A Battle With Bilbao

[Sam91]

November

​

• 
  [*=left]Madrid beat Bilbao in tight contest, whilst Malaga beat Barca
  [*=left]Atletico Madrid sack Simeone, Abel Resino takes the hot seat
  [*=left]Bilbao get Barcelona in the Spanish Cup 5th round
  [*=left]Susaeta given 1st Spain cap, then scores in his second appearance for them
  [*=left]Sevilla sack Michel
  [*=left]Bilbao qualify from Champions League group top with game against United to spare!

Not the best month for sure. So first up was Real Madrid, and they dominated us to be fair and it would have been a lot worse if it wasn't for Etxaniz in goal. Next up Standard in the Champions league, and I fielded the kids again and Perez bagged us the winner. He's turning out to be a good player for us this year already!! Espanyol were brushed aside with ease. Leganes next and Perez turned it on again as we won comfortably with the kids playing once more. Real Betis scored a victory over us, the we had Sporting in the Champions League and victory would secure qualification. We were 3-0 up at half-time and the rest is history.




​

La Liga


Real Madrid 1 - 0 Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 252398View attachment 252399


Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Espanyol

Muniain, Llorente, Amat OG




Real Betis 3 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente, Azpilicueta




Spanish Cup 2nd Leg



Atheltic Bilbao 3 - 0 Leganes

Perez(2), Iraola





Champions League

Standard 1 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Saul, Perez

View attachment 252419View attachment 252420



Athletic Bilbao 3 - 1 Sporting (POR)

Muniain(2), Llorente





Player Of The Month


Patricio Perez


View attachment 252475



Tables


View attachment 252476View attachment 252477




​

 

[Klippybo]

Yeah, but I just could't not have them . Plus there wasn't any other Basque players around really, and had £32M just sitting there.

Aha couldn't you sell they guy?! You have plenty of money though!! £600M I believe lol

Nobody was interested in buying him. At one point he was valued at £30m but then he got two bad injuries and his stats plummeted so I just thought it be best to get rid.

 

[Sam91]

December

​

• 
  [*=left]Simeone takes Sevilla job
  [*=left]Benitez sacked by Arsenal
  [*=left]Llorente nominated for World Golden Ball (stands no chance of getting it though)
  [*=left]van Gaal takes Arsenal job
  [*=left]Bilbao get PSG in Champions League 1st Knockout Round, Sunderland also somehow made it through there group and will face the one and only Barcelona
  [*=left]Barca still struggling in the league though due to Messi breaking his foot

Kicked off the month with a frustrating draw against Sporting, Then we welcomed Barcelona to the San Mames and Muniain grabbed us a draw with a brilliant header. We scored a much needed victory over Racing by the skin of our teeth thanks to Iturrapse's goal after we went down to 10 men. We then travelled to Manchester for a meaningless game as both us and United were already through but they gave us a right good spanking handing me my biggest loss with Bilbao. Hercules then came to visit and I thought maybe we could take our frustrations out on them.... not so much, a 2-0 win was the best we could do and this month was quickly becoming my most frustrating at Bilbao. We weren't scoring as much as usual and Llorente was performing badly. I called a team meeting and let the lads know that we were doing okay but need to up it even more to make this season a success. The I dragged Llorente in on his own and told him that he hasn't been doing well lately and he needs to up it, he agreed that he hasn't been at his best and promised to turn it around. He certainly meant it banging in 2 goals against Mallorca before Iraola got sent off and Mallorca pulled one back before half time. Perez gave us a much needed cushion with a header. Our final match before the winter break was against Granada and we battled to a hard fought 3 points and won thanks to Herrera brace.




