Droit Au But - Olympique de Marseille & France

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Direttore

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Things have changed a lot in Ligue 1 the last few years.
The Lyon dominance was broken with different teams winning the league the years after, huge investements then followed for AS Monaco FC and Paris Saint-Germain, two teams now looking to dominate in France and take the step up into the top of Europe.
I've taken upon myself to stop them from dominating all by themselves, and making Olympique de Marseille a force to reckon with. At the same time I will take control over a very interesting France with a lot of young players looking to make an entrance.

​

Transfer Situation

I have no money at all for transfers, so the staff and squad will remain the same unless any offers are made that can't be refused. I would like to keep my key players though, the only ones that would bring in any money, so I guess that'll not happen unless my bosses accepts a deal over my head.
Before I got here the team had made some really good signings though, strengthening the squad significantly in the form of Dimitri Payet.

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Key Players

GK - Steve Mandanda
A solid keeper who's been with us for many years now. Coupled with some international apperances he's gathered plenty of experience, and at the age of 28 he still has many goalkeeping years ahead of him.

CB - Nicolas Nkoulou
The cameroonian defender is showing great promise and have already proven himself someone to count on. A smart and physical player capable of fighting with the strongest of them.

Wingers - Andre Ayew & Dimitri Payet
My two favorite players at the team, if I'm allowed to have any.
Behind them it's thin, so hopefully we can keep them away from any injuries, as they are going to be our main offensive force being fast and technically gifted.

AM - Mathieu Valbuena
Our creativity on the midfield. Have recently taken a place in the national team as players such as Nasri have been disappointing for Les Bleus. I'm hoping he can bring the best out of our wingers and the man up front.


Andre Ayew - Named as one of the key players for l'OM ahead of the coming season​
 



France haven't been able to get a team together on the national level for years. Many good, even great, individuals are eligible to play for our nation and now it's up to me to get them fighting.
I take the job during ongoing World Cup qualifications, where France are 3rd in the group after Spaind and Finland(!!!). Not yet defeated even after playing Spain twice, I'd say that's a strong start. Against the current world champions, my predecessor managed to get two 1-1 results which I'm very thankful for. This means we can still challenge for the top spot in the group.
That said, we are currently ranked 25th in the world, and for a country of our size and football, that is just unacceptable.
I will turn this around.
To Brazil!


Key Players

GK - Hugo Lloris
Doing a good job for years at Lyon, despite a young age, Lloris signed for Tottenham last year and had a good first season there. A young keeper with loads of talent who will, most probably, defend the french goal for many years to come. Has already represented France 45 times at the age of 26.

ST - Karim Benzema
Young but with plenty of experience, this striker is a terrific player. He has a somewhat disappointing season behind him at Real Madrid, but the team decided to keep him while selling his biggest rival for the striker position, so hopefully he can be more consistent in his performances this year for both club and nation.

AML - Franck Ribery
The biggest star in my opinion.
A magnificent player, one of the best in the world and current Champions League holder with Bayern Munchen.
Fast, technical and with an eye for goal. He has grown a few levels the last few years and is one of the names talked about when it comes to Ballon d'or discussions, year after year.


Franck Ribery - A nation's best hope
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Last edited:
Good luck will definately follow, nice change to see a france story not about psg or monaco.
 


France Friendly Squad vs. Wales

Goalkeepers: Steve Mandanda, Stephane Ruffier, Hugo Lloris

Defenders: Raphael Varane, Mathieu Debuchy, Bacary Sagna, Eric Abidal, Eliaquim Mangala, Gael Clichy, Patrice Evra

Midfielders: Jeremy Toulalan, Rio Mavuba, Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, Yohan Cabaye, Samir Nasri, Moussa Sissoko, Clement Grenier, Franck Ribery, Dimitri Payet

Strikers: Bafetimbi Gomis, Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud


I decided against making many changes for my first game. Pogba, Mangala and Debuchy all have played for France before, and they only came in because of injuries on other players. I will take a closer look on the whole national pool at a future date when I've had a little more time at the job. There are some players I'd like to phase in. Will be interesting to see how Varane and Mangala will work together. I will also have to look for alternatives on the wings in the future as Ribery and Payet are the only ones in the squad at the moment.



