Athletic Bilbao - Journey To The Top

Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1050509

August 2019

Inaki Williams Injured right before the season starts

View attachment 152791

Despite winning the league last season the media predict us to finish 3rd behind Real Madrid and Barcelona

View attachment 152790

Starting 11 for the new Season

View attachment 152789

Inaki Williams is out injured though and Ander Herrera is suspended

Spanish Super Cup Final 1st Leg
Real Madrid 2 - Athletic 2

View attachment 152788

Young winger Exposito put us ahead early on before Ronaldo turned the game on its head with 2 quick second half goals. It was the role of super sub Lekue to come off the bench to net a very late equalizer

Sangalli Makes his Athletic debut

View attachment 152787

Spanish Super Cup Final 2nd Leg
Athletic 3 - Real Madrid 2

View attachment 152786

A very even game which shows how far we have come in itself, Exposito netted the first goal again this time just a minute into the match, Raul Garcia made it 2-0 from the spot around half an hour in before Kroos got one back just before half time.
Merino put the game out of reach for them with a goal just before the hour mark and Ronaldo could only score a late consolation goal

I win my 2nd Spanish Super Cup

View attachment 152785

Sevilla 1 - Athletic 4

View attachment 152784

A hugely impressive second half display as we come from behind to smash Sevilla 4-1 with Expostio scoring the opener yet again.

Athletic Season Tickets Sold Out but still no stadium expansion allowed by the board

View attachment 152783

The only change in the Holland squad is midfielder Bazoer getting dropped after playing just 2 times in almost a year with Real Madrid.

View attachment 152782

I know a lot of these players are for the youth teams but it shows how far we have come and the potential we have with 11 players getting called up to Internationals it used to be just Herrera.

View attachment 152781

As last seasons Champions we get the top seed for our Champions League campaign and get a much more favourable group which i hope to top.

View attachment 152780

I bring back another old face with AMC Sergio Marin rejoining a year after joining Man City, he was my biggest regret in terms of players leaving

View attachment 152779

Sergio Marin - AMC

View attachment 152778

At Madrid continue to spend their Money but the best 3 deals in the Summer Transfer window were all free transfers

View attachment 152777

At Madrid could be a serious force in the next few seasons, since their big takeover they have spent £200Million

View attachment 152776View attachment 152775​
 
Glad to see you get those two youngsters back shows the grass isn't always greener. That they both went from refusing new deals to rejoining you within 2 years
 
Another good pre season, bringing back decent talent who should have gained experience elsewhere.

And congrats on another super cup win, hopefully a sign of the season to come
 
BarcaBoy26 said:
Glad to see you get those two youngsters back shows the grass isn't always greener. That they both went from refusing new deals to rejoining you within 2 years
Click to expand...
Yeah i was glad to get them back in the end, if i had left it they would have cost me a fortune in a few years time
dporter8999 said:
Another good pre season, bringing back decent talent who should have gained experience elsewhere.

And congrats on another super cup win, hopefully a sign of the season to come
Click to expand...
Yes the games against Real Madrid were really impressive, i feel like they were the first time we could say we were as good as Real Madrid, we usually manage to at most grind out a lucky draw against them but this time they were lucky it was as close as it was
 
coolmcool said:
Yeah i was glad to get them back in the end, if i had left it they would have cost me a fortune in a few years time

Yes the games against Real Madrid were really impressive, i feel like they were the first time we could say we were as good as Real Madrid, we usually manage to at most grind out a lucky draw against them but this time they were lucky it was as close as it was
Click to expand...

