Zaragoza City - Dinamo Tulcea (513073772)

Zaragoza City 2 Dinamo Tulcea 1 After extra time
Event	Friendly
Date	11 March 2015
Season	57th global season
Venue	Zaragoza Arena, Aragón
Attendance	1,422
Weather	Overcast

Zaragoza City vs Dinamo Tulcea was a friendly match played on 11 March 2015 at Zaragoza Arena in Aragón county. This was the 9th time the two sides met in a friendly and their 20th meeting overall.

Match report

1422 fans turned up at Zaragoza Arena, and despite threatening clouds, no rain came. Vassilis Avgoustinos was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Tom Haumer and Rico Sieg.

Lineups

A 5-4-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Zaragoza. They fielded: Otxoaerrarte - Alonso de Santocildes, Fisci, Powell, Graňák, Sánchez - Garalazabal, Gonzalo Anes, Ganogald, Savater - Lavín.

Dinamo decided to use a 5-3-2 set up. Lineup: Cristea - Maktabi, Stadler, Yaniv, Torsson, Manev - Bercea, Ilina, Szatvári - Negoiţă, Topârceanu.

First half

For their match strategy, Dinamo had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. Coming in from the right, Dinamo had a good opportunity to convert on a counter-attack after 21 minutes, but Ion-Aurel Bercea's attempt was easily stopped. Dinamo's defense sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counter-attack with 27 minutes gone, but Péter Stadler's finish was met by the firm hands of the keeper. After a fine move down the middle Tommaso Fisci nearly put the home side one up with 28 minutes played. His final touch escaped him though and the keeper smothered the ball. Almost all the way down at the corner flag, Zaragoza's Balentin Garalazabal somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Francisco Lavín, who scored for 1 - 0. With 36 minutes on the clock, Paco Gonzalo Anes could have extended the lead, but his rocket of a free kick went just over the bar. The visitors' Dragoş Ilina was alert on a play coming in from the left, evening things up at 1 - 1 after 38 minutes. 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Zaragoza, who had the ball 67 percent of the time.

Second half

Tommaso Fisci behaved like an inexperienced youth player after 52 minutes as he gave the ball away to Vlad-Andrei Topârceanu. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. After 69 minutes Dinamo tried to use their counter-attacking skills. Unfortunately, Cristian Negoiţă's shot sailed wide after his break down the right. Zaragoza were very close to putting themselves one up with 73 minutes gone as Claudio Savater got through on the left, but a lapse in concentration sent the ball wide. Good work by Dinamo's defensive line after 74 minutes produced a good counter-attack chance, one of which cut elegantly down the middle of the field and found Dimitar Manev alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. Dinamo mounted an inspired counter-attack down the right wing after 79 minutes, but Csaba Szatvári was unable to convert from short range. Zaragoza set the tempo, maintaining 64 percent of possession.

Extra time

Still tied after 90 minutes, the match continued into extra time. The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 after 97 minutes of hard work with a breakthrough from Claudio Savater, who, all by his lonesome, came out of the right wing and hooked the ball over the visitors' keeper. After 104 minutes, the defensive line of Dinamo created a counter-attack through the middle that gave Ion-Aurel Bercea a good look at goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. Zaragoza's top performer was clearly Francisco Lavín. However, Keith Powell made a disastrous appearance. Dinamo's best player was Cristian Negoiţă. Péter Stadler turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 1.

Match details

11 March 2015 12:25	Zaragoza City	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Dinamo Tulcea	Zaragoza Arena, Aragón Attendance: 1,422
	Lavín 34' Savater 97'	Report	Ilina 38'