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Old 04-27-2014, 10:22 PM   #356
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Tue. April 11, 2023

UEFA Champions League - Quarter Final Second Leg
Dover (1) vs. (2) Real Madrid
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, England

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

This is for all the marbles! We need a 1-0 win or need to win by two goals to move on. A 2-1 win will see us go to extra time and anything other than that and we're out of the Champions League for this year. Their starting striker from last game, Austin Eboh, is suspended for today's match due to yellow card accumulation.

It's our normal starting eleven today. I'm going with a positive game plan today and will play with a control mentality at home. It looks like we may just have our first ever sell out here at our 23,000 seat stadium!

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - M. Perez, D. Traore, K. Zagos, Mancini, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, Z. Bardi

Madrid are in their customary 4-2-3-1 formation and have 21 year old Rodolfo Negrete starting up front. He has ten goals in only 14 games so he's super dangerous. We'll need to do better against Emiliano Moreno and Diogo in this game. Zonzamas Garrido is back in goal. Lets play well for this sell-out crowd!

1' - Right away, Moreno shows his incredible skill, dancing down the field and cutting in on goal but Wilke makes the great save only 18 seconds in!

12' - This is a VERY tense match already, with both teams playing with incredible speed and precision. We get into their area and Chiquinho embellishes on a tackle and is given the unsportsmanlike yellow card.

19' - They have the ball at midfield and AMC Raphael Holzhauser sends a great ball through our defence. Contreras is nowhere to be found and it's Diogo dribbling in on a breakaway. He makes no mistake and it's past Wilke and in the net. We're in big trouble now. REAL MADRID GOAL 0-1 (1-3 AGGREGATE)

21' - Paul Moses takes a little pass from Bamba, cuts in and shoots and it's off the goal post!

24' - Andrea Rocca forces a turnover and sends it up to Chiquinho and he's GONE! He's in on goal and shoots and Garrido makes a brilliant diving save to tick it just wide.

28' - Yikes. Paul Moses goes in with spikes up on a challenge and I'm expecting a straight red card but he thankfully only gets a yellow. Whew.

42' - Cairney with a yellow card now.

43' - Moses with another shot at the corner of the net and Garrido makes a great diving stop.

HALFTIME - We're playing fine and holding a significant possession edge with 57% of the ball but quality chances are lacking. We are outshot 9-7 (3-2 on target) by Madrid. We need two goals at least - I have to move to an attack mentality.

48' - Rocca is off after taking a knock and Paul Moses gets off a hard curling effort but the excellent Garrido makes the save. Rocca should be fine.

58' - We get a corner and Rocca's cross is headed to goal by Contreras and Garrido makes another great stop!

59' - Wilke with a great stop on a Diogo shot!

66' - We have a free kick just left of the Madrid box but after some ill-advised passing, Madrid start a counter. They have a 4 on 3 break and work the ball around to perfection and it's David Vullings with the ball and ready to score but just as he's about to shoot, Rayane Hamon tackles the ball away. Unfortunately, he kicks the ball right past Wilke and into the net. We're toast. REAL MADRID GOAL 0-2 (1-4 AGGREGATE)

I take out Andrea Rocca and bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni, as I need to look ahead to the weekend.

70' - Chiquinho, who has been completely ineffective for some time now, gets a chance but Garrido makes the save.

71' - Neil Cairney comes off and in comes Mancini.

79' - We work a beautiful passing play and eventually it's Fanfoni feeding a lovely ball into Mancini. He shoots and Garrido makes the save again. He's been brilliant for them.

83' - Kostas Zagos is on for Rayane Hamon.

84' - Claudio Contreras with a yellow card.

87' - Mancini with a blast to the top corner and Garrido is just everywhere. Another spectacular save.

A good effort but I guess we're just not good enough yet.

Dover 0 (1) - (4) 2 Real Madrid
Goals -
Assists -
Man of the Match - Zonzamas Garrido (Real Madrid GK - 8.0)
Other Dover Notables - Neil Cairney (7.0)
Attendance - 22,239

Well damn, we still didn't sell out! We did everything but score here, ending up with 60% of possession as Madrid just sat back almost the entire second half. We outshot them 24-14 (7-5 on target). We just couldn't beat the awesome Garrido, who was rightfully given man of the match honours. Really disappointing games from Chiquinho lately.

-- We are awarded £2.87 million for taking part in the Champions League quarter finals. This is the second year in a row we exit the competition at the final eight.

-- In other Champions League play, Atletico Madrid and Dortmund draw 2-2 but it's Dortmund moving on 5-4 on aggregate. A three goal deficit is too much to overcome for Man City and they end up losing again, this time at home against Olympique Lyonnais 2-1. They lose 5-1 on aggregate. And in the last quarterfinal matchup, Manchester United score an 84th minute penalty shot to win 3-2 over Barcelona and move on 5-4 on aggregate.



Champions League Semi Final Draw

-- Olympique Lyonnais will face off against Manchester United while Dortmund will battle against Real Madrid in the Champions League semis.



FA Cup Semi-Final Update

-- Manchester City's nightmarish season continues, as they drop a 1-0 decision to Newcastle in the FA Cup semi finals! If we beat Huddersfield tomorrow, we'll face Newcastle for the trophy! City are looking destined to win only the Community Shield this year after winning the treble last year (Euro Super Cup, English Premier League, Champions League).



Premier League Update

-- Arsenal can only manage a draw on the road versus Everton - they pull level with Chelsea at the top of the table with 73 points but they are way back on goal differential and now have played one more game than everyone else. As an aside, at +52, we have the best goal differential in the Premier League by eight goals so if we can continue to win, we've got a reasonable chance at winning the league and should win any tie-breakers.



Next Up

-- We head to Wembley to face off against fellow Premier League side Huddersfield in the FA Cup semi finals.
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