[NoSkillz]

Wed. March 30, 2022

UEFA Champions League - Quarterfinal Leg 1
Barcelona vs. Dover
Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

Betting Odds: Barcelona: 4-7 (Favourites) Draw: 5-2 Dover: 4-1
Past Meetings: 1W 1D 0L

Well, here we go! We've made it way further than we could possibly imagine and now we're facing Spanish powerhouse Barcelona, the biggest club in the world by estimated value. We played them in the Group Stages and incredibly went undefeated, tying them in Spain and winning convincingly 5-2 at home. They are in third place right now in LIGA BBVA behind Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid so they'll be battling the rest of the season to ensure they reach the Champions League once again in 2022/23. We are 4-1 dogs today, slightly better than the last time we faced them in Spain, as we were 9-2 that day.

Pascal Reinhardt is one of the great players in football right now and he'll be the key man for us to stop. Midfielder Enzo Zidane, just purchased from Manchester City last year, has 11 goals in 35 appearances to sit second on the team scoring list. Tim Stark, another midfielder, fetched an incredible £48 million for Juventus in the July transfer window and he has scored 5 goals in 36 games so far for Barca. Another midfielder, Spanish-Canadian Juan Ramon Vazquez was brought in from Palermo two years ago for the ungodly sum of £55 million, the largest transfer fee in this gaming universe thus far. He has 8 goals so far this year from an attacking left midfield position. Barca are stacked everywhere.

We have some major injury and suspension issues to fight through today - top midfielder Neil Cairney will miss today's game due to yellow card accumulation and our constant at right fullback, vice-captain Salim Loucif is still injured. Therefore, we'll be playing Mancini in Cairney's spot and Jozef Kuciak will play DR. Also, I'm giving 18 year old Paul Moses his first ever Continental start at striker alongside captain Wayne Rooney. Moses deserves the start after his fine recent play. Zoltan Bardi will be on the bench, as will Shanon Andrea, who is still not match fit after his three month recovery from a torn hamstring. We'll play a flat 4-4-2 counter attacking mentality today and hope to keep things tight.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, J. Kuciak
M - A. Bamba, Mancini, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, W. Rooney
Bench - P. Tjiuoro, A. Kokaina, S. Nasri, K. Kalfas, A. Zubizarreta, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea

Barca are in their 4-2-3-1 formation with Reinhardt up front and Lionel Messi is actually starting at AMR! My assistant feels I should tell them we can win tonight and I go with it but pull aside Mancini to tell him I have faith in his ability.

2' - A good start, as we win a corner and after the ball gets sent back out to Andrea Rocca, he unleashes a hard shot that is turned behind the net by Barca keeper Mariano Borrelli. We get another corner and Claudio Contreras heads just over. Good start!

10' - We've completely dominated the first ten minutes and get another corner that Rayane Hamon heads toward goal. It's blocked away by one of Barca's defenders. What an encouraging start!

13' - Renato Gaucho fouls Messi just outside our area (thankfully) and is given a yellow. I believe he'll miss our home match against Barca as a result.

23' - Barcelona are starting to take the play to us and Reinhardt is sent in beautifully through our defence by Zidane. Their fantastic striker slots a shot past Wilke but it hits the post and Renato Gaucho clears!

26' - Heavy pressure is being put on by Barcelona now and Zidane takes a hard low shot from the edge of the area that Wilke turns aside and we barely clear just in time.

31' - Reinhardt again gets the ball with his back to the net, turns and fires and the shot is again off the post. We're getting lucky now.

36' - Wow! A long ball is sent up field to Paul Moses and he's onside. He's got a defender chasing him from behind so he shoots as he reaches the penalty area and Borrelli makes the diving save.

45'+3 - Disaster. With Gianluca Bolis off being tended to after taking a knock, Barcelona move swiftly upfield in injury time with us only having ten men on the field. It's Juan Ramon Vazquez cutting in from the left side and feeding a ridiculously good through ball to the far post and fellow midfielder Kevin gets there just before Renato Gaucho and slots the ball home for the opening goal. Tough break. BARCELONA GOAL 0-1

HALFTIME - That sucks. Barcelona is controlling things after we had a great opening ten minutes so I guess they deservedly lead. They held 58% of the ball and outshot us 14-7 (5-3 on target). Bolis is banged up pretty bad - it's nothing that will keep him out of future games but he's only at 58% fitness so I'll need to take him out. Kostas Kalfas comes in to replace him. I need to be careful here - I'm going to continue to play a counter mentality and would prefer to keep the scoreline close but perhaps we'll open up a bit later in the game if necessary. I sympathize with the players after the late half goal and tell Kalfas I have faith in him.

