Schalke 1 - 4 Align (353650666)

A scorching day at Veltins Arena, where 44251 spectators were in place for today's match. Ergin Tozan was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Carlos Schramme and Bolesław Niedośpiał. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Schalke. The following players took the field: Bill - Lund, Olmert, Jaffres - Passinhas, Amiel, Weiske, Paranaense, Bodinho - Conforti, Skeie.

Align tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Darms - Cambier, Park, Kapeta - Torn, Hellevaara, Askenhall, Saldanha, Zawiślak - Turek, Pos.

K. Torn enjoyed the sunshine and demonstrated his stunning technique over and over again. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 26 minutes into the match, and P. Zawiślak wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. With 32 minutes played, after a good run down the left, G. Paranaense went down looking for a penalty after a challenge from the visitors' right fullback, but the referee waved play on, and later warned him for diving. Align increased their lead after 33 minutes when C. Park broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 2, much to the home crowd's dismay. C. Bodinho challenged the visitors' central defence eagerly, producing a good chance 35 minutes into the game as he went for a through ball. But, as so many times before, the guests' defensive efforts got the best of it. Schalke's L. Amiel was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 39 minutes. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Schalke, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

54 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 3 as K. Torn finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. The home side worked their way through the middle and almost got one back when B. Weiske tried to sneak the ball past the keeper. M. Darms was too alert for that! After 63 minutes, L. Amiel had a good opportunity to reduce the scoreline for Schalke with a chance created through the middle, but wasn't cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. The home team's supporters got excited again when G. Conforti broke through the visitors' central defence and caught their keeper off guard, making it 1 - 3. With 81 minutes played, Align put themselves up 1 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was S. Askenhall. After this, you could see that the players of Align were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. 83 minutes in, Schalke's G. Conforti received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Schalke claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 54 percent.

A. Skeie performed admirably for Schalke. However, K. Bill made a disastrous appearance. Most important Align player was G. Turek. D. Saldanha was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 4.