Olympia 4 - 2 Esdiegantes (366227459)

Clear skies welcomed the 19999 spectators who had made their way to Stadio delle Aquile. Guilherme Milheiro was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Lucien Laubscher and Santiago Pelayo. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Lazio derby and the crowd was divided evenly. Olympia had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. Lineup: Ghazzaghi - Zuccolotto, Vittorioso - Atıfa, Martin Fernández, van Dierendonck, Bęgowski, Baster - Geltys, Maillard, Schicker.

Esdiegantes tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Mandese - Simeoni, Ebbinge, Palombini, Atabey - Pozzan, Pişkin, Godói, Stame - Liukkonen, Portugal.

At the beginning of the game, Olympia appeared to have already taken this victory to the bank. Olympia mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. The referee showed Esdiegantes's N. Portugal the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Esdiegantes's counterattacks were lethal to the opposing defence, allowing M. Liukkonen to score easily from the right flank for 0 - 1. After 23 minutes, Olympia's L. Maillard swiftly ran past R. Ebbinge and nutmegged the keeper! 1 - 1. Olympia took the lead after 24 minutes as a result of L. Schicker's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 2 - 1. It was obvious that team Olympia had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. I. Martin Fernández squirmed through their central defence after 36 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 1. A free kick just outside of the visitors' penalty area after 40 minutes could have resulted in another goal, but L. Mandese got a hand out and tipped the ball over the bar. It was 3 - 1 at the break. Olympia enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 61 percent of possession.

Against a lesser team, Olympia could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 58 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. Esdiegantes breathed new life into the game with an opportunity to reduce the score after 61 minutes, but the home side's defenders cleared the ball on the line, after a long shot coming in from the left rebounded off the crossbar. K. Bęgowski's curling free kick almost found the goal for Olympia, but the visitors' keeper somehow managed to get ahold of it. With 68 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock, Esdiegantes showed some good skill and were able to reduce the score to 3 - 2 when M. Pişkin got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal. After 70 minutes, Esdiegantes used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. The Esdiegantes players listened closely to their manager, as he gave new tactical instructions for the team. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Esdiegantes's A. Atabey was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 70 minutes. D. Słapa was given a chance to change things around. Olympia had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. Olympia solidified their lead at the 76 minute mark, as L. Maillard dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 4 - 2. Olympia's L. Schicker had an excellent opportunity after 78 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! Possession in this half belonged to Olympia, who controlled the ball 60 percent of the time.

Most important Olympia player was L. Schicker. However, F. Vittorioso made a disastrous appearance. Esdiegantes's top performer was clearly M. Pişkin. M. Pozzan was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 2.