Brilliant that you beat them so convincingly, this is by far my fave save on the site so far
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1050664

September 2019

Luuk De Jong is out injured so Ola John comes into the Holland squad

View attachment 152657

Centre back Van Dijk is out injured too and will be replaced by Kongolo

View attachment 152656

Athletic 5 - Getafe 0

View attachment 152655

A brilliant goalscoring display with my recent signings Marin and Sanz on the scoresheet

Van Ginkel is player number 3 out injured for the Holland squad

View attachment 152654

Euro Qualifiers Group E
Lithuania 0 - Holland 3

View attachment 152652

Ghazi nets a brace along with Ola John getting the other goal

Euro Qualifiers Group E
Holland 5 - Bulgaria 0

View attachment 152651

This was a huge result considering Bulgaria were our biggest rivals in this group and we go out and beat them like this.

We top our group after 4 wins from 4

View attachment 152650

Granada 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 152649

We really should have won this match a **** of a lot easier than we did! Exposito put us ahead before they equalized with just 10 minutes of normal time left, we managed to score just minutes later though to seal all 3 points.

Champions League Groups
Athletic 2 - Leverkusen 1

View attachment 152648

Herrera missed a penalty just 2 minutes into the game but it only took another 14 minutes before we did take the lead through Muniain, they equalized around an hour in from their own penalty before CM Sangalli came off the bench to net a very late winner

After such a good start to the season im gutted Exposito is out injured for the next month

View attachment 152647

Athletic 2 - Elche 0

View attachment 152646

Andoni Ruiz has really made that central defender spot his own in recent months and at just 19 has years of playing for us ahead of him whilst Sanz netted again.

Athletic 3 - Levante 2

View attachment 152645

Just after i mention Ruiz he has a mare of a match and scores an own goal! Muniain did net a brace though with Williams getting the winner

Celta 0 - Athletic 1

View attachment 152644

Griezmann nets the only goal of the game to seal all 3 points, i was glad to see him score with this just his 2nd goal of the season.

League Table

View attachment 152643

Top of the table with 6 wins from 6 whilst Real Madrid have already dropped points.


​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1050842

October 2019

Champions League Groups
AZ 2 - Athletic 2

View attachment 152483

We are determined to make hard work of this group as we fall to a terrible draw to bottom seeds AZ

Real Madrid 0 - Athletic 1

View attachment 152481

We cant stop beating Real Madrid now! It may only be early on in the season but that win in the league could be huge!

21 Games Unbeaten in all competitions since March

View attachment 152480

It wouldnt be International duty without players leaving injured. Number 1 Keeper Krul ruled out

View attachment 152479

Winger Promes adds to the injury list

View attachment 152478

Euro Qualifiers Group E
Holland 4 - Turkey 1

View attachment 152477

A comfortable win against Turkey with all of my attacking front 4 getting on the scoresheet

We Qualify for Euro 2020 with 3 games to spare

View attachment 152476

5 wins from 5 games with an average of 3 goals a game and just the 1 goal conceded

View attachment 152475

Ola John is my 3rd player from my original squad out injured

View attachment 152474

Klassen is Number 4

View attachment 152473

Euro Qualifiers Group E
Wales 0 - Holland 1

View attachment 152472

Luuk De Jong gets the only goal of the game with a beautiful poachers goal making the most of a rare start

Deportivo 0 - Athletic 2

View attachment 152471

Champions League Groups
Fenerbache 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 152470

We get back on track in Europe with a good win against our main rivals for the top spot in the group with Muniain putting in a decent shift but Griezmann is still looking a bit iffy.

Exposito is injured again

View attachment 152469

Athletic 3 - Barcelona 1

View attachment 152468

What a result as we truly show that we can mix it with the big boys! After struggling for years to get results against the big two we have now beaten both Real Madrid and Barcelona in the league in the same month!

Athletic 2 - Real Betis 0

View attachment 152467

Is Griezmann back? He netted in the Barcelona win and then came off the bench to net a brace to win this match single handedly, maybe he didnt like being on the bench and thought he better do something about it.

Real Madrid have had a torrid time since losing to us winning just 2 points from a possible 12 in their last 4 matches

View attachment 152466

League Table

View attachment 152465

10 wins from our opening 10 league games of the season and currently 9 points clear of second placed Barcelona with Real Madrid further down in 5th, in the last 2 seasons Real Madrid have only lost 2 times each season yet after just 10 games they have already lost 2 times.