​
 


An evening game in Cardiff saw Wales going toe-to-toe with France for a 1-1 draw.
France being seen as the stronger team beforehand, was met by the fiesty welsh who were having none of it.
While the first half belonged to the french, with an advantage in both possession and shots, saw the roles reversed in the second half as the french team seemed to relax a bit too much, losing ground as the game progressed. After Giroud's early 9th minute goal, Hal Robson-Kanu evened it out in the 59th minute for Wales. France never came back and struggled to keep the ball withing the team at all, with sloppy passing and bad focus.
With no outstandingly good performance, Nasri was in the papers focus for being particularly bad. Ribery didn't play as he got injured a couple of days before the game.

"We will have to do better if we're going to take a place in Brazil. I'm certain that we are capable of winning the rest of our games as long as we can all keep or focus and fight for each other. Hopefully Ribery will be available when the qualifiers are played, as he is very important for us all."

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Id rather choose Etienne Capoue than Jeremy Toulalan. Nice start of the story. Ill follow. :)
 


August




En Avant de Guingamp 1 - 1 Olympique de Marseille
0-1 Andre Ayew (21)
1-1 Cedric Faure (63)

Olympique de Marseille 1 - 1 Evian
0-1 Marco Ruben
1-1 Dimitri Payet (82)

Valenciennes FC 1 - 0 Olympique de Marseille
Anthony Le Tallec (11)

A weak start from us with three bad result considering we had an easy line-up on paper.
Indecisiveness in front of goal has been one of the main reasons for this. We get to shots but misses almost every single one. I will have to experiment with the striker position, what role I want up front and what player. Jordan Ayew is good and is the one who have the age and talent to improve his skills. Gignac have the experience and has proven that he can score a lot in Ligue 1, but has been inconsistent. Saber Khalifa has a really cool name.
​
 
scan18 said:
Id rather choose Etienne Capoue than Jeremy Toulalan. Nice start of the story. Ill follow. :)
Click to expand...

Yes I will have to experiment a bit. I'm really excited about all the young talent that france has, but I will still need some experience around and Toulalan is a superb teamplayer and will do anything for a win. Capoue is also a teamplayer but I will wait and see how he performce in a big team first, once the Premier League season is underway.

Thanks for commenting!
 


Champions League Draw

 ​

We were drawn into group H together with english champions Manchester United, turkish champions Galatasaray and the scottish champions Celtic. A pretty tough group where Manchester United are the obvious favourites with the rest of us being pretty evenly matched. Not an impossible task at all but we will have to play well to go through.

The other french teams in the draw were Lyon who are up against belarusian BATE, russian Zenit and portuguese Porto. Another tough group, as most are in the Champions League, since Lyon aren't the team they used to be. Will be very interesting to follow and I'd consider Porto and Zenit favourites to go through in this Group G.
Then there's PSG who got the toughest group of all the french teams, going up against Real Madrid and Juventus in a real super group with Steaua looking to be the probable sandbag.

​
 
I did a Marseille save on FM 13 and really enjoyed it. I found that this formation worked wonders for them, keeping clean sheets while scoring a handful!

GK


CB CB

LWB DM RWB

CM CM (AP)

LW (IF) RW(IF)

ST

While the ST didnt normally score more than 15 goals a year, i would have at least 6/7 players scoring over 10 goals per season. I had finished 2nd in my 1st year, but won the treble the year after! (PSG are still awaiting a title!)

Hope this helps, and good luck with Marseille (i have taken a liking to them now from my FM13 save!)
 


