Steaua 1 - 4 Lignitul (381015040)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 5557 that came out to F.C.S Steaua Buc Arena. Kusi Bechler was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Thomas Aspenen and Bogdan Dybiec. Steaua started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Mihiş - Moise, Glonţ, Voica, Hoefner - Bánfi, Bede, Ursanu, Soisun - Rebega, Orlea.

A 4-3-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Lignitul. They fielded: Joyner - Mednyánszky, Eymeoud, Blanksson, Krzesicki - Talabă, Krüger Nielsen, Vişa - Niedner, Guyon.

16 minutes into the game, Lignitul seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to inadequate. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 28 minutes allowed H. Krzesicki to score for Lignitul. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. Steaua's T. Bánfi made a successful breakthrough on the left after 29 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. 37 minutes in, Lignitul appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only poor. After 43 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for D. Guyon who increased Lignitul's lead to 0 - 2. It was 0 - 2 at the break. Steaua claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 67 percent.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Lignitul had passable organisation. C. Voica almost reduced the deficit, having drawn the entire left side defence away, but the shot went straight into the arms of the goalkeeper. The home team's supporters got excited again when F. Bede broke through the visitors' central defence and caught their keeper off guard, making it 1 - 2. F. Bede didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. Some fine movement on the left led to a Lignitul goal after 76 minutes, making it 1 - 3. D. Guyon was noted down as the scorer. With 78 minutes played, M. Ursanu was very close to reducing the score for Steaua with a low drive from the left, but a defender stuck his foot out just in the nick of time, blocking the shot to a corner. Lignitul's W. Joyner left the field after 84 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was J. Condon. R. Vişa became the new Lignitul captain. The visitors' O. Talabă took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 85 minutes into the match. 1 - 4 for Lignitul. 87 minutes into the game, Lignitul had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to weak. Possession in this half belonged to Steaua, who controlled the ball 61 percent of the time.

P. Soisun performed admirably for Steaua. S. Glonţ on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Lignitul player was I. Niedner. However, J. Condon made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 4.