Aitor Herrera - Back In Bilbao

[Klippybo]

AITOR HERRERA NAMED AS THE NEW SPAIN MANAGER

Now this was a surprise - not that I got the job but more that they offered me the job without me applying for it. I was monitoring the Euros a bit and keeping an eye on vacant posts but due to club commitments (transfers etc) I missed a week and then this job offer popped up in my inbox.

Rafa Benitez could only lead Spain to the 1st knockout round so that is why he lost his job. I will now review every member of the backroom staff etc.

As an added bonus, since I am now Spain manager, every single 16y/o Spaniard is now on my player search screen so I have a chance of picking up the best ones for Athletic!!!
​

 

[ScottT]

Well done! That's a massive achievement and shows how well you've done with Bilbao. Good luck with it.

 

[Klippybo]

PRE-SEASON

So what can I do to improve my 1st team squad that won the title last term? The answer is not a lot but 2 spots in my first XI have new owners I think.

Ander Herrera and Javi Martinez both showed an interest in coming back to the club but the finances involved for 30+ players made the deals impossible for us. I really am at the stage where there aren't many Basque players out there who I could bring in. Griezmann - not interested and cant afford, Azpilicueta 30+, Odriozola and Oyarzabal are at Sociedad so they are not interested and that's about it.

Its all down to youth development now!!

--

PLAYERS OUT

Mikel San Jose is the main one. I sold him to Villarreal for an initial £6.5m and I decided to let him go as his contract was up at the end of the season and he wasn't wanting to sign a new one. He played 106 times for me and scored 4 times.

Inigo Lekue is also a goner as he joined Celta Vigo in a £3m deal while my backup keeper Alex Remiro is off to Granada for £1.3m. I also sold a few B team players for a total of £2m.

Finally I let Yeray join Sevilla on loan. He looks a player but he has yet to get a regular spot so this is his chance. Unai Nunez has returned from his loan spell so I could afford to loan him out.

Not much else of note really apart from rejected deals. My B team CB Josue Sanchez has been unsettled as I have been rejecting bids from a host of top European clubs (£6m) to get him while Liverpool keep going in for Arrizabalaga at only £12m and they also bid £32m for Merino.

TOTAL INCOME - £12.25m

--

PLAYERS IN

The main one came out of the blue. I was doing a random search and noticed a youngster that I hadn't seen before and when I clicked on him he became a must have. Gustavo Perdomo came in from Villarreal for £3.5m. The 16y/o is a RB and can play at LB and he looks like a perfect fit for us as he is very quick and has excellent mental abilities for someone so young.
View attachment 60712

I needed a backup keeper and brought in an old FM favourite Stephane Ruffier from Saint-Etienne for £1.8m. Another player came in from France as Yuri has returned to the club from Paris Saint-Germain on loan. I could have signed him for £13m but at 30y/o, with Darko Garcia coming through and his contract expiring at the end of the season I thought a loan deal was best.
View attachment 60711View attachment 60710

Finally I paid Rayo Vallecano £1.4m for this regen - Aitor Sanz - and I also bought a new keeper for my B team for £475,000.
View attachment 60709

TOTAL SPENT - £10.75m

--

FIRST TEAM

In comes a 16y/o and a 15y/o into the starting XI!!!!! Gustavo Perdomo replaces De Marcos at RB and Txiomin Martinez will start the season as Merino's partner in CM. That means at the time of writing my first XI's ages are......25, 16, 26, 29, 30, 24, 15, 26, 19, 27 and 18!!!! That means that the average age of my 1st XI is just 23y/o.

Lets see how it goes. The transfer window is still open and there may be a bit of movement on our side.
​

 

[Klippybo]

right stadium wrong date lol

AUGUST

Spanish Super Cup Final 1st Leg
v

​​Barcelona 1 (Coutinho 73)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Goni 87)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez*, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar (Goni)

A great result with a vital away goal. Laporte got injured in stoppage time though and is out for a few weeks.

--

Spanish Super Cup Final 2nd Leg

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Inigo Martinez 34, Muniain 94)
Barcelona 1 (Messi 87)
(AET - Agg: 3-2)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (De Marcos), Nunez, Inigo Martinez*, Yuri, Merino, Martinez (Armillas), Williams, Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

We win the Super Cup!!!! We were excellent here and should have held on to the win in normal time. In extra-time they had a man sent-off which helped!

--

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iribar 26, De Marcos 55, Martinez 89)
Deportivo La Coruna 2 (Sotiriou 21, Borges 24)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Nunez, Inigo Martinez, Yuri (Darko Garcia), Merino, Martinez, Aketxe, Iribarren (De Marcos), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar

What an exciting opener to the league season!!! We fell 2 behind but quickly pulled one back and deservedly levelled through De Marcos and it looked like it was going to end in a draw but 15y/o Txiomin Martinez struck his first goal for us at the death to give us the points.

