The experimental data concerning the Ni-58+Ca-48 reaction at E-lab(Ni)=25A MeV, collected by the CHIMERA 4 pi device, have been analyzed in order to investigate the competition among different reaction mechanisms for central collisions in the Fermi energy domain. The method adopted to select such central collisions, by means of construction of the kinetic energy tensor and, consequently, the evaluation of the "flow angle" event by event is presented. Some global variables, able to characterize the pattern of central collisions, have been constructed, and the main features of the reaction products are analyzed in terms of some observable, like mass and velocity distributions, as well as their correlations. Much emphasis was devoted to the competition between fusion-evaporation processes with consequent identification of a heavy residue and multifragmentation of a well defined (if any) transient nuclear system formed in central collisions.