50' - Reinhardt again with his patented turn-around and kick move but Wilke again makes the save. My assistant notes that Reinhardt is "having a poor game" so hopefully Barca take him out before he scores against us! Ha - right after, on the ensuing corner, Reinhardt pushes down Renato Gaucho and gets a yellow card. He's obviously frustrated.

52' - Now it's Wayne Rooney with a yellow.

56' - Mancini has been aggressive defensively tonight and has been "ticked off" by the ref on a couple of occasions so it's no surprise he finally gets a yellow after another infraction. He will ALSO miss our next match due to yellow card accumulation.

63' - Wilke with a big save on Vazquez, who is playing like a superstar today for Barca. We aren't generating much today.

66' - I bring in Zoltan Bardi for Wayne Rooney, who has done little today.

78' - We have a rare offensive highlight and it's off a throw in down the left side. Rocca gets the ball in the middle of the field and plays some give and go with Bardi. Rocca gets it back then sends the ball through the defence and Bardi gets there first. He's in the area and barring down on goal with Barca captain Pique and fellow defender Feyyaz Kurnaz right on top of him. Somehow, Bardi dekes past the diving Borrelli and slots the ball into the empty net for the SHOCKING EQUALIZER! Holy crap!!! DOVER GOAL 1-1

That was SPECTACULAR!!! Time to milk this thing for all it's worth!

80' - Right away Barca storm down the field and smoke a shot off the crossbar. Wow.

87' - Barca are panicking and sending everyone up and we have had two chances to counter, unfortunately without success. We take out Mancini, who was excellent today and bring in veteran Samir Nasri for the last few minutes.

There's three minutes of added time and we HOLD ON FOR THE DRAW!!!

Barcelona 1 - 1 Dover
Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.3)
Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.6)
Man of the Match - Andrea Rocca
Other Dover Notables - Wayne Rooney (5.9)
Attendance - 93,712

The stats don't look great but what a great result! Barca hold 58% of overall possession and outshoot us 27-12 (9-6 on target). Pascal Reinhardt was a complete non-factor and we neutralized his speed all game. We get a coveted away goal and head home for the second leg knowing a win or a scoreless draw will move us on to the next round.

-- In the other three Champions League quarterfinal matchups, Atletico Madrid pound FC Bayern 4-0 in Spain to take control of that series while Manchester City win at Old Trafford 1-0 over United to take command there. In the other game between French clubs, Olympique Lyonnais beat OM 1-0 at home.



Contract Extension

-- Well, that didn't take long. We happily announce that Gianluca Bolis has accepted a contract extension that will see him make £39,500 per week, up from £23,000 and we have him locked up until June 2026. A good deal for both sides. He is in superb form this year, with an incredible 15 goals from the right wing along with 11 assists in 44 appearances.



April Update

-- An exceptionally busy month, as we have five Premier League games (home versus Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea and away versus Derby and Arsenal) and also the second leg of our Champions League quarterfinal matchup against Barcelona at Crabble Athletic Ground. If we are able to somehow get past Barca, we will have both legs of the semi-finals in April as well. So that's EIGHT possible games but I'd guess that at least one of the Premier League games would be rescheduled if that happened.

-- I get positive training notices for Gianluca Bolis and Claudio Contreras on the senior team and Pete Smith and Emmerson Harvey from the U18 club. I get SIX negative notices - Emmanuel Agbo, Samir Nasri, Jonathan Adam, Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, Garry Doyle and Carlos Guzman. I'll be having chats with those gentlemen…



Premier League Awards for March

-- Paul Pogba from Sheffield Wednesday wins the Player of the Month award. He scored four times in three games and considering he now has 4 goals in 28 overall games, yeah, I'd say he performed well that month!

-- The Young Player of the Month award goes to our star in the making 18 year old loanee Paul Moses, who scored twice in three Premier League games. We sweep the top three, with Renato Gaucho finishing second and Claudio Contreras finishing third.

-- Sheffield Wednesday won all three of their games in March so Malky Mackay wins Manager of the Month honours.



April Board Confidence Update

-- The board are delighted with the leadership qualities I'm demonstrating. Our stature increase is the major contributing factor but Wayne Rooney's recent performances are a concern.

-- We made £300,000 last month.



Next Up

-- We are at home to face Middlesbrough in Premier League play.