Clear skies welcomed the 29958 spectators who had made their way to Deed Traford. Michael Ebbesen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Henrique Gouveia and Idar Johansen. United decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Drouault - Chiche, Venedikov, Laduver - Tissarinen, Hentschke, Magazzini, Omino, Tovmasyan - Vanderstraeten, Stoleru.

BOTEV started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Di Blasio - Pignatale, Cappelletto, Oliveras - Martins Batista, Kazakov, Frinsel, Karadzhov, Morra - Estébanez Cubero, Saccucci.

It was an obvious ambition of BOTEV to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. BOTEV's G. Kazakov managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 8 minutes. 0 - 1. G. Magazzini made a superb strike after 27 minutes with a shot straight in front of the goal after a long ball through the middle, but one of the visitors' defenders got a foot in at the last second and warded it off for a corner. BOTEV had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. After the ball was lifted in from the left, I. Estébanez Cubero was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 32 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. The crowd was on its feet 34 minutes into the match, as United's G. Magazzini found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. BOTEV took the lead 36 minutes into the game, making the score 1 - 2 after some elegant movement down the middle. C. Frinsel was the scorer. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. BOTEV claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 54 percent.

After 67 minutes, United used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. As the game started to slip away for United, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. With 73 minutes having been played, United scored to make it 2 - 2. A dribble down the left wing, followed by a shot which took a wicked bounce off a defender resulted in the keeper having no chance. Everyone thought it'd been an own goal, but T. Vanderstraeten was marked down as the scorer. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 81 minutes into the match, and I. Estébanez Cubero wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 2 - 3 for the visitors. United put pressure on the visitors' central defence 82 minutes into the game, but E. Stoleru couldn't find an opening. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for United, but G. Magazzini's shot went over the bar. BOTEV had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

United's best player was E. Stoleru. T. Drouault turned in a dismal performance, however. I. Estébanez Cubero performed admirably for BOTEV. S. Karadzhov was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 3.