FCR 2 - 0 Merlin (314391254)

26866 punters turned up at Chärnsmatt, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Sergio Insinga was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Salim Mükrem and Allen Wright. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Luzern derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. FCR tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Lippmann - Tummers, Kovačić, Güfte - Scheliha, Seidner, Gerlach, Gallagher, Vähäkangas - Güarnizo, Jaremczuk.

Merlin started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Deutsch - Colaci, Welsh, Constantin - Jegård, Shydlouski, Kolouch, Salah, Roux - Bârsan, Gallegos.

Merlin clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. FCR's R. Vähäkangas tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. FCR's R. Vähäkangas was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 5 minutes. A. Wenz was called on to replace FCR's C. Güfte after 9 minutes following a nasty collision. Merlin had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 26 minutes in when B. Colaci came up alone against S. Lippmann who managed a block. 30 minutes into the match and the home team took a 1 - 0 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for FCR was D. Jaremczuk. Halftime score was 1 - 0. FCR enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

After 60 minutes, Merlin switched G. Constantin with J. Louhelainen, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. The Merlin captaincy was handed to J. Louhelainen. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the Merlin manager used a brief break in play after 60 minutes to give the players new directives. With 60 minutes played, the Merlin coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. B. Erikson came on, Ö. Salah had to leave the fray. The bench was restless, and with 60 minutes passed Merlin's coach gave I. Bolgiu the opportunity the player had been hoping for. F. Gallegos reluctantly left the field. After 80 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and D. Güarnizo gave the FCR supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 2 - 0. With 81 minutes played, L. Bârsan had a fantastic opportunity to reply but his shot flew harmlessly into the side-netting of the goal. M. Kovačić was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner was beautifully flicked on by A. Wenz, but the ball bounced off the post to safety. A late sliding challenge from R. Vähäkangas was deemed to be his second yellow card offence by the referee, resulting in him being sent off, and FCR left a man down. After 86 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by D. Güarnizo might have resulted in another goal for FCR. However, Y. Deutsch made a spectacular save. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Merlin, with 54 percent of the ball.

D. Güarnizo performed admirably for FCR. However, A. Wenz made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Merlin player was without a doubt T. Welsh. T. Jegård turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 0.