MargheMilan 1 - 2 Raffo (392599774)

The crowd of 24469 turning up at MargheMilan Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Hendrick Kamerling was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Piotr Gadomski and Marcin Hryńczuk. MargheMilan tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. They fielded: Cicero - Molinari, Zähner, Nuozzi, Fernandes Duarte - Mehlmann, Casabranca, Desseaux, Jagschitz, Fillonneau - Chiti.

Raffo decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Tunjić - Laid, Eriksson, Dolk - Budmiger, Solyanov, Kiss, Formenti, Macedo - Pracki, Cury.

Raffo saw most attack opportunities on the wings. P. Budmiger's speed was almost enough to give Raffo a goal after 4 minutes, but his nice pass to É. Cury was not taken care of properly. Raffo's goal to make the score 0 - 1 came via a questionable penalty, but D. Solyanov struck it home without a second thought. F. Fernandes Duarte had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today. 17 minutes into the match, MargheMilan's G. Nuozzi maneuvered his way around the opposition on the left flank, delighting the crowd with his twists and turns. The effort paid off as the ball found the back of the net, evening the score at 1 - 1. After 24 minutes, Raffo put themselves up 1 - 2, as M. Formenti finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. 33 minutes into the game, P. Pracki had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came C. Hulb. MargheMilan's J. Chiti made an attempt at equalising 38 minutes into the match, coming in from the right, but the ball hit the post and the defence easily cleared the rebound. MargheMilan's F. Fernandes Duarte left the field after 40 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was D. Radmiller-Meier. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by MargheMilan, with 51 percent of the ball.

With the scoreboard showing that 68 minutes had been played, Raffo nearly put themselves up another goal after P. Budmiger came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. P. Budmiger spent most of the time in a heap on the ground today, his normally rapid movement hindered by the slippery pitch. With 70 minutes played, after a good run down the left, G. Nuozzi went down looking for a penalty after a challenge from the visitors' right fullback, but the referee waved play on, and later warned him for diving. MargheMilan's M. Mehlmann was shown a yellow card after 84 minutes for slicing down an opponent. After the ball was lifted in from the left, É. Cury was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 85 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Possession in this half belonged to MargheMilan, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

The most dominating MargheMilan player was without a doubt M. Casabranca. However, G. Nuozzi made a disastrous appearance. Raffo's top performer was clearly J. Kiss. P. Budmiger was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 2.