Arsemal 2 - 3 Athletic (377344457)

Due to an all-day shower, 29715 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Arena Alquimia. Tomás Rodríguez was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Marcel Sandreuther and Mauro Tassone. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Arsemal. They fielded: Gökay - Pacheco, Tresens, Røkke - Saerens, Timar, Villás, Encina, Kamlag - Guéry, Garben.

Athletic decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Huizingh - Scholl, Zoletto, Albano - Rentto, Keersse, Otuk, Celoca, Kondratovich - Olave, Bielicki.

Arsemal mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. D. Encina's lack of experience almost gave Athletic a goal after 5 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. Making his way up the middle 28 minutes into the match, C. Pacheco almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert E. Huizingh blocked it to keep the score level. After a fine move down the middle C. Pacheco nearly gave the home side a goal after 29 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to D. Encina, but the Arsemal player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! 34 minutes in, Arsemal's S. Guéry received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Athletic were forced into a substitution as J. Rentto couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing J. Cosí to come in off the bench. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Arsemal had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

The referee showed Arsemal's D. Encina the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 65 minutes, Athletic used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. The Athletic players listened closely to their manager, as he gave new tactical instructions for the team. It was a bad day for the usually speedy S. Guéry. The mud seemed to slow him down. Arsemal's G. Garben got himself booked for a foul. 70 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as C. Pacheco broke through, making the score 2 - 0 for Arsemal. Confident in their lead, Arsemal's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. D. Encina of Arsemal got sent off for kicking the ball after the whistle, a completely uncalled for move, earning him his second yellow card of the game. Athletic were desperate to get a goal back and pushed forward through the middle 78 minutes into the game. After a scramble in the box, the ball dropped to A. Zoletto, who smashed it home to make the score 2 - 1. Athletic levelled the score after 79 minutes to make it 2 - 2, as D. Bielicki struck home after a fine midfield combination through the centre, which left him completely unmarked. 80 minutes into the game, Athletic wanted to bring some new energy to their game. D. Celoca gave T. Sarvis a quick hug as he left the field. Priding himself in being an active coach, the Athletic manager gave new instructions to his players after 80 minutes. After 82 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Athletic found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to passable. C. Saerens looked to be heading one way when he unexpectedly passed the ball to S. Guéry. The move caught everyone off-guard, including his teammate, who panicked and kicked the ball out of play by accident. Possession of the ball saw an equal split between the teams during the forty-five minutes.

Still tied after 90 minutes, the match continued into extra time. A review of the gameplan helped Athletic get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like G. Garben. After 100 minutes, Athletic's C. Olave made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 2 - 3. What a dramatic win for Athletic! The most dominating Arsemal player was without a doubt C. Røkke. C. Timar on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Athletic player was H. Keersse. On the other hand, E. Huizingh's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 3.