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Spain's Torras treble ends Romania hopes

Romania 3-8 Spain
Spain found Romania difficult to shake off but with a Torras hat-trick kept up their record of reaching every Futsal EURO semi-final.

Torras celebrates making it 4-2
Torras celebrates making it 4-2 ©Action Images

Spain took nearly half an hour to shake off a series of Romania comebacks and eventually sail into the UEFA Futsal EURO 2012 semi-finals.

Twice Spain leads were cancelled out and even after that Romania kept responding to goals from the holders, but when Torras completed his hat-trick to make it 6-3 they had no response and immediately conceded again. Having still never failed to make the semis, Spain face one of the teams they beat in the last two finals, Italy or Portugal, here on Thursday.

It was 1-0 on four minutes when Kike's back-heel gave Alemao the chance to send in a low ball from the left which was turned in by Torras. Miguelín then broke through twice but blazed over and had another effort blocked by a defender.

An equaliser looked unlikely until Cosmin Gherman controlled a Vlad Iancu pass and swivelled to volley past Luis Amado. That was the cue for Robert Lupu to take over as a flying goalkeeper, and for a while Romania threatened, but Spain soon regained control and with Iancu back he was beaten from distance by Aicardo.

Gherman responded swiftly with another superb finish, curling in a strong shot from the right. Romania were not level for long, Alemao heading down for Rafael Usín to volley in, but Amado then did well to deny Dumitru Stoica. That proved vital, as just before the break Torras bent in his fourth goal of the finals.

After the break Spain still looked the more likely scorers until the ball was worked right to Gherman, who returned in for Florin Matei to shoot into an empty net. The holders again had a response, Aicardo turning in Ortiz's corner.

Torras then completed his hat-trick, rolling into an unguarded net to take the adidas Golden Boot lead on five goals, and Lin's strong finish 17 seconds later ended any comeback hopes. Ortiz got the eighth from the Spain half despite slipping as he passed in to the empty goal from his own half.