Basque-ing in Bilbao

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MAY - END OF SEASON

Lyon beaten again in Champions League final
5 goal thriller in Copa del Rey final with Bilbao coming out on top
Herrera player of the year - Izurza young player of the year
Muniain and several coaches to retire
Ordonez Lopez wants a new challenge - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A fine end to a topsy turvy season. Won the cup thanks to Ayechu's double - he has been a real find this year from the B team. Was fitting that Muniain, having announced his pending retirement the day before the final league game of the season, scored twice and was man of the match against Almeria. His last game also beat the club record for league appearances even more fittingly with 549.

The Champions League final was close and we needed an own goal to win it. Lyon were down to 10 men. Muniain had a late goal disallowed too.

Copa del Rey Final
Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Sevilla
Ayechu 2, Garmendia

Villarreal 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Ayechu, Oritz (og)

Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Almeria
Muniain 2, Ayechu

UEFA Champions League Final
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Lyon
Zidane (og)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
AITOR HERRERA
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craig9045 said:
Haha if only we could actually play FM whilst in work eh.

But anyway Klippy. Great story, hope you don't get bored of it!
Click to expand...

I work in a school and in the holidays i sneak my laptop in a play a bit, havent been caught yet though haha!! Keep it up Klippy, love your story and wish i had an Aitor Herrara like you!!
 
Could you post a shot of Armando Redaelii - Barcelona top striker
 
This is by far the best story on fm base, been following from post one!
 


PRE TOURNAMENT FRIENDLIES AND SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT

Spain 2-0 Austria
Izurza, Ayechu

Spain 4-4 England
Garcia 2, Izurza, Perez Villarroya

France 3-3 Spain
Garcia, Garmendia 2

Eventful 3 games! Game 1 had Izurza and Herrera picking up injuries and Austria had a man sent off. Game 2 - we were 2 down then 2 up before getting pegged back and in game 3 we took the lead 3 times.

SQUAD

Goalkeepers
David (Athletic Bilbao) 67 caps
Martin Suarez (Atletico Madrid) 1
Ismael Bilbao (Valencia) 1

Defenders
Angel De la Torre (Athletic Bilbao) 99/1
Horacio Liendo (Valencia) 39
Gontzal Ruiz (Athletic Bilbao) 26
Josep Granell (Inter Milan) 30
Cristobal Floria Valadez (Sevilla) 5
Roberto Gomez (Athletic Bilbao) 50/7
Oceano Hondo N'Dongo (Athletic Bilbao) 61/9
Ander Valcarcel (Athletic Bilbao) 19/2

Midfielders
Pedro Jose Cidoncha (Barcelona) 125/12
Martin Ruiz (Chelsea) 39/1
Gaspar Perez Villarroya (Athletic Bilbao) 68/17
Andoni Santano (Roma) 80/15
Unai Garmendia (Athletic Bilbao) 29/4
Jose Luis Izurza (Athletic Bilbao) 32/13
Jaume Gutierrez (Athletic Bilbao) 12/1
Ander Ibanez (Atletico Madrid) 22/7
Aitor Herrera (Athletic Bilbao) 176/54

Forwards
Fermin Garcia (Atletico Madrid) 130/91
Alfredo (Athletic Bilbao) 37/16
Sergio Ayechu (Athletic Bilbao) 2/2

Missing Out: Sanz, Vinas, Ordonez Lopez (Athletic Bilbao), Muralha (Valladolid), Willian (WBA), Salva (Real Madrid), Antonio (Barcelona), Kortadi (Valencia), Barreto (Braga), Sanchez de la Calle (Almeria)

Full strength squad so no grumbles. Just had to decide between Sanz and Ayechu really.​
 
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UEFA European Championships 2028

(in England)

Group E

Spain 4-1 Slovakia
Garmendia, Perez Villarroya, Gomez, Hondo N'Dongo

Line Up: David, G.Ruiz, Hondo N'Dongo, Gomez, De la Torre (Floria Valadez), Garmendia*, Cidoncha, Izurza (Gutierrez), Herrera, Perez Villarroya, Garcia (Alfredo)

Good start with the only downpoint being Garcia picking up a minor knock.

Italy 0-0 Switzerland

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Italy 2-1 Spain
Hondo N'Dongo

Line Up: David, G.Ruiz, Hondo N'Dongo, Gomez, De la Torre (Granell), Garmendia, Cidoncha, Izurza, Herrera, Perez Villarroya (Ibanez), Alfredo (Ayechu)

Poor performance. Went a goal down and equalised after an hour but couldnt hold on. Redaelli was kept quiet though. Have to beat Switzerland in the next game now.