International Squad

Goalkeepers: Steve Mandanda, Stephane Ruffier, Hugo Lloris

Defenders: Raphael Varane, Mathieu Debuchy, Bacary Sagna, Eliaquim Mangala, Samuel Umiti, Adil Rami, Gael Clichy, Patrive Evra

Midfielders: Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Samir Nasri, Moussa Sissoko, Clement Grenier, Franck Ribery, Dimitri Payet

Strikers: Alexandre Lacazette, Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud

Before my first qualifier game we had another friendly to attend to, which is good as I need all time possible to get to know the team better.
Some changes from the last squad, some more younger players in while some of the oldies was left out, we'll see how that works out in the long run.

France 2 - 0 Australia (Friendly)
Karim Benzema 1-0 (34)
Karim Benzema 2-0 (Penalty 64)

Good to have our nr.1 striker get some goals as he's not been performing to his best abilities in the national team as of yet. I hope to be able to get the best out of him. An overall solid performance, with Mandanda between the posts for this one, saved a couple of good shots and some more weak ones. Umiti and Varane made for a young centre back team in front of him and didn't embarrass themselves in their first game together. We will still need time to work on the teamwork, our midfield was somewhat weak, losing way to many challenges against an opposition such as this, while the men up front was a bit to impotent with their shooting.

Georgia 1 - 2 France (World Cup Qualifier)
Dimitri Payet 0-1 (43)
Levan Mchedlidze 1-1 (52)
Samir Nasri (67)

We didn't have a good game at all, except for being able to get the win in the end. Georgia played us on even footing, which is not how it's supposed to be. We have to control games like these, even when playing away. If we can't take the command in games against weaker competition, this will be a very stressful job for me. It's not easy to get a national team full of great individualists to play well together. Both Ribery and Benzema were injured before this game and weren't able to play. Giroud did not take this chance to show me anything special.


Karim Benzema - Great one game, injured the next


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September




Olympique de Marseille 3 - 0 AS Monaco FC
Andre Ayew 1-0 (3)
Jordan Ayew 2-0 (53)
Giannelli Imbula 3-0 (90+2)

Toulouse FC 1 - 1 Olympique de Marseille
Alaixys Romao 1-0 (Own Goal 43)
Andre-Pierre Gignac (69)

SC Bastia 1 - 3 Olympique de Marseille
Dimitri Payet 0-1 (29)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 0-2 (43)
Gilles Cioni 0-3 (Own Goal 68)
Florian Raspentino 1-3 (83)

Olympique de Marseille 0 - 1 AS Saint-Etienne
Fabien Lemoine 0-1 (3)

FC Lorient 2 - 2 Olympique de Marseille
Andre-Pierre Gignac 0-1 (54)
Wesley Lautoa 1-1 (58)
Florian Thauvin 1-2 (86)
Jeremie Aliadiere 2-2 (90)

A little bit of everything in the Ligue 1 this month. Starting with a strong win against Monaco, showing great promise of what to come. Or not. The month also included a weak performance, at home, against Saint-Etienne where a fantastic early freekick won them three points. A tight game in Toulouse where a draw was most deserved, and an annoying loss of points in over time against FC Lorient settled the last league game of the month. We will have to do better next month


Galatasaray 1 - 2 OM
Florian Thauvin 0-1 (23)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 0-2 (46)
Burak Yilmaz 1-2 (77)
Souleymane Diawara 2nd Yellow Card (79)
Felipe Melo 2nd Yellow Card (90)

A good start for us in the group, winning a really tough away game in Istanbul. We were in control of the game until we got one man down in the second half right after the turks had scored one. We got a little shaky but managed to hang on to our lead and, as Manchester United disappointingly drew in Glasgow, took the lead in our group. As I will prioritize the league my first season, I decided to rest Andre Ayew, Dimitri Payet and Nicolas Nkoulou, which is reason for even more happiness as the substitute players stepped up and performed.


