Italy crowned champions of Europe

The Belgian city of Antwerp hosted the UEFA Futsal EURO 2014, and the gold medal went to Italy, who beat Russia in the finals with Croatian Saša Tomić as the second referee.

Italy were in front after seven minutes, Gabriel Lima scoring after a corner kick, and Russia equalized thanks to another great goal by Eder Lima three mintues later.

However, Roberto Menichelli's team had a two-goal cushion at half-time. Murilo first finished a patient move, and then Giasson didn't miss from an Italian counterattack, making it 3:1.

The second half did not offer goals, but there were opportunities - as well as hitting the posts - on both sides. Russia's Cirilo was shown a second yellow card in the 34th minute.

In the first match of the group stage, Italy lost to Slovenia, but then recovered by convincingly beating Azerbaijan. In the quarterfinal stage, Italy edged Croatia 2:1 and then topped Portugal to reach the final. Defeating Russia, Italy took its second European title, after winning the tournament on home soil in 2003. Russia lost its fourth final, including the one in Zagreb against Spain in 2012.

The defending champions Spain lost in the semifinal stage extra time against Russia, yet managed to win the bronze medal, defeating Portugal 8:4.

Copyright by Croatian Football Federation. Quoting text from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to HNS as a source and providing direct link to the original content at hns.family. Re-use of the photographs is not permitted.