Above 5 - 4 UCR (335332671)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 17686 had shown up at The Step Arena for the match. Tobias Peyer was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Marbert Teuffel and Klaus Hofer. Above started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Mela - Biffino, Niccolini, Idham - Pardi, Fredriksson, Morettini, Antuña, Mininni - Cronembold, Gilardi.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for UCR. Starters: Fleurence - Gomeza, Linna, Hovda - van Heel, Galidatos, 凱圭 (Kaigui) , Kutluel, Seweryniak - Trombone, Vettorato.

Above mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Above had to make a substitution after 24 minutes. C. Biffino limped off the field and was replaced by M. Micciani. B. van Heel's early cross saw the defenders caught out of position and the alert M. Trombone was able to pounce and roll the ball past the hapless goalkeeper to score for UCR. 0 - 1. A penalty was awarded after 36 minutes, and C. Vettorato made the most of his chance to put UCR up by another goal. 0 - 2 for the visitors. UCR's G. Gomeza got himself booked for a foul. UCR's K. Linna was shown a yellow card after 39 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The player down was C. Pardi. The Above bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. Above's fans were urging them forward as they tried to get back into the game, and their vocal support was rewarded 42 minutes into the match as S. Gilardi ran onto a beautiful ball played through the visitors' defence and slotted it past the keeper to reduce the deficit. 1 - 2. The game was close to savage at times, and UCR's K. Linna received a second yellow card after 42 minutes; his ticket out of the game. The UCR captaincy was handed to C. Vettorato. The crowd chanted their encouragement as Above's C. Pardi came in from the right after 44 minutes and put the ball in the net to level the score at 2 - 2. UCR made it 2 - 3 as P. Hovda got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to 蘇. 凱圭 (Kaigui) who whipped a low drive in off the far post. Above's C. Pardi made a successful breakthrough on the left after 44 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. 2 - 3 was the score after the first half. Above had most of the ball, with 55 percent of possession.

55 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 2 - 4 as H. Kutluel finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. By now, the players in UCR felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. With 64 minutes played, J. Antuña was very close to reducing the score for Above with a low drive from the left, but a defender stuck his foot out just in the nick of time, blocking the shot to a corner. S. Gilardi almost reduced the deficit, having drawn the entire left side defence away, but the shot went straight into the arms of the goalkeeper. It took several tries, but Above managed to break through on the left after 72 minutes, getting the ball to C. Pardi who easily reduced the lead to make the score 3 - 4. Due to some great work on the right wing Above's S. Gilardi was able to even the score after 79 minutes to make the score 4 - 4. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Above, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. They were singing the praises of C. Pardi 84 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 5 - 4 to Above. That made three goals for C. Pardi and he was marked down for the hat trick. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Above, with 56 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Above player was without a doubt J. Antuña. M. Micciani turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important UCR player was C. Vettorato. R. Fleurence on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 4.