Deportiva 1 - 3 Messi (383048134)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 16745 to Carabanzo Stadium. Colin Betton was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Deniz Faul and Luis Portal. Deportiva decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. They fielded: Latuff - Romalde, Scatigno, Larizza - Dubin, Ahardane, Križnik, Foin, Battochio - Gurgo, Anchorena.

Messi started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Beger - Caserio, Vieira, ZernitzkyZernig - Lombardero, Renaud, Villar, Konushevci - Sulmonte, Fox, Fuster.

The wings were the focus of most of Deportiva's attacks today. Deportiva created a good opportunity to score 2 minutes into the match when S. Dubin's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. Messi took the lead after 17 minutes making the score 0 - 1. D. Sulmonte placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Deportiva's A. Anchorena had a hard, curved free kick after 28 minutes that would have paid off, had it gone just a little lower. The visitors' T. Konushevci took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 30 minutes into the match. 0 - 2 for Messi. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Messi lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. 35 minutes in, Deportiva's U. Battochio received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. Deportiva claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

Content with how the game was proceeding, the Messi coach let Y. Vesan replace D. Sulmonte after 50 minutes. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, I. Villar took over the role of being the Messi captain. With 65 minutes played, the Deportiva coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. E. Queirós came on, G. Gurgo had to leave the fray. A marvellous Deportiva effort on the right-hand side resulted in a goal after 75 minutes by E. Queirós, making the score 1 - 2. After 76 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for F. Vieira who increased Messi's lead to 1 - 3. With 78 minutes gone, Deportiva's U. Battochio had to leave the pitch after talking back to the referee and receiving his second booking. Deportiva had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

T. Foin performed admirably for Deportiva. V. Romalde was a disappointment, however. Messi's best player was E. Fuster. Y. Vesan on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 3.