z.a.j.a.l 1 - 0 Juventus (381059114)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 33548 that came out to ZAJAL Arena. Raphaël Prestat was the appointed referee with assistance provided by André Scozzari and Kenneth Nyborg. z.a.j.a.l had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players took the field: Minei - Vojnović, Engmar, Milkūnas, Gal - Lindhaus, Pessala, Mariano, Gudgeon - Raviv, Piotr.

Juventus started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. Lineup: Froloshki - Kuronen, Germanà, Gould, Sankevitz - Fountas, Monhait, Kjellen, Geisler, Merreot - Gay.

The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when M. Kjellen was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 23 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave E. Gudgeon from z.a.j.a.l a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 30 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! z.a.j.a.l had a chance to take the lead after N. Milkūnas's dazzling drive up the left, but the opportunity fizzled out as his shot went just over the bar after 31 minutes. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by z.a.j.a.l, with 65 percent of the ball.

z.a.j.a.l were very close to putting themselves one up after 48 minutes as R. Vojnović got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. z.a.j.a.l's J. Engmar left the field after 57 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was A. Sysimies. The intense heat forced C. Fountas into making some errors because he couldn't seem to keep up with the others. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, I. Raviv scored for z.a.j.a.l putting them ahead 1 - 0, after 84 minutes. E. Gal unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. z.a.j.a.l enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 66 percent of possession.

Most important z.a.j.a.l player was N. Milkūnas. On the other hand, T. Minei's play was disheartening. Juventus's best player was G. Germanà. S. Monhait on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 0.