Revenge sweet for Spain
Wednesday 28 February 2001
e-mail
Print
Digg
Save
Spain celebrate with the trophy (©UEFA)
Just as Russia won the 1999 UEFA European Futsal Championship in Spain, the Spaniards returned the compliment in Moscow two years later. Spain triumphed 2-1 against Ukraine in the final with a strike from Alberto Riquer cancelling out Georgiy Melnikov's opener and avi Sánchez striking a golden goal four minutes into extra time. The hosts, beaten by Spain in the semi-finals, restored some pride by defeating Italy by the same score in the third place play-off.
Spain victorious
For the second tournament in succession Spain breezed through the group stage without dropping a point. Croatia, Poland and Ukraine were this time their victims, though Ukraine recovered from an opening-day defeat by Spain to reach the semi-final. Italy and Russia advanced from Group B (the Czech Republic and the Netherlands losing out), but neither would last much longer. Italy, winners of all three group games, drew 3-3 with Ukraine before losing out on penalties, while Spain edged out Russia 2-1 to avenge their final defeat of two years previously. They would go to make up for that disappointment in the final against Ukraine.
©uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.
Please select a link on the left to view the results for this season.
