liceeni 1 - 2 GRUI (380911746)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 19697 at Champions Arena today. Tony Mikaelsson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Aldo Alajbeg and Frank Bo Gravesen. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for liceeni. Starters: Van den Bussche - Frunză, Milici, Dincă - Axt, Bârnea, Kara, Melcescu - Seinstra, Almarza, Orozco.

GRUI tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Lineup: Adler - Nevri, Hatvaník - Silva Lourenço, Bastiaanse, Hungley, Daniel, Huber-Schum - Coirier, Osláč, Daugaard.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of liceeni. GRUI tried to focus their attacks down the middle. Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 9 minutes into the match left GRUI's R. Bastiaanse completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from S. Daniel after 16 minutes, and prevented GRUI from going up another goal. Good work by the liceeni defensive line after 17 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found C. Frunză alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. With 21 minutes played, liceeni's D. Almarza found an opening in the visitors' left side defence, but his shot was handled easily by the keeper. Had it not been for one of the home defenders, J. Hatvaník would have put GRUI up another goal 26 minutes into the match with his audacious lob from the right wing. After 29 minutes, M. Axt got through on the right and was very close to equalising for the home side, but didn't get the shot away. 0 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by GRUI, with 51 percent of the ball.

On any other day, H. Kara's free kick would have found the back of the net to tie the game for liceeni, but not today - the visitors' keeper displayed extraordinary reflexes as he blocked the shot harmlessly to the side. GRUI came close to extending their lead as R. Bastiaanse delivered a low effort on goal from the right after 77 minutes, but the angle was too narrow and the shot went harmlessly into the side netting. S. Daniel received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 78 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The GRUI fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. The home crowd were delighted when C. Melcescu scored with a header after an attack from the right, making the score 1 - 2. But did he use his hand? That'll be one for the pundits to talk about after the game, that's for sure! liceeni's C. Bârnea was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 88 minutes. GRUI claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

The most dominating liceeni player was without a doubt M. Axt. T. Seinstra was a disappointment, however. GRUI's top performer was clearly J. Hatvaník. A. Silva Lourenço on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 2.