locomitiv 2 - 0 Madryt (394214099)

The crowd of 2481 turning up at locomitiv de magraners Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Pelle Calmar was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Thomas Maus and Jaakko Roukala . locomitiv had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. Lineup: Amarilla - Kubiak, Juárez Yepes, Pallini, Herbert, Arnalich Fernández - Mejías, Adam, Muñoz Franco, Gómez de Avellaneda - Domezain.

Madryt tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Starters: Kibitlewski - Mata, Zsolnai - Danson, Martín, Myrblad, Dulkiewicz, Wilim - Maher, Kallitsis, Kirner.

locomitiv clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Madryt saw most attack opportunities on the wings. The game was characterised by rough play and many physical challenges on the wet field, but R. Juárez Yepes showed great heart and had a good game. At 14 minutes played, R. Juárez Yepes came in from the right with the intention of giving locomitiv the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. D. Zsolnai was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. locomitiv had most of the ball, with 68 percent of possession.

A questionable penalty 54 minutes in gave the home side the lead, 1 - 0. The visitors' goalie didn't stand a chance as C. Kubiak knocked the ball home. D. Herbert of locomitiv was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. After 64 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by D. Herbert might have resulted in another goal for locomitiv. However, E. Kibitlewski made a spectacular save. Cheers filled the stadium as M. Adam broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 2 - 0 to locomitiv. locomitiv claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 70 percent.

M. Adam performed admirably for locomitiv. However, D. Mejías made a disastrous appearance. Madryt's best player was C. Maher. J. Danson was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 0.