Koninklijke 1 - 5 Madrid (378956694)

Dark skies made the crowd of 2484 at Space Dome a little nervous, but the rain held off. Bertolino Figueiró was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Cristian ''Arrarn'' Gunnarsson and Tan Kwok Cheung. Koninklijke had chosen a strategic 3-3-3 formation. They fielded: Radžiukynas - Bourguignon, Szöllősi, Marlier - Kalamut, Bjørnsen, Macikowski - Slight, Kusé, Bert.

Madrid tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Goris - Skovenborg, Valenzuela Zayas, Papickas, Badstieber - Rab-Kainrath, Young, Mlinar, Azeitão, Hudson - Puigcerver.

Koninklijke mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Madrid were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Madrid's J. Puigcerver placed the ball right at his teammate's feet after a corner, but C. Hudson couldn't finish. It was obvious that Madrid had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. The terraces were silenced after 31 minutes when Madrid's E. Badstieber put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack on the right. After 32 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Koninklijke found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to poor. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Madrid, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. With 36 minutes played, Madrid put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was C. Hudson. 42 minutes into the game a free kick by I. Azeitão found its way through the home side's poorly assembled defensive formation, making Madrid's lead 0 - 3. It was 0 - 3 at the break. Madrid claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 65 percent.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Koninklijke had passable organisation. After 69 minutes, Madrid's C. Hudson burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 4. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Madrid lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. V. Radžiukynas got a fingertip on V. Young's shot from the left 72 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. Koninklijke's L. Marlier had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 77 minutes having been played. G. Lepore was the replacement. G. Lepore became the new Koninklijke captain. Players in Madrid heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. The home crowd was not impressed when S. Mlinar came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 80 minutes. Madrid were now up 0 - 5. Koninklijke were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. Koninklijke's F. Kusé cut towards the middle after 87 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 5. P. Bert of Koninklijke received a yellow card after 88 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The visitors almost increased their lead after 89 minutes when a sweetly hit free kick looked like it was heading for the top corner. However the keeper managed to get a fingertip to it, sending it over the bar. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Madrid, with 67 percent of the ball.

Koninklijke's top performer was clearly P. Bert. On the other hand, S. Bjørnsen's play was disheartening. I. Azeitão performed admirably for Madrid. P. Skovenborg on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 5.