Athlantis 2 - 2 Blueprint (380778729)

56036 punters turned up at "Hahn, Banach, Beppo, Levi & Kolmogorov" Stadium, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Pablo Méndez was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jörn Malmquist and Aiolos Kokas. Athlantis started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Giannuzzi - Choulis, Chen, Schwerdtel - Hyry, Hallstrand, Labuť, Airinei, Scatozza - Panciuc, Durey.

Blueprint had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. Lineup: Caggiano - Kandor, Ocampo, Arena, Bolsius - Muresan, Berisha, Asandei, Olah, Marcovici - Pârvu.

Athlantis could have put themselves ahead after 4 minutes but G. Airinei missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. Athlantis had a good opportunity to take the lead as R. Chen came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of A. Caggiano. After 26 minutes, Blueprint put themselves up 0 - 1, as G. Marcovici finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. J. Hyry's early cross saw the defenders caught out of position and the alert M. Durey was able to pounce and roll the ball past the hapless goalkeeper to score for Athlantis. 1 - 1. Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 40 minutes into the match left Blueprint's R. Ocampo completely free to score. 1 - 2 for the visitors. 1 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Blueprint, with 52 percent of the ball.

The bicycle kick from G. Marcovici would have been the Goal of the Year for Blueprint, had it not hit the post. With the scoreboard showing that 54 minutes had been played, Blueprint nearly put themselves up another goal after F. Pârvu came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. 66 minutes into the game, A. Choulis came close to levelling the score with a dangerous shot from the centre of the area that went just over the bar. Blueprint's F. Pârvu was shown a yellow card after 84 minutes for slicing down an opponent. N. Panciuc showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 85 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 2 - 2 equaliser away. Possession in this half belonged to Blueprint, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

The most dominating Athlantis player was without a doubt A. Choulis. On the other hand, R. Scatozza's play was disheartening. Most important Blueprint player was G. Marcovici. R. Ocampo turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 2.