Kairat Almaty claimed an impressive third place in the UEFA Futsal Cup after Carlos Montovanelli's early goal proved enough to defeat former champions MFK Dinamo Moskva.

Total commitment
Having lost 5-0 in this fixture to Dinamo a year ago, and in both legs of the 2006 semi-final to that year's eventual winners, Kairat were the outsiders at kick-off. However, Montovanelli's strike and a display of total commitment ensured Kairat ended the finals on a high.

Early goal
Against the early run of play, Kairat made a third-minute breakthrough. There was a warning when Pavel Stepanov, who had been on the bench on Friday, blocked a Montovanelli free-kick only for Messias to rattle the woodwork with his follow-up. Seconds later, Messias forced Stepanov to parry another shot and Montovanelli was on hand to bury the rebound.

Post rattled
Dinamo remained the dominant team but although Aleksandr Fukin made Gustavo save, clear shots on goal were rare. An Anatoli Badretdinov effort was then kept out by a combination of Gustavo and defender and at the other end, in the last second of the half, Montovanelli rattled the post.

Gustavo saves
Gustavo's one-handed save from Cirilo prevented an equaliser from the first attack of the second half, and as Dinamo's bid for a goal continued, Kairat began to pick up vocal support from the spectators filing in to watch the final. Pica Pau, suspended for Kairat's 5-0 semi-final loss to Interviú Madrid, fell awkwardly 12 minutes from time and was withdrawn in some pain and his side thereby lost a good part of the attacking thrust they had.

Kairat prevail
What they retained was a determination in defence and coach João Carlos Barbosa was pumping his fists in celebration after every crucial tackle. Gustavo got his body in the way of a point-blank volley by Konstantin Maevskiy, replacing the suspended Joan, and also saved from Badretdinov, while Rafael ensured Stepanov also had to work and on the break Fabricio's shot somehow rolled past the post. Dinamo ran out of time, and Kairat can take confidence from this result having already secured their 2009/10 European berth as Kazakh champions.