ROMA 3 - 3 Falcao (382035252)

It had rained all day, but 10702 hardy fans still made it out to MEG-IMPIANTI ROMA Arena. Walther Erich was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Benno Dossenbach and Stephan Deisl. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for ROMA. They fielded: Dervilla - Bettella, Petrilli, Caumo - Camelo, Resmini, Bartocci, Locci, Lucullo - Burati, Ciccone.

Falcao had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Starters: Dingler - Jarrín, Wickühler, Villarino - Shamugia, Ilić, Vázquez, Skinderholm - Xhezo, Nastasi, Herdeiro.

ROMA mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. ROMA made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left F. Resmini completely alone with keeper R. Dingler, who made a spectacular block. M. Caumo could have put ROMA into the lead after 19 minutes, but the free kick went just wide. 0 - 1 was the score with 26 minutes played, after M. Nastasi cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Falcao. The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like M. Caumo. K. Skinderholm increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 2. ROMA's F. Camelo cut towards the middle after 38 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 2. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to ROMA, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

The ROMA players listened closely to their manager, as he gave new tactical instructions for the team. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the ROMA manager used a brief break in play after 60 minutes to give the players new directives. The crowd roared in delight as F. Bettella finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for ROMA 61 minutes into the match. 2 - 2. ROMA players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. ROMA's M. Ciccone tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. ROMA had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. F. Bettella caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 72 minutes. This gave ROMA the 3 - 2 lead. ROMA's F. Camelo saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 76 minutes. After 82 minutes, the visitors tied it up at 3 - 3 when a fantastic pass from the left was finished off by J. Villarino. 85 minutes in, ROMA's A. Petrilli received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The player down was F. Wickühler. The Falcao bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. ROMA had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

ROMA's best player was M. Ciccone. M. Dervilla was a disappointment, however. Most important Falcao player was D. Herdeiro. On the other hand, R. Dingler's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 3.