Athletic Bilbao - Journey To The Top

[Andyplatt]

Really enjoying following this story. Will be interesting to see how you do in the summer transfer with the Basque restrictions

 

[coolmcool]

Really enjoying following this story. Will be interesting to see how you do in the summer transfer with the Basque restrictions

i have just entered the summer transfer window and basically got zero pennies to spend

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1038237

April 2016

Athletic 0 - Granada 0

View attachment 163885

Bore Draw

Javier Herrera makes his Debut

View attachment 163884

Athletic 3 - Rayo 1

View attachment 163883

Garcia put us ahead half an hour in but they hit back seconds after, young striker Villalibre got a rare start and he showed why netting just before half time, Aduriz came off the bench to grab a late 3rd. The difference in age between the two goalscoring strikers was 17 Years with one 18 and the other 35!

Villalibre makes Debut

View attachment 163882

Malaga 3 - Athletic 4

View attachment 163880

This was a very exciting game! Inaki Williams netted twice in the opening 2 minutes before they got one back, Aduriz then turned on the style with 2 more goals and we were cruising at 4-1 but Uche came off the bench for Malaga to net two late goals and bring it to a nervy end on 4-3

Athletic 3 - At Madrid 1

View attachment 163878

This was a huge result for us today after they took a very early lead that was as good as it got for them as we utterly dominated from there on out with Aduriz netting another brace, it was a good win against one of the big teams but At Madrid have been poor this season.

With that win we are guaranteed a top 4 spot and a chance at the Champions League

View attachment 163877

Levante 4 - Athletic 0

View attachment 163876

Well im not really sure what happened here as Levante and more importantly Ghilas took us apart in this match, i know the aim for the season has been champions league football but the moment it was secured i didnt expect us to take our foot of the gas.

Susaeta out for the next few weeks

View attachment 163875

League Table

View attachment 163874

With just 3 games to go we are just 4 points off top spot but i think we should be aiming for the 3rd place finish right now which will be a massive achievement in itself, with the way we played in the last game the last few games are going to be tough.​

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1038254

May 2016

Athletic 3 - Celta 0

View attachment 163873

It was a good performance to get us back on track after the Levante loss with Iturraspe getting a rare goal for us before Garcia made it 2-0 11 minutes later and then Aduriz netted the 3rd 11 minutes later again.

Las Palmas 1 - Athletic 1

View attachment 163872

This was a poor result against one of the relegation threatened sides but i guess they were fighting for their lives down in 17th place whilst we cant really do much more than come 3rd now.

Aymeric Laporte is the big shock to miss out on Euro 2016 with France

View attachment 163871

Despite Inaki Williams, Raul Garica and Aduriz having amazing seasons with us none are going to Euro 2016 with Spain either

Inaki Williams Wins Young Player of the Year

View attachment 163870

Athletic 2 - Sevilla 0

View attachment 163868

Inaki Williams celebrates getting his Award with a couple of lovely goals playing upfront on his own and with Aduriz now 35 and Muniain back in form he may well be our new main striker

League Table

View attachment 163867

A strong 3rd place finish is more than i could have ever dreamed of first season in, i really thought along with the big two we would be behind At Madrid and Valencia and maybe Sevilla but we blew all of them out of the water



​

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1038516

May 2016 - Part 2

Squad in Order of Most Apps

View attachment 163626

Top Goalscorer - Aritz Aduriz - 35 Goals at 35 Years of age

View attachment 163624

Best Player - Raul Garcia - 19 goals and 11 assists

View attachment 163620

Best Young Player - Inaki Williams - 21 Years of age and he got 17 Goals and 11 Assists

View attachment 163616

To show how much the other teams including Barcelona underperformed you can see that Messi managed just 11 goals this season in an injury hit season

View attachment 163615

Raul Garcia Named Spanish League Player of the Year

View attachment 163614

Aduriz Wins The Top Spanish Goalscorer after 21 League Goals

View attachment 163613

4 Athletic Players in the Team of the Year Starting 11

View attachment 163612

Athletic End of Season Awards

View attachment 163611

Not a bad first Season

View attachment 163610

Board announce under-soil heating for some random reason, to make sure we dont miss a match due to adverse weather condition not that we have yet

