Aberystwyth Town - European Giant

Champions League 1st Knockout Round 1st Leg:

Aberystwyth Town 4 - 1 Juventus FC

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'What a clinical performance from the lads in the 1st leg! Juventus have a very strong side and so to take a 3 goal lead into the 2nd leg was certainly not expected. The only slight worry for us is the away goal conceded, however I will be extremely disappointed if we don't get through from here'

Man of the Match - Lubomir Koleno (1 Goal, 1 Assist, 8.9 match rating)

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Update of the 2nd leg from the Juventus Stadium coming up next, can we finish off the job in Turin or will Juventus stage a great European comeback?


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efc4life said:
any chance of putting the save on here to download? :)
Click to expand...

I've just tried uploading it there but it seemed to freeze, I will try again later tonight and let you know how I get on. Do you know how long a file like this should take to upload because I've never actually uploaded one before and maybe I was just being impatient?? :P
 
Just popped back on to see this,I the same as you have kind of got bored of the domestic side of it,Struggling to pick the save back up,Started a new season..Beat bangor 8-1 and saved it and aint played it since haha! Started a new save with FC United Of Manchester,

Find myself watching TNS games on that welsh channel when their on though lol
 
calcal said:
Just popped back on to see this,I the same as you have kind of got bored of the domestic side of it,Struggling to pick the save back up,Started a new season..Beat bangor 8-1 and saved it and aint played it since haha! Started a new save with FC United Of Manchester,

Find myself watching TNS games on that welsh channel when their on though lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's only a couple of periods in the season where we haven't got any European games (after I'm knocked out of Europe and between the last Champions League Group game and the first knockout round) where I'm really bored as I just don't have any games to look forward too. I've found taking the Serbia national job has helped though as it gives me all the qualifiers to look forward too during the season. Also last night had a 60 game winning streak in the league ended by...... yep you guessed it....... TNS! They beat me 3-2, I was absolutely gutted. You had any luck on improving attendances yet? Mine jumped slightly after winning the Europa League to around 1,500 (I think) but I'm worrying they will never go much higher and that's really annoying as I want them to build a stadium and name it after me like on my San Marino save last year haha. Keep me updated if you get back into your TNS save pal, it will be great if we both manage to win a Champions League at some point :D
 
Safc-mad-scotty said:
I've just tried uploading it there but it seemed to freeze, I will try again later tonight and let you know how I get on. Do you know how long a file like this should take to upload because I've never actually uploaded one before and maybe I was just being impatient?? :P
Click to expand...

no idea mate sorry hahaha, just really enjoying the series and it would be interesting to look around the save and carry on, thanks though :D
 
Champions League 1st Knockout Round 2nd Leg:

Juventus FC 1 -1 Aberystwyth Town

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A solid enough performance in the second leg sees us through 5-2 on aggregate. They had a few chances at 1-0 and could have made it at lot more uncomfortable but we rode our luck and got a late equalizer through Suazo in the 87th minute. FC Porto await in the quarter final!

Man of the Match - Javi Torres (9.0 Match Rating)

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New Signing - Damiano Cerro

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Italian left back who will hopefully become our first choice left back as he is rated comfortably as 1st choice left back by my assistant. Signed on a free but is on very good wages at 15k per week, so I expect good performances in the big games!


​Next update will be the Champions League quarter final against FC Porto. We've never got past the quarter final stage, could this year mark our first ever appearance in the semi final???

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Champions League Quarter Final 1st Leg:

FC Porto 0 - 2Aberystwyth Town

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Couldn't have asked for a much better performance from the boys in the 1st leg as a goal apiece from our strikers OAQ and Suazo gave us a 2 goal lead to take back to Wales. Goalkeeper Alan Gannon also saved a penalty in the 67th minute to give us a nice amount of breathing space in the second leg.

Champions League Quarter Final 2nd Leg:

Aberystwyth Town 2 - 0 FC Porto

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We've done it! We have made our first Champions League semi final with a dominant 4-0 victory on aggregate over FC Porto. Porto have a good squad and to beat them 4-0 was really impressive. The goals were an own goal from Porto's center half and one from the Welsh international striker Lewis Doyle. The winners of the AC Milan vs Real Madrid tie will meet us in the semi final......

Champions League Semi Final:

Aberystwyth Town vs Real Madrid

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Well what can you expect for a Champions League semi final? 12 times Champions League winners Real Madrid will be our opponents and I will be very surprised if we manage to make it past them. However, we do have the 1st leg at home and if we keep it tight and manage to not concede I think we may have a chance...

Next update will cover the Champions League semi final, can we pull off one of the biggest European shocks of all time and beat the Spanish giants?



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Champions League Semi Final 1st Leg:

Aberystwyth Town 2 - 0 Real Madrid

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Unbelievable result. Ruben Antonio Suazo went from hero to zero, putting us up 1-0 in the 10th minute before then getting sent off 5 minutes later. From here I expected to get absolutely battered and to an extent we did as they created 4 or 5 good chances but couldn't score any. The only other goal came from us as OAQ capitalized on a major mix up in the Real Madrid defense to give us a 2-0 lead to take to Spain. The tie certainly isn't over however, as they do have some brilliant players and are capable of scoring at least 3 goals... so we may have to score in the Bernabeu. The one thing I will say is this European run feels very much like our Europa League winning year, it seems every time there is a highlight for us during the game we score, yet the other team has numerous chances yet keep missing. Now I have said that I will probably get battered in the second leg...

