Imperial 0 - 3 universo (363593636)

It had rained all day, but 497 hardy fans still made it out to El Tiro Nacional. Mogens Baatrup was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Gilles Bajokijayi and Lassi Doe. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Imperial. The following players had been chosen: Calderón - Giraldo, Godeanu, Muní - Gutiérrez, Guzmán Zarpas, Agulló Rueda, García, Gigante - Blanco Valdés, Dello.

universo had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Ortiz Leon - Soto, Méndez Pombo, Chevallereau - Glavchev, Busiello, Agulló, Murià, Benkovics - Fait, Bregović.

Imperial seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. P. Agulló looked like he could fly, as he rose high to head the ball. Unfortunately for universo, the ball went just barely wide. The visiting P. Agulló was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 11 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. It was a bad day for the usually speedy I. Godeanu. The mud seemed to slow him down. Imperial's L. Dello made a successful breakthrough on the left after 30 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, R. Busiello got himself booked. The manager of universo was not happy. The visitors' S. Bregović took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 32 minutes into the match. 0 - 2 for universo. S. Méndez Pombo increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 3. 0 - 3 was the score after the first half. universo enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 62 percent of possession.

P. Agulló came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over D. Calderón but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. 56 minutes in, universo's S. Bregović received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. As J. Soto had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the universo player a red card without batting an eyelid. H. Gutiérrez's knee will be throbbing for days, but thankfully for Imperial, he bravely continued in the match. Against a lesser team, universo could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 68 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. Imperial's A. García left the field after 72 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was G. Gallofré. Imperial's F. Giraldo got himself booked for a foul. Unfortunately for universo, T. Benkovics was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. N. Loza replaced him. universo claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 62 percent.

Imperial's best player was D. Calderón. However, L. Dello made a disastrous appearance. R. Busiello performed admirably for universo. On the other hand, C. Murià's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 3.