​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1050997

November 2019 - Part 1

Athletic 3 - Cordoba 1

View attachment 152340

When we face some of the lower teams in the league i will be trying to give the youngsters as much game time as possible, they have all developed a lot in recent seasons and we comfortably won today with 3 players only 19 in the starting lineup with 2 of them scoring.

Champions League Groups
Athletic 2 - Fenerbache 0

View attachment 152338

We qualify for the Knockout stages of the Champions League with a game to spare

View attachment 152333

Real Sociedad 2 - Athletic 2

View attachment 152332

We all thought Griezmann had scored a very late winner against his former club with his 90th minute strike but they managed to get one even later.

Euro Qualifiers Group E
Holland 2 - Lithuania 2

View attachment 152331

Even though we are already qualified this was a terrible result

At least Rekik got his first goal for Holland

View attachment 152323

Nice to see a fellow Englishmen join the Spanish League with Michael Carrick taking charge at Real Betis

View attachment 152322




​
 
Last edited:
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1051445

November 2019 - Part 2

Euro Qualifiers Group E
Bulgaria 1 - Holland 3

View attachment 151928

We get back on track comfortably beating second placed side Bulgaria after the draw against Lithuania this was the result we needed, Depay could have got a Hattrick if he hadnt of missed a penalty

We clinch top spot undefeated with 7 wins from 8 games with double the amount of points than second place Bulgaria.

View attachment 151927

Villareal 0 - Athletic 5

View attachment 151926

Captain Fantastic Raul Garcia smashes in a beautiful Hattrick

Champions League Groups
Leverkusen 0 - Athletic 0

View attachment 151925

Another draw in the Champions League but thanks to the 3 wins earlier on in the groups we are through to the knockout stages and guaranteed top spot with a game to spare

Athletic 3 - Malaga 1

View attachment 151924

League Table

View attachment 151923

Undefeated in our opening 14 league games of the season including 13 wins with Real Madrid a massive 10 points behind us already,


​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1051452

December 2019

So we have been given an extra £10Million to add to the transfer budget which now stands at £41Million, there is nobody really available worth buying though at the moment, the best two players around Azpicuelta and Javi Martinez are both 30 at least now and would still cost £50Million plus each whilst i have been looking in to adding some depth to the youth team, my problem has always been i find one decent young striker and then see how he gets on whilst now i may sign 4 or 5 of the best striker prospects and watch them develop now we have the money to reach all their release clauses and wages

View attachment 151922

Spanish Cup 4th rnd 1st Leg
Marbella 2 - Athletic 4

View attachment 151921

Not a bad result considering Williams was the only player to keep his place from the previous match, i was a little disappointed our defence conceded twice though.

Athletic 2 - Valencia 2

View attachment 151920

We come from behind twice to equalize in a match that we looked to have dominated but only just about snuck away with the 1 point, this really looked like our first defeat of the season for a while

Merino out for 3 weeks, he has become a real key player in recent weeks

View attachment 151919

Champions League Groups
Athletic 0 - AZ 0

View attachment 151918

With top spot confirmed in our group we play a few youth players again and were the better of the two teams, we were lucky to get the draw though with AZ missing a penalty in a very close overall game.

Top spot in the Champions League Group E with Leverkusen in second

View attachment 151917

Athletic 1 - Espanyol 0

View attachment 151916

Young striker Christian Sanz gets the only goal of the game around half an hour in to seal all 3 points, we really have the mark of true Champions now grinding out all of these results even when we dont play our best

We get a favourable draw in the Champions League as we will face French side Lyon

View attachment 151915

Spanish Cup 4th rnd 2nd Leg
Athletic 2 - Marbella 0

View attachment 151914

The second string get another run out in this tie and perform much better as we not only secure the 6-2 on aggregate win but keep a clean sheet.

