Steaua 0 - 10 Tulcea (380827321)

The 12000 fans in attendance at F.C. Steaua 1947 Arena were roasting in the hot sun. Eugen Jusson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ralf Peplinsky and Benedikt Farnbacher. Steaua had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players took the field: Chirilă - Siriopol, Marton, Butnaru, Foca - Ţopană, Boc, Rugan, Ulman - Budelecan, Virághalmy.

Tulcea started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. Lineup: Elfenrain - Martínez Salas, Nguyen, Göransson - Klar, Gunnarsson, Björkdahl, Cameron - Balzani, Busetto, Laichmann.

After 2 minutes, Tulcea's D. Balzani made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. C. Busetto of Tulcea took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 6 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 2. The visitors' A. Gunnarsson took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 7 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for Tulcea. Confident in their lead, Tulcea's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. With 14 minutes played, A. Marton of Steaua fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. 22 minutes into the game, Steaua had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to inadequate. Given a free kick close to the byline, Tulcea tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let S. Björkdahl slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 4, 29 minutes into the game. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave C. Göransson from Tulcea a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 37 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! There was concern in the stands when, at the 38 minute mark, Tulcea's D. Balzani hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. After 40 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave A. Gunnarsson a chance to increase the lead for Tulcea, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 5. 0 - 5 was the halftime score. Tulcea claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 76 percent.

The Steaua players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a solid organisation when the game started again. After 51 minutes, Tulcea's L. Laichmann burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 6. S. Björkdahl of Tulcea received a yellow card after 58 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Tulcea increased their lead after 59 minutes when C. Cameron broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 7, much to the home crowd's dismay. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from J. Martínez Salas after 62 minutes, and prevented Tulcea from going up another goal. A lack of experience caused G. Butnaru to make a difficult dribble close to dangerous opponent L. Laichmann of Tulcea, who took the opportunity to score making it 0 - 8. After 77 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for L. Laichmann who increased Tulcea's lead to 0 - 9. By then L. Laichmann had scored three goals - a hat trick! M. Nguyen received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 78 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 10. The Tulcea fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. Tulcea enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 78 percent of possession.

Most important Steaua player was M. Budelecan. On the other hand, C. Chirilă's play was disheartening. Tulcea's best player was C. Busetto. S. Elfenrain turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 10.