Dragons 0 - 5 Chelsea (389414196)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 64326 had shown up at Doha's Lair for the match. Ossi Hallikas was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Anders Johansson and Rien Bulsink. The derby had been the talk of Ad Dawhah all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. Dragons decided to use a 4-3-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Liţoiu - Tapado, Wickbo, Kirkin, Sánchez - Giuggiolini, Brito, Dizdar - Bin Jabr Al-Mohannadi, Just, Bin Hilal Al-Hussaini.

Chelsea had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Hänsenberger - Puignau, Kursītis, Leoni - Zarpas, Mamede, Farisi, Bunni, Virrantalo - Bin Ahmad Al-Mannai, Yousif.

Dragons mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. The wings were the focus of most of Chelsea's attacks today. Chelsea took the lead after 5 minutes making the score 0 - 1. J. Zarpas placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. What ever got into A. Dizdar, the crowd mumbled, as he suddenly struck a cross pass through his own defence - ending up right in front of Chelsea's S. Yousif, who easily put the ball away for 0 - 2 after 8 minutes. Given a free kick close to the byline, Chelsea tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let I. Bin Ahmad Al-Mannai slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 3, 15 minutes into the game. 32 minutes into the game, Chelsea worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. The referee showed Dragons's A. Wickbo the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. With 36 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed I. Bin Ahmad Al-Mannai of Chelsea to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 4. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Chelsea lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. 0 - 4 was the halftime score. Chelsea claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 67 percent.

A. Sánchez challenged the visitors' central defence eagerly, producing a good chance 55 minutes into the game as he went for a through ball. But, as so many times before, the guests' defensive efforts got the best of it. Players in Chelsea heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave G. Mamede from Chelsea a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 78 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The visitors almost increased their lead after 81 minutes when a sweetly hit free kick looked like it was heading for the top corner. However the keeper managed to get a fingertip to it, sending it over the bar. J. Virrantalo's speed was clear to see after 84 minutes, as he darted down the wing and released S. Yousif who placed the ball into the back of the net to make the score 0 - 5. Had it not been for one of the home defenders, A. Bunni would have put Chelsea up another goal 85 minutes into the match with his audacious lob from the right wing. Possession in this half belonged to Chelsea, who controlled the ball 68 percent of the time.

Most important Dragons player was H. Bin Jabr Al-Mohannadi. V. Giuggiolini turned in a dismal performance, however. Chelsea's top performer was clearly Q. Farisi. B. Kursītis on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 5.