Rayo 1 - Athletic 3

View attachment 151913

Another league match and another win!

League Table

View attachment 151912

So at the turn of the year we are a massive 11 points clear of second placed Barcelona with Real Madrid a further 3 points behind but they do have 2 games in hand on both of us.


​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1051485

January 2020

Defenders Rekik and Janmaat join the Holland best eleven ever

View attachment 151899

Best Eleven This Season

View attachment 151898

The standout players this year were Depay and Ghazi who got 7 and 6 goals respectively in just 9 games,

Almeria 0 - Athletic 2

View attachment 151897

DMC Merino has got an eye for goal this season whilst Muniain scored a late second to seal all 3 points

Spanish Cup 5th rnd 1st Leg
Athletic 2 - Real Sociedad 0

View attachment 151896

Youngsters Exposito and Sangalli put us into a strong position for this tie with second half goals.

Complete my Continental B Licence

View attachment 151895

And we immediately go for the Continental A Licence

View attachment 151893

I also sign a 3 year contract extension

View attachment 151892

Athletic 0 - At Madrid 1

View attachment 151891

Oh ******! We finally suffer our first loss of the season with moneybags At Madrid too much for us with Vietto getting the only goal of the game whilst Herrera added insult to injury buying getting sent off with seconds to go.

Youth Facilities and Training Facilities to be upgraded once i decide their is no one on the transfer market we like the look of.

View attachment 151890View attachment 151888

Spanish Cup 5th rnd 2nd leg
Real Sociedad 0 - 2 Athletic

View attachment 151881

Griezmann nets against his former club whilst Merino nets in the return leg too and it was all over inside 12 minutes.

A tough draw for all the big clubs as we get Barcelona in the Quarter Finals whilst their is also a Madrid derby

View attachment 151878

Getafe 1 - Athletic 3

View attachment 151876

We get back on track in the league with a good win after the At Madrid loss whilst DMC Merino cant stop scoring!

Spanish Cup Quarter Final 1st Leg
Barcelona 3 - Athletic 1

View attachment 151875

I dont know what it is but Barcelona can be rubbish against practically everyone but MSN can always turn on the style against us!

Athletic 1 - Sevilla 0

View attachment 151874

Spanish Cup Quarter Final 2nd Leg
Athletic 4 - Barcelona 2

View attachment 151873

We gave it our best shot with Griezmann netting a superb Hattrick against the mighty Barcelona but it wasnt quite enough and we get knocked out thanks to the away goals rule

Athletic Defeat in the Spanish Cup

View attachment 151872

Real Madrid are the big winter spenders with Morata finally returning from Juventus and then they spent £40Million on some midfielder from Fiorentina

View attachment 151871

League Table

View attachment 151869

Despite our first loss of the season we are still 11 points clear at the top of the table but Real Madrid do have 2 games in hand and could easily close the gap to just 5 points.

​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1051604

February 2020

Elche 0 - Athletic 3

View attachment 151784

As Sanz is still a teenager he can be a bit all or nothing, one game hes rubbish the next game he nets a brace and shows all of that potential

Athletic 0 - Celta 0

View attachment 151783

Point proven, some of the youngsters get another run out and didnt quite have the same affect as the previous game with Sanz having a shocker as he missed chance after chance.

Champions League 1st Knockout rnd 1st Leg
Lyon 3 - Athletic 2

View attachment 151782

We went ahead twice in this match but some how managed to end up losing it after a shock collapse late on, Raul Garcia netted both of our goals which away from home could be key for the 2nd leg.

Athletic 3 - Real Madrid 1

View attachment 151779

A huge result as we come from behind to beat our main Title rivals Real Madrid, Morata netted for them in the first half before Iturraspe equalized early in the 2nd half before Griezmann netted a quick brace 70 minutes in.

