Aliyev was a runner-up at 65 kilograms at Tokyo 2020, but competing in the higher 70kg weight category at the Arena Zagreb.

However, he underlined his domination of the event with a 10-3 victory over Bulgaria's Ramazan Ramazanov in the final.

Vasile Diacon of Moldova and Ihor Nykyforuk of Ukraine collected bronze medals by beating Germany's Kevin Henkel 7-2 and Poland's Patryk Ołenczyn 6-1 by fall respectively.

Aliabbas Rzazade was the other Azerbaijani gold medallist, upgrading last year's 57kg silver in Budapest to gold courtesy of a 12-2 win against Turkey's Süleyman Atlı.

Georgi Vangelov of Bulgaria eased past Roberti Dingashvili of Georgia 10-0 for one of the bronzes, while Germany's Horst Lehr prevailed from a match which finished 2-2 against Italy's Simone Piroddu.

Azerbaijan were denied a trio of victories by Givi Matcharashvili of Georgia, who edged out the defending champion Magomedkhan Magomedov 4-3.

İbrahim Çiftçi of Turkey thrashed Ukraine's Murazi Mchedlidze 12-3 for a bronze alongside Hungary's Vladislav Baitcaev, who overcame Italy's Ben Honis 10-6.

Vazgen Tevanyan triumphed at 65kg for Armenia with a comfortable 12-1 win against Bulgaria's Mikyay Naim, while the bronzes went to Erik Arushanian of Ukraine and Edemi Bolkvadze of Georgia who edged narrow bouts against Azerbaijan's Ali Rahimzada 7-6 and Romania's Ștefan Coman 2-2 respectively.

Ukraine's Vasyl Mykhailov was the other gold medallist on the second day of the Championships, overcoming Greece's Georgios Kougioumtsidis 3-1 in the 79kg final.

Serbia's Khetag Tsabolov was handed a walkover in his bronze medal match against Azerbaijan's Sabuhi Amiraslanov, while Ahmad Magomedov of North Macedonia beat Armenia's Arman Avagyan 7-4.

The first day of competition was held today in the other five men's freestyle weight categories.

Turkey's former Olympic and nine-time European champion Taha Akgül is set for a repeat of last year's 125kg final against Georgia's Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Geno Petriashvili.

A 74kg final rematch between Slovakia's defending champion Tajmuraz Salkazanov and Italy's Frank Chamizo was also set up today, while 61kg world champion Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania is into a final against Armenia's Arsen Harutyunyan.

The other finals at 86kg are set to feature Greece's Dauren Kurugliev against San Marino's Olympic bronze medallist Myles Amine, and Azerbaijan's Osman Nurmagomedov against Turkey's defending champion Feyzullah Aktürk at 92kg.

Those finals are scheduled for tomorrow, along with the start of women's freestyle wrestling competition.