​

La Liga



Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Sporting

Llorente




Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Barcelona

Muniain




Racing 0 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

Iturrapse

View attachment 252493View attachment 252494



Athletic Bilbao 2 - 0 Hercules

Muniain, Benat




Athletic Bilbao 3 - 1 Mallorca

Llorente(2), Perez

View attachment 252505View attachment 252506



Granada 1 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Herrera(2)


Champions League



Manchester United 5 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Susaeta, Iturrapse




Player Of The Month

Iker Muniain

Only consistent performer this month, flourishing after I changed his role to an Inside Forward


Tables



​

 

[Sam91]

January

​

• 
  [*=left]David Villa wins World Player of the Year and World Golden Ball
  [*=left]PSG bid £9 million for Herrera (rejected of course)
  [*=left]Susaeta out for 5 weeks
  [*=left]Bilbao looking good in the Spanish Cup
  [*=left]Cesar Azpilicueta out for 5 weeks

Very good month eliminating Barcelona and Espanyol from the Spanish Cup. Araburu and Perez were on top form against Espanyol, they're looking like quality players already. Our loss to Valencia was okay as Barca drew with Granada and Malaga lost to Real Sociedad. Real Madrid were killed by our counter attacking play and look all but out


Transfer Out : Carlos Gurpegi £250k to Sporting. Not in my plans, wanted him off the wages

Transfers In : None




​

La Liga

Athletic Bilbao 3 - 1 Las Palmas

Muniain(2), Susaeta


Valencia 3 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente, Benat


Spanish Cup

Athletic Bilbao 2 - 0 Barcelona

Muniain, Llorente


Barcelona 2- 1 Athletic Bilbao
Bilbao win 3-2 on aggregate

Llorente

View attachment 252527



Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Espanyol

Llorente


Espanyol 1 - 5 Athletic Bilbao
Bilbao win 6-1 on aggregate

San Jose(2), Araburu(2), Iraola


View attachment 252533View attachment 252534


Athletic Bilbao 4 - 0 Real Madrid

Muniain, Aranzubu, Ramos OG, San Jose

View attachment 252545





Player Of The Month

Mikel San Jose

Solid at the back and chipped in with a few goals too





Table

View attachment 252546










​

 

[Sam91]

February

​

• 
  [*=left]Real Madrid running away with the league
  [*=left]Bilbao through to Spanish Cup final in most dramatic way possible!!!!
  [*=left]Malaga, Barca and Bilbao battling it out for second, third and fourth
  [*=left]Muniain out for 2 months, time for Perez to step up

So an okay month I guess, we kicked things off against Atletico Madrid and despite a late rally from them we managed to take the three points. Then the second leg against Real Madrid, we were 4-0 down at half-time and I feared the worst! The they went 5-0 up but as late as late can be San Jose popped up to bundle the ball over the line to ****** a win on away goals! The tough run didn't stop as we then had Barcelona in the league and David Villa showed us just why he won both World Player awards to send us down to fourth pace in the league as they jumped up to second. Then we welcomed under-performing Sevilla to the San Mames, they were thirteenth under Simeone and he was in danger of being sacked. We didn't help spanking them 4-0, and to make things even better for us we were back up to second after Barca lost to Atletico Madrid and Malaga drew with Betis. We then travelled to France to face PSG, Sakho done us a massive favour getting himself sent off before half time but it took us until the 80th minute to get in front thanks to San Jose. So we bagged a vital away goal and had the lead to take back to Bilbao.


​

La Liga

Athletic Bilbao 3 - 2 Atletico Madrid

Llorente(2), Saul

View attachment 252561



Barcelona 3 - 0 Athletic Bilbao





Athletic Bilbao 4 - 0 Sevilla

Llorente(2), Benat, Muniain


View attachment 252609



Villarreal 3 - 4 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente(2), Saul, De Marcos

View attachment 252607



Spanish Cup


Real Madrid 5 - 1 Athletic Bilbao
Bilbao through on away goals

San Jose
View attachment 252563



Champions League


PSG 0 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

San Jose




Player Of The Month

Fernando Llorente

Consistent and plenty of goals




Table

View attachment 252608​

 

[Sam91]

March

​

• 
  [*=left]Villarreal sack Molina
  [*=left]Felipe Garcia Martin finaly scores after his drought
  [*=left]Bilbao knocked out of Europe
  [*=left]Messi returns for Barca, Madrid still running away with league
  [*=left]New youth intake, but no-one stands out
  [*=left]Win over Malaga pretty much confirms top 4 finish
  [*=left]Vasco derby ends in a stalemate again

