[NoSkillz]

Wed. November 26, 2025

UEFA Champions League - Group D
Real Madrid (3-1-0, 10 points, 1st) vs. Dover (2-1-1, 7 points, 2nd)
Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain

Betting Odds: Real Madrid: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 7-4
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 3L

Madrid are in complete control of this group and barring a complete collapse should easily win Group D. They have an eight goal advantage on us so even though we can match them in points with a win today, we will still be behind them on differential. They are missing a number of key pieces today due to injury so hopefully we can take advantage.

Madrid manager Bruno Labbadia came out in the press and indicated that Paul Moses would need to be stopped and that is usually a recipe for a poor game for the called out player so I am putting him on the bench today. Andy Broomes will start in his place alongside Chiquinho. Mads Pedersen is back from injury and will start at left midfield.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - M. Pedersen, B. Raab, Jose, G. Bolis
S - A. Broomes, Chiquinho
Bench - R. Lopez, M. Mutesa, E. Harvey, N. Cairney, Rafinha, Z. Bardi, P. Moses

4-4-2 diamond formation for Madrid, with towering Cheikh Bocande up front with Austin Eboh. Zonzamas Garrido is the keeper. I tell the team this is a winnable game and can only hope we play a lot better than we did in our first match against these guys!

13’ - A good start and Renato Gaucho feeds a ball up to Andy Broomes. Broomes takes the pass off his chest and it looks like it will cross over the byline but he sends a left footed cross through the crease and there is the suddenly in-form Gianluca Bolis to tap it into the empty net. Great start!! DOVER GOAL 1-0

HALFTIME - Well, we’re ahead and are doing well with possession, holding 60% of the ball but Madrid have been dangerous with their chances and outshoot us 11-9 (5-4 on target). We want to get a result of some sort today but I’m not going to go into a defensive shell to do it, at least not right now. We’ll stick with a control mentality and I tell the team I’m pleased.

Madrid fall into a 4-1-3-2 formation with a DMC to start the second half. Interesting.

53’ - Mads Pedersen has the ball down the left flank and crosses into the area. Chiquinho is there but Madrid defender Maikel Jungbluth tackles the ball away from him but in the process, puts it into his own goal! Oh my! DOVER GOAL 2-0

56’ - This won’t be easy. Madrid have the ball in our territory and we can’t get it out of the penalty area. The ball bounces around and eventually comes to the foot of Austin Eboh and he slams the ball past Wilke and it’s in. REAL MADRID GOAL 2-1

71’ - We’re holding on a bit here and Madrid have a corner and send almost everyone up. We clear and Chiquinho sends a long ball up field to Broomes. There is only one man back and he mistimes his jump, allowing Broomes to run in free on Garrido. Our striker makes no mistake with his shot and we’re up two again!!! DOVER GOAL 3-1

We switch to a counter attacking mentality with the two goal cushion.

77’ - Zoltan Bardi is on for Chiquinho.

80’ - Emmerson Harvey comes on for Jose.

FANTASTIC!

Real Madrid 1 - 3 Dover
Goals - Gianluca Bolis (7.8), Maikel Jungbluth OG, Andy Broomes (8.6)
Assists - Mads Pedersen (7.3), Chiquinho (7.2), Andy Broomes
Man of the Match - Andy Broomes
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.1), Salim Loucif (7.0), Claudio Conteras (7.3), Renato Gaucho (7.2)
Attendance - 77,398

Hell of a win! We held 56% of possession and shots were dead even 17-17 (8-8 on target). HUGE WIN!

-- Spartak Moscow, as expected, beat Maribor 3-0 but I’m surprised to see I’m now FIRST in the group. It turns out that head-to-head match ups supersede goal differential so we are ahead of Madrid and two points up on Spartak. That means we only need a draw in our final group matchup against Maribor to move on.

-- We earn £696,000 for the win, as usual.



Premier League Update

-- There are two mid-week matches and Arsenal and Tottenham both win.



Next Up

-- We head on the road again to face surprising Wolverhampton in Premier League action.