Author: Olaf Jensen; Image credit: Jacopo de Falco

Padania’s dominant performance disguised a dreary placement match in which Sapmi were totally prevented from building any momentum.

Padania scored after just 10 minutes, Niccolo Colombo driving a low shot through the hapless Sapmi defence.

Although Sapmi managed to turn this last-ditch defending into a series of credible counterattacks, they were too ponderous on the ball, and rarely looked like threatening the Padanian goal.

Their best chances fell to Benjamin Zakrisson sending a shot over the crossbar after a nice move by Mannsverk and Jannok, then skipping over the keeper moments later, only for the ball to be wrenched away by a Padanian defender.

It was not enough to wrest the momentum away from Padania, however.

The second half was more of the same – it was all Padania, all the time. Within minutes of kick-off, they added a second through a rising header from Corno.

Sapmi were barely allowed to play any football, and became clumsier with every passing minute, exemplified by a poor tackle on Niccolo Pavan by Kristoffer Edvardsen which earned Padania a penalty, coolly converted by Ravasi.

For a while, the game lost all urgency. Sapmi defended in numbers, soaking up most of Padanian pressure – admittedly, a relaxed sort of pressure – and only once conjuring up a noteworthy attack, when Samuli Laitila made a big run and sent a big shot into the side netting.

Padania finally added their fourth, when Corno muscled passed everyone a slotted in his second of the match.

With the result wrapped up, the players simply wafted around the pitch until full time.