LUCAL 2 - 3 Rabovanette (380412328)

Clear skies welcomed the 548 spectators who had made their way to LA PISTA ARENA. LUCAL tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Daneļuks - Ciervo, da Várzea, Giner - Formiguera, Puerta, Egurza, Amás, Castropol - Iturraspe, Uhagón.

Rabovanette decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Estorch - Thùy, Rothblom, Maturana, Grotius - Kraśkiewicz, Macía, Roisdorf, Štěrba - Pierattelli, Sunesson.

The strategy for Rabovanette was to use their ability to press. M. Ciervo received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 4 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. Rabovanette made it 0 - 1 as E. Sunesson got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to S. Štěrba who whipped a low drive in off the far post. With 23 minutes gone, Rabovanette had a free kick in a decent position. Despite this being a great chance for a shot, they tried a cheeky move intended to bypass the defence. However, J. Roisdorf did not manage to connect with it cleanly and the ball went out. J. Amás showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 24 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, H. Giner got himself booked. The manager of LUCAL was not happy. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Rabovanette claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 66 percent.

The pressing tactics used by Rabovanette were successful as the ball remained close to the half way line at all times. 65 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a LUCAL substitution. J. Arnalich came on for F. Uhagón. M. Castropol of LUCAL was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Rabovanette took the lead 82 minutes into the game, making the score 1 - 2 after some elegant movement down the middle. F. Kraśkiewicz was the scorer. An accurate cross from M. Castropol of LUCAL was met with a wonderful glancing header from J. Arnalich, hitting the inside base of the post before nestling into the back of the net for 2 - 2. Rabovanette pressed their opponents, causing the game to be a bit of a stalemate at times. With 85 minutes played, Rabovanette's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to J. Roisdorf he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 2 - 3. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave B. Rothblom from Rabovanette a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 86 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Rabovanette enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 69 percent of possession.

Most important LUCAL player was A. Iturraspe. M. Castropol was a disappointment, however. Rabovanette's top performer was clearly A. Pierattelli. J. Estorch on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 3.