--

v

​​Barcelona 0
Athletic Bilbao 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Nunez (Sanchez), Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams (De Marcos), Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar

Barcelona cant beat us now!!! They had 15 shots to our 2 and they had a goal disallowed but we come away with a point.

--

SUMMARY

A very good start to the season as we claim the Spanish Super Cup by defeating Barcelona over 2 legs and we also managed to start the league campaign pretty well too as we had a comeback victory over Deportivo before drawing against Barcelona. We are now unbeaten in our last 5 games against Barca!!!

In the Champions League we have been drawn against Arsenal, Ajax and FC Basel.

As for the transfer window I brought in two youngsters. A player on loan from Sevilla to give him Basque nationality and a youngster from Osasuna who my DoF liked.
View attachment 60621View attachment 60620

Somewhat controversially I decided to sell 2 stalwarts in CM. Ander Iturraspe has left to join Real Betis for an initial £2.9m. He made 88 appearances for me and scored 11 goals and did pretty well but at 31 and with a host of talented young CMs at the club I decided to let him go - he was also on a big wage.

Mikel Vesga has also left to join Valencia for an initial £7.75m which could rise to £10m. Vesga (78 apps, 13 goals) was never a regular for me but always came into the side and performed when called upon. I was happy to keep him but the deal was just too good to turn down.

That leaves me with Merino, Martinez, Armillas and Zerhouni for CM while Aketxe can play there pretty easily too.

Here is an overview of the leading La Liga transfers.
View attachment 60617

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
INIGO MARTINEZ
View attachment 60619

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LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 60618
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​

 

[Klippybo]

SEPTEMBER

​​

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Muniain 20, Williams 24, Iribar 47)
Sporting Gijon 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

Nice and easy. They never stood a chance as we just overpowered them.

--

UEFA Champions League Group H

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Goni 1, Aketxe 62)
FC Basel 1 (van Wolfswinkel 57)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, De Marcos, Nunez (Galarza), Sanchez, Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni (Naveira), Zarraga, Aketxe*, Cordoba, Goni

Zarraga - who featured in the 1st team in my 1st season (maybe the 2nd) has been starring for the B team during my time here came in from the dark to play here. He, along with Naveira, could actually get called up but they don't have player faces and that annoys me lol.

Josue Sanchez made his debut for me here while Darko Garcia made his first start.

--

v

​​Real Betis 0
Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iribarren 8, 10, Merino 12)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez (Zerhouni), Williams, Iribarren*, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

After 12min we were 3up and it was looking like a 6 or 7 goal victory. Not so. Hey ho.

--

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Martinez 13, Iribar 16, Iribarren 18)
Granada 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams (De Marcos), Iribarren*, Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar

Now this is a nice growing trend - score 3 goals in the 1st 20min. What is not nice is that we just plod along for the next 70min!!

--

v

​​Levante 1 (Sallai 18)
Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iribar 50, Williams 59, 63)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez (Nunez), Yuri, Merino, Martinez (Armillas), Williams*, Iribarren, Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar

That's 6 games played in the league now and we have scored 3 goals in 5 of them!

--

UEFA Champions League Group H
v

​​Ajax 0
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Williams 24)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte (Nunez), Inigo Martinez, Yuri*, Merino, Martinez, Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

A decent win. What is important about group stage victories is that you get £1.3m with each victory and we are paying back the loan for the new stadium at £775,000 a month so basically our Champions League results pay for the stadium!!!

--

SUMMARY

We had an excellent month. My young side won every match and everyone pretty comfortably tbh especially in the league where a couple of times we have raced to a 3 goal lead in the first 20min and then took our foot off the pedal.

Happy times at the moment - a susccessful side, loads of youngsters, playing good football - whats not to like?

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
INAKI WILLIAMS
View attachment 60506
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LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 60505
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--

SPAIN

Friendly

v

​​Spain 3 (Diego Costa 75, 81, Isco 90)
Russia 1 (Kanunnikov 6)

Lineup - De Gea (Arrizabalaga), Bellerin, Nacho (Inigo Martinez), Azpilicueta, Alba (Moreno), Roberto*, Soler, Williams (Suso), Thiago (Isco), Asensio, Morata (Diego Costa)

Not a bad start. I gave Arrizabalaga and Soler their international debuts here. My Spain squad has plenty of AMCs but not many wingers so I may do the unthinkable and change my tactics to accommodate!

--

UEFA Nations League Division A Group 2

v

​​Spain 1 (Isco 57pen)
Bosnia & Herzegovina 0

Lineup - De Gea, Bellerin, Nacho, Azpilicueta, Alba, Roberto (Saul), Koke, Williams, Isco (Suso), Asensio*, Diego Costa (Morata)

We had enough chances and enough shots to win by 6 or 7 but in the end it took a penalty for us to get the win.

​

 

[Klippybo]

OCTOBER

​​v

​​Alaves 0
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Iribarren 49)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino (Zerhouni), Martinez (Armillas), Aketxe, Iribarren*, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

Alaves have Danny Welbeck on loan from Arsenal. That's all I have to say lol.

