AZULGRANA 5 - 2 Deportivo (375304993)

33778 spectators arrived at El Gasometro, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Manuel Klär was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jaakko Savolainen and Yazid Lakloumi. AZULGRANA started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Blottnitz - Andreu, Schatz, van Heulen, Asper - Sá, Andrikakis, Biersdorf, Praško - Boyer, Olsen.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Deportivo. Lineup: Lapie - Biebuyck, Secher, Czuż, Premoli - Pontiroli, Pelliccetti, Macků, Erdziak - Córcico, Zecher.

AZULGRANA took a creative approach on the field. Deportivo decided to play creatively. After 3 minutes, Deportivo's H. Czuż made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. 8 minutes in, and AZULGRANA were able to score the equalising goal to make it 1 - 1 when H. Biersdorf picked up a pass coming in from the right and chipped it past the away team's keeper. 10 minutes into the match and the home team took a 2 - 1 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for AZULGRANA was V. Boyer. 12 minutes into the game, Deportivo seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to passable. L. Sá should probably have put his team up another goal after 13 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by A. Lapie kept the visitors in the game. 16 minutes in, Deportivo's K. Secher received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Cheers filled the stadium as V. Boyer broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 3 - 1 to AZULGRANA. The players of AZULGRANA now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. 3 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to AZULGRANA, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Deportivo had solid organisation. F. Andreu could have increased the lead after 53 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. In a rapid move 71 minutes into the match, G. Pontiroli of Deportivo lost his man and passed the ball to the unmarked M. Córcico who easily hit it home to make it 3 - 2. Luckily the ref didn't see him taunting the opposing fans in celebration - naughty boy! 76 minutes into the game, Deportivo seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a inadequate level of organisation. AZULGRANA's F. Asper got himself booked for a foul. After 82 minutes, F. Asper sent the corner kick right to B. Praško who headed it sharply past the keeper. 4 - 2! 86 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as L. Sá broke through, making the score 5 - 2 for AZULGRANA. AZULGRANA claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

AZULGRANA's best player was G. Olsen. On the other hand, G. Schatz's play was disheartening. Most important Deportivo player was J. Pelliccetti. A. Lapie turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 5 - 2.