Courtesy: UEFA.com


Barcelona better Dinamo to lift UEFA Futsal Cup

Sunday 29 April 2012

Wilde and Lin put Barcelona in control and a late Torras clincher gave the hosts the trophy in their very first campaign.

MFK Dinamo Moskva 1-3 FC Barcelona

by Paul Saffer from Pavelló Barris Nord

FC Barcelona produced a display of mean efficiency to secure the UEFA Futsal Cup in their debut campaign to the delight of a packed and partisan Pavelló Barris Nord in Lleida.

Wilde opened the scoring after only 78 seconds and the player who set up that goal, Lin, made it 2-0 not long after the break. Dinamo, who won this trophy in 2007 but had previously lost two finals, were far from outclassed and Aleksandr Rakhimov pulled one back late on. There was to be no equaliser, though, and Torras made sure Barcelona added this European title to crowns previously won in many sports from football and handball to more than one code of hockey.

Despite the efforts of a couple of hundred airhorn-wielding Dinamo fans, the Barcelona faithful created a superb racket from the start and were rewarded almost instantly when Lin touched on a kick-in for Wilde to lash in from just over ten metres out. Lin almost doubled the advantage with a back-heeled flick, and a blocked Sergio Lozano effort bounced just beyond Wilde's reach.

Dinamo were being far from outplayed, however, and Paco Sedano did well to save a Tatù free-kick. At the other end, Lozano tried his luck only to be denied by Aleksei Popov, while Fernandinho shot just wide for Dinamo. Popov also did well to stop Igor's strike, the first half ending with both sides showing their attacking intent.

That continued after the break as Romulo and Fernandinho combined to set up Wilde's old ElPozo Murcia FS team-mate Vinicius to hit the side netting. Meanwhile, Lin had a strike saved by Popov, but on 23 minutes he was to beat the Dinamo goalkeeper. Fernandinho had just drawn a save from Sedano when Barcelona broke and Lin's shot somehow slipped past Popov's grasp.

With the last-gasp hero of their 2007 final win in Murcia back from suspension and playing a prominent role, Dinamo pushed hard for a comeback as they attacked the end where the most vociferous Barcelona fans were gathered. Clear openings nonetheless remained rare – while this may have been Barcelona's debut European campaign, their mixture of experienced Spanish and Brazilian internationals had already won pretty much all there is to win in futsal between them and handled the pressure well.

Still, they were nearly breached when Romulo found an opening, but his angled shot kept rising and sailed over. Lozano very nearly punished that miss almost immediately, yet was off target himself. With Tatù on as flying goalkeeper, Saad so nearly found the unguarded net, and after Dinamo committed a sixth foul, Popov did well to stop Wilde's double penalty and his subsequent effort from the corner.

Around three minutes remained when Romulo's centre was turned in by Rakhimov to set up a pulsating finish, Cirilo hitting the crossbar soon after. However, with 101 second left, Barcelona broke and Ari did superbly to keep the ball in before giving Torras the chance to walk the ball in. He chose his moment before rolling his shot over the line.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com