--

v

​​Leganes 0
Athletic Bilbao 4 (Aketxe 31, 56, 89, Iribar 66)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, De Marcos, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri (Darko Garcia), Merino, Martinez (Armillas), Aketxe*, Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

An amazing performance from Ager Aketxe won us this match. Every time he comes in he performs and today he played RW as an inside forward and he took his goals really well.

--

UEFA Champions League Group H
v

​​Arsenal 2 (Lacazette 26, Sabitzer 71)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Aketxe 58)
Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino (Zerhouni), Martinez, Aketxe, Iribarren (Armillas), Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

Disappointing - especially since we had an Iribarren goal disallowed when we were 1-0 down.

--

v

​​Villarreal 1 (Diousse 10)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 36)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez (Armillas), Aketxe, De Marcos (Cordoba), Muniain*, Iribar (Goni)

A decent scoreline. We fell behind but Muniain scored a great goal to bring us level and then the game petered out into a draw. Merino got sent-off late on for us.

--

Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg

v

Real Irun 1 (Jauregi 47)
Athletic Bilbao 4 (Aketxe 37, Cordoba 42, 54, Zerhouni 68)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, De Marcos, Nunez, Sanchez, Darko Garcia, Zerhouni, Armillas, Alvarez de Lara (Munoz), Aketxe (Calvo), Cordoba*, Goni (Jimenez)

Out came the backups and they won convincingly. I just realised that Munoz is just ahead of Alvarez de Lara as my RW prospect and should've started him. Oh well lol.

--

SUMMARY

We keep on going on this month although we did draw against Villarreal and lose to Arsenal but overall all is good. In the league it seems that both us and Real Madrid have broken away at the top of the league. Our next opponents? Real Madrid!!!!

In the cups we are doing ok in the Champions League and in the Copa del Rey my young side thumped Real Irun in the 1st leg.

Everything is just going great. We will keep on keeping on!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
AGER AKETXE
View attachment 60488
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LEAGUE TABLE
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SPAIN

UEFA Nations League Division A Group 2

v

​​Italy 0
Spain 1 (Asensio 55)

Lineup - De Gea, Bellerin, Nacho, Azpilicueta, Alba, Roberto (Merino), Koke (Soler), Thiago (Mata), Iribarren, Asensio, Morata

A fantastic performance. I decided to play with 3 AMCs instead of 1 and 2 wingers and I went counter attack too and it worked perfectly. I gave Merino and Iribarren their international debuts here.

--

Friendly

v

​​Romania 1 (Coman 31)
Spain 1 (Iribarren 37)

Lineup - De Gea (Raya), Carvajal, Nacho (Bartra), Azpilicueta (Inigo Martinez), Moreno, Soler (Rodri), Merino, Mata, Iribarren*, Suso (Suarez), Diego Costa

We should have thumped them tbh as we had plenty of chances but it was not to be. Iribarren starred though! David Raya made his debut here.

​

 

[Urtzi]

Loving this story! Some great youngsters coming through too. Are you never tempted to go back to fm12 and play with Aitor again?

 

[Klippybo]

Absolutely stunning.


NOVEMBER

​​

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 2 (Kane 16, Luan 31)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez (Nunez), Yuri, Zerhouni, Martinez, Williams, Iribarren, Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar (Goni)

Disappointing. Real open up a 5pt gap ahead of us in the league with this one. Muniain and Nunez both got injured.

--

UEFA Champions League Group H

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 5 (Williams 9, Martinez 19, Inigo Martinez 24, Iribar 28, 79)
Arsenal 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (De Marcos), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino (Armillas), Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren (Aketxe), Cordoba, Iribar

Quite possibly the best performance under my management so far. W e destroyed a strong Arsenal side here and Williams was immense as he scored the opener and got 3 assists.

At 16 years and 79 days Txiomin Martinez is the Champions League youngest ever goalscorer.

--

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 5 (Williams 14, Iribar 21, 43, Cordoba 33, 52)
Espanyol 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte (Sanchez), Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Armillas, Williams, Iribarren, Cordoba*, Iribar

My team talk was just carry on where you left off the last match and that's exactly what they did as we thump Espanyol 5-0. Some of our goals were beautiful team goals.

--

v

​​Real Zaragoza 1 (De Tomas 54)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Cordoba 45, Goni 62)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte (Nunez), Inigo Martinez, Yuri*, Merino, Martinez, Williams (De Marcos), Aketxe, Cordoba, Iribar (Goni)

We go top of the table as Real Madrid have lost both of their games since they beat us.

--

UEFA Champions League Group H
v

​​FC Basel 1 (Campo 54)
Athletic Bilbao 4 (Munoz 23, Aketxe 34pen, Goni 46, 82)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, De Marcos (David Garcia), Nunez, Galarza, Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni (I.Garcia), Munoz, Aketxe (Calvo), Cordoba, Goni*

My backups were amazing here and my 3 Garcia's all got a performance. David and Darko have big futures ahead of them (David was out injured for 6 months) while Inigo looks good but plays as a DM and that doesn't fit into my formation.

