Mentalità 0 - 4 Milan~ (366729386)

Clear skies welcomed the 4845 spectators who had made their way to Mentalità Ultras Arena. Gerold Löhr was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Dirk Wiesel and Gabi Ovadia. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Mentalità. Starters: Yunger - Viera, Howald, Salaminiotis, Machado - Simon, La Verghetta, Thon, Aniorte - Grzenkowicz, Marchand.

Milan~ started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Scalone - Gonzaga, Dönhoff, van Arendonk - Heus, Stefanelli, Bertaux, Deniz, Zora - Pietragalla, Librizzi.

Milan~ clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. 12 minutes into the game, M. Zora almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. Milan~'s M. Zora had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 16 minutes having been played. R. Mihai was the replacement. 20 minutes into the game, Mentalità seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a solid level of organisation. The head of R. Mihai connected with a corner kick after 23 minutes, and the ball ended up with E. Stefanelli of Milan~ who blasted the ball into the net, making the score 0 - 1. After 24 minutes, Milan~ raised their score by one when R. Mihai's dangerous low cross was cleverly tucked in at the near post by G. Pietragalla. 0 - 2. After 27 minutes, G. La Verghetta had a good opportunity to reduce the scoreline for Mentalità with a chance created through the middle, but wasn't cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. V. Simon of Mentalità received a yellow card after 28 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, A. Thon got himself booked. The manager of Mentalità was not happy. 34 minutes into the game, Mentalità seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to passable. After the ball was lifted in from the left, R. Mihai was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 36 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. P. Salaminiotis of Mentalità was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Heus from Milan~ a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 41 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Halftime score was 0 - 2. Milan~ claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Mentalità had solid organisation. Mentalità's G. La Verghetta found himself alone on the left side 59 minutes into the match and laid down a perfect shot - right into the arms of the keeper! The home crowd cheered when, after 64 minutes, V. Librizzi's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. With 81 minutes played, Milan~ put themselves up 0 - 3 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was M. Bertaux. T. Gonzaga received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 86 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 4. The Milan~ fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Milan~ lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. 87 minutes in, Mentalità appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. L. van Arendonk was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner was beautifully flicked on by R. Mihai, but the ball bounced off the post to safety. After 89 minutes of game time, E. Stefanelli had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but E. Yunger was in the right place and tipped the ball over for a corner. Milan~ enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 56 percent of possession.

G. La Verghetta performed admirably for Mentalità. U. Machado was a disappointment, however. Milan~'s top performer was clearly G. Pietragalla. However, R. Heus made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 4.