Alonso hails Candelas after Interviú triumph

Juan Luis Alonso took over as Interviú Madrid coach at the start of the season from Jesús Candelas and on Sunday celebrated victory in the UEFA Futsal Cup with a comprehensive 5-1 win over hosts and holders MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg. Alonso paid tribute to Candelas as well as hailing the passion for futsal in the host city. Viz coach Sergei Skorovich admitted the experience of an Interviú side featuring several FIFA Futsal World Cup winners proved too much for his young, homegrown squad.

Juan Luis Alonso, Interviú coach
It's always special to win a European title, especially as we had revamped the team compared to last year, with six new players and a new coach. The club had been very brave to make such changes, so we are all very satisfied about this victory. It is my happiest day as a futsal coach. My first thoughts go to my father and I also have thoughts for Jesús Candelas. We would not be here today without his work in the past. The level of expectation at this club is very high. If you finish second, it is almost a defeat.

We are very happy with the organisation of this tournament. We have been treated very well; the people are very nice. What has pleased me the most has been to see that this city is very passionate about futsal. We have seen many children playing futsal and that's an example to give to everybody.

Sergei Skorovich, Ekaterinburg coach
If I had another chance to play this match, I would opt for a more defensive approach from the start and wait for our chance on the break. We were good at times but we lost because the Interviú players had more skill and more confidence. Today it was very difficult for us to match Interviú. Besides, we also had a very demanding game [in the semi-finals], while the Spanish side were able to field fringe players and were therefore fresher. But we never let our heads drop. The lads tried hard and were eager to win and I can look them in the eyes because they gave all their strength, knowledge and skill. But our opponents had a number of top-class players who can tear any team to pieces.

Of course we wanted to be more successful. If we had not let them score so easily and then scored on the break we could have got something from this match. But we are not wizards and cannot make things happen with a flick of a wand. We tried hard and that makes me happy. I can say that it is a great feeling to play in the finals and in the final itself. We reached that through our own sweat. I congratulated the lads after the match and said they did a good job and can be proud of themselves. We should preserve the squad we have and develop new little stars. Then we will be moving forward. The young players coming into our team now are not ready to play at the top level. They are good domestically, but it takes more to take on nine world champions.