--

v

​​Eibar 1 (Kadioglu 60)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Aketxe 55, Iribar 57)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (De Marcos), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez (Armillas), Williams*, Aketxe, Cordoba (Muniain), Iribar

--

SUMMARY

Apart from the defeat to Real Madrid this was a perfect month. Fortunately for us Real have slipped up a bit so we are top of the table, 3pts ahead of Valencia and Real. If we can kick on then we have an opportunity to build up a decent lead.

We have qualified from our Champions League group stage and a draw against Ajax will see us through as group winners. Our 5-0 win against Arsenal was sublime and showed that on our day we can blow anyone away.

During the month (inbetween international games) Belgium offered me their managers job and while it would always be tempting I have the holy grail by being Spain manager.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
INAKI WILLIAMS
View attachment 60426
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LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 60425
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--

SPAIN

UEFA Nations League Division A Group 2
v

​​Bosnia & Herzegovina 1 (Dzeko 74)
Spain 2 (Isco 57pen, Suso 71)

Lineup - De Gea, Bellerin, Inigo Martinez, Azpilicueta, Alba, Roberto, Merino, Isco, Iribarren (Thiago), Asensio (Suso), Diego Costa (Williams)

This win secures qualification for the next round as Italy somehow lost to Bosnia earlier in the group.

--

UEFA Nations League Division A Group 2

v

​​Spain 4 (Morata 64, 69, 89pen, 90)
Italy 1 (Belotti 7)

Lineup - De Gea, Carvajal, Bartra, Azpilicueta, Alba (Odriozola), Koke, Soler (Williams), Thiago, Iribarren (Suso), Asensio, Morata*

WOW!!!! This game was a dead rubber but we still remained professional and thumped Italy. Morata was unbelievable as he scored all 4 goals and I gave Real Sociedad RB Ordiozola a debut here as Bellerin go injured in the last match while Iribarren picked up a knock here.

​

 

[Klippybo]

Loving this story! Some great youngsters coming through too. Are you never tempted to go back to fm12 and play with Aitor again?

I did it once before for a wee while. Might revisit it sometime.

I actually have a games simulator and have CM 97/98 and a few others and I am tempted to do my next story with that if there is interest.

 

[Klippybo]

DECEMBER


​​

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 43, Carrico og55)
Sevilla 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams, Iribarren*, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

A decent performance and result. Even better - Real and Valencia both lost!!!! Atletico Madrid are 2nd behind us now - 4pts behind us.

--

UEFA Champions League Group H

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Cordoba 15, Aketxe 60pen)
Ajax 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, De Marcos, Nunez (Galarza), Sanchez (David Garcia), Darko Garcia, Zerhouni, Armillas, Williams*, Aketxe, Cordoba, Goni (Jimenez)

A decent end to the group stage as my backups and youngsters defeat Ajax. Hopefully we will get a kind draw.

--

v

​​Celta Vigo 0
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Cordoba 85)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Armillas, Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar (Goni)

This game was looking like it was heading for a boring draw but Cordoba struck with a ferocious effort to win us the match.

--

Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg

v

​​Athletic Bilbao 7 (Goni 7, 38, 51pen, 54, Zerhouni 17, 74, Corodba 60)
Real Irun 2 (Escriche 71, Tanis 85)
(Agg: 11-3)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, De Marcos, Nunez (Galarza), Sanchez (David Garcia), Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni, Munoz, Aketxe (Calvo), Cordoba, Goni*

We demolish Real Irun here as Jesus Goni netted 4 times to take his tally for the season up to 9. All of my starting XI excelled here to be fair.

--

v

​​Real Sociedad 1 (Babic 13)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 49, Martinez 86)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez*, Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar (Goni)

We weren't at the races here for a while and were awful in the 1st half and we were 1 down but in the 2nd half Txiomin Martinez won us the match as the 16y/o set up Williams' equaliser and scored a fantastic late winner.

I think we have won every derby so far!

--

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Williams 21, Muniain 33, Iribar 38)
Valencia 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez (Nunez), Yuri, Merino (Armillas), Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar

--

SUMMARY

Everyone's a winner baby!!!! What an excellent December we had as we won every match and against some tough opponents too. We have a great 6pt lead at the top of the table and with the way that we are playing I honestly cant see us throwing it away tbh.

We did have some close games this month but we did defeat Sevilla and Valencia comfortably and had a comeback victory over our bitter rivals Real Sociedad.

In the cups we have been given 2 favourable draws - Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey and Celtic in the Champions League.

