[NoSkillz]

Sat. May 25, 2024

UEFA Champions League - Final
Barcelona (2nd in Spanish Liga BBVA) vs. Dover (1st in English Premier League)
Stade Velodrome, Marseille, France

Betting Odds: Barcelona: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: N/A Dover: 7-4
Past Meetings: 1W 3D 0L

These guys ARE BEATABLE and we’re undefeated in four games against them previously. They also lost TEN GAMES in their league this year and incredibly finished in a three way tie at the top of the table with 78 points with Real Madrid and Sevilla. Madrid wins the league based on goal differential and Barca finishes second. Of course, the main man will be the sensational Enrique and he has scored 35 goals in 52 matches this year, with 19 of them coming in Champions League play. He’s lost a bit of his trademark speed at 29 years young but he’s still a game breaker. Their midfield is loaded with sick talent in Juan Ramon Vazquez (19 goals), ST/MC Pascal Reinhardt (19 goals), Tim Stark (8 goals) and Enzo Zidane (10 goals). Lots of incredible talent…

Not much to say here - I hem and haw about my keeper but I’ll go with English speaking Ingo Wilke today - Perez is on the bench and will likely start getting more starts next year but both have been tremendous this season. I also contemplate starting the speedy Saber Nasri but can’t pull the trigger on benching either Claudio Contreras or Rayane Hamon. Chiquinho is suspended due to yellow card accumulation and in-form Zoltan Bardi will start in his place. We will go with a positive game plan to start and use our control mentality. We are the slightest of favourites and I’d like to get ahead if possible.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi
Bench - M. Perez, Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, G. Bolis, S. Andrea

Enrique is alone up front in their 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1). All of their key talent are playing. Their keeper is Mariano Borrelli, who I don’t remember from our previous encounters. Boys: lets bring home a title for our fans!!!

1’ - Fierce action right away, as Barca move swiftly up field and Pascal Reinhardt, playing central midfield today instead of striker, unleashes a blast from distance that’s stopped by Wilke.

7’ - We’ll need Paul Moses today and he shows his trademark speed early, bursting past a defender and in but Borrelli turns the ball behind the net.

9’ - We’re doing well and it’s Graham Allan, another guy I contemplated benching in favour of Gianluca Bolis, darting past the left fullback and streaking down the right flank. He crosses in and it’s a 50/50 ball won by ZOLTAN BARDI, who immediately boots a low ball past Borrelli and IN THE NET! What a start!!! DOVER GOAL 1-0

11’ - Cairney with a pass to Moses and again, Barca can’t match his speed and he’s got a half step before firing but Borrelli again makes the nice diving stop.

17’ - Salim Loucif with a yellow card.

18’ - We take control and move quickly up field with Moses. He passes back to Renato Gaucho and he crosses to the far post and there is Graham Allan…he’s got room and fires but hits the goal post!!! OOOOOH!

23’ - Reinhardt again pinching from his midfield position and shooting but WIlke blocks it away.

37’ - Another incredible passing play, as Bamba lays it back to Renato Gaucho, who then crosses into the area and there is Moses, all alone. He shoots but Borrelli makes the great save from in close! What a chance that was. Moses is kicking himself…

42’ - Barcelona have a corner and we head it back to the left side and the corner taker Bruno. He immediately crosses back in and Reinhardt is ALL ALONE on the far post but his header is stopped by Wilke! The ball is loose and Enrique and Renato Gaucho fight for it but our defender accidentally knocks the ball into our net. Disaster. BARCELONA GOAL 1-1

HALFTIME - The score is even as is pretty much everything else. Barcelona edge us in possession with 51% but we outshoot them 13-6 (5-4 on target) and were the more dangerous team in my opinion. I continue to motivate them by saying to bring the trophy home for the fans.

52’ - Business picks up as Enrique, VERY quiet to this point, evades a tackle from Contreras and is in all alone. With Rayane Hamon on his heels, Enrique rips a shot and WILKE makes the big save!

62’ - Juan Ramon Vazquez has a clear cut breakaway and shoots OVER THE NET. Barca have us on our heels, BIG TIME right now.

76’ - We make our first change, bringing in Andrea Rocca for Jose, who is simply tired.

83’ - On a slightly broken play, Bardi sends Rocca out wide and Rocca feeds back into the box to a sliding Bardi but Borrelli is in good position and makes the stop!

85’ - Boy - Barcelona take OUT Enrique! Big move…

90’ - We have a goal kick and it’s Wilke firing a long ball up field. Bardi wins the header in the direction of Barcelona’s goal and for some reason, Barca’s DC backs off a bit, allowing Paul Moses to get to the ball in front of him. THE BALL BOUNCES AND MOSES HITS IT ON THE VOLLEY FROM THE EDGE OF THE AREA AND IT’S PAST BORRELLI AND INTO THE FUCKING NET!!!! The most GLORIOUS GOAL I THINK I’VE EVER SEEN and there is pandemonium in the stands!!!! OH MY GOD!!! DOVER GOAL 2-1

90’+1 - Three minutes of extra time. Graham Allan comes off and Gianluca Bolis comes in. We back off to a counter attacking mentality and drop all of our sliders into defensive positions, as Barca are in a 4-2-4.

90+4’ - We milk time and bring in Saber Nasri, taking out Rayane Hamon. BLOW THAT WHISTLE!!!

WE DID IT!

Barcelona 1 - 2 Dover
Goals - Zoltan Bardi (8.1), Paul Moses (7.7)
Assists - Graham Allan (7.2), Zoltan Bardi
Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi
Other Dover Notables - Rayane Hamon (7.0), Claudio Contreras (7.0),
Attendance - 67,000

We only held 45% of the ball, as Barcelona really dominated the first twenty minutes of the second half and they ended up outshooting us slightly as well, 19-18 (6-7 on target). The only stats that count though are the 2 goals for and 1 goal against and of course that means:

DOVER HAVE WON THE 2024 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE

-- We earn £7,826,000 for winning the Champions League title, another £21,739,000 (!!!) in television revenue then pay out £6.25 million to the players in the form of a performance bonus. Worth every penny! We now have over £32 million in the bank and have finally broken into the black on the year, with slightly less than a million pounds profit at this point. That may drop before the end of the month with wages, etc.

-- DOVER WIN THE TREBLE IN 2024! - we first win the League Cup, then put the finishing touches on a dominating domestic season, winning our first Premier League title by a whopping 15 points then finally, we win the greatest prize in European football, the Champions League, by knocking off powerhouse Barcelona.

Simply put, I don’t know if things can ever get better.



Champions League Wrap Up

-- Barcelona’s Enrique wins the Champions League Best Player Award and the Golden Boot as top goalscorer in the competition with 19 goals. Paul Moses finishes in second in both categories - Moses scored 16 times in 12 Champions League appearances!

-- Paul Moses is also honoured with the Champions League Best Goal award for his stunner against Manchester United on May 1st!



Yearly Training Summary

-- We still have a very young team so it’s no real surprise to see a bunch of players get positive notices and NO ONE gets a negative training notice. Getting singled out are Lyubomir Kunchev, Paul Moses, Claudio Contreras and Andy Broomes along with U18 players Anthony Gardiner, Steven Potter and Shane Holmes.



Vacation

-- And with that, the team depart on summer holiday to enjoy our ridiculously successful season and celebrate our treble!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!