Juniors 2 - 3 MFC (381679752)

Dark skies made the crowd of 36471 at La Bombonera a little nervous, but the rain held off. Hannu Lahti was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Óscar Labra and Matthias Björker. Juniors had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Meyer-Mann - Grünzer, Moskovičius, Grelloni - Norsker, Bruzda, Wagner, Sadura, Tokola - Glover, Vardi.

MFC decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. Starters: Notarangelo - bin Emoi, Tilinin, Hofböck, de los Mozos - Reklaitis, Eliceyri Lantabat, Bahr, Preclík, 景伦 (Jinglun) - Dinu.

Juniors were very close to putting themselves one up after 2 minutes as R. Glover got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. I. Vardi gave Juniors the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 1 - 0 G. Bahr finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home side's keeper, making the score 1 - 1 21 minutes into the match. A foul after 26 minutes resulted in a free kick. I. Vardi cannonballed it, giving the home team the lead 2 - 1. 2 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Juniors, with 56 percent of the ball.

The MFC players listened closely to their manager, as he gave new tactical instructions for the team. The visitors refused to give in and, after 61 minutes, P. Hofböck evened things up as he finished off a perfect pass from the right. 2 - 2 The crowd groaned its disapproval when I. Vardi missed a free kick that would have given Juniors the lead after 64 minutes. Juniors had a good opportunity to take the lead as R. Glover came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of P. Notarangelo. J. Eliceyri Lantabat finished off the counterattack of MFC from the left rather easily, making the score 2 - 3. Juniors's H. Grünzer was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 86 minutes. Juniors enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.

R. Glover performed admirably for Juniors. S. Meyer-Mann was a disappointment, however. MFC's best player was P. Notarangelo. V. Tilinin on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 3.