Finally it was a great month for Jon Ander Iribarren as the wonderkid signed a new contract and was named as the European Golden Boy!!!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
INAKI WILLIAMS
View attachment 60366
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LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 60365
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[Klippybo]

JANUARY

v
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Muniain 1, Martinez 7)
Girona 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri*, Merino (Armillas), Martinez, Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

To be 2up after 7min and not score anymore is pretty annoying but its another 3pts on to our tally.

--

Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg

v
Athletic Bilbao 4 (Iribar 30, 38, Blanco og58, Muniain 71)
Celta Vigo 2 (Chochev 68, 80)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino*, Martinez, Williams (Aketxe), Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

A decent victory although the 2 away goals is an annoyance. Iribar got injured and is out for 6 weeks - our busiest 6 weeks of the season!

--

v

Atletico Madrid 1 (Saul 30)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Martinez 61, Savic og84)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez (Armillas), Williams, Iribarren, Muniain (Cordoba), Goni (Jimenez)

Just give us the title now. Atletico were the better team and we were struggling but somehow we turned it around. Martinez scored a fine equaliser before Merino's shot was deflected in by Stefan Savic and we are now 12pts ahead of Atletico who are in 3rd.

--

Copa del Rey 5th Round 2nd Leg
v

Celta Vigo 1 (Gomez 64)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Dendoncker og55)
(Agg: 3-5)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, De Marcos, Nunez (David Garcia), Sanchez, Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni, Munoz (Calvo), Aketxe, Cordoba, Goni (Jimenez)

I decided that we had enough of a lead to rest my first XI here and my backups did OK. They were the better side, even though they had a man sent-off in the 1st half, but we managed to see it through.

--

v

Deportivo La Coruna 0
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Muniain 3, 42)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri (Nunez), Merino, Martinez, Williams (Aketxe), Iribarren, Muniain*, Goni (Jimenez)

--

Copa del Rey Quarter-Final 1st Leg
v

​​Real Madrid 5 (Vazquez 24, Ronaldo 28, 43, 56, Luan 40)
Athletic Bilbao 3 (Williams 20, 81, Goni 76)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri (De Marcos), Merino (Armillas), Martinez (Zerhouni), Williams, Iribarren, Cordoba, Goni

We have never got past the QF stage so far and it looks very unlikely that that will change here. We do have 3 away goals though!

--

v

​​Sporting Gijon 1 (Bautista 18)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Goni 39, Iribarren 41)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (De Marcos), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams (Aketxe), Iribarren, Muniain, Goni (Jimenez)

Iribarren, while playing well isn't scoring as much as last season so it was nice to see him on the scoresheet here.

--

Copa del Rey Quarter-Final 2nd Leg

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Goni 23, Aketxe 54pen)
Real Madrid 1 (Kane 58)
(Agg: 5-6)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (De Marcos), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri (Darko Garcia), Merino, Armillas (Zerhouni), Williams, Aketxe, Muniain, Goni

Yet again we fail at the QF stage as Real just sneak past us here. The only consolation is that this is actually the first time that we have defeated Real Madrid.

--

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 0
Barcelona 1 (Coutinho 41)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri*, Merino, Martinez, Williams, Aketxe (Prieto), Muniain (Cordoba), Goni (Jimenez)

Barcelona are nowhere to be seen at the top this season and came into the game in 7th place. We were the better side here but just couldn't score. Disappointing.

--

SUMMARY

As ever January was both hectic and chaotic and there were a few dramas thrown into the mix for good measure but I am happy with the way things turned out although in the Copa del Rey we once again lost out in the Quarter-Finals.

On the field we are still sitting pretty at the top of the table although we did just lose to Barcelona which ended our 11 game win streak in the league. We have a 10pt lead at the top of the table so the title should be in the bag.

Now for what was happening regarding transfers. I almost lost one of my prospects in Jesus Goni. I never realised he only had a release clause of £3m and both Espanyol and Atletico Madrid bid that but fortunately I managed to get him to sign a new deal so he stays.

Josue Sanchez finally signed a new deal while I am trying to get Unai Nunez to extend his stay too.

I actually spent nearly £10m in the January window. £5.25m was spent on Juan Luis Prieto. I had him on my shortlist for a while and always considered a bid but when Real Madrid matched his release clause I decided to make a move and fortunately he agreed to join us and he will be part of my 1st team squad.
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I then paid the £4.1m release clause to get Marcos Alvarez de Lara from Sevilla. The 16y/o was on loan earlier in the season and he looks a player and will be in the U19 squad. I then bought 2 other regens for a pittance.
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
IKER MUNIAIN
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LEAGUE TABLE
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[bcfc1]

Its always good to read a bilbao story. Yours has made me go back to my own save with bilbao and carry on with it. I've got a couple of decent youngsters come through but I've really struggled with the consistency. I beat Real Madrid 5-1 and then lost to Malaga 3-0 the week after. Do you have any recommendation on how to be more consistent? I play a pretty similar tactic to you but i drop one of the CM's into DM.

