Vallegrande 1 - 1 BETIS (367382132)

Dark skies made the crowd of 27500 at Eliana/ Ñeca a little nervous, but the rain held off. Sascha Motycka was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Berke Polat and Megiel van de Braak. Vallegrande decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players took the field: Urra - Paflik, Orteu, Zatón, Ystmark - Piña, Bejega, Fromont, Viherkoski - Drosopoulos, Azuri.

BETIS tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Starters: Møller - Valenciaga, López González, Hano, Casini - Carvalho, Blest, Soto, Mandel - Puač, Meffle.

BETIS clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. BETIS had a great opportunity to score following a counterattack after 8 minutes, but B. Soto's shot from the left sailed high over the bar. R. Montejo was called on to replace Vallegrande's J. Orteu after 14 minutes following a nasty collision. Vallegrande could have put themselves ahead after 36 minutes but R. Montejo missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. At 37 minutes played, F. Paflik came in from the right with the intention of giving Vallegrande the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. After 38 minutes, a counter attack by BETIS was converted into a decent free kick opportunity. However, the indirect free kick routine was easily anticipated by the defenders. A textbook example of how to defend a free kick - the attackers were left with few viable options. Vallegrande almost scored after a swift counterattack 41 minutes into the game, but G. Zatón put the shot from the left flank just outside the goal. Vallegrande broke through on the left 42 minutes into the game, with P. Drosopoulos firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 1 - 0 lead. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Vallegrande, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

The bench was restless, and with 46 minutes passed BETIS's coach gave L. Ilarduya the opportunity the player had been hoping for. N. Valenciaga reluctantly left the field. After 46 minutes, BETIS switched A. Møller with À. Buireu, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. The home side's A. Azuri came close to extending the lead 74 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but À. Buireu managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. BETIS's D. Puač got himself booked for a foul. After 83 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by P. Drosopoulos might have resulted in another goal for Vallegrande. However, À. Buireu made a spectacular save. The visitors' N. Carvalho was alert after a cross coming in from the left, levelling the score at 1 - 1 after 84 minutes. 84 minutes into the match, the BETIS manager wanted to try a new tactic, and the players loyally obliged. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Vallegrande, with 52 percent of the ball.

J. Fromont performed admirably for Vallegrande. However, V. Viherkoski made a disastrous appearance. Most important BETIS player was D. López González. N. Carvalho on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 1.