasket passed almost unnoticed amid a rich sports offering, such as the upcoming football World Cup qualifier against France, the volleyball European championship and Novak Djokovic at the US Open.

However, after the youngster basketball squad applied Ivkovic's trademark, stifling defence against the star-studded Spanish team, the attention of Serbia snapped back and euphoric basketball dominated the headlines after many years.

"Mighty Serbia," the daily Press said, hailing the first triumph against Spain at a major tournament after eight years and nine consecutive losses.

The mass-circulation Blic warned: "Europe, beware, la Furia goes downs."

Other typical headlines praised the veteran coach, saying: as "Team chemistry wins" and "Ivkovic creates a winning combination."

So Serbia was to face off the former sister republic, Slovenia, amid bubbling media euphoria. Ivkovic, reputed for imposing an iron-handed team discipline, said the win may help the "young players gain confidence," but warned them to remain level-headed.

"We absolutely deserved this victory against the storngest team of the tournament," he said. "But this was only the first match and the tournament is long."

Slovenia is coached by Jurij Zdovc, Ivkovic's first-choice playmaker in the late 1980s. (dpa)