Arrancar 8 - 1 Quelli (381738766)

25688 punters turned up at Hueco Mondo, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Bernd Stoischek was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Gaël Chaussard and Egon Madsen. Arrancar had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sáinz Diez - van der Waard, Gandra, Frade - Szalai, Dorrego, Srdanović, Spiekermann - Maluli, Valentini, Gjengstø.

Quelli started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Carrafa - Tanghe, Monsalve, Rønde - Flaszyński, Baumgartel, Bebe, Didier, Filičić - Holzhammer, Hamburger.

E. Gandra gave Arrancar the lead with a beautiful free kick after 20 minutes. 1 - 0! Arrancar had to make a substitution after 23 minutes. P. Gjengstø limped off the field and was replaced by S. Martín del Campo. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Arrancar's S. Martín del Campo increasing the lead to 2 - 0. 32 minutes in, P. Bebe made an incredible run up the middle and nearly reduced the home side's lead, but J. Sáinz Diez refused to let the ball slip by him. After 36 minutes, L. Valentini put Arrancar ahead 3 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave S. Maluli from Arrancar a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 38 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The Arrancar players could smell victory in the air. R. van der Waard wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for G. Dovesi after 40 minutes. 3 - 0 was the halftime score. Arrancar claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 66 percent.

E. Gandra struck a 30 metre free kick home 48 minutes into the match. 4 - 0 for the home team. With 73 minutes played, Arrancar's M. Szalai almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. Quelli's A. Filičić lived up to his reputation for finding unexpected ways to get the ball in the net when he sent a nifty little pass over to I. Holzhammer who finished for 4 - 1 with 75 minutes of the match played. S. Spiekermann of Arrancar was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish C. Tanghe, which resulted in a goal making the score 5 - 1. With 77 minutes played, Arrancar put themselves up 6 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to S. Martín del Campo, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. After this, you could see that the players of Arrancar were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. Arrancar solidified their lead at the 81 minute mark, as G. Dovesi dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 7 - 1. Quelli's A. Baumgartel was shown a yellow card after 82 minutes for slicing down an opponent. L. Valentini increased the lead for Arrancar to 8 - 1, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! Possession in this half belonged to Arrancar, who controlled the ball 68 percent of the time.

The most dominating Arrancar player was without a doubt L. Valentini. J. Sáinz Diez turned in a dismal performance, however. Quelli's top performer was clearly I. Hamburger. E. Carrafa on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 8 - 1.