Sangalli out for 5 weeks

View attachment 151778

Levante 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 151777

Griezmann nets early on before they equalize just before the break, Muniain manages to net a very late winner though to seal all 3 points.

League Table

View attachment 151776

Barcelona cant stop scoring goals but they are now 12 points behind us with 12 games to go! Real Madrid are a massive 17 points behind us with their 2 games in hand still

​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1051617

March 2020

Barcelona 3 - Athletic 0

View attachment 151766

It appears that although we are dominating the league and have the beating of Real Madrid in recent matches we just simply do not perform against Barcelona as they comfortable dish out our second loss of the season in the league.

Athletic 4 - Deportivo 1

View attachment 151765

We get back on track in the league easy enough with my youngsters shining, Merino, Sanz and Exposito all got on the scoresheet and are all future stars

Herrera set to miss the rest of the season

View attachment 151764

Champions League 1st Knockout rnd 2nd leg
Athletic 3 - Lyon 1

View attachment 151763

Merino puts us ahead before Spaniard Alcacer equalized just before half time, we pushed on in the 2nd half though with Muniain putting us back in the lead before his replacement Exposito grabbed the 3rd goal which saw us go through 5-4 on aggregate

New gate receipt set

View attachment 151762

Cordoba 0 - Athletic 1

View attachment 151761

Exposito has become a key player for us and at such a young age! He got the only goal of the game just before the hour mark, the likes of Exposito, Sanz and Ruiz have become key for the side this season despite all being under 21

Only the one half decent youth intake player but rest assured i signed a shed load of players from other clubs to bolster our thinning ranks.

View attachment 151759

We draw Chelsea in the Champions League Quarter Finals, whilst i didnt realise we are the only Spanish side still in the competition with both Real Madrid and Barcelona knocked out.

View attachment 151758

Real Betis 2 - Athletic 4

View attachment 151757

Another dominant win

League Table

View attachment 151756

9 points ahead of Barcelona after they beat us this month but Real Madrid squandered there 2 games in hand and lie 15 points off us, They have lost more games this season (5) than they had in the previous 2 and half seasons combined (4)


​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1051699

April 2020

Athletic 1 - Real Sociedad 1

View attachment 151698

Griezmann loves scoring against his former club and gets another just a few minutes into the game but old man Mario Gomez equalized for them just before half time.

Champions League Quarter Final 1st Leg
Athletic 0 - Chelsea 0

View attachment 151697

Not a terrible result, we really should have won this match but making sure they didnt get an away goal could be key to us going through.

Euro 2020 Groups have been drawn and our main rivals for the top spot will be Portugal

View attachment 151696

Athletic 2 - Villareal 0

View attachment 151695

Since the turn of the year Griezmann cant stop scoring now!

Champions League Quarter Final 2nd Leg
Chelsea 3 - Athletic 3

View attachment 151694

Icardi smashed in a Hattrick for them but Raul Garcia netted two second half penalties to see us make the Semi Finals thanks to the away goals rule

300 Games in Management at Athletic Bilbao, Spain Under 19's and Holland

View attachment 151693

We draw Bayern Munich in the Champions League Semi Finals whilst the team who came second in our group Leverkusen are also in the Semi Finals with Man Utd

View attachment 151692

Malaga 1 - Athletic 2

View attachment 151686

Muniain nets either side of a Malaga goal to seal the win and it was all over inside half an hour

Valencia 1 - Athletic 5

View attachment 151685

A dominant win against Valencia! They gave us our first loss of the season in January and we gave them the perfect pay back!

Athletic 2 - Rayo 1

View attachment 151684

We seem to be in perfect Title winning form at the moment winning game after game.

Barcelona played the day after our win and only drew so we win the league with 3 games to go!

League Table

View attachment 151683

So we win the League 11 points clear at the top of the table whilst who would have thought Real Madrid would have only won 22 out of 35 league games this season!

