[NoSkillz]

Wed. February 26, 2025

UEFA Champions League - First Knockout Round Leg One
Atletico Madrid (4th in Spain LIGA BBVA) vs. Dover (2nd in Barclays Premier League)
Estadio de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

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

I’m actually shocked to say that this is the first ever meeting between our two clubs. Atletico are two time winners of the Champions League (2016 & 2018) and 13-time Spanish champions, having last won in 2022. They are in fourth spot this year, six points behind leaders Real Madrid. Atletico get balanced scoring and have plenty of attacking options, with striker Thabo Mbambo leading the club with 11 goals from 19 matches. They have a 36 year old Alexis Sanchez hanging around and former Dover forward Gerardo Escobar is a bench option and a good one at that, having scored 6 goals in 12 matches thus far. Jesus Cruz is a 22 year old stud defender worth north of 26 million pounds, having arrived this season in a transfer with Stuttgart.

We have some injuries, as previously noted and also will be missing Benedikt Raab today due to suspension. Neil Cairney will start in his place. Manuel Perez will continue to play goal for us and we’ll start out in a counter attacking mentality today.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan
S - A. Broomes, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, M. Pedersen, L. Kunchev, M. Lugo

Atletico play a flat 4-4-2 as well and have Mbambo up front with John Kumwenda. Joel Robles is in goal. I tell the team this is a winnable game!

43’ - It’s been a very evenly played half so far as Atletico begin possession at midfield. For some reason, despite being in fine defensive position, Rayane Hamon goes to the left to challenge striker Mbambo and that allows him to feed his partner Kumwenda who was left unmarked by Hamon. Kumwenda dribbles in on goal and shoots low past Perez and it’s IN. ATLETICO MADRID GOAL 0-1

HALFTIME - We hold a significant possession advantage, with 56% of the ball and an 11-10 (2-3 on target) shot advantage. We just made one mistake and it cost us. I go light on the players, sympathizing with them in the dressing room but I need to open up a bit, moving to a control mentality as we look for a key away goal.

62’ - Kumwenda is sent in behind the defence and scores again but it’s ruled offsides. No goal!

71’ - I’m starting to think about when to change to an attacking philosophy when we finally get an offensive highlight. We have a throw in down the left and get it to Arsene Bamba. He sends a low cross into the middle of the area and Chiquinho gets there just before the charging Atletico keeper and slots it past him and IN! DOVER GOAL 1-1

We move back to a counter attacking system.

74’ - Chiquinho has already been yellow carded and is flopping around all over the place. I fear a second yellow so I take him out and bring in Manuel Lugo. Either way, Chiquinho will miss the return matchup due to yellow card accumulation.

81’ - We bring in Mads Pedersen and take out a tired Arsene Bamba.

Pretty decent match.

Atletico Madrid 1 - 1 Dover
Goals - Chiquinho (7.3)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9)
Man of the Match - Joel Robles (Atletico Madrid GK - 8.1)
Other Dover Notables - Renato Gaucho (7.0), Jose (7.1)
Attendance - 70,309

Possession ended up dead even, as Madrid really took it to us in the second half. They also outshot us 20-18 (6-4 on target), another rare event. Still, a solid result away from home and I’m reasonably confident in our ability to gain a positive result at home in the return leg, even if it’s without the suspended Chiquinho. Andy Broomes was given a 6.1 rating today but he was lively and getting into good positions so I’m not concerned.



Premier League Update

-- Four other teams with makeup games played as well, including Man United, who defeated Huddersfield 1-0 away to push three points further ahead on the table.



March Update

-- Kind of a light month coming up in March, with only four Premier League games: Tottenham (away), Sheffield Wednesday (home), Sunderland (away) and Middlesbrough (away). We also face Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals at home and will also host Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League First Knockout round. So only six games this month.

-- We get positive training reports for Graham Allan, Emmerson Harvey and Lyubomir Kunchev on the senior team, along with U18 players Joshua Stokes, Stuart Cousins and Luigi Nicoletti. A negative report comes in for U18 player Robbie Welsh.



Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Yaya Sanogo from Manchester United wins Player of the Month for the millionth time after scoring four times in as many matches.

-- Former Dover youth goalkeeper Louis Read, now on Derby, wins Young Player of the Month. Wow - not bad for the 1.5 star player!

-- Jurgen Klinsmann from Man United wins manager of the month.



U18 Update

-- We edge Southampton 1-0, with our only goal coming from striker Neil Evans.



Premier League Update

-- There are only two Saturday games this weekend and we watch as both top seven teams lose 1-0 decisions. Newcastle loses to Huddersfield while Aston Villa upends Sheffield Wednesday.



Board Confidence Update

-- The board continue to be very pleased with my overall leadership. Our stature increase is the major factor behind their thoughts and there are no negatives…hmm, surprising.

-- We lost £652,000 last month.



Next Up

-- Another road match, as we head to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham.