AVRIL 3 - 1 Gamb (381740781)

Clouds darkened the skies at QUEEN'S STADIUM as 24203 spectators turned up for the match. Muzaffer Noyan was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Xavier Bouchet and Mark Rafter. AVRIL decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Starters: Šutlák - Buss, Lindstaedt, Gisor - Nuarte, Riera, Pohja, Devecchi, Matarasso - Abadal, Oderda.

Gamb had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players took the field: Cioncolini - Pizzimenti, Di Dio, 城元 (Chengyuan) , Polani - Naso, Gressier, Langberg, Giulietti, Pintaudi - Hijero.

Today, Gamb's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. At 15 minutes played, R. Buss came in from the right with the intention of giving AVRIL the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. After 18 minutes of play, M. Matarasso gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Coming from the right, R. Abadal almost managed to score another goal for AVRIL, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. B. Nuarte had a fantastic opportunity to put AVRIL up another goal 32 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. It was 1 - 0 at the break. AVRIL enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.

With 50 minutes played, AVRIL put themselves up 2 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to R. Abadal, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. Gamb needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 57 minutes F. Pizzimenti made way for P. Grasselli. F. Oderda should probably have put his team up another goal after 68 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by G. Cioncolini kept the visitors in the game. Morale on the visitors' bench was greatly improved when their G. Polani reduced the lead to make it 2 - 1 after 70 minutes, following a pass from the right. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave G. Polani from Gamb a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 75 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! AVRIL put themselves up 3 - 1 when R. Abadal broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. AVRIL's K. Pohja was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 78 minutes. M. Ferraguti was called on to replace Gamb's G. Cioncolini after 81 minutes following a nasty collision. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, L. Pintaudi got himself booked. The manager of Gamb was not happy. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by AVRIL, with 57 percent of the ball.

Most important AVRIL player was F. Riera. However, F. Šutlák made a disastrous appearance. Gamb's best player was J. Gressier. On the other hand, G. Polani's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 1.