Athletic do the double after Title Win

View attachment 151682

Tonkin Enters Spanish Hall of Fame

View attachment 151681

I arrive in 7th place in the Spanish Hall of fame after 5 Trophies with Atheltic

View attachment 151680

​
 
Brilliant performance in the league and in Europe! The save is getting even better now the youngsters are coming through
 
randommonkey said:
Well done! Can you post a screenshot of Exposito?
Click to expand...
im a few months ahead and dont want to give too much away with whats happening with the save but just took a screenshot and will post it once i have caught up with the updates im only in August so wont be long
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1051928

May 2020

Champions League Semi Final 1st Leg
Bayern 1 - Athletic 1

View attachment 151494

We held our own and it was a lot more even than i thought really showing how far we have come in recent seasons as we play out a 1-1 draw.

Horrible news as Bilbao get relegated which is the main reason why i will be bringing in a lot more youth players with big potential than i have done in previous years and letting them play at Bilbao.

View attachment 151493

Athletic 0 - Almeria 1

View attachment 151492

Shock 1-0 loss to Almeria but i did practically change the whole starting 11 bar Iker Muniain as i looked to rest the first team for Europe.

Champions League Semi Finals 2nd Leg
Athletic 1 - Bayern 0

View attachment 151491

Griezmann has found his form at exactly the right time! He nets the only goal of the game and we make it through to our first ever Champions League Finals

View attachment 151490

We will face Manchester United in the Finals but they are well over 3 weeks away!

View attachment 151489​
 
Athletic Bilbao

View attachment 1052096

May 2020 - Part 2

Nice to see my Under19's take their league Title back

View attachment 151349

A bit of a worry that Ghazi our main striker for Euro 2020 didnt score for 24 matches!

View attachment 151348

Espanyol 1 - Athletic 3

View attachment 151347

A comfortable win in the league, with the Champions League Final over 3 weeks away i could afford to play the first team again.

Hardly a star but Rekik is set to miss Euro 2020

View attachment 151346

Oh dear Muniain is set to miss the Champions League Final and has lost any hope of making the Spain squad with this 2 month injury layoff.

View attachment 151345

20 Year Old Winger Marti Exposito wins the Young Player of the Year Award

View attachment 151343

At Madrid 1 - Athletic 1

View attachment 151342

A bore draw to end the season but what i really cared about was Exposito going off injured!

Exposito is out injured for 6 weeks and will miss the Champions League Final

View attachment 151339

So in the end we won the league by 9 points, with Real Madrid down in 3rd place, Deportivo, Real Betis and Espanyol are all relegated

View attachment 151337

I Win Manager of the Year

View attachment 151336

5 Athletic Players make the Team of the Season

View attachment 151335

I now have 4 Holland players in my squad with little injuries

View attachment 151334

Devastating news as Andoni Ruiz will miss the Champions League Final and thats my two best youth players out of the side and 3 of my starting 11 out .

View attachment 151333

It hasnt been Real Madrids season as Valencia beat them in the Final of the Spanish Cup

View attachment 151332

23 Man Squad Selected for the Euro's

View attachment 151331

4 Athletic Players going to the Euro's

View attachment 151330

Van Der Wiel adds to my defensive injury woes and Rekik will be going to the Euro's

View attachment 151329

Historic First Champions League Final for Athletic

View attachment 151328

Elustondo is in the starting 11 thanks to Ruiz injury whilst Griezmann has to play on the wing with Sanz upfront as Muniain and Exposito are both out

View attachment 151327

Champions League Final
Athletic 1 - Man Utd 0

View attachment 151326

What a Final! We had the better of the game but it took a late winner from former Man Utd player Ander Herrera to seal our first ever Champions League Title!

Treble Complete

View attachment 151325

I break into the English Hall of Fame

View attachment 151324

7 Trophies sees me come into the English Hall of fame in 8th place

View attachment 151323

Our Best Ever Season!

View attachment 151322


​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

FMBase

Beta

Resources

Top