UEFA Futsal Euro finalists confirmed after dramatic semi-finals in Ljubljana

Portugal and Spain have made it to the UEFA Futsal Euro final by defeating France and Croatia in their respective semi-final matches in Ljubljana, setting up what should be an epic showdown of the reigning European champions and the powerhouse that has so far won the tournament seven times.

In the first semi-final on 4 February, Spain defeated Croatia 2:1 in a hard-fought match in front of some 6,500 spectators in the Stožice Arena to secure their 11th finals appearance at the European championships in futsal, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The Spaniards, who have won the UEFA Futsal Euro a record seven times, scored both of their goals in the first half, with Pablo Ramirez scoring the first goal in the 13th minute after a face-to-face encounter with the Croatian goalie.

The heavily favoured Spain had as many as 30 shots on goal, compared to 13 shots by Croatia, and the pressure paid off in the 19th minute, when Miguel Mellado put the ball in the net with a powerful kick from some ten metres out.

Croatia, which also made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Futsal Euro in 2012, felt pressured to score a goal and to make things interesting, so they pulled out their goalie and played with five players in the field for the last five minutes.

This tactic paid off three minutes before the end when the pressure applied by the feisty Croatia forced Mario Rivillos to score an own goal and cut Spain's lead to 2:1.

Less than a minute later, the Croatians had their next large opportunity from a free kick from the edge of the penalty area, but Antonio Sekulić hit the crossbar, and Spain managed to hold the fort until the final buzzer and secure a ticket for the 7 February final.

There, Spain will play Portugal, the reigning European champions, who defeated France 4:1 in front of some 3,200 spectators in a match that did not start well for them, as Mamadou Toure scored for France in the 6th minute to give his team a 1:0 lead.

But it was all about Portugal after that, as they managed to turn things around late in the first half with two goals from well outside the penalty area, with Diogo Santos scoring in the 18th minute and Tomss Paco following it up a minute later.

The reigning champions took off in the 29th minute as Erick scored from point-blank range after a nice play by his teammates, which forced France to open up even more and try to catch Portugal by pulling out their goalie and playing with five players in the field.

This led to a situation in the 35th minute in which Portugal's Bernardo Paco took a high-arcing shot across the entire court towards an empty goal. He only hit the post, but the ball hit France's Amine Gueddoura for an own goal and the final score of 4:1 for Portugal.

Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA