Athletic Bilbao 4 (Martin 12, 42, Garrido 49, Filippov og80) Valencia 1 (Thauvin 45)
A very good win by my backups. Martin was amazing as he scored 2 and setup the other 2 goals.
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Athletic Bilbao 3 (Garrido 5pen, Lasa 15, Alfonso 70) Las Palmas 1 (Arias 75)
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Copa del Rey Final Real Madrid 1 (Allione 54) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Herrera 25, Griezmann 41, Muniain 44)
Our first half performance was a joy to behold and Real just couldnt cope with us in the first 45min and we just cruised the 2nd half.
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UEFA Champions League Final Chelsea 1 (Lukaku 68) Athletic Bilbao 2 (Iker 37pen, Alfonso 85)
WE RETAIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!
We should have won by a lot more as we ripped Chelsea to shreds (thanks to them playing a 40y/o John Terry lol) but Iker had an off day in front of goal. In the end Alfonso got the winner late on.
A good end to the season as we managed to get our hands on the Champions League and Copa del Rey thus meaning we have won every trophy that was possible for us this season.
The only thing left to find out is if my B team win the Liga Adelante again as they are battling it out with Mallorca.
End of season review post to follow.
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
UNAI ARROYO View attachment 379671
(NOBODY STOOD OUT SO A SHOUT OUT TO MY YOUNG KEEPER WHO PLAYED EVERY GAME THIS MONTH)
This season was fantastic as we won every single trophy that was available to us. In the league we were pretty much unstoppable as we only lost twice and scored 138 goals in the process (I would love to reach 150). We got some huge victories with the most notable being the 9-1 win over Getafe.
In the Copa del Rey we did well to win it as we overcame both Madrid sides and Barcelona to take the title while we beat Atletico Madrid on penalties to grab the Super Cup.
Continentally the Super Cup and Club World Cup was easy enough to win while in the Champions League we did extremely well as we went through the whole campaign unbeaten and took the trophy by beating Chelsea.
Player wise it was fantastic this year. Both of my keepers got plenty of games, Espericueta was great in his first season at the club while Griezmann had the best season of his career to date and the emergence of Martin was pleasing. Up front both Iker and Garrido excelled as we did not seem to miss the departed Llorente.
Finally my B side finished 2nd in the Liga Adelante unfortunately.
AWARDS WON
Spanish Player of the Year - Guillermo Spanish Player of the Year - T.Martin Liga BBVA Manager of the Year
Liga BBVA Player of the Year - I.Muniain Liga BBVA Top Goalscorer - Iker Liga BBVA Top Spanish Goalscorer - Iker Liga BBVA Team of the Year - C.Azpilicueta, Guillermo, I.Muniain, Iker FIFA World Player of the Year - A.Griezmann FIFA World Team of the Year - A.Laporte, A.Griezmann UEFA Best Player in Europe - A.Griezmann UEFA European Golden Boy - Guillermo UEFA European Golden Boot - Iker
A very quiet summer, so quiet in fact that I didnt even sign 1 player not for the first team, youth team or B team. It was all about departures and there was one major departure. All will be revealed.
Not much news otherwise!!!!
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PLAYERS IN
Nobody
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PLAYERS OUT
There was one biggie here as I sold Cesar Azpilicueta to Barcelona for 13m. He was about to turn 32y/o and I felt the time was right to cash in on my record signing. He made 255 appearances and scored 10 times.
Otherwise I sold several B team players. Berto went to Sevilla for 4.7m, Velasco to Hapoel Tel-Aviv for 2.5m, Imaz went to Osasuna for 1.9m, Sebas to Betis for 1.8m, Sesma to Sporting Gijon for 1m and Pablo joined Murcia for 275k.
Out on loan went Raul Galan to Mallorca and Patxi Nieto to Celta Vigo.
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SUMMARY
Promoted from the B team is Mikel Olaizola. He is a wonderkid and will be my new RB although if he disappoints Raul Alastuey will step in. Alex has been drafted in to take Raul Galan's place in the squad and hopefully he will develop and secure a first team squad place for the future.
Despite winning two trophies and coming out largely on top against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Arsenal I am livid with how things went this month. We were absolutely shocking and apart from the one game against Real we performed at maybe 30% of our capabilities - we couldnt score as Iker was pathetic, we didnt create enough chances and it was only due to our defense that we didnt lose games and even they didnt play to standard!!!
THINGS MUST IMPROVE!!!!!
In the Champions League we have been drawn in a fairly easy group alongside Arsenal, Roda JC and Academica.
B team player Jon Iribar left the club to join Barcelona for 3m.
Despite winning two trophies and coming out largely on top against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Arsenal I am livid with how things went this month. We were absolutely shocking and apart from the one game against Real we performed at maybe 30% of our capabilities - we couldnt score as Iker was pathetic, we didnt create enough chances and it was only due to our defense that we didnt lose games and even they didnt play to standard!!!
THINGS MUST IMPROVE!!!!!
In the Champions League we have been drawn in a fairly easy group alongside Arsenal, Roda JC and Academica.
B team player Jon Iribar left the club to join Barcelona for 3m.
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Mallorca 1 (Albert 9) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Guillermo 21, Garrido 47, Martinez og63)
Mallorca proved to be a tough test here but we managed to win despite having Laporte sent-off.
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Athletic Bilbao 4 (Alfonso 23, Muniain 44, Guillermo 77, Iker 86) Real Valladolid 3 (Okoro 34pen, 59, Arribas 88)
It seems our scoring touch has been refound but we are conceding a few too many. That said I was missing 3 defenders here!
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UEFA Champions League Group E Athletic Bilbao 2 (Iker 3, 71) Arsenal 1 (Titov 75)
A pleasing victory that sees us move 3pts clear at the top of the group.
This month was a bit better as we won every game including a tough fixture against Arsenal. My team overall is playing much better and while we are not at our devastating best we are getting towards that.
A narrow win despite dominating. Bragana, Soler and Asensio made their debuts here.
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FIFA World Cup Quals Group 5 Spain 4 (Muniain 13, Guillermo 32, Soler 53, Iker 60pen) Serbia 1 (Nikolic 74)
Lineup - De Gea, Montoya, Bartra, Inigo Martinez (Alastuey), Bernat, Soler* (Koke), Darder, Guillermo, Muniain, Isco (Thiago), Iker
A good win this - Iker even missed a penalty.
A fantastic derby victory. We got off to a nightmare start but battled back to win comfortably.
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UEFA Champions League Group E
Academica 0 Athletic Bilbao 2 (Martin 56, Rui Pedro og77)
My young backups did the job here and dominated throughout. We had a goal disallowed too.
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Malaga 2 (Borja Baston 26, P.Sarabia 28) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Griezmann 8, 90, A.Sarabia og34)
This match was very tough and Malaga didnt deserve to lose but Griezmann struck in injury time to get us the 3 points.
I felt sorry for Muniain here as he had his hat-trick goal disallowed moments before Iker bagged his hat-trick!
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Athletic Bilbao 3 (Martin 5, Alfonso 29, Bragana 90) Almeria 2 (Suarez 51, 68)
We almost threw away 2pts here but Bragana's late goal won us the match. Rubio had an early goal disallowed for us too.
Another month in which we win all of our games so I am pretty happy to be fair. By no means is my team at its best as my forward 4 arent quite functioning as well as they did last season. Iker is definately having a poor season.
For some reason in the draw for the Spanish Cup we did not get a lower league side as the teams that are in European competitions always do. We have got Liga BBVA side Real Valladolid instead of some minnow.
FIFA World Cup Quals Group 5 Lithuania 1 (Jazokas 46) Spain 5 (Abeledo 3, 53, 86, Isco 37, Jese 88)
Lineup - De Gea, Montoya, Bartra, Inigo Martinez, Bernat (Grimaldo), Koke, Darder, Abeledo*, Muniain (Jese), Isco, Iker (Simeone)
Ever since I have taken over my assistants have said to call up Newcastle winger Ignacio Abeledo and I have ignored them. My mistake!!!!
