Perfect Barcelona reach finals
Saturday, November 23, 2013
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FC Barcelona, the 2012 winners, are through to next April's UEFA Futsal Cup finals along with MFK Dinamo as both completed the elite round with perfect records.
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FC Barcelona, winners in 2012, and MFK Dinamo, runners-up for the past two years, secured their spots in next year's UEFA Futsal Cup finals on Saturday.
Barcelona had won both of their opening two elite round Group A games, meaning FK EP Chrudim needed an unlikely four-goal win in their final-day meeting in order to qualify. It was Barcelona, however, who were 3-0 up by half-time thanks to two goals from Fernandão and one from Wilde. Though the mini-torunament hosts pulled one back through Max, Igor rubber-stamped victory for the Spanish outfit.
"The first and second goals secured our win, while the third one sealed our qualification," said Barcelona coach Marc Carmona. "We knew it would be hard for Chrudim to come back from that. I really appreciate the positive atmosphere the whole tournament was played in; it was great to see the interest of the fans."
Dinamo, who clinched progress on Thursday, concluded Group B with a 6-2 victory against Slovenian champions FC Litija, who sprung a surprise when they started the match with a flying goalkeeper. The section hosts were still in the game at 1-1 at the interval, but Dinamo went through the gears in the second half and ultimately prevailed with ease.
Groups C and D will conclude on Sunday, with Kairat Almaty, Tulpar Karagandy, Sporting Clube de Portugal and Araz Naxçivan all on maximum points going into the final round of fixtures.