We kicked off the month with a good win over Deportivo, and I started Garcia Martin up top. The lad didn't disappoint me banging in two goals (one a penalty). Then another another 2 wins in the league was followed by heartbreak against PSG as Garcia Martin missed a penalty which would have sent us through. Instead the tie went all the way to a penalty shootout and it was Herrera who turned out to be the villan as he crashed his spot-kick against the crossbar. Back to the league against Mallorca and we produced a miraculous comeback to steal the 3 points, and a solid win against Malaga boosted morale. Then it was the Vasco derby, and it ended in a stalemate again.


The youth intake wasn't great this year and none of them will become future stars so I wont bother posting any screenshots of them.​

La Liga



Athletic Bilbao 2 - 0 Deportivo

Garcia Martin(2)

View attachment 252765



Athletic Bilbao 2 - 0 Osasuna

Llorente(2)


View attachment 252767




Getafe 0 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente(2)





Mallorca 1 - 2 Atheltic Bilbao

Llorente, De Marcos


View attachment 252768




Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Malaga

San Jose





Real Sociedad 0 - 0 Athletic Bilbao






Champions League




PSG 1 - 0 Athletic Bilbao
PSG win 5-4 on penalties

View attachment 252766




Player of the Month

Fernando Llorente

5 Goals this month for the big man, no-one else really stood out


Table

View attachment 252759



​

 

[Sam91]

Are people still reading this? Any suggestions?

 

[SammyJH94]

Yeah mate course, cant believe your almost done with your second season cutting through them haha!

 

[stevenUK1]

I am still following. Haven't posted before on the story but its going good. Keep it up.

 

[Sam91]

Cheers guys should be another update tonight hopefully

 

[Kezza96]

Along with Klippy's, this is the story I check the most!

 

[Sam91]

April

​

• 
  [*=left]Bilbao throw away 2 goal lead over Real Madrid
  [*=left]Susaeta seasons over, Patricio Perez also injured for 3 weeks
  [*=left]Autenetxe joins them on the injury table for 7 weeks
  [*=left]Real Madrid smash Sevilla 9-0!!!!!
  [*=left]Aranburu out for 3 months also and Ekiza for 7 weeks
  [*=left]Real Madrid win the league

The amount of players that got injured this month was stupid. I'm glad we've pretty much wrapped up third in the league, but we may suffer in the Spanish Cup. Real Madrid wrapped up the league this month but we're still snapping on Barcelona's heels waiting for them to slip up. Llorente was on scary form this month too which is always helpful!




​

La Liga


Athletic Bilbao 3 - 3 Real Madrid

Llorente(3)

View attachment 252891






Espanyol 1 - 3 Athletic Bilbao

Susaeta, San Jose, Aranburu





Athletic Bilbao 2 - 2 Betis

Benat, Muniain





Sporting 1 - 3 Atheltic Bilbao

Llorente(2), Aranburu





Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Racing

Herrera, Llorente, Ruiz






Hercules 2 - 3 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente(3)





Player Of The Month

Fernando Llorente (again)

Two hat-tricks plus all the others speaks for itself



Table

View attachment 252892





​

If you guys are wondering what I did with the two regens I signed in January I sent them to my B team. Will post all my young stars profiles next month so we can all see how they're doing ​

 

[Sam91]

May

​

• 
  [*=left]Deportivo, Hercules and Getafe relegated
  [*=left]Man United win EPL again
  [*=left]Sevilla beat Man City in Euro Cup Final!
  [*=left]Barcelona win Champions League

So guys I'm not going to do my usual description here, I don't want to give away whether or not we caught Barca and the result of the Spanish Cup Final. Enjoy



​

La Liga



Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Granada

Muniain





Las Palmas 1 - 1 Athletico Bilbao

Llorente





Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Valencia

San Jose


So we flopped massively, three 1-1 draw in matches we could have easily one meant we'd have to settle for 3rd again. Now lets see if we could get at least one trophy for the fans this season.


