Araz clinch third place on penalties

Araz Naxçivan claimed third place in the UEFA Futsal Cup finals with a penalty shoot-out defeat of Luparense C/5.

Vitaliy Borisov scored an early opener for the Azerbaijani outfit but their Italian counterparts were ahead at the break thanks to César Muñoz Calvo and Clayton Baptistella. Thiago's late effort brought the teams level before Borisov converted the winning spot kick in the shoot-out.

Having severely tested holders Interviú Madrid in the semi-finals on Friday, Araz were ahead in the fourth minute on Sunday with Borisov shooting through the legs of goalkeeper Miguel Weber. Luparense were on terms not long afterwards when César Muñoz Calvo eventually profited from Baptistella's wonderful trickery on the left wing.

Victims of hosts SL Benfica in the last four, Luparense began to up the tempo and after testing Andrey Tveryankin in the Araz goal on several occasions, they took the lead in the 18th minute when Baptistella lifted Poncio Danieli's cross into the net.

Aleksei Petrov hit the underside of the crossbar in the ninth minute of the second half as Araz looked to respond and Felipe brought a fine save from Weber moments later. Then, with the game seemingly slipping away, Thiago finished in the corner to send the game to penalties. With Tveryankin saving Luparense's second attempt, denying Vampeta, it was left to Borisov to score the winning kick that sparked scenes of jubilation among men in red.