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FIFA World Cup Quals Group 5 Bulgaria 0 Spain 3 (Montoya 1, Inigo Martinez 6, Bernat 89)
Lineup - De Gea, Montoya, Bartra, Inigo Martinez*, Bernat, Koke, Isco, Abeledo (Suso), Muniain, Guillermo (Jese), Iker (Alcacer)
A good win to secure qualification.
UEFA Champions League Group E Athletic Bilbao 3 (Alfonso 23, Lasa 55, Cenzual 66) Academica 0
Jorge Cenzual was handed his debut here and he was the star of the show as he scored one and setup two.
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Gimnastic 3 (Blasco 9, 17, Halilovic 41) Athletic Bilbao 4 (Noblejas og38, Iker 39, Muniain 55, 65)
Gimnastic havent won a game all season so I was a bit stunned to find ourselves 2 down at one point. Muniain saved the day though.
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Atletico Madrid 0 Athletic Bilbao 2 (Park Hyeon-Jin og31, Laporte 59)
I am delighted with this win as I thought this would be our first defeat of the season. We played really well.
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UEFA Champions League Group E Athletic Bilbao 4 (Garrido 17pen, Alfonso 21, 68, Bragana 86) Roda JC 1 (Seifi 12)
My backups did very well here. Always pleasing for them to get a big win.
Another month goes by and it was another one where we won all of our fixtures thus making it 20 games in a row that we have won in all competitions. Next month will largely see my young backups getting a few games so it should be enjoyable.
I got a surprise this month when I noticed my transfer budget which is a whopping 338m!!!! Utterly pointless lol
Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg Real Valladolid 2 (Romera 41, 63) Athletic Bilbao 4 (Muniain 5, Guillermo 10, Romera og15, Garrido 85)
A decent enough win and should be a big enough cushion for me to field my backups in the 2nd leg. Iker had a goal chalked off.
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UEFA Champions League Group E Arsenal 2 (Berardi 35, 51) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Garrido 12, Martin 26, Jurado 89) I dont know how we managed to win this but win this we did.
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FIFA Club World Cup Semi-Final
Pohang Steelers 1 (Hong Kwang-Sub 71) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Lasa 21, 29, Garrido 45)
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FIFA Club World Cup Final Athletic Bilbao 3 (Alfonso 21, 67, Urdaniz 28) Santos Laguna 0
I was torn between playing Alfonso or Griezmann here and methinks I made the right choice.
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Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg Athletic Bilbao 2 (Alfonso 19, 31) Real Valladolid 0 (Athletic Bilbao win 6-2 on aggregate)
Alfonso once again starred here, as did Martin. Both are knocking on the door to being in my Spanish squad - they just need a regular run in the side.
Another month where we win every game and in doing so retained the FIFA Club World Cup. As ever my backups were out in force in the month in January and once again they did brilliantly.
In the Champions League we have been drawn against Borussia Dortmund.
Derby day joy as we thump our deadliest rivals in the Vasco derby - a fine way to kick-off the new year.
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Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg Real Betis 4 (Dongou 29, Odura 51, Armero 77, Gunnarsson 90pen) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Inigo Martinez 5, Iker 11pen, 36)
I am fuming at throwing this match and we better overhaul the deficit in the 2nd leg.
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Athletic Bilbao 3 (Guillermo 14, Griezmann 45, Iker 68pen) Valencia 2 (Vydra 47, 56)
A few times this season we have thrown away a 2 goal lead only to fight back to win. Maybe my players just switch off when it is too easy?
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Copa del Rey 5th Round 2nd Leg Athletic Bilbao 3 (Guillermo 23, Garrido 52, Sara og77) Real Betis 0 (Athletic Bilbao win 6-4 on aggregate)
REVENGE!!! Bad news came as Espericueta got injured and is out for 3 months. This is the time for Urdaniz to step up to the plate.
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Barcelona 2 (Neymar 34, Niang 87) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Garrido 31)
Our first defeat of the season but it is understandable considering the amount of players I was missing.
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Copa del Rey QF 1st Leg Eibar 0 Athletic Bilbao 5 (Alfonso 26, 69, Martin 45, Lasa 49, Ruben 90)
Eibar somehow got to this stage despite being in a division lower than my B team. Alfonso was amazing and either scored or setup all 5 goals.
