A Battle With Bilbao

[Sam91]

Sam Birch New Bilbao Manager

So I've decided to do my first story and it will be with Bilbao!! Yes I know Klippy is doing one too but it has inspired my to have a crack myself!! I think its a great challenge and a great club to try and break Barca and Real Madrids stranglehold on La Liga.

So down to the transfers!

Players In

Saul (£1.4M from Atletico Madrid) a great young 16 year old attacking midfielder who my scouts found
Dani Aranzubia (£3.5M from Deportivo) a good keeper who will challenge for the number 1 jersey
Benat (£4.3M from Betis) a decent midfielder who will be a backup for Javi Martinez



Player Out

Aitor Fernandez (Loan to Cartegena) wanted him sold but best I got was a loan
Raul Fernandez (£170K to Almeria) my third choice keeper who was awful anyway



La Liga Odds for us to win the league is 40/1... yeah I didn't expect to win it yet anyway

Anyway thats all for now, I'll post another update later for August. I hope I get some people interested and you can remain patient with me as like I said its my first attempt at a story. I was tempted to do a Chelsea one(the team I support) but there's a few already going on plus I think Bilbao will be a bit more of a challenge!!







​

 

[Sam91]

August

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• 
  [*=left]Bilbao ease past Sion to get to the Euro Cup group stage with a 7-1 aggregate win.
  [*=left]Munian signs new 5 year contract with £60M get out clause
  [*=left]Sevilla sniffing around Javi Martinez
  [*=left]1st league game win

So my first month in charge and 3 wins in 3! Sion were never gonna cause us any problems and a 4-1 win followed by a 3-0 win in which I rested key players like Llorente (who bagged a hat-trick in the 1st leg). In the league we had our first match against Ray Vallecano which we won 3-0 thanks to two goals from Muniain and one from Llorente. Muniain also got goal of the week for one of his effort against Rayo with Llorente's claiming third placeIn the transfer news from other teams Felipe Anderson joined Real Madrid for £5.25M, Affelay went to At. Madrid for £1.7M and Perotti left Sevilla for Arsenal in a deal worth £10M.

​

Euro Group Draw

Spurs
Athletic Bilbao
Stade Rennais FC
Malmo FF

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Confident we can get out the group at least. Spurs are obviously the team who will pose the biggest threat, Arsenal are in the Euro Cup this year after failing to qualify for the Champions League, getting knocked out by Dynamo!! Also they're bottom of the Premier League with a remarkable 3 losses out of 3!!

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Player of the Month
Iker Muniain

Close between him and Llorente but Muniain edges it just​

 

[Klippybo]

Good luck mate - will follow. If you have the patience or tendancy to have long term saves then you should be able to crack it! Lets hope you get an Aitor through like I did!

 

[Sam91]

Good luck mate - will follow. If you have the patience or tendancy to have long term saves then you should be able to crack it! Lets hope you get an Aitor through like I did!

Cheers mate, I love long term saves so pretty sure I will break the Barca/Madrid hold but will take a good few years!! Haha I doubt I'll get one as good as him!! He's a once in a lifetime regen!

 

[Sam91]

September

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​

• 
  [*=left]Llorente hits hat-trick against Espanyol in 4-2 win
  [*=left]Lennon scored 93rd minute winner against Bilbao as Llorente misses about 4 golden chances
  [*=left]Llorente makes up for it in our next game against Betis
  [*=left]Barca smash Osasuna 7-1 with Messi and Villa bagging hat-tricks
  [*=left]Andoni Iraola out for 5 to 6 weeks
  [*=left]Benat scored one of the best goals I have ever seen!!!
  [*=left]Bilbao finish month top of the league with 100% record

All in all a very good month. Really annoyed with the Tottenham match as we were the better side, if Llorente hadn't left his composure back in Bilbao we would have walked it. Ander Herrera has been disappointing so far this season and Saul is performing well so might be starting him more often. The Malaga match was fantastic, and our 90th minute winner was no less than we deserved!! The Villarreal match was easier than I thought it would be, mainly because they had a man sent off after 30 minutes and we were already one nil up thanks to Muniain's wonderstrike. Against Malmo I fielded a weakened team and they didn't let me down, and Benat's strike was simply incredible.
​

La Liga



Espanyol 2 - 4 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente (3), Muniain​

