SteauaDB 2 - 5 YUVE (380832503)

The crowd of 21275 turning up at SteauaDB Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Harri Riima was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Paw Nygaard and Mikael Daling. SteauaDB started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Vicenti - Nedelcu, Weigelt, Motocu - Wabitsch, Castilho, Petrović, Farghani - Mussa, Saleppichi, Le Bihan.

YUVE tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. Starters: Pănescu - Otvoş, Lupu, Imbrea - Mihaylov, Stuivenberg, Bačūns, Radišić - Hagen, Brunelli, Hémery.

YUVE tried to focus their attacks down the middle. R. Lupu's lack of experience almost gave SteauaDB a goal after 11 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when Z. Radišić was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 12 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! SteauaDB's A. Vicenti refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 25 minutes. R. Lupu didn't let the weather get him down and made some great moves on the pitch in spite of the rain. SteauaDB took the lead 28 minutes into the game by 1 - 0, as C. Mussa elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. After 29 minutes, the visitors levelled the scores after Z. Radišić made it through the middle and struck home to make it 1 - 1. A. Le Bihan gave SteauaDB the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 2 - 1 33 minutes into the game YUVE's H. Hagen found a gap in the home side's central defence and scored with a fabulous shot, making it 2 - 2. 2 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to YUVE, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

As the 46 minute mark approached, the YUVE coach decided it was time for a substitution. R. Lupu reluctantly made way for H. Ernstsen on the pitch. T. Stuivenberg would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. O. Berrés entered the game for YUVE as the match clock showed 46 minutes. After 68 minutes YUVE's P. Hémery contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. With 71 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. A. Brunelli put the ball away for 2 - 3. V. Imbrea was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, YUVE's Z. Radišić managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 2 - 4 YUVE players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. After 82 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for H. Hagen who increased YUVE's lead to 2 - 5. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by YUVE, with 60 percent of the ball.

Most important SteauaDB player was C. Mussa. On the other hand, R. Wabitsch's play was disheartening. O. Berrés performed admirably for YUVE. V. Imbrea turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 5.