Man of the Match - Javi Torres (8.2 Match Rating)

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Up next will be the second leg of the Champions League semi final, can we hold onto our first leg lead?

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right if you beat them and dont win the cl i will eat my dog and i like my dog awsome result
 
Champions League Semi Final 2nd Leg:

Real Madrid 2 - 0 Aberystwyth Town
(Aberystwyth Town win 6-5 on penalties)

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This was the most nerve wrecking game I've ever had on football manager! By the 65th minute Real Madrid had wiped out our first leg lead and then bombarded our goal for the remaining 25 minutes of normal time. So... to extra time we went and it was pretty uneventful until we won a penalty in the 118th minute and I thought this was my ticket to the final. Northern Irish striker Kevin Conn had just came off the bench minutes earlier in preparation for the shootout as he has the best penalty stats on our squad, however he saw his penalty saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen. So... to the penalty shootout!This is how it planned out..

Real Madrid - Score
Aberystwyth Town - Score
Real Madrid - Score
Aberystwyth Town - Score
Real Madrid - Score
Aberystwyth Town - Score
Real Madrid - Score
Aberystwyth Town - Score
Real Madrid - Miss
Aberystwyth Town - Miss
Real Madrid - Miss
Aberystwyth Town - Miss
Real Madrid - Miss
Aberystwyth Town - Score

It's fair too say I was pretty nervous during the penalty shootout and over the course of the game we missed 3 PENALTIES to win the game. Nevertheless we are in the final and will play our European conquerors of last season Shaktar Donetsk in the final. They beat our greatest European rivals Arsenal on the away goals rules in their semi final to get to the final, however I feel as though we may just have a chance in the final.


Next update will be an in detail report of the Champions League Final, can we get our hands on the illustrious trophy?


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Champions League Final 2025:

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Aberystwyth Town vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Preview:

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So... around 80,000 fans are expected to be in the Bernabeu for the Champions League Final between two underdogs. Neither team comes from one of the 'big' leagues however the Ukrainian League is significantly stronger than the Welsh league. I do not believe there is much difference in quality between the two squads, however the bookies make Shakhtar favorites, possibly drawing on the fact they reached the final of the competition last year and therefore hold the experience of playing in the final which Aberystwyth do not.


Pre-Match:

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Like the bookies, the press also make Shakhtar the slight favorites. Shakhtar are missing only one player, as one of their first choice center backs miss out through suspension. Aberystwyth have both first choice target men missing with Lewis Doyle injured and Suazo suspended. This means they have brought in Kevin Conn alongside OAQ and had to go without a target man. I may have gone for an extra man in the middle of the park to avoid having to play two similar strikers next to each other, however both of my backup center midfielders got injured during the final game of the season so I did not have this option.


The Match:

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0 - Shakhtar kick off and get the game under way in front of a crowd of 80,354, which is slightly different to Aberystwyth's average league attendance which is only around 1,500.

5 - GOAL - Aberystwyth are off to a flyer as Oscar Armando Quintanilla has a shot from 12 yards which is blocked but falls to long time servant Kevin Conn to prod home from close range to put the Welsh side 1-0 up in the biggest game in their history.

12 - SAVE - Aberystwyth Town's Australian keeper Alan Gannon makes a world class save to deny Brazilian striker Santos' header from close range. Good response from Shakhtar.

16 - CHANCE - Another great chance for the Ukrainians as Hungarian striker Buzasi gets on the end of a cross but Gannon pulls of another save. The striker probably should have buried that chance.

31 - CHANCE - Aberystwyth center midfielder Chinyama ***** a ball over the top to OAQ who tries to loop a header over the head of the advancing Shakhtar keeper but doesn't get enough on it.

45 + 2 - HALF TIME - The goal from Kevin Conn is enough to see Aberystwyth go in at half time 1-0 up, can they hold on in the second half? We're hearing center half Will Illderton is set to replace Kevin Conn for the second half as Aberystwyth look to shut up shop with 5 at the back.

77 - CHANCE - OAQ steals the ball on the half way line and lets off a striker from the edge of the box which is pushed for a corner by the Shakhtar keeper.

78 - SO CLOSE - From the resulting corner Javi Torres sees his header hit the cross bar and bounce away for a goal kick.

90 + 3 - FULL TIME - Aberystwyth Town have won the Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk!

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Post-Match:


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Well we have done it. From a team of players who would barely have cut it in the blue square Premier to Champions League winners. We had some brilliant results along the way and once we were drew against Shakhtar in the final I knew we were in with a very good chance of winning the big one. I was delighted when the final whistle went and I realized that we were the Champions of Europe however our attention now turns to next season where we will have to try and defend our title, however unlikely that may seem. We will also get the chance to compete for two more trophies next year in the shape of the European Super Cup, where we will play Tottenham, and the Club World Championship...

Next update will be an end of season 13 review and then I may post another squad report so you can see my Champions League winning squad:D


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