With fighting spirit and great morale, Francesco ‘Obrun2002’ Tagliafierro secured the eSerie A 2022 title for Torino FC on Wednesday
Setbacks paved the Italian’s path to the domestic FIFA 22 title, with ‘Obrun2002’ already trailing 2-0 after the first leg against Francesco ‘Hartixel’ Ricci in the quarter-finals of the ‘Final Eight’ tournament. The eSerie A stalwart equalised in the second leg, scoring the decisive goal in the 117th minute of extra time.
Obrun2002′ kept up the drama in the semi-final: Simone ‘Figu7rinho’ Figura demanded everything from Tagliafierro, after a 2:2 and a 1:1 the FC Torino man had to go over 120 minutes again. This time he made it clearer, scoring three more goals to pave the way to the grand final for the eSerie A title in 2022.
‘Obrun2002’ reliably follows suit
There awaited the slightly fancied Karim ‘Karimisbak’ Rmaiti in a Venice FC shirt, who earned a 1-0 advantage in the first leg thanks to a 78th-minute goal. But ‘Obrun2002’ continued to hold his nerve in the second leg and levelled the score at 1-1 on aggregate after just a quarter of an hour.
Tagliafierro, however, could not turn the result around, instead ‘Karimisbak’ took the lead again (40th) – only to concede the equaliser again shortly before the half-time whistle (45th). Attentive spectators will have recognised the pattern, however: Rmaiti came out of the break better and put himself ahead again (51st).
Great showdown from eleven metres
This time ‘Obrun2002’ needed some time to collect himself – more than 30 in-game minutes ‘Karimisbak’ looked like the winner. In the end, however, the Turin native saved himself for the third extra time of the ‘Final Eight’ tournament (82nd), which remained goalless despite several good opportunities. The final showdown had to be decided in a penalty shoot-out.
And there, too, Tagliafierro obviously needed the pressure of being behind first: The very first attempt was parried by Rmaiti, the Venice representative, however, sank three penalty kicks in a row. But as ‘Obrun2002′ also remained safe after his miss in the opener, the tension was maintained and intensified.
Karimisbak’ missed his fourth penalty to go 4-3 up – Obrun2002′ drew level with his opponent after this faux pas. Tagliafierro took the lead for the first time ever in the final with the next penalty kick, Rmaiti now looked nervous and missed not only his fifth attempt but also the championship.
15,000 euros thanks to comeback quality
While ‘Karimisbak’ immediately sank deep into his chair, joy burst unrestrained from ‘Obrun2002’. The Italian eNational had defied all odds and demonstrated his concentrated comeback qualities – he was rewarded with prize money of 15,000 euros in addition to the eSerie A trophy.