• 
  Athletic Bilbao 4 -1 Real Betis
  
  Llorente (2), Amorebieta, Gabilonda
  
  
  Malaga 2 -3 Athletic Bilbao
  
  Susaeta, Amorebieta, Toquero
  
  
  Athletic Bilbao 3 - 1 Villarreal
  
  Muniain, Blaszczykowski OG, David Lopez
  
  ​

Euro Cup


Tottenham 1 - 0 Athletic Bilbao



Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Malmo FF

Toquero (2), Benat



Player of the Month

Gaizka Toquero

4 Goals in 2 starts was enough to convince me


League Table
View attachment 251299​

 

[Sam91]

October

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• 
  [*=left]Real Sociedad beaten 2-0 as Athletico get first league clean sheet since start of the season
  [*=left]Bilbao destroy Osasuna as Ander Herrera finally hits form
  [*=left]Euro group turning out to be harder than originally thought!!
  [*=left]Valencia end our winning streak
  [*=left]Saul, Herrera and Koikilli all injured against Cadiz

Another good month even though we suffered our first defeat of the season in the league. Valencia were really good, was annoying as we did take the lead but hey ho. Also everything seems to be going well at the club
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View attachment 251321


La Liga


Real Sociedad 0 - 2 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente, Susaeta


Athletic Bilbao 5 - 1 Osasuna

Llorente (2), Herrera, Susaeta, Amorebieta


Valencia 3 -1 Athletic Bilbao

Susaeta


Sporting 1 - 3 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente, Susaeta, Amorebieta


Euro Cup
Athletic Bilbao 2 - 2 Stade Rennais FC

Amorebieta, Llorente

Spanish Cup 4th Round

Cadiz 0 - 4 Athletic Bilbao

David Lopez, Muniain, Gabilondo, Torquero


Player Of The Month

The young lad finally hit some form!!


Wenger Resigns!!!

View attachment 251320


So Wenger resigns with Arsenal in trouble!! Rafa Benitez took over

Table

View attachment 251323



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Hope people are reading and enjoying, if people want more screenshots of anything please let me know. Any suggestions on anything I can improve on, again, please let me know.​

 

[Sam91]

November

• 
  [*=left]Bilbao ****** win against Stade Rennais to give us a chance of getting out of the group
  [*=left]Messi robs Bilbao of a deserved draw
  [*=left]Pellegrini sacked by Malaga, I'm favourite but decline
  [*=left]Bilbao get Real Madrid in Spanish Cup Quaters
  [*=left]Man City sack Mancini, van Gaal takes over, AVB gets the Malaga job
  [*=left]England beat Spain 2-1 in friendly
  [*=left]Iraola out for a month

So probably my worst month in charge, but still not too bad. Barcelona beat us in a tight contest which I think we at least deserved a draw. The Europa league group is really tight but all I have to do is beat Malmo and I'm through. La Liga is pretty tight too but I can see that Real Madrid and Barca will pull away slowly but surely and leave me and the others behind.


​

La Liga


Athletic Bilbao 0 - 1 Barcelona



Sevilla 1 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Muniain, Herrera



Athletic Bilbao 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid



Athletic Bilbao 2 - 1 Granada

Iturraspe, Susaeta




Euro Cup

Stade Rennais 0 - 2 Athletico Bilbao

Muniain, Saul


Athletico Bilbao 0 - 0 Tottenham

Spanish Cup 4th Round Second Leg


Athletic Bilbao 2 - 1 Cadiz

David Lopez, Gurpegi




Player Of The Month

Indoni Araola

The right back was sensational with 2 MoM awards until he got injured against Spurs


Tables

View attachment 251404View attachment 251405​

 

[Sam91]

Are people reading this? Any suggestions? Please let me know

 

[Sam91]

December

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• 
  [*=left]Llorente finally scores after last months drought
  [*=left]Real Madrid win first El Clasico 2-1
  [*=left]Bilbao finish second in their Europa League group behind Spurs
  [*=left]Javi Martinez scores screamer against Zaragoza
  [*=left]Bilbao face Standard Liege in the first knockout round

A very good month, I''m happy to get our of our Euro Cup group as it turned out harder than I thought, no major casualties in other groups. Standard Liege in the next round and I'm confident we can dispose of them quite easily. A good performance in the League winning every game but Llorente hasn't been able to keep up with his good start to the seaon, Muniain got injured and was out for 2 weeks. In the Spanish Cup I was pretty happy to only lose 1 - 0, Madrid were the better team and it coud have been a lot worse.



