Maruxiños 2 - 2 FDF (382886462)

The crowd of 47005 turning up at Maruxiños Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Joquinha Almeida was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Alfredo Colucci and Bento Alexandre. Maruxiños started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Mañara - Almeida, Bossuet, Penner - Pittaluga, Paatero, Ballart, Corsi, Siniluoto - Noriega, Petrunenko.

FDF tactics involved an interesting 5-3-2 combination. Lineup: Costache - Bachiorri, Radresa, Vall, Cardell, Catteeuw - Le Gall, Silva Mitjans, Abu-Abdul - Elgucena, Vivar Díaz.

Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for FDF. The game was characterised by rough play and many physical challenges on the wet field, but J. Bachiorri showed great heart and had a good game. R. Elgucena did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. With 33 minutes gone, a long pass from the defence of FDF resulted in a counterattack that set R. Elgucena free through the middle, but the keeper made a spectacular diving save. Maruxiños's P. Pittaluga refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 38 minutes. The counterattack by FDF resulted in a free kick that M. Abu-Abdul bent under the crossbar - 0 - 1! P. Le Gall of FDF was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish P. Ballart, which resulted in a goal making the score 0 - 2. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Maruxiños claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 73 percent.

Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Maruxiños's H. Almeida was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 46 minutes. J. Eriks was given a chance to change things around. As the game started to slip away for Maruxiños, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. Maruxiños's I. Petrunenko cut towards the middle after 80 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 2. Maruxiños's G. Corsi placed the ball right at his teammate's feet after a corner, but I. Petrunenko couldn't finish. After 88 minutes, Maruxiños switched A. Bossuet with D. Dalto, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. Maruxiños will have to do without F. Mañara for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 89 minute mark. He was substituted by B. Delegacz. The crowd chanted their encouragement as Maruxiños's T. Paatero came in from the right after 89 minutes and put the ball in the net to level the score at 2 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Maruxiños, who controlled the ball 70 percent of the time.

Most important Maruxiños player was I. Petrunenko. B. Delegacz turned in a dismal performance, however. FDF's top performer was clearly P. Le Gall. However, J. Radresa made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 2.