manchester 3 - 0 S.P.L. (393123616)

579 punters turned up at parc des princes, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. John Wagenborg was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Niels Deuerling-Horvath and Widar Danielsson. manchester decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. Starters: Delalonde - Wrzawiec, Alarcón, Sobieszczański, Mangset - Martins, Houweling, Fuchs, Manevskiy, Mathis - Hampel.

S.P.L. started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Lineup: Carbotti - Rodrigues Ramos, Dâmaso, Straetmans, Deriemaeker - De Blaere, Vlerick, Della Bianca, Simonis - Van Gucht, Bultijnck.

Today, S.P.L.'s strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. It was obvious that S.P.L. had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. S.P.L. mounted an inspired counterattack down the right wing after 13 minutes, but M. Straetmans was unable to convert from short range. The celebrations in the stands could only mean one thing - W. Sobieszczański's free kick had found the back of the net and put manchester ahead 1 - 0! The home side's V. Manevskiy came close to extending the lead 33 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but D. Carbotti managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. 43 minutes into the game, A. Mangset had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came J. Deletraz. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by manchester, with 69 percent of the ball.

K. Hampel left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 47 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. F. Fernandes was the replacement. S.P.L. needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 53 minutes A. Della Bianca made way for L. Masson. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, S.P.L.'s A. Vlerick was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 67 minutes. S. Higuet was given a chance to change things around. Content with how the game was proceeding, the manchester coach let M. Juzyszyn replace J. Fuchs after 70 minutes. After 70 minutes, the manchester players received new instructions from their manager on how to keep in control of the game. The manchester coach was visibly pleased with the score so far, but still ordered a few tactical changes 70 minutes into the game. With 72 minutes played, the S.P.L. coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. Y. Hermand came on, P. Rodrigues Ramos had to leave the fray. The suddenness of the manchester's G. Houweling's pass to F. Fernandes after 78 minutes caught the opposition wrong-footed, and they could only watch as the ball sailed home for 2 - 0. manchester solidified their lead at the 81 minute mark, as V. Manevskiy dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 0. Confident in their lead, manchester's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave J. De Blaere from S.P.L. a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 88 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! manchester had most of the ball, with 70 percent of possession.

The most dominating manchester player was without a doubt M. Juzyszyn. However, F. Fernandes made a disastrous appearance. Most important S.P.L. player was H. Van Gucht. On the other hand, D. Carbotti's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 0.