Spanish Cup


Athletic Bilbao 2 - 1 Valencia
AET

Llorente, Amorebieta

View attachment 252926

YES!!! So dramatic once again but we done it, and deserved it as well. We dominated them the whole game, Jonas' goal was an absolute beaut though.


Table


View attachment 252922




End Of Season Awards


La Liga Top Scorer


1. Fernando Llorente
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. David Villa

View attachment 252916


Spanish League Player Of The Year



1. Angel Di Maria
2. Xavi
3. Gonzalo Higuain

View attachment 252917




La Liga Top Spanish Scorer


1. Fernando Llorente
2. David Villa
3. Alvaro Negrado

View attachment 252918


La Liga Goalkeeper Of The Year


1. Victor Valdes
2. Iker Casilles
3. Carlos Kameni

View attachment 252919




La Liga Manager Of The Year


1. Pep Gaurdiola
2. Sam Birch
3. Andre Villa Boas

View attachment 252920



La Liga Young Player Of The Year


1. Iker Muniain
2. Nelson Oliviera
3. Patricio Perez!!!!

View attachment 252921


Champions League Goal Of The Season


1. Saul (Athletic) vs Manchester United

View attachment 252930




Europe's Top Marksman

1. Fernando Llorente
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. David Villa

View attachment 252932







The Sam Birch Awards

Managers Player Of The Season

Fernando Llorente

Young Player Of The Season

Patricio Perez

View attachment 252927


Breakthrough Player Of The Season

Jose Maria Etxaniz

View attachment 252929


I don't have a clue how Pep got Manager of the Year, Barca were disappointing I'd say. Real ran away with it. But the highlight for me was Patricio Perez coming 3rd for the Young Player of the Season. I dunno how Muniain got 1st with all his injuries but I guess that goes to show you how important he is to Bilbao.


The board also announced that they're going to upgrade the youth facilities and we got a new sponsorship deal as well.

I'm really enjoying this save and I'm going continue it for a long time, I hope you guys are enjoying my first story too.

​

 

[avfctom]

unlucky on the league mate, theres always next year and nice cup win, top class story

 

[Sam91]

Regen Update


Alex Aranburu

View attachment 252967



Jose Maria Etxaniz

View attachment 252969



Patricio Perez

View attachment 252972



Felipe Garcia Martin

View attachment 252974



Jacinto Rivas

View attachment 252975





So the one I'm most excited about is Etxaniz. He established himself as my number 1 last season and will be for many years to come. Valencia bid £1.2 Million for him but I told them I wanted £200M, that put them off. Patricio Perez proved a decent backup for Muniain last season. Alex Aranburu chipped in with a few goals too and was a good fill in for Susaeta. Jacinto Rivas spent last season out on loan, and I've trained him to be a centre midfielder. I'm going to try and loan him out again this year, then next year will be Javi Martinez's back up. Lastly Felipe Garcia Martin proved to be a decent super sub last year, sometimes if we were struggling with goals I switched up our formation to a 4-2-4(wingers) with him and Llorente up top together, and it worked wonders at times.



Anyway hope you all enjoyed this post, pre-season and August update will be up later today​

 

[Sam91]

Pre Season and August


​

• 
  [*=left]Fernando Llorente wins Fans Player of the Year
  [*=left]AVB leaves Malaga for Bayern Muich
  [*=left]Bilbao joint 3rd favourite for the title... but once again I can see us falling short
  [*=left]Etxaniz sings new contract with £150M get out clause

So I'll start off with everthing that happened in pre season, Athletic Bilbao made a nice jump up the rich list. We're now the 15th richest club in the world.
​

View attachment 253004



​

I got a bid for young left back Salva Ruiz from Man City but the young lad wasn't going anywhere, I swiftly rejected the bid. I see the lad as our future left back and Man City offered a measly £2.2M.
​

View attachment 253005

​

So the start of the season began and I was given a load of money to work with, but no real stand out players to spend it on. I went for Champions League qualification which should be pretty simple, but I'm really hoping we can ****** 2nd .
​

View attachment 253006

​

We had our Best 11 announced as well, I'm glad to see Etxaniz in there. He was easily the better keeper and is going to be starting from now on without a doubt.

