[NoSkillz]

Tue. April 8, 2025

UEFA Champions League - Quarterfinal First Leg
Dover (2nd in Barclays Premier League) vs. OM (3rd in France Ligue 1)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

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

This is the first meeting between our two clubs and OM are currently in third place in Ligue 1, 11 points back of first placed Olympique Lyonnais and three points back of AS Saint-Etienne. Arguably their most dangerous player, striker Omar Gueye, will miss today’s match due to yellow card accumulation - he has 22 goals in 28 matches this year. That said, their leading scorer is available in 31 year old Vasily Tkachenko, who sits with 25 goals from 35 matches. OM has a few key injuries as well, most prominently American centre halfback Greg Reeves.

Our full concentration will now be on repeating as European champions as the league is likely out of reach. We’ll field our strongest possible team today but of course, we’re still missing injured players such as Paul Moses and Arsene Bamba. Control mentality as favourites at home.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - M. Pedersen, B. Raab, Jose, G. Bolis
S - A. Broomes, Chiquinho
Bench - Emerson, S. Nasri, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, F. Hernandez, G. Allan, Z. Bardi

OM is in a flat 4-4-2 with Tkachenko up front with Frank Haruna. Pero Knezovic is their keeper. “For the Fans!”.

26’ - I’d say OM has been the club generating the best chances thus far but we strike first, with Mads Pedersen feeding Andy Broomes in the area and his quick shot to the near side barely squeaks inside the post and in. DOVER GOAL 1-0

HALFTIME - A pretty even match thus far, with us holding a 53% possession edge and a slight 8-7 (3-3 on target) shot advantage. We need to get one more goal so I encourage the team to keep pushing forward.

67’ - This is a really tight game. We make two changes, taking out Jose and Chiquinho and bringing in Andrea Rocca and Zoltan Bardi. We move to a 4-2-3-1 formation.

74 - Oh my goodness. OM defensive midfielder Raul Ale goes on a spectacular run in our area, weaving through three defenders on the byline and cutting back to his stronger foot before sending a chip shot past Manuel Perez and into the net. SPECTACULAR GOAL from Ale and OM pulls level. HOLY SHIT. The replay shows that the ball deflected off Renato Gaucho on the way in. OM GOAL 1-1

85’ - We move to an attacking mentality.

Oh man. We just aren’t playing well.

Dover 1 - 1 OM
Goals - Andy Broomes (7.6)
Assists - Mads Pedersen (6.9)
Man of the Match - Andy Broomes
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.0), Salim Loucif (7.2)
Attendance - 23,000 (Sell-out)

A very even game but OM outplayed us in the second half and deservedly get a point. They won the possession battle with 52% of the ball but shots were dead even at 16-16 (5-5 on target). Not good enough and I tell the players as much in the dressing room after the game. We’re in big trouble and will need a win in France to move on.

-- Salim Loucif, our captain, will miss the second leg due to yellow card accumulation.



Dover Reserves Update

-- We defeat Aston Villa’s reserves 4-1 on the strength of a brace from wonder kid midfielder Emmerson Harvey. We get singles from defenders Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Fouad van der Horst.



Premier League Update

-- Chelsea plays City in a makeup game and they draw 1-1 to hold onto third and fourth place respectively in the division.



Next Up

-- A home date in Premier League play against Reading.