 

[Klippybo]

Its always good to read a bilbao story. Yours has made me go back to my own save with bilbao and carry on with it. I've got a couple of decent youngsters come through but I've really struggled with the consistency. I beat Real Madrid 5-1 and then lost to Malaga 3-0 the week after. Do you have any recommendation on how to be more consistent? I play a pretty similar tactic to you but i drop one of the CM's into DM.

Its hard to say really as when you manage Athletic it is ALWAYS different as you are relying entirely on the youth intake of your side and who you can nab off other teams intake.

I was consistent against the big sides for the 1st three years but only by losing every time against them!!! In all my years of managing Athletic I find that if you can constantly beat the dross, over time you will be able to match the big 3.

As for tactics I have mine but as I said it depends entirely on your regens and the positions they play tbh. That said I stick to a 4-2-3-1 wide formation

 

[Klippybo]

FEBRUARY

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Williams 2, 53, Muniain 75)
Real Betis 1 (Goncalves 45)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (De Marcos), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren, Muniain, Goni (Cordoba)

Back to winning ways and Williams was immense as he scored twice and set up the other. Iribarren got 2 assists too.

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v

​​Granada 1 (Espinosa 67)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Goni 10, Martinez 80)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino (Armillas), Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain, Goni (Iribar)

Goni's goal takes him up to 13 for the season which is level with both Iribar and Williams at the top of our scorer charts. Iribar made his return from injury though.

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v

​​Alaves 1 (Welbeck 34)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Merino 5pen, 58pen)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino*, Martinez, Williams (Aketxe), Iribarren (Armillas), Muniain, Goni (Iribar)

Yes we won but we weren't great and had to rely on two penalties to get the win. Danny Welbeck scored against us again - he is doing well in La Liga.

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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg
v

​​Celtic 2 (Vizeu 29, Fraser 90)
Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iribar 22, 64, Muniain 87)

Lineup -Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (De Marcos), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez (Armillas), Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain*, Iribar

Decent. Iribar returned to the starting lineup and scored twice as we just edged out Celtic. I don't expect us to **** up the 2nd leg but having said that they proved to be stiffer competition here than I expected.

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v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Martinez 19, Merino 40, Zerhouni 62)
Levante 1 (Doukoure 90)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino*, Martinez, Williams (Zerhouni), Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

Our first 2 goals here were things of beauty as Martinez (who I am absolutely loving btw) struck a 1st time volley from 20 yards before Merino struck from long range for the 2nd. Zerhouni came off the bench and finished tidily for the clincher.

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SUMMARY

5 games, 5 wins not much else to say really. We just keep chugging along and I have to say my youngsters are doing great. Txomin Martinez, at 16, has been immense and has scored a few goals - even more than Iribarren who plays further forward.

That being said the likes of Williams, Merino and Muniain also starred this month and that is the key to our success I think - we have 4 or 5 players in the attacking half who are controlling each and every game.

Youth intake next month!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MIKEL MERINO
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LEAGUE TABLE
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[Klippybo]

MARCH


​​

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Muniain 21, Laporte 62pen, Martinez 75)
Leganes 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri (Nunez), Merino (Zerhouni),
Martinez*, Aketxe (De Marcos), Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar

I had 4 players taken off injured here - Iribarren (3 weeks), Yuri (4 weeks), Aketxe (1 week) and Merino (a few days) - yet we still won comfortably. Martinez starred yet again.

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v

​​Real Madrid 1 (Kane 90)
Athletic Bilbao 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Darko Garcia, Zerhouni, M.Alvarez de Lara (Calvo), Williams, Prieto, Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar

I will accept this result - despite the lateness of their winner - as we had half a team out there as we started with 6 teenagers and another came off the bench.

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v
​​Athletic Bilbao 1 (Goni 90)
Villarreal 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez (Sanchez), Darko Garcia, Merino (Zerhouni), Martinez, Williams*, Prieto, Muniain, Iribar (Goni)

We left it late here as Goni struck in stoppage time to win us the game. They had a man sent-off with 10min left which helped a bit.

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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 61, De Marcos 88)
Celtic 0
(Agg: 5-2)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Darko Garcia, Merino, Martinez, Williams, Aketxe (Cordoba), Muniain (De Marcos*), Iribar (Goni)

Nice and easy. De Marcos came off the bench and scored a worldie - I have agreed to sell him in the summer for a few million so this could be his last goal for us.

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v

​​Espanyol 2 (Velazquez 22, Dani Olmo 74)
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Iribar 28, Aketxe 64)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez (Sanchez), Darko Garcia, Merino*, Martinez (De Marcos), Aketxe, Prieto, Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar

Just as well we have built up a sizeable lead at the top as injuries are beginning to cripple us but we got a point which is decent I suppose.

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SUMMARY

This month was fantastic. Maybe not so great on the pitch as we had a few patchy results but off the field we had a fantastic youth intake but more on that later.