​

View attachment 253007

​

​

Transfers Ins and Outs


A lot of youth players and fringe players left. No-one immense coming in, a few prospects.


View attachment 253010




Pre Season Friendlies



Chelsea 2 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

Ivanovic OG




Derby 1 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

Fielding OG




Athletic Bilbao 1 - 2 Standard

Jacobs OG



​

So yeah and AWFUL pre season. We were struggling to score goals, and looked dodgy at the back. I was fearing the worst for our Spanish Super Cup tie with Real Madrid... lets see how that went.



​

Spanish Super Cup


Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Real Madrid

Muniain




Real Madrid 1 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

Herrera

View attachment 253008



​

YES!!! Another cup competition we've won and our good form over Real Madrid continues!! We dominated the 1st leg but the 2nd was a lot more nervous times. Ronaldo kept skinning out defence but Etxaniz was on top form denying him time and time again.

​

​

​

La Liga


Athletic Bilba 1 - 1 Villarreal

Llorente

​

Gutted, should have won it we dominated it and San Jose missed an open goal from a corner. Never mind.





​

Player of the Month



Jose Maria Etxaniz


View attachment 253009

Purely for his performance against Real Madrid.



​

Wont bother uploading a La Liga table pic. Only played one game.​

 

[Sam91]

Champions League Group Draw




Manchester United

CSKA Moscow

Athletic Bilbao

Steaua



​

So for the second year running we draw United, tough trip to Russia too :/, we'll see how it goes​

 

[Sam91]

September

​

• 
  [*=left]Barcelona maintain 100% record, Madrid 2 points behind
  [*=left]Bilbao patchy form continue
  [*=left]No injuries this month for once

La Liga



Athletic Bilbao 2 - 0 Rayo

Labaka OG, Garcia Martin




Malaga 1 - 3 Athletic Bilbao

Muniain, Martin OG, Llorente





Levante 1 - 4 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente, Muniain, Susaeta, Garcia Martin






Athletic Bilbao 1 - 2 Sevilla

Benat




Champions League




Athletic Bilbao 1 - Steaua

Miclea OG



​

An okay month, the loss to Sevilla was disappointing but the win over Malaga was a nice suprise. They seem the be in a real slump since AVB left. I would have preferred a bigger win over Steaua but never mind, 3 points is 3 points.​

Player of the Month



Iker Muniain

Top form this month, if it continues and he can avoid injury we stand a chance of breaking into the top 2 this year





Table


View attachment 253351





​

 

[Sam91]

October

​

​

• 
  [*=left]Trip to Moscow and Manchester this month
  [*=left]Easy league run-in but how did we do?
  [*=left]Atletico Madrid sack their manager and offer me the job

La Liga


Las Palmes 1 - 3 Athletic Bilbao

Aranburu, Muniain, San Jose





Athletic Bilbao 5 - 1 Osasuna

Llorente(4), Herrerea


View attachment 253501



Granada 0 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente






Champions League





CSKA Moscow 0 - 0 Athletic Bilbao






Manchester United 3 - 2 Athletic Bilbao

Llorente, Muniain


View attachment 253500


Spanish Cup


Castellon 0 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

Perez

​

Decent month. League form was very good, but the Champions League game against United was frustrating!! 2-0 up and threw it away. I don't know why Muniain was taking the penalties I thought I had Llorente taking them. The away game to CSKA was a good result I'd say. But the Osasuna match was the highlight with Llorente destroying them almost single handedly. Granada gave us a really tough match, I was pleased to get 3 points off them.


​

Player of the Month

Fernando Llorente

Goal machine this month, well deserved



Tables

View attachment 253503View attachment 253504



Hope people are still following and enjoying!

Please Comment ​

 

[stevenUK1]

Still following and still enjoying it, keep up the good work. You are taking on a different way with them which is good and I hope people don't think about the KLIPPYBO story when reading this. One thing I will say though is lets hope you get an Aitor!