Barça 4-0 Sporting CP: Blaugrana beat holders to win UEFA Futsal Champions League

Barça are European club champions for the fourth time, almost exactly a decade after their first success in 2012, after dethroning holders Sporting CP in Riga.

Sporting had defeated Barça in the 2021 UEFA Futsal Champions League final, but two goals just before half-time, and one seconds after, ensured these teams' continued their swapping of the title in the four years since the UEFA Futsal Cup was rebranded.

Match in brief: Barça cruise to fourth title

The opening exchanges were feisty but inconclusive until Matheus Rodrigues clipped a post to give a clue of what lay ahead. Indeed, Barça took the lead soon after when captain Sergio Lozano beat Guitta with a chipped, angled shot. And it was 2-0 at half-time, Pito winning the ball in the middle before advancing and striking in.

Ferrao made it 3-0 to Barça after the breakSPORTSFILE

Barça had also led Sporting 2-0 at half-time in the 2021 final only to lose 4-3. This time, however, they consolidated their advantage seconds after the restart, Ferrao controlling an Ortiz long ball and making it three.

Although Barça knew a 3-0 advantage could be overturned – they managed that themselves in Friday's semi-final against Benfica – even a team of Sporting's calibre could not find a way through to keep hold of their crown, despite a squad filled with players involved in recent big-game recent comebacks for club and country.

And there was a final flourish to come as Barça goalkeeper Didac Plana picked up the ball and drop-kicked it into an empty net, before running the length of the pitch to celebrate with the Spanish side's fans.

Reaction 

Jesús Velasco, Barça coach: "What a night and what a game! It was perfect. I think we were superior in every single aspect of the game, but perhaps the key to this win was the way we won on Friday in the semi-finals. We managed to forget any signs of tiredness today and my players were amazing all throughout the match."

Guitta, Sporting CP goalkeeper: "There's not much to say about a match when you lose 4-0. We gave it our all and I think it was a great match to watch, but this wasn't our night and Barça deserved to win. We were not effective in the first build-up phase of our game and we also lacked sharpness in the second phase."

Key stats

• Playing in a record-equalling third straight final, Barça won their fourth title (after 2012, 2014 and 2020), leaving them trailing only Inter FS on five.
• Sergio Lozano and Ortiz have equalled Gabriel's record of four titles: Lozano is the first player to win four times with a single club.
• Jesús Velasco is the first coach to win three titles (his other two were alongside Ortiz with Inter in 2017 and 2018, both coming after finals against Sporting). Velasco's tally of 58 games in this competition is also a record.
• Sporting coach Nuno Dias oversaw his 13th finals game in his sixth final tournament, both outright records.
• Sporting captain João Matos played his 17th finals game; reaching 16 in the semis made him the outright record holder.
• Ferrao's goal was his 11th in UEFA futsal club final tournaments, one ahead of the old record held by his currently injured club-mate Esquerdinha.
• The crowd attendance of 8,442 at Arena Riga was a record for futsal in Latvia.

Third place

Earlier at Arena Riga, Benfica held off a spirited display by first-time French finals contenders ACCS to claim third place, their fourth top-three finish.