Barça 2 - 2 Albatrosy (371821870)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 17000 had shown up at Nou Camp for the match. Jakub Kupc was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Álvaro Villagarcía and Kazimierz Niebieszczański. Barça had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. Starters: Mesa - Soffritti, Sierra Galán, Manrique, Pereira, Cerezo - Coeman, Mejía, Holzbauer - Leduchowski, Örling.

A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Albatrosy. The following players took the field: Mordoch - Mard, Mykland - Piesch, Macedo, Tsimplidis, Asvestas, Gleichheit - Hagström, Oprescu, de Atter.

Underestimation of the opposition made Albatrosy players perform way below their normal capacity. Barça were relying on their ability to counter-attack. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when J. Macedo was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 4 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! Albatrosy had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 5 minutes in when J. Macedo came up alone against C. Mesa who managed a block. Having just succeeded in blocking a dangerous counter attack, the defending team was outwitted by the follow-up Barça free kick. The routine was expertly executed as the ball was shifted quickly to one side of the box, then back to the other. P. Pereira appeared on cue near the post, and steered it past the goalie. 1 - 0, after 6 minutes. Barça's L. Cerezo was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 22 minutes. After 26 minutes Barça tried to exploit their counterattacking skills, unfortunately, P. Pereira's shot sailed wide after his break down the right. Coming from the right, I. Örling almost managed to score another goal for Barça, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. Albatrosy had a chance to level the score as T. de Atter suddenly found himself free in the middle of the box with only the keeper to beat, but he misjudged the finish, and only managed to hit the bar. Barça had a great opportunity to score following a counterattack after 37 minutes, but P. Coeman's shot from the left sailed high over the bar. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. Albatrosy enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

After the half time break, Albatrosy returned to the pitch without the complacent attitude they demonstrated during first half. Some brilliant football from the visitors' right wing resulted in a levelling of the score as Albatrosy's N. Hagström put the ball in the onion bag after 68 minutes to make it 1 - 1. J. Macedo would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. T. Rolih entered the game for Albatrosy as the match clock showed 70 minutes. 74 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but A. Asvestas, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. After 75 minutes, the Albatrosy coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving H. Gleichheit off the field. E. Rubegni took his place. The goal to make it 2 - 1 was scored by I. Örling after 75 minutes, following an opportunistic counterattack down the middle by Barça. Coming through the middle T. de Atter almost scored the equaliser for Albatrosy after 76 minutes, but C. Mesa made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. Some things can only be learned through experience, and M. Soffritti should take his lesson to heart after nearly gifting Albatrosy a goal with 77 minutes of the match played. The visitors didn't give in and, after 78 minutes, T. de Atter got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 2 - 2. Albatrosy claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 62 percent.

T. Holzbauer performed admirably for Barça. C. Mesa on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Albatrosy player was T. de Atter. On the other hand, E. Rubegni's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 2.