View attachment 163609

And Finally and most importantly Youth Facilities to be Upgraded

View attachment 163606​

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1038551

June/July 2016

Our transfer budget is going down the toilet with all these expenditures as the board plan to increase the stadium capacity by 5,000

View attachment 163592

In England David Moyes Rejoins Manchester United

View attachment 163591

De Marcos wanted to join Chelsea just a few days ago but now he has agreed a new 5 year deal

View attachment 163590

These are sorts of transfers you can expect from this save looking at our finances, youngsters for small release clauses with big potential. i must have missed out on 7 of the best youngsters in Spain to the other big teams, im not sure why they were even in the market for them

View attachment 163589

Marti Exposito - AMR/FC

View attachment 163588

Fringe player Gomez joins Olympiakos for just under £2Million

View attachment 163586

We have got a mere £8Million to spend this summer

View attachment 163585

Aduriz ends his International career after playing just once for Spain

View attachment 163583

We bring in a centre back who could become one of the best at the club for a big £2.9Million fee

View attachment 163582

Andoni Ruiz - DC

View attachment 163581

Central midfielder Benat to miss the start of the new season

View attachment 163580

One time second choice striker Viguera joins Almeria for around £1Million, i actually wanted to give him a new deal as he was an asset as a super sub but with just 12 months left of his contract he refused a new deal

View attachment 163578​

 

[PatrickLFC]

The return of Moyesy! That young CB looks quality

 

[BarcaBoy26]

Shows how bad lvg must of been for man u if moyes is his replacement!

 

[Zlatan Lumic]

What's the deal with David Moyes in this game? In my save Man Utd also brought him back after sacking Van Gaal.

Anyway... It truly was a fantastic season, the team overperformed and managed to qualify to Champions League without having to go through the play offs.
This season is gonna be tougher, but it's worth it since Champions League will give you plenty of money at the end of the season.

.P.S.: Aduriz retired from international football? Bad Del Bosque... to the corner and think about you've done! ¬¬

 

[dani3w]

A very good third place finish mate, not far of Barca at all

 

[coolmcool]

The return of Moyesy! That young CB looks quality

Hes only 16 and already playing with the Spain under 21's

Shows how bad lvg must of been for man u if moyes is his replacement!

He had a mare!

What's the deal with David Moyes in this game? In my save Man Utd also brought him back after sacking Van Gaal.

Anyway... It truly was a fantastic season, the team overperformed and managed to qualify to Champions League without having to go through the play offs.
This season is gonna be tougher, but it's worth it since Champions League will give you plenty of money at the end of the season.

.P.S.: Aduriz retired from international football? Bad Del Bosque... to the corner and think about you've done! ¬¬

Real Madrid and especially Barcelona and even At Madrid underachieved massively this season and the likes of Messi and Neymar were poor, we had a good season but next season if they are all on form it will be all the harder

A very good third place finish mate, not far of Barca at all

Thanks mate, was shocked to get 3rd spot and even challenge for the title

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1038852

August 2016

Despite our stellar season last year finishing in 3rd place the Media predict we will be back down to 6th place this year! Champions League football and the money that goes with it is all i want, 4th place is a must, i also hope to make the knockout stages of the Champions League but if we make third and go down to the Europa League i wont mind that either, the Cup is all about who you get if you draw one of the big two early on your buggered but if not we could have a nice run

View attachment 163355

The start to this season is a lot quieter than last year with no Europa League Qualifiers and no Super Cup meaning by the end of August we would have played 6 less games than we had at the same time the previous year

Luis Enrique has taken charge of Spain leaving Barcelona to be taken over by Germany Boss Joachim Loew

View attachment 163354

So i decide to reward Raul Garcia's recent form by naming him Captain, current Captain Gurpegi doenst get a look in at the current team, has a year left on his contract and is 35 whilst vice captain Iraizoz will be lucky to be our Number 1 GK by the end of the season let alone new captain.

View attachment 163352

GK Iraizoz is out for the start of the new season

View attachment 163350

Woops, new Captain Raul Garcia and central midfielder Benat played for the reserves the same day as our first day of the season as i had them building up their fitness and forgot to take them out of there

View attachment 163348

Athletic 1 - Celta 0

View attachment 163347

Our new first choice keeper had a good game but the rest of the side struggled to make any chances and we just about snuck the 3 points thanks to an early own goal.

