Stars 2 - 4 STALLION (366246952)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 16166 at Tre Stars Arena today. Sergio Belsky Crespo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Àngel Vilajuan and Artur Rousselot. Stars had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Neugebauer - Santaló, Lipp, Scrozza - Garoldi, Zanenga, Eggborn, Sejersbøl, de Loyola - Forsblom, Khalizev.

A 4-3-3 alignment was the formation of choice for STALLION. Lineup: Figueroa - Manrique, Vermes, Pernambuco, Călinescu - Caixa, Kaldenecker, Miossec - Ginex, Begoc, Argiolas.

The wings were the focus of most of Stars's attacks today. E. Ginex hit the corner kick straight to the keeper, but it was mishandled, giving STALLION's M. Argiolas an easy chance to knock it in for 0 - 1. Stars's L. Scrozza almost tied things up with 28 minutes played after breaking through on the right, but his shot deflected off the post. With 33 minutes played, Stars's M. Zanenga found an opening in the visitors' left side defence, but his shot was handled easily by the keeper. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Stars enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.

With 47 minutes played, the Stars coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. E. Maisetti came on, M. Lipp had to leave the fray. J. Forsblom showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 55 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. After 56 minutes, STALLION's V. Pernambuco made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 1 - 2. STALLION increased their lead after 69 minutes when E. Ginex broke through on the right, upping the score to 1 - 3, much to the home crowd's dismay. After 70 minutes, following yet another great corner, A. Caixa's flick on at the near post reached P. Begoc, who was just wide with his snapshot - the ball went out for a goal kick. E. Ginex of STALLION took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 73 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 1 - 4. At 80 minutes into the game, Stars's F. Sejersbøl deftly knocked the ball home after an impressive run down the left, reducing the visitors' lead to 2 - 4. With 81 minutes played, L. Vermes nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. Players in Stars heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. L. Scrozza tried to get a goal back for Stars but despite all his hard work down the right, he just couldn't complete the move. Possession in this half belonged to Stars, who controlled the ball 55 percent of the time.

Stars's best player was M. Zanenga. G. Neugebauer on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important STALLION player was M. Argiolas. However, A. Manrique made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 4.