Feroviarii 3 - 1 MILAN (266926931)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 31117 at "Valentin Stanescu" Giulesti today. Otfried Sophien was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Andrea Bianchi and Fabian Heyroth. Feroviarii started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Kuchař - Nimet, Bo-Bo, Igl - Mahdavikia, Cambraia, Marcu, Bačnar, von Wiederbauer - Schwanda, Rupérez.

MILAN decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. They fielded: Nica - Riederer, Ballegaard, Jullá - Sima, Hansen, Crãciunescu, Zãbavã - Chassidim, Selquist, Rençber.

Feroviarii saw most attack opportunities on the wings. 0 - 1 was the score with 2 minutes played, after C. Riederer cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for MILAN. G. Bačnar showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 21 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. At 24 minutes played, P. Schwanda came in from the right with the intention of giving Feroviarii the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. 30 minutes into the game, A. Selquist almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. Feroviarii created a good opportunity to score 35 minutes into the match when Ö. Nimet's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. 39 minutes into the match, MILAN nearly took the lead, as J. Jullá broke through on the right. M. Kuchař made the save, however. Feroviarii took the lead after 40 minutes as a result of P. Marcu's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 2 - 1. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Feroviarii had most of the ball, with 55 percent of possession.

With 55 minutes played, the MILAN coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. O. Solari came on, A. Selquist had to leave the fray. H. Bo-Bo unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. MILAN's G. Chassidim got himself booked for a foul. M. Rençber of MILAN received a yellow card after 81 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. J. Rupérez increased the lead for Feroviarii to 3 - 1, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! At this point, it was obvious that the players of Feroviarii lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Feroviarii claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 60 percent.

Most important Feroviarii player was C. von Wiederbauer. However, H. Bo-Bo made a disastrous appearance. MILAN's top performer was clearly R. Nica. J. Jullá was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 1.