Slovakia 0-1 Switzerland

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Spain 2-0 Switzerland
Garcia, Gomez

Line Up: David, G.Ruiz, Hondo N'Dongo, Gomez, De la Torre, Garmendia (Santano), Cidoncha (M.Ruiz), Izurza, Herrera, Perez Villarroya*, Garcia (Alfredo)

We top the group as Italy were held to a draw. Comfortable win and we had a goal disallowed also. Aitor Herrera has now overtaken Iker Casillas to become Spain's most capped player.

Italy 0-0 Slovakia​
 
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UEFA European Championships

1st Round

Portugal 0-2 Spain
Garcia, Ayechu

Line Up: David, Liendo (Granell), Hondo N'Dongo, Gomez, De la Torre*, Garmendia, Cidoncha, Izurza, Santano (Ayechu), Perez Villarroya (Ibanez), Garcia

Thought I would struggle before hand as G.Ruiz and Herrera were suspended but we took the lead after 18secs. Perez Villarroya was stretcherd off after 7min and is out for 3 months and Garcia got sent off after 9min!

Holland 0-1 Czech. Republic
Croatia 2-3 Germany
Russia 2-2 France
(France won on pens)
Sweden 0-1 Italy
Switzerland 1-0 Turkey
Bulgaria 2-0 Romania
Serbia 0-3 England​
 


UEFA European Championships 2028

Quarter Finals

Spain 4-2 Czech. Republic
Gomez, Herrera, Alfredo, Ayechu

Line Up: David, G.Ruiz, Hondo N'Dongo (Valcarcel), Gomez, De la Torre, Garmendia, Cidoncha, Izurza, Herrera*, Ibanez (Gutierrez), Alfredo (Ayechu)

A fine result and performance. We should have scored more but hey ho. Ayechu is certainly making a name for himself! England up next - wont be easy.

Germany 2-1 France
England 1-0 Bulgaria
Italy 1-0 Switzerland​
 


UEFA European Championships 2028

Semi Finals

Spain 2-1 England
Hondo N'Dongo, Gomez

Line Up: David, G.Ruiz, Hondo N'Dongo, Gomez, De la Torre, Garmendia (Santano), Cidoncha, Izurza, Herrera*, Ibanez (Gutierrez), Alfredo (Ayechu)

Scraped through here. Went two up thanks to my centre halves (who must be on something the amount they are scoring) but England quickly pulled one back. De la Torre will be suspended for the final.

Germany 2-0 Italy

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FINAL

Spain 1-0 Germany
Ayechu

Line Up: David, G.Ruiz, Hondo N'Dongo, Gomez*, Granell, Garmendia, Cidoncha (Santano), Izurza, Herrera, Ibanez (Gutierrez), Alfredo (Ayechu)


Germany: Hollereith, Thiele, Gotz, Maltese (Lechtleiter), Grimm, Hartmann, Nowicki, Khalili, Vollmann (Grundei), Voigt, Bernhardt (Kurz)


What a year for Ayechu. This time last year he was stagnating in the B team and he only got called up to the 1st team because Rodriguez wanted to leave and now he has just scored the winner in the Euros as well as scoring over 20 goals for Bilbao.


BEST PLAYER - Aitor Herrera
GOLDEN BOOT - Andrew Foster (England)

DREAM TEAM
Vutov (Bulgaria)
Paterson (England)
Henney (England)
Gomez (Spain)
Hondo N'Dongo (Spain)
Toase (England)
Pickup (England)
Herrera (Spain)
Picard (France)
Foster (England)
Hernandez (England)

De la Torre and Garmendia were amongst the named subs.​
 
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Wow Redaelli is awesome!!!!!
 
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PRE SEASON - AUGUST

Club legend Iker Muniain retires to join Bilbao's coaching staff
Ordonez Lopez, Gomez and Barandiaran also exit
Damia, Abel and Toni join the 1st team squad
David, De la Torre and Perez Villarroya wanted a new challenge - not happening!
Bilbao get PSV, Palermo and Werder Bremen in Europe

AIMS
Get back to being undefeated in the league would be nice

PLAYERS IN
A couple of regens - nobody startling but they could turn out not bad I suppose.
View attachment 252485View attachment 252486View attachment 252487
TOTAL SPENT: £1.2m

PLAYERS OUT
Ordonez Lopez (224/42) was sold to Liverpool for £10m and I released Ekain Barandiaran(290/47) along with a dozen u19/B team players. Roberto Gomez rejected a £20m move to Napoli but did join them on loan!! Iker Muniain retired after making 728 appearances under my management and scoring 298 goals. He is now a youth coach although his stats arent that great for coaching.
TOTAL INCOME: £15m

SUMMARY
Abel, Damia and Toni are now in the 1st team squad to add depth to the central midfield area while I will put 17 y/0 Albert Torres in as 1st choice centre half ahead of Valcarcel. I have a few promising young cb's in the u19s so I will try and give them some game time - hence why I released Barandiaran who was on mega money.

