Maevski describes Dinamo's pain

Disappointment
Staging the final four event at their Krylatskoe Sport Palace, Dinamo fell to ElPozo Murcia FS in the semis on penalties after a 1-1 draw in which the home team were often on top. But that is little consolation for the 28-year-old Russian international, who sat out Friday's match but was hoping to reach his fourth consecutive final with Dinamo, having lost in 2005 and 2006 before last season's triumph. "I feel empty," Maevski told uefa.com. "There is no difference in how you lose, on penalties or in any other way. You lose and it is the other team that go to the final. If you lost, that means you did not reach the goal you strived for."

Shot-out loss
The Russian international's mood was certainly not lightened by the method of defeat, however. "The reason for our defeat is that we took penalties worse than the Spanish side did. Of course it is a lottery in some way but Dinamo were clearly worse than Murcia in this aspect. As for the draw, Dinamo had more chances in extra-time, you could see that. We had several chances but did not take them. Murcia exploited dead-ball situations and kick-ins near our goal and created many problems for us with that. Our defence had an outstanding performance, especially Edu who blocked two or three crazy shots."

Recovery process
As well as his club exploits, Maevski has also gone through semi-final pain and joy with Russia, beating Italy in the 2005 UEFA European Futsal Championship at that stage before a defeat by the same team last November in Porto. Russia recovered to beat Portugal for bronze and Maevski hopes Dinamo can do the same against Kairat Almaty on Sunday. "I know from my own experience, when you win a semi-final you forget that match at once and start thinking about the final, but a defeat sticks in the lads' heads for long time I think," he said. "We will have to get ourselves ready for the third-place play-off, but it is not the final of course."