Mostly this month was good but we did lose 2 games - away to Real Betis in the cup and to Barcelona in the league. Other than that we did pretty good. My young backups also got a few games and as ever they slotted in brialliantly.
Guillermo was too old to reclaim his European Golden Boy award while Griezmann came 2nd in the World awards.
Copa del Rey SF 1st Leg Athletic Bilbao 3 (Muniain 1, Urdaniz 11, Iker 32pen) Sevilla 3 (Berto 9, 36, Gil 30)
This was very annoying especially since it was a player who I discarded last season, Berto, who did the damage.
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Lasa 90) Real Madrid 0
WHAT A WIN!!!!
We were missing several players here and I even mistakenly played Alfonso on the LW but somehow we still managed to grind out a win thanks to supersub Lasa's last minute goal.
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Athletic Bilbao 5 (Bragana 7, Griezmann 11, Alfonso 33, 60, Iker 66) Mallorca 1 (Matias 55)
Another masterclass from Griezmann here............... Guillermo got injured and is out for 6 or 7 weeks.
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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg Borussia Dortmund 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Iker 16)
I am over the moon with this victory. My players were tired and they peppered our goal but Arroyo was in superb form. They have an amazing Brazilian regen called Emil Highlander - almost as good as Aitor!
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Real Valladolid 1 (Seferovic 45) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iker 36, Griezmann 40, 42)
My players need a rest so to win so convincingly is a nice bonus.
This was a successful month as we enhanced our lead at the top of the league, made it to the Copa del Rey final and have a slight advantage in our Champions League tie against Dortmund.
We have suffered a few injuries recently but I dont mind that as it gives the likes of Alfonso, Alastuey, Martin, Urdaniz and Garrido to get a rare string of games.
The board announced that they are expanding the stadium again which is good. Currently the capacity is at 69,100 but it is going to be nearer 80,000 when the work is completed.
Real Betis 1 (Dongou 14) Athletic Bilbao 2 (Iker 10, Griezmann 15)
We shouldhave won by a lot more but in the end we just scraped it - especially since they had a goal disallowed.
We were shocking defensively here as they scored in almost every one of their attacks.
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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg Athletic Bilbao 4 (Iker 37, 58, 64pen, 86) Borussia Dortmund 0 (Athletic Bilbao win 5-0 on aggregate)
What a win this is. Considering I was missing a few players we still managed to wipe the floor with them thanks to Iker's one man show.
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Athletic Bilbao 3 (Muniain 27, Alfonso 53, Martin 87) Malaga 1 (Borja Baston 78)
We should have scored 10 here as we had over 40 attempts at goal. At least we still got the win despite having Herrera sent-off.
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UEFA Champions League QF 1st Leg CSKA Moscow 2 (Balde 36, Uljanov 46) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Alfonso 12, Griezmann 25, 57)
What a game this was! We had 2 men sent-off and then they had 1 ordered off too. I made the mistake in not having a CB on the bench which caused me problems.
This month was pretty good. We had some tough battles but came through it largely unscathed. With my players coming back from injury I am hoping for a really strong end to the season and to win a few more trophies.
Lineup - De Gea (Aizpurua), Montoya, Bartra, Inigo Martinez, Bernat (Rubio), Koke (Urdaniz), Darder (Thiago), Alfonso (Abeledo), Muniain (Garrido), Isco, Iker
This is my first defeat in international football be it in charge of England, Brazil or Spain. Alfonso and my former keeper Aizpurua made their debuts here.
Athletic Bilbao 6 (Iker 10, Muniain 14, Griezmann 16, Alfonso 37, Lasa 76, Laporte 82) Gimnastic 0
A thumping victory in which Espericueta made his return from injury.
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UEFA Champions League QF 2nd Leg Athletic Bilbao 3 (Garrido 31, Alfonso 67, Iker 74) CSKA Moscow 0 (Athletic Bilbao win 6-2 on aggregate)
I had to play a few backups here but we won easily enough and Martin also had a goal disallowed.