Player of the Month


Rod Fanni
Solid performances, defensively as well as offensively, all throughout the month have me chosing Rod Fanni as our best player of this month.
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October


France Squad

Goalkeepers: Steve Mandanda, Stephane Ruffier, Hugo Lloris

Defenders: Raphael Varane, Mathieu Debuchy, Bacary Sagna, Eliaquim Mangala, Samuel Umtiti, Adil Rami, Patrice Evra, Benjamin Mendy

Midfielders: Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Mathieu Valbuena, Samir Nasri, Moussa Sissoko, Clement Grenier, Dimitri Payet, Alexandre Lacazette

Strikers: Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud

I got some critique for some of my picks this time around. Clichy got injured, and so I decided to pick a player I know as back-up, Benjamin Mendy. Patrice Evra was going to be the one playing, with Mendy at most subbing in, so I figured his inexperience wouldn't be that big of a hurdle. Cabaye didn't make the cut (I actually missed to add him but don't tell anyone) and instead youngling Kondogbia was put in the squad to get him some experience as he's had a decent start in Monaco.


France 3 - 0 Finland
Alexandre Lacazette 1-0 (37)
Karim Benzema 2-0 (76)
Clement Grenier (83)

France 3 - 1 Belarus
Blaise Matuidi 1-0 (12)
Alexandre Lacazette 2-0 (36)
Vitali Radzionau 2-1 (82)
Karim Benzema 3-1(85)

Two solid wins at home got us the second place in the group and made sure we're going to play a knock-out qualifier against Ukraine. With Ribery still out injured, Alexandre Lacazette stepped up and showed us the way with 2 goals in two games, Karim Benzema did the same thing and I'm really happy with him for it.





Well that went alright. We've won all the qualifier games since I got here, and we've gotten better on the pitch as well.


​
 


October




OM 0 - 1 Celtic
Derk Boerrigter 0-1 (17)

Man Utd 2 - 2 OM
Nemanja Vidic 1-0 (38)
Shinji Kagawa 2-0 (55)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 2-1 (56)
Lucas Mendes 2-2 (71)

I'm not very happy with the Celtic result, of course, but I am glad we managed to turn things around in Manchester. Celtic is actually topping the group after winning against Galatasaray in Glasgow. Galatasaray now have three losses and will have a really tough time trying to qualify, while we're at 4 and will probably have to win against both Celtic and Galatasaray to grab the first or second spot, not impossible but it'll be hard.





OM 3 - 1 PSG
Andre Ayew 1-0 (29)
Dimitri Payet 2-0 (32)
Benoit Cheyrou 3-0 (Penalty 51)
Ezequiel Lavezzi 3-1 (74)

OGC Nice 2 - 2 OM
Dimitri Payet 0-1 (34)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 0-2 (42)
Mathieu Bodmer 1-2 (45)
Alexy Bosetti 2-2 (62)

OM 2 - 0 Stade de Reims
Dimitri Payet 1-0 (52)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 2-0 (61)

A good league week. We got off to a fantastic start beating our biggest rivals PSG at the Stade Velodrome, three to one. A game full of chances for both sides, but where my guys had the focus in front of goal, terrific!
A somewhat weaker display after that though, against Nice, where we lost a two goal lead. A Jeckyl & Hyde performance where we had full control in the first half, and Nice taking the wheel in the second.
Back home we made short work out of Reims in a pretty uneventful game. We didn't play really well, playing mostly without the ball, but our counterattacks were plentiful and stung the opposition. One extra thumbs up for Dimitri Payet who got some good goalscoring form this month in Ligue 1.



Player of the Month


Andre Ayew
Having been a constant threat up front with great passing and runs, topping it off with good defensive work and an attitude of giving it all for the team.