Recently returned loanee Keeper makes his debut

View attachment 163345

Kepa Arrizabalaga - GK

View attachment 163344

Champions League Groups Drawn

View attachment 163343

PSG will be the big team in this group whilst Porto are our main rivals for that second placed position.

Las Palmas 0 - Athletic 3

View attachment 163342

A much better display with Captain Garcia back in the fray we looked a lot more lively with Inaki Williams netting twice along with a San Jose penalty.

Real Madrid and Barcelona spent big in this transfer window with Real signing Lukaku for nearly £40Million whilst Barcelona bought Kondogbia for around £30Million

View attachment 163341

League Table

View attachment 163340

2 games in and were top of the table, whats even better is Barcelona have already lost!​

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1038984

September 2016

Athletic 1 - Rayo 0

View attachment 163258

Susaeta gets the only goal of the game late on to secure our 3rd win in a row in the league.

Champions League Groups
Athletic 3 - Porto 0

View attachment 163257

Well that was easier than expected as we get our Champions League campaign off to a bang with Muniain netting the opener before Inaki Williams got two more goals playing upfront.

Cordoba 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 163256

Aduriz shows hes not past it yet with a brace of his own to secure our 4th win in a row in the league but we have yet to face some serious competition.

Athletic 4 - Sevilla 0

View attachment 163255

A huge win against Sevilla, we were up 1-0 at half time but it was the second half when they had a player sent off in the 47th minute were we really kicked on with 3 goals in the following 3 minutes.

At Madrid 1 - Athletic 0

View attachment 163254

A stinker of a match for us as we not only lose our 5 match winning streak in the league but we look terrible facing one of the bigger teams with our GK to thank for the scoreline not looking any worse

Champions League Groups
PSG 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 163253

What a result to get us back on track after the loss to At Madrid as we beat the best team in our group PSG with Aduriz netting another brace as we go 2 for 2 in Europe.

League Table

View attachment 163252

So were down to 2nd place after that loss to At Madrid who currently top the league, Barcelona have had a torrid start to the season with only 3 wins from their opening 6 despite not facing any of the big teams yet.​

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1039295

October 2016

Athletic 3 - Levante 2

View attachment 162967

A very even game and the goals were back and forth game with old Man Aduriz netting yet another brace, hes going to be 36 in a few weeks, lets hope he sticks with us until his 40's

Athletic 4 - Eibar 3

View attachment 162966

We seem to be currently using the tactic of score one more than the opposition as we are part of another high scoring game with 7 goals, San Jose netted the early penalty whilst our other 3 goals were scored by our Attacking midfield trio.

Despite going on to win the match Oscar De Marcos didnt like my team talk as it hurt his wittle feelings boohoo

View attachment 162965

Champions League Groups
Athletic 5 - Genk 0

View attachment 162964

A comfortable win with Inaki Williams on fine form as we carry on our fine form in Europe with 3 wins from 3, this was always going to be the easiest game and they didnt help themselves when they were already 3-0 down having a player sent off after two yellow cards in 2 minutes, we netted twice more in an easy win.

Barcelona 4 - Athletic 2

View attachment 162963

Barcelona finally decide to turn on the style when they face us in a comfortable win for them despite us taking an early lead from an own goal, even Messi had a good game after his recent indifferent form .

Real Sociedad 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 162962

We get back on track thanks to a very late De Marcos goal whilst club Captain Raul Garcia has been earning rave reviews after yet another man of the match display.

Inaki Williams out for 3 Weeks

View attachment 162961

Athletic 3 - Zaragoza 0

View attachment 162960

Raul Garcia gets another man of the match display whilst scoring 2 more goals with Aduriz netting the other goal,

League Table

View attachment 162959

Despite that loss to Barcelona the rest of the month was near perfect and it shows as we top the league by 3 points after 9 wins from our opening 11 games, Aduriz is the top Goalscorer with 8 league goals.

​

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1039848

November 2016

Champions League Groups
Genk 1 - Athletic 3

View attachment 162460

We play Genk in another comfortable game with a few of the second string getting a game, we actually went 1-0 down but it didnt take long for Youngster Villalibre to net a brace and and then Muniain got the 3rd.

