Athletic 2 - 1 raulct (382996111)

14095 spectators had come to Gure Txoko this cloudy day. Tolga Duran was the appointed referee. A 4-4-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Athletic. Lineup: Pykacz - Paleček, Ginex, Waeyenberge, Sarrù - Ronconi, Hubbard, Aviaga, Korczyński - Svensson.

raulct tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. The following players took the field: Giúdice - Kobasić, Chianese, Fagan, Marrone - Jansson, Eltink, Fallon, Wabnic, Ayres - Uzgören.

The wings were the focus of most of Athletic's attacks today. For their match strategy, raulct had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Sarrù from Athletic a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 11 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! raulct took the lead 21 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. A. Marrone was the scorer. raulct's counterattacks created a good chance for M. Fallon on the right after 30 minutes, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar. There was concern in the stands when, at the 32 minute mark, Athletic's L. Pykacz hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. M. Fallon of raulct was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Athletic had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. A late sliding challenge from M. Fallon was deemed to be his second yellow card offence by the referee, resulting in him being sent off, and raulct left a man down. Athletic's F. Aviaga made a successful breakthrough on the left after 42 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. After 43 minutes, the defensive line of raulct created a counterattack through the middle that gave J. Wabnic a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. After 43 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Athletic found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to inadequate. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Athletic enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 56 percent of possession.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Athletic had solid organisation. raulct almost scored after a counterattack 65 minutes into the match, but R. Ayres took a shot from the left that landed harmlessly in the side of the net. The crowd was on its feet 69 minutes into the match, as Athletic's A. Sarrù found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. After 83 minutes, K. Svensson came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 2 - 1, giving Athletic the lead. 85 minutes into the game, Athletic seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a weak level of organisation. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Athletic, with 54 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Athletic player was without a doubt G. Waeyenberge. On the other hand, M. Ronconi's play was disheartening. H. Uzgören performed admirably for raulct. However, D. Jansson made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 1.