Fanatik 1 - 8 Athén (383898712)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Bevehetetlen Arena saw a crowd turnout of 37104. Franky Leysen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Maarten Bemelmans and Stan Treacher. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Fanatik. The following players had been chosen: Benigno - Allemeersch, Okbi, Markey - Kern, Van der Pluym, Jiménez Gracia, Motte, Kirchner - Weichsel, Toimi.

Athén started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. They fielded: Dali - Árpa, Kurashvili - Taflisi, Rita, Sserunkuuma, Aad, Al-Matrooshi - Pásztor, Khan, Baatir Uulu.

Fanatik used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. Athén clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. Fanatik's C. Markey was shown a yellow card after 11 minutes for slicing down an opponent. In a fantastic display of determination, Athén's B. Árpa forced himself to his feet, after an opponent viciously knocked him down. Down the middle came A. Khan, making a fantastic play that nearly had Athén take the lead after 13 minutes, but E. Benigno preserved the tie. The visiting Á. Pásztor was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 37 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. M. Baatir Uulu received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 41 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The Athén fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. Athén's E. Sserunkuuma got himself booked for a foul. Fanatik were forced into a substitution as C. Markey couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing B. Zakir to come in off the bench. 44 minutes into the game, Fanatik seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a weak level of organisation. Athén had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. After 44 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave Á. Pásztor a chance to increase the lead for Athén, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 3. Confident in their lead, Athén's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Fanatik were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. L. Jiménez Gracia did everything he could to get one back for his Fanatik, but keeper A. Dali denied him with a spectacular block. Athén increased their lead after 44 minutes when M. Aad broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 4, much to the home crowd's dismay. Halftime score was 0 - 4. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Athén, with 55 percent of the ball.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Fanatik had solid organisation. With 50 minutes played, Athén put themselves up 0 - 5 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was Á. Pásztor. At that, Á. Pásztor was noted down for a hat trick! Some fine movement on the left led to a Athén goal after 54 minutes, making it 0 - 6. A. Khan was noted down as the scorer. Fanatik's J. Toimi cut towards the middle after 60 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 6. The visitors' A. Khan took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 66 minutes into the match. 1 - 7 for Athén. 67 minutes into the game, Fanatik had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to passable. With 67 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed R. Kurashvili of Athén to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 1 - 8. Athén had most of the ball, with 57 percent of possession.

Fanatik's top performer was clearly L. Jiménez Gracia. B. Zakir turned in a dismal performance, however. A. Khan performed admirably for Athén. On the other hand, Q. Taflisi's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 8.