luisic 2 - 3 Forever (382886640)

65475 punters turned up at luisic plate Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Ivan Debrauwer was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ludovic Bultel and Matouš Chlebek. A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for luisic. The following players had been chosen: Ziynet - Epivitoropoulos, Stahnke - Tarín, Barger, Tàpies, Soinio, Preoteasa - Tummers, Caboz, Dotti.

Forever tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Stachulec - Cardell, Haddad, Dolmayan - Bjørnevoll, Férez, Catandil, Escalera, Lehenstorfer - Walczyński, Pfaffen.

Forever had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 2 minutes in when J. Escalera came up alone against M. Ziynet who managed a block. With clinical precision, the cross from winger H. Bjørnevoll found its way to N. Pfaffen's head, and a screaming header gave Forever the goal after 7 minutes played. 0 - 1 After 9 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for M. Dolmayan who increased Forever's lead to 0 - 2. luisic's L. Barger left the field after 21 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was I. Irulegui. The referee showed luisic's C. Caboz the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. L. Lehenstorfer was, after 33 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper M. Ziynet made the save. luisic's R. Tummers managed a superb strike from the left after 34 minutes that would have left goalkeeper T. Stachulec without a chance, had it not hit the post. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Forever, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

The luisic players listened closely to their manager, as he gave new tactical instructions for the team. P. Férez couldn't do anything to stop the technically gifted O. Preoteasa as he dodged past on his way to scoring a wonderful goal for luisic - 1 - 2! E. Walczyński wanted to play on, but the Forever coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 65 minutes into the game by R. Pommerell. T. Stachulec was handed the Forever captain's armband. After a short break after 65 minutes, Forever seemed to change their tactical approach a bit. The Forever coach was visibly pleased with the score so far, but still ordered a few tactical changes 65 minutes into the game. N. Pfaffen came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over M. Ziynet but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. The Forever players could smell victory in the air. L. Lehenstorfer wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for M. Zima after 70 minutes. The coach of Forever was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 75 minutes, R. Mohnsteg came on for M. Dolmayan. luisic's O. Preoteasa made a successful breakthrough on the left after 75 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. Forever's R. Mohnsteg was shown a yellow card after 79 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The visitors' N. Pfaffen took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 80 minutes into the match. 1 - 3 for Forever. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when O. Preoteasa scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 2 - 3. F. Tarín neatly controlled the ball after a short corner, and knocked it on to N. Epivitoropoulos who had the whole net open before him, but only managed to hit the post. Forever had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

luisic's top performer was clearly E. Dotti. I. Irulegui on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Forever player was R. Pommerell. However, H. Bjørnevoll made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 3.