España 2 - 2 Burjassot (382886814)

44429 fans braved the pouring rain at Nuevo Coliseo de Gandia "Santiago Cañizares". Lex Brusse was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Hortencio Carranza and Rui da Costa. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Comunitat Valenciana derby and the crowd was divided evenly. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for España. The following players had been chosen: Gaztañaga - Salaberri, Sille, Davi - Español, Miarons, Torrabadella, Cubo, Granados - Claverol, Antolín.

Burjassot decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players took the field: Panov - Salm, Caspersen, Brands, N'Diaye - Shishmanov, Artese, Jettenbach, Eroğlu - Pierri, Gabel.

Burjassot clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. España had a chance to take the lead after M. Sille's dazzling drive up the left, but the opportunity fizzled out as his shot went just over the bar after 16 minutes. K. Jettenbach had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today. Making his way up the middle 19 minutes into the match, X. Torrabadella almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert D. Panov blocked it to keep the score level. España were very close to putting themselves one up after 23 minutes as S. Claverol got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. 33 minutes into the game, Burjassot seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to inadequate. España could have put themselves ahead after 39 minutes but S. Claverol missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. Good work by the Burjassot defensive line after 40 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found O. Gabel alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. The referee showed España's L. Antolín the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 0 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to España, who controlled the ball 70 percent of the time.

The Burjassot players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a solid organisation when the game started again. The coach of España wanted to try to change things around after 46 minutes, and gave new tactical instructions. With the match clock at 46 minutes, España modified their style of play a little bit. Slack defending gave España a chance to take the lead with 55 minutes played, but S. Claverol's cross from the left flank was fumbled in front of the goal and easily dealt with by the opposition. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to L. Español, but the España player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! The crowd was silenced 59 minutes into the match as the visiting team's O. Gabel came in from the left, levelling the score to 1 - 1. M. Granados got new instructions from the España coach after 60 minutes. He changed positions with L. Español soon after. After 70 minutes, the España coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving G. Miarons off the field. D. Agramunt took his place. L. Antolín caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 72 minutes. This gave España the 2 - 1 lead. España's D. Agramunt got himself booked for a foul. O. Salm was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Burjassot's D. Bispo had to come off the bench. L. Antolín had a fantastic opportunity to put España up another goal 77 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. The goal to make it 2 - 2 was scored by A. Pierri after 78 minutes, following an opportunistic counterattack down the middle by Burjassot. 80 minutes into the match, the España manager wanted to try a new tactic, and the players loyally obliged. 83 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for España to take the lead after a good cross from the right found P. Salaberri alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. España had most of the ball, with 66 percent of possession.

España's best player was L. Antolín. M. Sille was a disappointment, however. Burjassot's top performer was clearly A. Pierri. However, D. Bispo made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 2.