European title on the line in Ekaterinburg

MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg and Interviú Madrid meet in the UEFA Futsal Cup final on Sunday and both clubs know what it takes to be European champions.

Record bid
Ekaterinburg took the title on their competition debut last season and are staging these finals, beating Russian rivals MFK Dinamo Moskva 2-0 on Friday to delight a sell-out crowd in the Palace of Sport. Interviú, meanwhile, are bidding to become the tournament's first three-time winners and have already reached an unprecedented fourth final by defeating Kairat Almaty 5-0, having been victorious in 2004 and 2006 but losing to Dinamo two years ago.

'World-class players'
Only once in the competition's eight-year history has a side lifted the trophy in front of their own fans, Spain's Playas de Castellón FS under the former two-legged format in 2003, which was also the sole successful defence of the cup to date. Along with Dmitry Prudnikov's absence with a broken ankle, Ekaterinburg have Andrey Afanas'ev suspended, but proved they could beat Spanish opposition when they overcame ElPozo Murcia FS 3-2 on penalties in last year's final in Moscow following a thrilling 4-4 draw. "We realise all too well that we will meet a very strong team with plenty of world-class players," home coach Sergei Skorovich said. "But on the pitch everyone is equal and it is men that play, not their names."

Mokhov warning
Aleksei Mokhov, whose spectacular 35th-minute goal set Ekaterinburg on their way to semi-final victory, watched the first half of Interviú's defeat of Kairat and told uefa.com: "They have exceptional pivots in Schumacher and Betão and it will be very hard to defend against them. But all their side is strong since anyone can beat you one on one and they fight very well at the back too. They are good team but we will do our best to play decently against them. We can do that by performing as a team and battling until the very last second."

Alonso 'dream'
Interviú were coached in their previous finals by Jesús Candelas, but this season they are led by his 33-year-old former assistant Juan Luis Alonso. "On a personal level, after you start coaching it is a dream to be involved in such matches," Alonso said. "I am lucky to be part of this great show and to be surrounded by the quality players I have."

Organisation
Alonso, who agrees with Skorovich that either his goalkeeper Luis Amado or Ekaterinburg's Sergei Zuev could well be the match-winner, added of the hosts: "They are a very strong and physical team, they are very good defensively and I'm sure we will see a great final. Ekaterinburg have an extremely organised defense, they play at a very high pace. They rotate their players very often and their players are very strong and fast."

'Beautiful show'
The match will be live on Eurosport and streamed by uefa.com, and Alonso added: "I hope the fans enjoy the match, as I'm sure it will be a beautiful show. I hope many people will be able to see it as I'm sure that even non-futsal fans would be converted after watching matches like the one they will see on Sunday."