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November




OM 3 - 0 Man Utd
Andre-Pierre Gignac 1-0 (12)
Javier Hernandez 2-0 Own Goal (42)
Andre Ayew 3-0 (60)
Gianelli Imbula Second Yellow (88)

OM 4 - 1 Galatasaray
Andre-Pierre Gignac 1-0 (26)
Nicolas Nkoulou 2-0 (32)
Mathieu Valbuena 3-0 (45)
Dimitri Payet 4-0 (53)
Emre Colak 4-1 (57)



A great Champions League month for us, with two really fantastic wins. Manchester United had the upper hand even though we played at home, creating chances and being the team in control of the ball, but that doesn't matter when they can't score, which we did instead. Our second win was more fair so to say, with us controlling the game from start to finish, they got one back early in the second half but the game kind of stagnated after that and we defended very well.
We are on top of the group with one match left. We will go through if we can manage to not lose against Celtic.




Stade Rennais FC 1 - 3 OM
Andre-Pierre Gignac 0-1 (17)
Lucas Mendes 0-2 (29)
Vincent Pajot 1-2 (42)
Andre Ayew 1-3 Penalty (72)

OM 4 - 0 FC Sochaux-Montbe
Andre-Pierre Gignac 1-0 (5)
Dimitri Payet 2-0 (14)
Dimitri Payet 3-0 (24)
Andre-Pierre Gignac (80)

AC Ajaccio 1 - 2 OM
Dimitri Payet 0-1 (51)
Benoit Pedretti 1-1 (83)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 1-2 (89)

OM 2 - 1 Montpellier HSC
Andre-Pierre Gignac 1-0 (2)
Andre Ayew 2-0 (60)
Abdel El Kaoutari 2-1 (84)



Performance wise the games were a bit up and down, not performing to our best at all times. Still we managed to win every single game we played this month. Absolutely fantastic of the guys, perfect form right before christmas. Andre-Pierre Gignac just keeps on scoring, will he be able to perform at this level for a whole season, again? Just as he did once in Toulouse, where he showed everyone what he is capable of at his best.



Player of the Month


Andre-Pierre Gignac
He's been a beast this month, scoring like it's nothing.





Transfer Update

When I came to the club, they gave me nothing in form of finances for any transfers, I had to manage with what was here. It has obviously worked pretty well as we are now on top of the league, with more games played than the rest though but still. Ahead of the January window I got a mail though, where the board presented me with a 22m Euro budget.
My first act of business is to make sure there's competent back-up in case Gignac breaks, as neither Khalifa or J. Ayew have proven lethal.

I decided to get a fan of the club, a name most will have heard of, a giant in the world of football.
Didier Drogba.
He comes cheap but will have a big salary, but we will manage with our recent Champions League money, a competition he will not be able to represent us in this season.


Didier Drogba
Set to make a comeback for Marseille as soon as the january transfer window opens up.


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World Cup Group Stage Draw


The groups have been drawn and we got Argentina, Honduras and Tunisia.
A group that should be manageble, if everything goes as planned we and Argentina should be the ones who go through to the next round. But then again, anything can happen in football.


Group AGroup BGroup CGroup D
BrazilAustraliaArgentinaEgypt
EnglandBos. & HerzFranceItaly
Ivory CoastSouth AfricaHondurasMexico
Saudi ArabiaUruguayTunisiaTurkey
Group EGroup FGroup GGroup H
HollandChileBelgiumEcuador
ParaguayCosta RicaJapanPortugal
SwitzerlandGermanyNigeriaSouth Korea
U.S.A.GreeceNorwaySpain




​
 


December




LOSC 1 - 0 OM
Idrissa Gueye 1-0 (30)

OM 2 - 1 FC Nantes
Andre-Pierre Gignac 1-0 (20)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 2-0 (67)
Filip Djordjevic 2-1 (70)

Olympique Lyonnais 0 - 1 OM
Samuel Umiti Own Goal 0-1 (60)

OM 4 - 0 Girondins Bordeaux
Andre-Pierre Gignac 1-0 (42)
Mathieu Valbuena 2-0 (47)
Florian Thauvin 3-0 (73)
Andre-Pierre Gignac 4-0 (87)

A good league week, with just one loss and that against a strong Lille away. We managed to beat Lyon who are one of the top contenders for the champions league spots, if not the league win. Although we were very lucky in that game, with some solid defending, a brilliant Mandanda and an own goal.
We've played a very very direct game so far this season, and as it's working we will continue to do so, even if that means that the opponents have more possession and might create more chances, we hit them on the conuter attack and we are quite capable of hurting any team we are up against.





