Menichelli grateful to earn day of rest

Italy coach Roberto Menichelli was relieved to have won UEFA European Futsal Championship Group B with victory against Ukraine.

Rest
A Clayton Baptistella hat-trick and a goal from Saad Assis – those two players also contributing three of the assists between them – means Italy remain at Debrecen's Fönix Arena to play the Czech Republic on Monday, while Ukraine travel to Budapest to face Group A winners Azerbaijan. "This victory allows us a more comfortable quarter-final," Menichelli said. "Not because of our opponents but because we will remain here in Debrecen in the only rest day between this game and the next one."

Duo praised
Baptistella and Assis performed superbly, and Menichelli stated: "It is true that I don't like to speak about individuals but it's obvious certain players are playing really well right now; Baptistella and Assis deserve praise. But before putting the ball into the net, there is a team job that you need to recognise. Credit to these lads who carved out the space."

Rizzo record
Menichelli has brought several new talents into his squad and in the last minute on Saturday made Cristian Rizzo, of third-tier club Acireale C5, the first 18-year-old to play in a Futsal EURO final tournament. "It was a wonderful experience," Rizzo told uefa.com. "I have no words ... it was an unforgettable minute, I will remember it for my whole life. I hope to continue on this path and to go further and further ahead."

Mistakes
Ukraine coach Gennadiy Lysenchuk already knew his team were through before this encounter, as both they and Italy had beaten Belgium, but sees room for improvement before Monday. "If we want to win, we have to avoid mistakes like the ones we made today," he said. "The players really wanted to do their best and it has disturbed them. But still we are in the quarter-finals, so there is no tragedy in our loss. Maybe it is better that now the coaches can show the team their bad mistakes."

Motivation lacking
There were hopes that Ukraine could get the win they needed to pip Italy to first place when Serhiy Cheporniuk scored a superb individual goal early in the second half. Cheporniuk said: "Many people expected that we would win by more against Belgium than Italy did, but we didn't. People expected a better performance from us today, but again we could not succeed. One of the reasons is that we were not as motivated as we could be. The situation will be different in the next game. We can play better."