Ljubljana 3 - 4 Smrkci (382733283)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 78852 that came out to Abis Arena. Stanisław Musik was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Rob Korevaar and Mikko Syrjäkoski. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Ljubljana derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. Ljubljana had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Entin - Dominko, Balcazar, Zuccolotto - Blaauw, Westerlaan, Stolberg, Prencipe, Gandini - Šostarka, Pirhan.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Smrkci. The following players had been chosen: Eckhoff - Messier, Leszkoven, Korolovszky - Defaye, Pezdirc, Bratko, Koron, Kozole - Osmolak, Fusé.

G. Korolovszky got left behind when Ljubljana's Y. Blaauw made a sudden run forward after 6 minutes, finishing off with a neat strike. 1 - 0! Ljubljana put themselves up 2 - 0 when J. Stolberg broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. The corner kick from D. Gandini was powerfully met by the head of A. Westerlaan to make the score 3 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Ljubljana lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. After 36 minutes, Smrkci sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached F. Fusé, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 3 - 1. Ljubljana's P. Pirhan had an excellent opportunity after 42 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! S. Osmolak was first to reach a ball launched long through the center from Smrkci's defence 43 minutes into the game. He managed to keep his cool and beat the goalkeeper to make the score 3 - 2. Halftime score was 3 - 2. Smrkci had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

J. Stolberg could have put Ljubljana up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 65 minutes. A cross coming in on the right hand side left S. Osmolak alone in front of the goal after 75 minutes but his shot was woeful. A lot of people in the terraces claimed the penalty resulting in Smrkci's J. Defaye equaliser for 3 - 3 was a mistake by the referee. He did, however, have a very good view of the situation from his position. Y. Blaauw would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. R. Žmak entered the game for Ljubljana as the match clock showed 86 minutes. Smrkci's S. Osmolak was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 88 minutes. The most controversial moment of the game was likely the penalty given after 88 minutes. Smrkci's J. Defaye kept his concentration, despite the upset crowd, and calmly put the ball past the keeper to make the score 3 - 4. After the ball was lifted in from the left, J. Koron was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 89 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Smrkci claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

Ljubljana's top performer was clearly P. Pirhan. However, S. Entin made a disastrous appearance. Most important Smrkci player was M. Pezdirc. R. Kozole was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 4.