[NoSkillz]

Wed. October 25, 2023

UEFA Champions League - Group C
Palermo (0-2-0, 2 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (1-1-0, 4 points, 1st)
Renzo Barbera, La Favorita, Palermo, Italy

Betting Odds: Palermo: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 11-5
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

Citta di Palermo are the defending Europa League champions, having defeated HSV 4-2 in extra time in the finals. I’m hoping we can help them on their way to defending that title by knocking them out of the Champions League! They have won the Italian Serie A once back in 2016 and finished in third last year. They are three time Europa League Champions, with wins in 2011 and 2012 added to their win last year. They have a dangerous striker named Sergio Araujo, who has 8 goals in 12 appearances thus far in 2023. They were incredibly busy in the July transfer window, spending over £67 million on players, including £18.5 million on Dortmund striker Robin Franz and £15.75 million on 27 year old midfielder Carlos Luna. Both are struggling to settle in thus far. Palermo are a slightly bigger club than we are (£150,000,000 estimated value versus £137 million) and need to be treated with respect.

I contemplate playing our normal style but ultimately, being on the road, I’m going to start in a counter attacking mode. Rayane Hamon needs to regain his match fitness so he’ll only be on the bench today, with Saber Nasri starting. Paul Moses stays in at striker alongside Chiquinho

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, R. Hamon, G. Fanfoni, Jose, G. Allan, H. Cruz, Z. Bardi

Palermo come out in a flat 4-4-2 as well but top scorer Araujo is on the bench in favour of Robin Franz and Rodrigo Bovo. Luna is at MR and 20 year old Pierpaolo Bartoli is in goal, a guy I’ve looked at many times in the past as a possible transfer target. He played at Newcastle last year on loan and I remember beating him severely one game - hopefully we can do it again! I tell the team they can win tonight in the pre-game team talk. Big game - lets play well lads!

6’ - Chiquinho with a through ball to Moses and he’s off to the races. He’s got a man on his tail so he shoots from the outer edge of the area and Bartoli makes a good stop.

8’ - Moses again showing his incredible speed to burst through the middle but Bartoli is up to the task again.

21’ - Palermo looks like they have more of the possession but we are getting the better chances. Rocca with a free kick from just outside the area and he curls it around the wall but Bartoli is in great position and holds on.

29’ - Palermo with a free kick and they put it into our area. It’s right on and Wilke makes the save but there is a rebound and there is Robin Franz, putting it past our keeper and in the net. Damn. PALERMO GOAL 0-1

31’ - Right off the ensuing kick off, Moses gets the ball and storms in but Bartoli makes another save.

40’ - Some nice passing up field and it’s Rocca moving it forward to Chiquinho. He is in on goal but his shot is weak and Bartoli makes the stop.

HALFTIME - We’re not playing that badly but we are down. Possession is 50/50 and they outshoot us 11-9 (5-5 on target). I tell the team that I want to see more of an effort in the second half and I switch to a control mentality.

47’ - Wilke makes a save, forcing a corner and he makes yet another save off a header. We’re holding on right now…

55’ - Boy, Franz with another great chance in close and Wilke makes a brilliant stop. We’re not playing well here.

57’ - A great three way pass play sees Moses spring Chiquinho but his low blast is saved by Bartoli, who is playing great today.

67’ - Moses takes a knock and his fitness takes a hit. We need a change here and I bring in Graham Allan to take his place and also pull out Andrea Rocca and bring in Jose.

We switch to an attacking mentality.

69’ - Bolis and Chiquinho play a delightful give and go but Bolis’ shot is stopped by the splendid Bartoli.

71’ - We have a corner and Jose takes it. The ball is cleared out and Salim Loucif sends it back up to Claudio Contreras. Showing great poise, our central defender sends a WONDERFUL ball through the box and Chiquinho gets there first and BLASTS it past Bartoli and into the top corner. I look for the offsides call, as do Palermo’s defenders but the ref waives them off. It’s a goal! DOVER GOAL 1-1

88’ - Cairney with a yellow card.

89’ - Gianluca Bolis is banged up so I move Graham Allan to right midfield and bring in Zoltan Bardi to play striker.

A better second half performance and we’ll take the draw.

Palermo 1 - 1 Dover
Goals - Chiquinho (7.9)
Assists - Claudio Contreras (7.8)
Man of the Match - Chiquinho
Other Dover Notables - Saber Nasri (7.1), Andrea Rocca (7.0)
Attendance - 35.622

We end up with 55% of possession and a 21-19 (11-10 on target) shot advantage, so a much better second half for us there. Paul Moses only got a 6.3 rating - a bit rough on the kid, as he had to come out early due to injury but he’s fine.

-- We earn £348,000 for the draw.

-- In other Group C action, as expected, FC Bayern SMOKE Dynamo Kyiv 6-0 and tie us on points but take over first place in the group on goal differential.



Next Up

-- We host relegation candidates Birmingham City in Premier League play.