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La Liga


Mallorca 1 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente(2)


Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Racing

Torrejon OG


Athletic Bilbao 2 - 1 Zaragoza

Javi Martinez, Dujmovic OG



Euro Cup


Malmo 0 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Torquero, Gabilondo


Spanish Cup

Real Madrid 1 - 0 Athletic Bilbao



Player Of The Month

Gorka Iraizoz

Some great performances by the big man, with 2 MoM's this month


Tables

View attachment 251694View attachment 251695​

 

[SammyJH94]

Just read through your story mate, your doing great so far! keep it up! i love the layout too , thanks for the feedbck on my story to by the way, appreciate it! Hopefully you can go far with them and not get in a state i did where i almost got sacked lol!!

 

[Sam91]

Just read through your story mate, your doing great so far! keep it up! i love the layout too , thanks for the feedbck on my story to by the way, appreciate it! Hopefully you can go far with them and not get in a state i did where i almost got sacked lol!!

Thanks mate, the Dutch league is tough but The Ox was awesome for you!! Maybe try and snap him up in the summer

 

[SammyJH94]

Thanks mate, the Dutch league is tough but The Ox was awesome for you!! Maybe try and snap him up in the summer

Yeah is pretty tough hopefully ill get a squad i want without it taking ages, your leauge will be much harder though! but your forwards seem to be on form, both at the same time! Yeah i pu in a loan offer in January actually but he rejected for FC Lorient might try get him on loan again cause cant afford to buy him unless the board give me about 20M wich is wishful thinking lol, looking forward to the next update mate !

 

[Sam91]

January

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So January came and I changed my season expectations to Champions League qualification and the board gave me £25M to work with. I looked straight to Vadillo but it said he wasn't of Basque nationality anymore!! Maybe because he'd hit 17, I dunno maybe KLIPPY can shed some light on it :S. Anyway to the In's and Outs.

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View attachment 251712


Transfers In

Cesar Azpilicueta - (£5 from OM) Really happy to get this RB so cheaply

View attachment 251713

Transfers Out

None, even though I tried to get rid of some fringe players


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• 
  [*=left]Bilbao destroy Real Madrid in the Spanish cup to progress!!
  [*=left]Getafe loss big surprise
  [*=left]Sevilla seem to want all our class players!
  [*=left]Bilbao looking good for Spanish Cup final against either Barca or Atletico Madrid
  [*=left]2 Wins in a month over Real Madird

A fantastic month, bar the loss to Getafe, in which we added a quality RB to our squad. Sevilla were after Muniain but he wasn't going anywhere. Susaeta was also of interest, but he's too good for me to let go and I rewarded him with a new contract. The Madrid game was insane, Ramos got sent off early and we dominated from there on out. Zaragoza were easily swept away as we passed them off the park. The Levante match was annoying, we bossed the game and had 23 shots but only 8 on target, Toquero was our hero from the bench and bagged a brace. The second leg against Zaragoza was too easy and we looked like we were going to score everytime we went forward. The league game against Madrid was simply awesome, we were 3-2 down at half time but Llorente turned it on in the second with 2 goals thanks to 2 Muniain assists. The game against Rayo was easy, they're sitting at the bottom of the league and Llorente and Muniain showed their class.​

La Liga


Getafe 2 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente



Athletic Bilbao 3 - 1 Levante

Susaeta, Torquero(2)



Real Madrid 3 - 4 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente(2), Susaeta, Benat



Rayo 0 - 4 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente(2), Susaeta, Muniain



Spanish Cup


Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Real Madrid
(Bilbao win 3-1 on aggregate)

San Jose, Herrera, Susaeta



Zaragoza 1 - 3 Atheletic Bilbao

Llorente, Paulo Da Silva OG, Pablo Alvarez OG



Athletic Bilbao 5 - 1 Zaragoza
(Bilbao win 8-2 on aggregate)

Toquero, Susaeta, Herrera, Javi Martinez, Berrera OG



Levante 2 - 5 Athletic Bilbao

David Lopez, San Jose, Gabilondo, Saul(2)



Player Of The Month

Ander Herrera

4 MoM's and countless assists, fully deserves it



Tables

View attachment 251737

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If anyone wants and screenshots of players, stats or anything just let me know and thanks for reading​

 

[Klippybo]

The moment a player turns 17 you cant get him. What I try and do is get them in on loan and then try and buy them as the fee is usually reduced. Or if you arent sure about splashing the cash (shouldnt be a problem in my game as I have a £600m budget) just send them back and he will still have a Basque nationality.

