STA, February 4, 2018 - The group stage of the UEFA Futsal EURO in Ljubljana ended on Sunday with expected victories of Portugal over Ukraine (5:3) and Spain over Azerbaijan (1:0). Thus Tuesday's quarter-final pairings will be Portugal vs Azerbaijan and Spain vs Ukraine.
Having both beaten Romania, Portugal and Ukraine were out to secure first place in group C and avoid Spain in the knockout stage. Portugal had a far better start and were already up 2:0 by the 13th minute, including through a beautiful solo effort of Tiago Brito.
Ukraine however showed spirit, managing to level the score in the 32nd minute, but Portugal quickly hit back, first reclaiming the lead and wrapping things up as Ukraine risked it all by taking out their goal keeper.
The late evening game saw defending champions Spain recover after a surprising draw against France. Azerbaijan only needed a draw for first place in the group and tried to play it safe, but Spain managed to break the opponent in the 14th minute via a perfect corner-kick execution completed by Pola.
The results complete the pairings for the quarter-finals. Before today's teams take the floor again on Tuesday, Slovenia will face Russia (21:00) and Kazakhstan Serbia (18:00) on Monday.