Spanish Super Cup Final 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Sevilla
Izurza, Hondo N'Dongo

Athletic Bilbao 5-0 Real Sociedad
Vinas (pen), Herrera, Torres 2, Gutierrez

UEFA European Super Cup Final
Arsenal 1-4 Athletic Bilbao
Herrera 2, Vinas 2(2pens)

Spanish Super Cup Final 2nd Leg
Sevilla 1-4 Athletic Bilbao
Torres, Vinas (pen), Alfredo, Gutierrez​
 
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SEPTEMBER

Alfredo nets 4 against Granada
Herrera may now be 32 but he is in the form of his life!
B team start the season well also
Spain get two easy wins in World Cup qualifiers

A great month as we continue our fantastic start to the season. Aitor Herrera assisted 8 goals in the games that he played while Alfredo, Ayechu and Gutierrez also starred.

Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Atletico Madrid
Gomez Comas

UEFA Champions League Group H
PSV Eindhoven 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Garmendia, Ayechu

Xerez 0-1 Athletic Bilbao
Ayechu

Athletic Bilbao 6-2 Granada
Torres, Alfredo 4, Toni

Real Valladolid 0-3 Athletic Bilbao
Gomaz Comas, Alfredo, Hondo N'Dongo

UEFA Champions League Group H
Athletic Bilbao 4-0 Werder Bremen
Valcarcel, Gutierrez 2(1pen), Ayechu

Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Real Betis
Ruiz, Hondo N'Dongo, Ayechu

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
AITOR HERRERA
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SPAIN

World Cup Quals Group 4

Luxembourg 0-3 Spain
Garcia, Herrera, Strauss (og)

Spain 4-1 Belarus
Garcia 2, Garmendia, M.Ruiz
​
 
Its gonna be a sad day when Aitor Herrera retires :(
 
Sam91 said:
Its gonna be a sad day when Aitor Herrera retires :(
Click to expand...

Indeed. I am hoping he can do an Azpilicueta and still keep playing at a high level until he is 36 but time will tell. He is after Muniains appearance records now
 
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OCTOBER

Bilbao keep up 100% record in the league
Sanz scores against Sanse lol
Real Madrid and Barca lose 1st legs of cup ties against minnows
Another 2 wins for Spain

We keep marching on! There were a couple of disappointments though - we had a last minute goal against Palermo chalked off and I would have expected more goals against Sanse. Barcelona away is our next league game though.

Cadiz 1-4 Athletic Bilbao
Garmendia 2, Izurza, Moya (og)

UEFA Champions League Group H
Palermo 0-0 Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Malaga
Izurza, Alfredo 2

Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg
Sanse 0-2 Athletic Bilbao
Ayechu, Sanz

Athletic Bilbao 6-1 Real Zaragoza
Izurza 2, Perez Villarroya, Vinas, Herrera, Lagua (og)

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
JOSE LUIS IZURZA
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SPAIN

World Cup Quals Group 4

Spain 2-0 Kazakhstan
Garcia, M.Ruiz

Slovakia 0-3 Spain
Garmendia, Ibanez, Alfredo
​
 
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NOVEMBER

Bilbao beaten by Barca thanks to an injury time goal
Bilbao through in Europe
Sergio Aguero is the new manager of Sevilla
Spain beat Holland but draw in Brazil

Not a good month at all. Started off ok with my backup players beating Palermo but then we lost away to Barca thanks to Redaelli netting a double with the winner coming in stoppage time. Our backup players also drew with PSV and we were awful against Valencia - we were 2 down with 10 min left and had Herrera and Alfredo taken off injured but somehow we got a point.

UEFA Champions League Group H
Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Palermo
Gutierrez, Kessab (og), Gomez Comas

Barcelona 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Izurza

Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao 4-0 Sanse
Sanz, Ayechu 3

Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Elche
Alfredo 2, Valcarcel

UEFA Champions League Group H
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 PSV Eindhoven
Toni

Valencia 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
Perez Villarroya, Izurza

Deportivo La Coruna 0-5 Athletic Bilbao
Torres, Izurza, Ayechu 2, Garmendia

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ALBERT TORRES
View attachment 252643
(no stand outs but Torres has done well this season thus far -he is going to be a machine!)

View attachment 252645

SPAIN

Friendlies

Spain 2-0 Holland
Herrera, Hondo N'Dongo

Brazil 2-2 Spain
Izurza, Alfredo


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