AIUD 2 - 0 STEAUA (365330663)

A scorching day at Ghencea Arena, where 9638 spectators were in place for today's match. Jürnjochen Hoffnungsthal was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jelani Limo and Mojmír Cihelka. AIUD started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Krenzel - Călbază, Prahoveanu, Ţunea - Prudhomme, Mircea, Gârniţă, Mihalcea, Claesson - Mínguez, Adinolfi.

STEAUA decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players took the field: Radhouani - Rabeder, Žitlinskis, Sobral, Passin - Alupoaei, Biegstraaten, Cilian, Schytz - Benslimane, Boise.

AIUD were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. AIUD nearly produced a goal as M. Adinolfi set up P. Claesson for a strike from a seemingly impossible angle. However he put the shot narrowly wide. F. Boise enjoyed the sunshine and demonstrated his stunning technique over and over again. A foul after 18 minutes resulted in a free kick. C. Călbază cannonballed it, giving the home team the lead 1 - 0. 29 minutes into the game, P. Claesson had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came A. Džapo. C. Călbază became the new AIUD captain. C. Călbază could have put AIUD up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 31 minutes. AIUD's A. Džapo was shown a yellow card after 36 minutes for slicing down an opponent. A. Džapo managed to make an excellent pass from the flank, but M. Adinolfi was not as skillfull in scoring. Halftime score was 1 - 0. AIUD claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

AIUD's A. Prudhomme excelled in some fine tricks that completely confused A. Cilian - and the finish was no less spectacular - 2 - 0! The players of AIUD now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. Players in AIUD heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. STEAUA had a fair chance to reply after 75 minutes due to some fine moves down the left, but in the end F. Boise was slow to keep up with the play and was unable to make it into the penalty box to apply a finish. Attacking on the wings was the choice for AIUD, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. With 79 minutes gone, AIUD's A. Džapo had to leave the pitch after talking back to the referee and receiving his second booking. Possession in this half belonged to AIUD, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

AIUD's top performer was clearly T. Mircea. On the other hand, A. Mínguez's play was disheartening. The most dominating STEAUA player was without a doubt F. Boise. A. Žitlinskis turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 0.