Week 4 saw Real Deal move to 4-0-0 on the season with a win over Bayern Munich while Barcelona moved into second with a victory over Manchester United.

Real Deal vs Bayern Munich

With snow falling outside the Soccerplex, week 4 kicked off featuring the perfect Real Deal taking on a hungry Bayern Munich squad. As expected, this matchup did not disappoint.  Bayern with lots of pressure early had Real keeper Kevin Bonner making several unbelievable saves keeping the score at nil-nil. Then, in the 15 minute Ryan Gonsalves put Real Deal on the board with a beautiful strike that found the back of the net. Despite the goal against, Bayern continued their relentless onslaught and eventually found the equalizer from a spectacular run from Duy Nguyen, league leader in goals this season…Real’ was stunned heading into half. The second proved very physical with both squads refusing to give up any ground. A number of stern warnings were delivered by the referee, but no hardware handed out.  Then in the 45th minute, Real pressing, captain Ivan Gojmerac sent a perfect free kick right to the foot of Metin Guler for the go ahead goal. Late pressure from Bayern forced Kevin to make even more spectacular saves. The final whistle blew on this battle ending Real Deal (2) def. Bayern Munich (1).

Barcelona vs Manchester United

On the adjacent pitch Manchester United kicked off against Barcelona. Manchester United created several strong chances early on but strong Barcelona defence and saves by Alex Arkanov kept the game scoreless. Barcelona picked up the pace halfway through the first half and made a strong drive to the Man United net. The ball ricocheted off a Man United defender and landed at the feet of Scott Tudo. Tudo fired the ball through a cluster of orange shirts, and past the outstretched arms of Dan Newman to open the scoring. Late in the half, off a botched Man United kick in, Fernando Ayala picked up the ball in the corner and played a pass back to Tyler Zeng who fired a screaming shot into the open net. The first half ended with Barcelona holding a 2:0 lead. Manchester United came out strong in the second half dominating possession but being unable to find the target. Finally, Mike Ermakov picked up the ball at half and made a strong run up the left touch line decisively beating his defender. He played the ball across to Tim Zhang who, making his first appearance of the season, found the back of the net to cut the Barca lead in half. Both teams played with renewed vigour, Manchester United looking to even the game, and Barca fighting to put it out of reach, but strong defending and marvellous saves at both ends of the pitch kept the Barca lead at 2:1. With the final whistle approaching, Barcelona caught the Man United defence out of position. Julio Araujo raced along the right touch line, and sent a perfect pass into the box where Victor Arcentales tapped it to put the game out of reach of Man United. Despite increased pressure, Barca shut down the remainder of the Man United chances. This game ended with Barcelona defeating Manchester United 3:1.