C.llong 4 - 1 Periquito (382893414)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 34139 at Can Llong Stadium today. Matteo Cimmiagnelli was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Sampsa Pyyry and Tarmo Talumets. C.llong started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Fernán Zóbel - Albiol, Salvado, Azpiazu - Marcjanik, Orueta, Lizarazu, Valenzuela Porras, Forcas - Molina, Martí.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Periquito. They fielded: Etxabarriaerrandonea - Mota, Peled, Debes, Dorren - Pakkan, De López, Berdeogas, Salojoki - Borges, Jędroszkowiak.

C.llong preferred to finish off their attacks from a distance. For their match strategy, Periquito had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. The C.llong free kick 4 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of P. Forcas, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 1 - 0! After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, J. Azpiazu got himself booked. The manager of C.llong was not happy. C.llong's A. Marcjanik saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 15 minutes. J. Azpiazu was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner was beautifully flicked on by J. Orueta, but the ball bounced off the post to safety. After 20 minutes C.llong's J. Orueta had to be carried off on a stretcher in agony. L. Igarzábal came in to replace him. With 24 minutes played, G. Valenzuela Porras could have brought this one home for C.llong as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. It was obvious that C.llong set up their play to get a shooter in position, and after 36 minutes they succeeded with their tactics when A. Lizarazu found a hole in the defence and his long shot left the keeper without a chance. 2 - 0. The players of C.llong now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. After 37 minutes C.llong showed the crowd a glorious passing play which put A. Lizarazu in a perfect shooting position. His low hard shot was just as glorious, placed just inside the keeper's right post making it 3 - 0. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by C.llong, with 63 percent of the ball.

Periquito almost scored after a counterattack 56 minutes into the match, but R. Berdeogas took a shot from the left that landed harmlessly in the side of the net. It was obvious that the tactic of the day for C.llong was to go for long shots, but in order to score they have to do better than the shooting attempt from A. Marcjanik after 60 minutes, which was a total failure. O. Jędroszkowiak stunned the crowd with a brilliant counterattack from the left, giving Periquito the goal to make it 3 - 1. After 72 minutes, C.llong sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached A. Lizarazu, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 4 - 1. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for A. Lizarazu. C.llong enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 66 percent of possession.

C.llong's best player was S. Salvado. On the other hand, J. Azpiazu's play was disheartening. The most dominating Periquito player was without a doubt L. Borges. H. Pakkan turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 4 - 1.