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Athletic Bilbao 5 (Espericueta 1, Griezmann 24, 81, Iker 35pen, Muniain 63) Atletico Madrid 3 (Kampl 28, Diego Costa 33, Sanabria 70)
This was a thrilling match and to be honest Atletico could feel quite unfortunate not to have got at least a point here.
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Almeria 1 (Bertrand 63) Athletic Bilbao 4 (Laporte 2, Alfonso 53, Muniain 58, Lasa 79) CHAMPIONS!!!!
I rested players for the upcoming cup final here.
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Copa del Rey Final Athletic Bilbao 4 (Griezmann 5, Iker 35, 74, Herrera 45) Real Madrid 0
A fantastic victory this as we retain the Copa del Rey. We absolutely blew Real Madrid away here.
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UEFA Champions League SF 1st Leg Athletic Bilbao 3 (Iker 12, Muniain 17, Alfonso 75) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Dezotti 47) This should hopefully be enough to see us through to the final.
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Sevilla 1 (Ferreira Carrasco 18) Athletic Bilbao 5 (Martin 36, 71, 90, Garrido 45, Lasa 55)
This was a great performance from my youngsters as I rested my first team players. Youth intake players Olaizola and Ugarte made their debuts.
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UEFA Champions League SF 2nd Leg Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Eriksen 33pen) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Alfonso 8, Iker 85, Garrido 86) (Athletic Bilbao win 6-2 on aggregate)
Another fine performance. We are at a really good place just now in terms of performance.
8 games played 8 wins makes me one very happy manager. We secured the title, won the Copa del Rey and progressed through to yet another Champions League final where we will face up against Juventus.
This month was all about giving my youngsters some games in order to rest my players for the important Champions League final and everything pretty much went according to plan although we did drop a few points in the league.
The Champions League final could be Ander Herrera's final game for us as he wants a new challenge and I have agreed to let him go. Iker Muniain has also got itchy feet but I talked him round.
Cant complain really can I?? We won every trophy and broke several records along the way so I have got to be chuffed. Performance wise we started off very slowly by our standards but kicked into gear after the new year and finished off strong.
In the league we set a new record points tally of 102pts. We scored nearly 20 goals less than last season so I know we can do better and I would dearly love to hit the 150 goal mark. Also we only lost twice so the unbeaten league campaign is still on my to do list!!!
The Copa del Rey posed no problems for us as we didnt face a top team until the final and even then we thumped Real Madrid 4-0 which was highly enjoyable.
In the Champions League we were immense as not only did we retain the cup and doing so unbeaten but we actually won every single game we played in the competition which is some going. We did manage to avoid most of the heavyweights of European football so that helped.
All the minor Super Cup competitions were won easily and despite having a smaller squad to work with my B team have all but won the Liga Adelante again which would be their 4th title in 6 years!!!
Squad wise there were hardly any negatives. With a squad so young my players can only improve and everyone excelled especially Alfonso, Urdaniz and Garrido who got regular runs in the side for a change. I could name a load more though!!!
Herrera's age is catching up with him now though and he may be on his way while Espericueta wasnt near as productive as he was last season but he did have injury problems so I will let him off.
Spanish Player of the Year - Guillermo Spanish Young Player of the Year - Alfonso Manager of the Year
Liga BBVA Team of the Year - M.Olaizola, I.Muniain (Iker, Inigo Martinez) FIFA World Team of the Year - A.Laporte, Guillermo (A,Griezmann) Best Player in Europe - A.Griezmann UEFA Champions League Best Player - Iker UEFA Champions League Golden Boot - Iker UEFA Champions League Dream Team - R.Alastuey, A.Bragana, Iker FIFA Club World Cup Best Player - Alfonso
I arranged this hostile friendly in the hope that we scored 100 goals to boost my players confidence lol. Alfonso had 1 disallowed too. Thiago got injured and will miss the World Cup so I have drafte in Oliver as his replacement.
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Brazil 3 (Luiz 7, 56, Lucas Leiva 71) Spain 2 (Guillermo 61, Simeone 76)
Lineup - De Gea, Alastuey (Montoya), Bartra, Bragana, Bernat, Darder (Oliver), Koke, Guillermo, Jese (Asensio), Alfonso (Iker), Garrido (Simeone)
Ps Great story as always