In the league we lost to Real Madrid and drew with Espanyol but we are still sitting pretty at the top of the table and have a lead of 10pts although Real have a game in hand. In the Champions League we knocked out Celtic and have a kind draw in the quarter finals as we will face FC Porto.

Now for the youth intake. I got 4 cracking players - 2 goalkeepers, a RB and a striker. Firstly the two keepers look like great prospects and what I think I will do is have one as a backup keeper and the other can work his way through the ranks and play in the B team.
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The RB I am delighted with and he is straight into the first team squad. Joseba Elustondo is valued at £5.5m incredibly and all of a sudden Perdomo at RB has a battle for his place in the team. He has arrived at the perfect time as I needed a RB to replace De Marcos when he leaves in the summer.
View attachment 60104

Finally I got a decent looking striker so hopefully he can develop and challenge Goni and Iribar.
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
TXOMIN MARTINEZ
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LEAGUE TABLE
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SPAIN

FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 6

v

​​Spain 2 (Roberto 21, 34)
Bosnia & Herzegovina 0

Lineup - De Gea, Bellerin, Inigo Martinez (Rodri), Azpilicueta, Alba, Roberto* (Thiago), Merino, Isco, Iribarren (Suso), Asensio, Luis Alberto

Both Morata and Diego Costa had minor knocks so Luis Alberto came in to make his international debut.

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FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 6

v

​​Iceland 0
Spain 3 (Diego Costa 4, Iribarren 54, Inigo Martinez 65)

Lineup - De Gea, Bellerin (Carvajal), Inigo Martinez*, Azpilicueta, Moreno, Koke, Soler, Isco (Suso), Iribarren, Thiago (Luis Alberto), Diego Costa
​

 

[Klippybo]

APRIL

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iribar 7, 41, 61)
Eibar 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (Elustondo), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Zerhouni, Williams (Aketxe), Iribarren, Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar*

This is one of 3 home games in a row that will hopefully all but seal the title. Iribar was immense and he scored with 3 fine finishes. Elustondo made his debut here.

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v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Iribar 44, Cordoba 88)
Real Zaragoza 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (Elustondo), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar

This win secures Champions League football for next season - not that it was in doubt. Zaragoza had a man sent-off in the 1st half.

--

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 1 (Cordoba 15)
Celta Vigo 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Elustondo, Nunez, Sanchez, Darko Garcia, Zerhouni, M. Alvarez de Lara, Aketxe (Munoz), Prieto (Calvo), Cordoba*, Goni (Jimenez)

With the league title all but secured I rested my first XI for the upcoming Champions League match and it just paid off as we sneak a 1-0 win. I started with 7 teenagers and had 3 more come off the bench.

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UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg
​​

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 8 (Iribar 9, 37, 59, Iribarren 27, Laporte 48, Williams 56, 68, Martinez 89)
FC Porto 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren, Muniain, Iribar

Truly stunning. The complete performance and every single player was amazing as we put 8 goals past Porto. I can now play my youngsters in the 2nd leg as we will be in the semis now.

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v

​​Sevilla 1 (Rodriguez 89)
Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iribar 45, 60, 85)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino (Zerhouni), Martinez, Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar*

Another hat-trick for Andoni Iribar - his 3rd of the month - as we get another great result.

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UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg
v

​​FC Porto 1 (Aboubakar 49)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Armillas 36)
(Agg: 1-9)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Elustondo, Nunez (David Garcia), Sanchez, Darko Garcia, Zerhouni, Armillas*, Aketxe, De Marcos (Calvo), Cordoba, Goni (Galan)

I a pleased that we didn't get beat but I wouldn't have really cared if we lost tbh as we had such a huge lead this game was a dead rubber.

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SUMMARY

The good times just keep on coming as we keep on winning. That's not hard when you have a striker who scores a hat-trick 3 times. Andoni Iribar shone as he scored 10 goals during the month. The highlight of the month undoubtedly was the 8-0 thrashing of FC Porto in the Champions League and that put us into the semis where we will face Arsenal - a side who we have already thumped 5-0 this season.

If we win our next league game and Real don't then we win the title.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ANDONI IRIBAR
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LEAGUE TABLE
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[Klippybo]

MAY

​​v

Valencia 0
Athletic Bilbao 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Elustondo, Nunez (David Garcia), Sanchez*, Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni, Aketxe (De Marcos), Prieto, Cordoba, Goni (Galan)

CHAMPIONS!!!!!

I decided to rest my players for the upcoming Champions League match and we grinded out a draw which was enough for us to claim the title as Atletico Madrid thrashed Real Madrid 5-0 in their derby match.

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UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg

v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iribar 4, Williams 7, Martinez 35)
Arsenal 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo (Elustondo), Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino (Armillas), Martinez, Williams*, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain, Iribar

We are in control of our own destiny now as we have a healthy advantage to take into the 2nd leg. I am still absolutely loving Txomin Martinez and he got his 11th of the season here.

