With a full house and several distinguished guests in the stands of the Pavilhão Multiusos de Gondomar, the duel started full of mutual defensive caution and balance patent in the central area of the court, being unlocked at 12 minutes by the hosts.
Portugal failed this Sunday, July 3, for the second time in a row to win the European women’s futsal championship in Gondomar, to lose in penalty kicks against defending champion Spain, by 4-1, after 2-2 in regulation time and 3-3 in overtime of the final.
An ‘encore’ from Ale de Paz cancelled out the Portuguese goals from Ana Azevedo and Pisko and took the match to overtime, a phase in which María Sanz even advanced the ‘roja’, in a lead shattered by Pisko, forcing the decision through conversions from the six-meter mark.
The effectiveness of the Spanish Peque, Amelia Romero, Mayte and Irene Cordoba allied to the saves of Silvia Aguete’s goalkeeper in front of Ana Azevedo and Ana Pires, to the frustration of the ‘quinas’ formation, Carla Vanessa’s maximum penalty was worth nothing.
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Portugal, which missed three 10-meter free kicks in overtime, lost again a final with Spain, three years after the defeat in 2017 (4-0), in an edition in which Ukraine achieved the bronze medal by defeating Hungary (2-1) hours earlier.
With a sold-out crowd and several distinguished guests in the stands of the Pavilhão Multiusos de Gondomar, the duel started full of mutual defensive cautions and with balance evident in the central zone of the court, being unlocked in the 12th minute by the hosts.
After having lost two duels with only goalkeeper Silvia Aguete in front, Ana Azevedo disarmed Irene Córdoba and started a counter-attack to the goal of ‘roja’, discovering on the right Fifó, who returned the ball to the captain for the first goal of the afternoon.
Luís Conceição’s team successfully shook off the initial pressure from ‘La Roja’, who had difficulties to clear the spaces where they are usually lethal – except for a ‘spot’ of Ana Catarina against María Sanz – and threatened again through Carla Vanessa.
