Two Sergiy Zhurba goals gave Ukraine victory against the Netherlands in their opening game in Group B of the UEFA European Under-21 Futsal Tournament.

Late winner

Mohammed Attaibi put the Netherlands in front and his emphatic equaliser made it 2-2 after goals from Dmitriy Klochko and Zhurba had turned the game in Ukraine's favour. The Netherlands, however, had no answer to Zhruba's second strike with just over three minutes left. The Netherlands now have a tough task in their Tuesday fixture against Spain, who beat Ukraine's next opponents Kazakhstan 4-0.

Attaibi strikes

The Netherlands were without suspended captain Najib El Allouchi but early on Oualid Saadouni forced a save from Dmytro Lytvynenko. And the Ukraine goalkeeper was more than a little unlucky to concede in the ninth minute, when he parried Attaibi's angled shot only for the ball to spin in off the inside of the post.

Equaliser

It was rather against the run of play that Klochko equalised for Ukraine, turning and shooting through the grasp of Pieter Grimmelius. Saadouni remained a threat, one mazy dribble forcing Lytvynenko to dive at his feet, though Ukraine were nearly ahead before the break when Dmytro Sorokin played in his brother Oleksandr for a dangerous shot that made Grimmelius work. Ukraine kept up their threat after the interval and Dmytro Sorokin's shot was diverted away from goal by the leg of Grimmelius. Both teams had their chances but it was Ukraine that edged ahead thanks to Zhurba's free-kick.

Winner

Attaibi claimed his second goal of the game to cancel out the lead and there was no need for a deflection this time; Lytvynenko would barely have seen the ferocious shot after Mohamed Allouch's pass. However, it was Ukraine who took the points as Taras Kuz's flick was touched into the path of Zhurba by Grimmelius and the forward made no mistake.

Gennadiy Lysenchuk, Ukraine coach

«The Netherlands are really serious opponents. They always pay lots of attention to preparing youngsters in football and futsal. They played friendlies against strong opponents like Italy and Hungary before the tournament, while we didn't have a chance to do the same. We were quite timid at the start and let in a goal. However, we equalised soon and after that found our game. We played for victory today all the way. My players fulfilled my tactical plan. I have to thank my colleague, he has a good team, and I think they are capable of beating Spain and making it to the semis».

Marcel Looseveld, Netherlands coach

«First of all I thank for Mr Lysenchuk for his complements. Like I said yesterday at the press conference, we started with a whole new team this year. The difference was that you need more experience to close out games. It is important that you don’t make mistakes at crucial moments and that is what cost us both the first and second goal. Today we deserved more, we dictated most of the match, it is really sore for me and my players to lose like this. Ukraine surprised me and I didn’t have my captain − I heard him from the stands, which was good, it means the players were hurting».