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v
​​Athletic Bilbao 2 (Cordoba 20, Nunez 90)
Real Sociedad 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Elustondo, Nunez*, Sanchez (Galarza), Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni, Aketxe (Munoz), Prieto, Cordoba, Goni (Jimenez)

Sociedad wont ever get a better chance to get a derby win against us as my youngsters got another run out here and we still managed to beat them fairly easily.

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UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg
v

​​Arsenal 1 (Mkhitaryan 20)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Merino 6)(Agg: 1-4)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino, Martinez, Williams, Iribarren (Aketxe), Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar (Goni)

We reach the final with a professional performance here. In the final we will face the holders, Liverpool, who defeated Atletico Madrid.

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v

​​Girona 1 (Garre 11)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Axetxe 28)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Elustondo, Nunez, Sanchez (Galarza), Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni, Aketxe, Prieto (Calvo), Cordoba, Goni (Galan)

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v
​​Athletic Bilbao 3 (Cordoba 13, Goni 60, Prieto 69)
Atletico Madrid 0

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Elustondo (De Marcos), Nunez, Sanchez, Darko Garcia, Armillas, Zerhouni, Aketxe (M. Alvarez de Lara), Prieto*, Cordoba, Goni (Galan)

What a way to end the season as my youngsters thump a strong Atletico Madrid side. Prieto has been pretty average so far but he was immense here.

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UEFA Champions League Final
v

​​Liverpool 1 (Dembele 90)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Cordoba 87)
(AET Athletic Bilbao win 4-3 on penalties)

Lineup - Arrizabalaga, Perdomo, Laporte, Inigo Martinez, Yuri, Merino (Armillas), Martinez, Williams, Iribarren, Muniain (Cordoba), Iribar (Goni)

CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!!!!

We manage to win the Champions League in a nervy final. There was nothing much to choose between the two sides but Kieran Tierney got sent-off for them with 10min left and then we took the lead with a couple of minutes to go through Cordoba but criminally we allowed them to level in stoppage time.

Extra-time was a non event but in the penalty shoot-out we came through in sudden death and Yuri, who I am considering whether to sign him permanently or not, scored the winning penalty.

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SUMMARY

European Champions - and La Liga winners. Not a bad way to end the season!!!!

My backups/youngsters saw us through in the league campaign, culminating in a fantastic 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid which rounded off the season brilliantly but the main focus was on Europe.

We easily defeated Arsenal 3-0 to have one foot in the final and after seeing the job through we faced the holders Liverpool and came out on top in a nervy final to claim the trophy on penalties.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
INIGO CORDOBA
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[bcfc1]

That young RB looks incredible. To be have those stats, especially the mental stats at such a young age I've never seen before. He will surely develop to be a world class player. I'll be hoping to get someone like that in my next youth intake as I still have De Marcos playing there.

 

[ninjaskill]

Great work winning the CL, surely you have to buy Yuri now even if just because he scored the CL winning penalty

 

[Klippybo]

END OF SEASON POST

What a season that was! We retained the title which was our primary goal, claimed the Super Cup and for the first time won the UEFA Champions League. My team of young kids excelled and performed above expectation and then towards the end of the season the youth intake gave me another future star which was a delightful surprise.

The Champions League campaign was the highlight obviously and we got some outstanding results like an 8-0 win over Porto and a 5-0 thumping of Arsenal. To be honest we had an easy group and favourable ties right up to the final so it could have been a lot tougher but Liverpool were the holders and we edged them out.

However there was one major disappointment - our Copa del Rey performance as yet again we were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Next season I want to at least reach the semis!!!!

Next season we will have an expanded stadium, our young stars will have developed a bit more and the club will be financially far better off (not that we are poor) so we can really kick on and be a force.

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FINAL LEAGUE TABLE
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Once we got ahead we never looked back as we had a 10pt or so gap lead for half the season. For the final few games of the season I was able to play my young prospects and they did great too.

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FIRST TEAM SQUAD
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Hard to find a disappointment here. On the other hand there were several standouts. Txomin Martinez is going to be world class and is yet to turn 17 and he got into double figures from CM which was great. Merino was also superb while Inaki Williams probably had his best season for me. Iribar and Goni banged in the goals up front so everything was dandy!!

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OTHER STUFF
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B TEAM & U19s

The B team struggled in La Liga 2 and although they were never really threatened with relegation they weren't really pulling up any trees. I have decided to give them a bit of a boost and signed a couple of players for them. I will also do a bit of a clear out and maybe promote a few of my U19s.

As for my U19s they somehow didn't win the league as Osasuna toppled them but they did win the domestic and European cups so it wasn't a complete nightmare of a season. Having said that half of my 1st team squad cpuld play for the U19s and they have Champions League medals!!!

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AIMS FOR PRE-SEASON

Sort out my B team squad and find a left back. Yuri is set to be released by PSG but at 31 I will see what his wage demands are. Darko Garcia deserves a lengthy run in the side so I will see how we go.

That's about it!!
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