[NoSkillz]

Tue. March 19, 2024

UEFA Champions League - First Knockout Round Second Leg
Dover (3) vs. (2) AZ
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Liverpool: 11-5
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 0L

AZ have lost major threat Patrick Boyomo, whose speed gave us fits in our last game, due to injury and he’s out for 8 weeks with damaged knee ligaments. Fabian Berg is their leading scorer and I imagine Marcel Schmidt will start up front in place of Boyomo.

We’re rolling the dice a bit today, with three away goals to our credit and a one goal lead. Two of our main players, Neil Cairney and Renato Gaucho will be suspended for a game due to yellow card accumulation if they get one more so Cairney will be on the bench today and Renato Gaucho won’t even dress. I want them to be ready for game one in the next round if we move on, as expected. We’re also going with a one striker formation today (4-2-3-1), with Paul Moses up front and Zoltan Bardi in behind. Graham Allan, Emmerson Harvey, Andrea Rocca, Rafinha and Saber Nasri are all getting starts today. We’ll be ready to move to a flat 4-4-2 if things get scary at halftime.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Rafinha, S. Nasri, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - E. Harvey, A. Rocca
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Allan
S - P. Moses
Bench - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, N. Cairney, G. Fanfoni, L. Kunchev, F. Hernandez, Chiquinho

As expected, AZ come out in a flat 4-4-2 with Berg and Schmidt up front. Adama N’Diaye is in goal once again. We encourage the players in the dressing room before the match.

4’ - We’re all over them early and a Zoltan Bardi pass is up the left side to Arsene Bamba. He reaches the byline and crosses in and there is Graham Allan to tap it into the empty net! Great start! DOVER GOAL 1-0 (4-2 AGGREGATE)

6’ - We’re playing with FIRE to start and Rayane Hamon tackles the ball away from their leading scorer Fabian Berg and sends it up the right side to Allan. He SPEEDS down the right flank and crosses into the box and there is Paul Moses, tapping this one home and we have two goals in two minutes! Whoa! DOVER GOAL 2-0 (5-2 AGGREGATE)

13’ - Moses delivers a touch pass to Bamba, who is just outside the area and he immediately sends a high cross into Allan, who heads it toward goal but it’s right at N’Diaye! Allan has his head in his hands as that looked like a sure goal!

21’ - A rare yellow card for Andrea Rocca.

36’ - Bardi with a touch pass into Moses and his low blast is just turned by the post by N’Diaye! Great save! We get a corner out of it and eventually the ball is sent back to Rocca. He crosses back in and the ball deflects off the back of Rayane Hamon and into the net! DOVER GOAL 3-0 (6-2 AGGREGATE)

42’ - Moses is sent up field by Allan and his shot is once again stopped by N’Diaye!

45’+1 - Rocca shows some rare moves, deking past an AZ defender and getting into the area. He’s almost surprised the move worked and his shot is weak and it’s an easy stop by the keeper.

HALFTIME - Sheer domination! This game is essentially locked up and I can start thinking ahead. We’ll definitely get young Felix Hernandez in early in the second half for his first ever senior team game and I’ll soon take out Paul Moses as well. No reason for anyone important to get hurt. We hold a 56% possession edge and a healthy 11-4 (7-2 on target) shot advantage. I tell the lads I’m pleased.

54’ - Paul Moses comes off and Gian Marco Fanfoni comes in. Zoltan Bardi moves up to striker for now.

56’ - AZ have a throw in down the left and the ball eventually is passed into the middle to midfielder Nicolas Simon and he sends a low blast through traffic and it beats Wilke and is in. AZ GOAL 3-1 (6-3 AGGREGATE)

63’ - It’s a risk but with a three goal advantage, we use our last substitutions, bringing in Felix Hernandez for his first ever game and also bringing in Lyubomir Kunchev. Andrea Rocca and Arsene Bamba come off. Graham Allan moves to striker, Bardi is back to AMC, Kunchev is at AMR and Hernandez is at AML.

68’ - Fanfoni sends a great ball through to Allan but his shot is stopped by N’Diaye.

72’ - We work a counter attack and the ball is delivered to Emmerson Harvey up the middle. He touches it to the left to Hernandez and the 18 year old crosses into the middle and there is Allan again, sliding at the ball and putting it past N’Diaye for his second of the game! DOVER GOAL 4-1 (7-3 AGGREGATE)

75’ - Hernandez is showing speed and skill as he bursts down the left flank again and crosses. It’s headed out but Harvey sends a pass right back into Allan, who turns and fires but N’Diaye is there to stop Allan’s hat trick bid!

79’ - We steal possession again and Harvey feeds Fanfoni. The young Italian feeds the ball up to Allan and he sends a weak lofted effort that is PERFECTLY placed into the top right corner of the net for his HAT TRICK! What a game from Graham Allan! Holy smokes! DOVER GOAL 5-1 (8-3 AGGREGATE)

87’ - Allan has a chance for his fourth goal but N’Diaye makes a good reflex save.

Superb performance and we move on to the Champions League quarterfinals!

Dover 5 (8) - (3) 1 AZ
Goals - Graham Allan 3 (9.7), Paul Moses (7.6), Rayane Hamon (8.4)
Assists - Graham Allan, Arsene Bamba (7.0), Gian Marco Fanfoni (6.9), Felix Hernandez (6.9)
Man of the Match - Graham Allan
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.2), Salim Loucif (7.4), Saber Nasri (7.4), Rafinha (7.5), Emmerson Harvey (7.3), Zoltan Bardi (7.1)
Attendance - 22,133

We end up with 52% of possession and a 27-7 (14-3 on target) shot advantage. Allan with a superlative game and everyone in our starting lineup but Andrea Rocca (6.9) gets a rating over 7.0.

-- Ah…money! We are given £2,609,000 for playing in the first knockout round!

-- Also moving on to the next round are Juventus, who wallop Galatasaray 2-0 and 6-0 on aggregate. Atletico Madrid ease past Celtic 5-2 on aggregate and Manchester United also move on, throttling Olympique Lyonnais 6-2 on aggregate.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- Shanon Andrea nets a hat trick as we win 6-2 over Chelsea’s reserves. Norberto Vazquez, Steve Reed and Felix Hernandez notch singles in the win. Lyubomir Kunchev and Gian Marco Fanfoni both nab two assists each.



Champions League - Quarter Final Draw

-- There are eight teams left in the competition: Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United, OM, Real Madrid and ourselves. I’d prefer either Ajax or Juventus and what do you know? We get AJAX in the quarterfinals, another Dutch club! In fact, Ajax is in second place in the Eredivisie behind the team we just knocked off - AZ! A GREAT matchup and one that gives us a real fighting chance to move onto the semis for the first time ever!



Next Up

-- We host 7th place Arsenal in Premier League action.