Granada 2 - Athletic 2

View attachment 162457

A shocker of a result here as we surrender a 2 goal lead against a weak Granada side with their striker Cordoba turning on the style late on with a brace.

Inaki Williams Injured for a Month on International Duty

View attachment 162456

Centre Back San Jose out injured too

View attachment 162455

Athletic 3 - Almeria 1

View attachment 162454

It was a strong performance but we left it late to confirm all 3 points with Aduriz netting early on before former player Viguera netted an equalizer around an hour in, we kicked on after that goal though with Sabin and then De Marcos netting goals to seal the win.

Champions League Groups
Porto 1 - Athletic 1

View attachment 162453

Porto netted just 3 minutes into the game and were in the lead for 78 minutes before Sabin came off the bench for the second game in a row to score a late goal.

Athletic Qualify for the Knockout Stages of the Champions League

View attachment 162452

Malaga 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 162451

Muniain puts us ahead before central midfielder Iturraspe gets a rare goal for the club before they manage to pull one back but it wasnt enough and we see out the victory.

Champions League Groups
Athletic 1 - PSG 1

View attachment 162450

Another draw in the Champions League but im not bothered as it secures our place top of the Table in my first season in the Champions League

Champions League Group Table

View attachment 162449

League Table

View attachment 162448

6 points clear of Barcelona whilst Real Madrid are all the way down in 6th place


​

 

[BarcaBoy26]

Title within two years would be incredible!

 

[coolmcool]

Title within two years would be incredible!

Not sure if we win the Title this year but its looking good so far, any injury troubles and we have a lack of depth to make up for it

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1040431

December 2016

Real Betis 1 - Athletic 3

View attachment 161931

Damao nets for them first before the half hour mark but Muniain grabs an equalizer just after the break, we then struggled to break them down for the remainder of the game until a crazy end to the game saw us score twice more in the last 5 minutes.

Spanish Cup 4th Rnd 1st Leg
Jaen 0 - Athletic 2

View attachment 161930

So we put half of the second string in with the first team and they really struggled during the first half Aduriz came off the bench though and netted a quick brace to sort out the win.

Aduriz out for 3 Weeks - He wouldnt have even played if our backup striker was better

View attachment 161929

Valencia 3 - Athletic 1

View attachment 161928

More possession and better chances but some how we manage to lose this game badly

We get a tough draw in the Champions League and will face Borussia Dortmund

View attachment 161927

Spanish Cup 4th rnd 2nd Leg
Athletic 1 - Jaen 0

View attachment 161926

Again i ring the changes for the cup game and again we struggle to break them down and put the ball in the back of the net with the only goal coming from DMC Iturraspe

Athletic 2 - Real Madrid 3

View attachment 161925

We were actually ahead at one point but a Ronaldo Hattrick soon downed us, we just dont seem to be able to beat the big teams in the league

Athletic 2 - Espanyol

View attachment 161924

It was nice to get back on track in the league after our back to back losses something we have never suffered since i took charge

League Table

View attachment 161923

So despite those two losses to Valencia and Real Madrid we are still top of the table by 6 points but everyone does have a game in hand on us now.​

 

[coolmcool]

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1041097


January 2017 - Part 1

Spanish Cup 5th rnd 1st leg
Athletic 5 - Real Sociedad 1

View attachment 161353

We give Sociedad a proper hide in to start the New Year with both Susaeta and Aduriz netting braces

Villareal 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 161352

Captain Garcia puts us ahead before they get one back with just 20 minutes to go but it didnt take long for us to go back into the lead thanks to Susaeta

Inaki Williams out for 4 Weeks

View attachment 161351

Spanish Cup 5th rnd 2nd Leg
Real Sociedad 3 - Athletic 3

View attachment 161350

3-3 between them and some of my second string with youngster Aketxe netting an early brace and we go through to the next round 8-4 on aggregate

He might be old and on a fortune but i really just wanted to buy someone that will actually make my first team so Xabi Alonso joins

View attachment 161349

Despite being 35 Alonso is still our best midfielder by a mile

View attachment 161348

Celta 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 161347

A good win thanks to Captain Garcia netting a brace and Alonso had a solid debut playing for just over an hour.



​

 

[Linecoigne1998]

​Incredible job so far mate!