Favourites come through tough tests

The opening set of UEFA Futsal Cup Elite round matches went with form but that did not mean that the likes of MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg and Kairat Almaty avoided scares. uefa.com rounds up Thursday's action, with only the winners of the four mini-tournaments, which conclude on Sunday, qualifying for April's finals.

Group A
ElPozo Murcia FS and Italian hosts Luparense Calcio A5 look set for a last-day decider after both opened with comfortable wins. Spain's Murcia overcame Iberia 2003 Tbilisi 12-0, with Vinicius scoring a hat-trick and eight of their ten outfield players amongst the goals. Luparense saw off 2005 champions Action 21 Charleroi 6-0, Humberto Honorio on target twice. On Friday, Luparense play Iberia and Murcia face Charleroi, who they beat on penalties for third place in 2007.

Group B
Ekaterinburg, who have finished first and second in their debut European campaigns over the last two seasons, took 32 minutes to open the scoring against Croatia's MNK Potpićan 98, before Dmitri Prudnikov and Pavel Chistopolov struck within 45 seconds to secure a 2-0 win. Hosts SL Benfica, who face Ekaterinburg on Sunday, defeated Dutch champions FC Marlène 4-0, Pedro Costa, Arnaldo, César Paulo and Zé Maria all striking late in the first half.

Group C
Holders Interviú Madrid, bidding for a fourth title, struck twice early against Slovenia's KMN Puntar through Daniel and Gabriel and Borja added another on 32 minutes for a 3-0 win. Ukraine's FC Time Lviv fell behind to hosts FK Era-Pack Chrudim on six minutes after a Marek Kopecký goal but Valeriy Legchanov swiftly struck twice and Oleksandr Kondratyuk added another to increase the lead at half-time. Max pulled one back in the 28th minute but with seconds remaining Dmytro Bondar gave Time a 4-2 win to take into Friday's encounter with Interviú.

Group D
Athina '90 Athens are in this round for the first time but a surprise looked on the cards when Ilias Bousmpouras scored after 105 seconds against Kairat Almaty and although Leo levelled late in the half for the 2009 bronze medallists, Panagiotis Artinos made it 2-0 to the Greek side just before the interval. However, in the 28th minute Leo and Guga both scored to give Kairat a 3-2 victory and Angelos Emmanouilidis received a late red card for Athina. Araz Naxçivan, hosting the group in Baku, defeated Preliminary round survivors FK Nikars Riga 7-1, with Rodrigues, Sergio Luis and Vitaliy Borisov all striking twice. On Friday Araz play Athina and Kairat take on Nikars.