Dynamo 0 - 7 Blackstar (393124545)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Gazprom Arena saw a crowd turnout of 522. Jeffrey Bouvy was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Michel Van den Eynde and Levoslav Chodelka. Dynamo tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. The following players had been chosen: Pirès - Jumel, Richard, Mitton - Lepage, Abbes, Sohier, Lanusse - Trujillo, Megges, Palumberi.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Blackstar. They fielded: Grachisi - Fathke, Krzaczkowski, Talk - Valsecchi, Ismail, Neves, Stoob, Kook - Yannacopoulos, Guerrieri.

It was an obvious ambition of Dynamo to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. Blackstar clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. The guests took the lead 4 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in W. Stoob scoring to make it 0 - 1. Against a lesser team, Blackstar could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 17 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. A. Valsecchi received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 18 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The Blackstar fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. The referee showed Dynamo's M. Palumberi the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Blackstar, as A. Valsecchi left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. M. Bauge took his place on the field. The visitors' L. Kook took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 31 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for Blackstar. With 38 minutes played, Blackstar's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to A. Ismail he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 0 - 4. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Blackstar lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. 0 - 4 was the halftime score. Blackstar claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 75 percent.

After 53 minutes, Blackstar's J. Yannacopoulos burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 5. The visitors nearly scored again after 55 minutes, but a superb save by J. Pirès kept J. Yannacopoulos's free kick out of the net. After 56 minutes Dynamo's D. Mitton limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. With 60 minutes played, Blackstar put themselves up 0 - 6 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was A. Guerrieri. The bench was restless, and with 64 minutes passed Dynamo's coach gave Â. Miranda the opportunity the player had been hoping for. J. Pirès reluctantly left the field. In an effort to secure the lead, Blackstar changed their tactic after 70 minutes. The home crowd was not impressed when D. Fathke came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 76 minutes. Blackstar were now up 0 - 7. Blackstar had most of the ball, with 78 percent of possession.

P. Jumel performed admirably for Dynamo. On the other hand, F. Sohier's play was disheartening. The most dominating Blackstar player was without a doubt A. Guerrieri. A. Neves was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 7.