Cant believe you got Azpilicueta for £5m!!!!!!

Oh and beware of early April - if you are still in Europe you will find that your away game to Barca will be hugely difficult as players are either unavailable or nearly dead! lol.

 

[SamHampden]

Good story. Its fun breaking up barca/madrid strangle on the league. I did it with Real Sociedad, finished 2nd first season.
My mate did a Bilbao save finished 3rd first season but struggled to find players after that. Keep an eye out for mental regens

 

[Sam91]

The moment a player turns 17 you cant get him. What I try and do is get them in on loan and then try and buy them as the fee is usually reduced. Or if you arent sure about splashing the cash (shouldnt be a problem in my game as I have a £600m budget) just send them back and he will still have a Basque nationality.

Cant believe you got Azpilicueta for £5m!!!!!!

Oh and beware of early April - if you are still in Europe you will find that your away game to Barca will be hugely difficult as players are either unavailable or nearly dead! lol.

Ahhh so annoying i really wanted Vadillo, signed him on a Chelsea save before and he was really good. Never mind. I'm looking forward to our youth intake this year, hopefully get 1 or 2 good players.

Yeah I thought OM might want some more money but accepted it!! Cheers for the advice mate hopefully my team can be half as successful as your Bilbao side!

 

[Sam91]

Good story. Its fun breaking up barca/madrid strangle on the league. I did it with Real Sociedad, finished 2nd first season.
My mate did a Bilbao save finished 3rd first season but struggled to find players after that. Keep an eye out for mental regens

Nice!! Must have been even tougher with Sociedad. Yeah I'm gonna be searching for some good young regens about a month after my youth intake, see if there's any good ones floating around. Hope you're enjoying the story

 

[Luarez]

Looking good so far, maybe you could add a few screenshots of the matches.
Also what tactics are you using for Bilbao?

 

[Sam91]

View attachment 251755Thats the team when everyones fully fit, but I rotate my right backs and centre backs a bit.

 

[Sam91]

Febuary

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• 
  [*=left]Bilbao v Barca in the Spanish Cup final
  [*=left]Muniain out for 5 weeks, Herrera out for 2 months
  [*=left]Another victory over Madrid making it 3 wins and 1 defeat for the season against them
  [*=left]Bilbao agree deal with Valencia for young left back
  [*=left]Barca keep on winning
  [*=left]Bilbao get Besiktas in next round of the Euro Cup

So Levante were easily beaten and our reward was a final with Barca. The Espanyol match was 1 - 1 until Susaeta put us in front, then 5 minutes from the end Llorente scored his second to give us some breathing space. What can I say about the Madrid game, we were superb and Llorente tore them apart despite us having Aurtenetxe sent off for the second time this season. Against Real Betis we grabbed an early win but Betis equalised, the game was back and forth but no-one managing to grab the winner until in the 93rd minute Llorente was put through and cut the ball back for Susaeta to tap home the winner. The draw with Malaga was annoying, we were one nil up until the 88th minute when Azpilicueta gave away a penalty and got sent off. The 2 legs against Standard were easy enough, they put up a bit more of a fight in the 2nd leg but I was glad we managed to beat them quite easily over the 2 legs. Villareal beat us thanks to Nilmar's screamer in a game which we didn't deserve to win anyway.


We also agreed a £2.2M deal for Salva Ruiz, a young left back with bags of potential.


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View attachment 251768



La Liga

Athletic Bilbao 3 - 1 Espanyol

Llorente(2), Susaeta



Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Real Madrid

Llorente(2) San Jose(PEN)

View attachment 251767



Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Malaga

Susaeta


Real Betis 1 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente, Susaeta

View attachment 251771



Villarreal 1 - 0 Athlletic Bilbao



Spanish Cup
Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Levante

David Lopez(2), De Marcos



Euro Cup


Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Standard

Toquero,Aurtenetxe, De Marcos


Standard 4 - 4 Athletic Bilbao
Bilbao win 7 - 4 on aggregate

David Lopez(2), Torquero, Saul


Player Of The Month

Fernando Llorente

Finally found some form and the back of the net again

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