Celtic 1 - 1 OM
Mathieu Valbuena 0-1 (32)
Scott Brown 1-1 Penalty (62)

Only one game played, a game where we were pushed back for the most of it, defending for our lives, we HAD to win this game. We'd be on even points if Celtic won, but they would qualify due to their results against us.
In the end we managed a draw and I'm very happy with the lads. We have already done what the fans and board can reasonably expect, now we play with nothing to lose.





OM 0 - 1 LOSC
Nolan Roux 0-1 (10)

Twice in a month we've lost to Lille now. Annoying as... well very annoying indeed.
Trying to be positive though, it's probably good to be out of this competition so we can have som fresher legs in the Champions League and Ligue 1, as we don't really have any depth in our squad yet.



Player of the Month


Nicolas Nkoulou
Has been a rock at the defense for most of the season, and this month was his best so far. He keeps getting better and hopefully we can keep him here for a long time. One for the present and the future.


Transfers

Out
Kevin Osei - Free Transfer

In
Didier Drogba - Galatasaray 1.2 Million Euro
Fernando Gago - Boca 4 Million Euro
Lucas Romero - Velez 7.5 Million Euro

Got a mutual termination deal with Osei, a player who would never have a chance to break into the first team, we wish him all luck in any future endevours.
Adding to my irritation from the Lille games, Drogba arrived at the club injured and out for 6-7 weeks. Just great, now I'm really glad that Gignac is actually performing, leading the scoring charts for the whole league, with Valbuena backing him up with the most assists in the league.
To get some strength in the midfield, I decided to get two argentinians in time before facing them in the World Cup. Fernando had a decent period in Boca and I am pretty sure we can get him to perform to his potential that he never lived up to in Real Madrid.
Just after him, Lucas Romero joins us for a big fee that will be split over several clauses and a period of time.
He's had a pretty weak time this season in Argentina but everyone knows what kind of talent he possesses, hopefully I'l be the one who brings it out of him.


Fernando Gago
Happy and grateful to recieve another chance at european glory after some disappointing seasons in Real Madrid, Roma and Valencia.
​
 


Season Summary

I couldn't stop playing once things got rolling during my last session, so I finished the season. Here are most of the information.

Olympique de Marseille Fixtures January - May



Starting with the bad, we failed pretty miserably in both national cups, and we also didn't play well enough to beat a strong Schalke in the Champions League. This allowed us to have a bit more rest though so I think it worked out well, in the end. The most important results will have been our loss against PSG in March, letting them catch up to us in the table. Also in February we had a weak spell, getting four draws in a row, that didn't help either. Our last game was against En Avant de Guingamp, a game that we won with 5-2 and secured the first title of my career! With PSG so close, we had to get atleast a point from this game if PSG won theirs, which they did decisevely. Well done by the lads, in the last game especially the returning Didier Drogba who managed his first hat-trick for us this season.


Ligue 1



Mathieu Valbuena were the top assister in the league with 15.
Nicolas Nkoulou and Steve Mandanda played every single league game for us this season, and considering we were the team that conceded the fewest amount of goals, I'd say they did a tremendous job.
Gignac's form came to an end about the time Drogba joined the club, and he just didn't score anymore, so when Drogba became fit he also took the striker spot and stayed there with some good performances, managing 9 goals in just 13 games. Gignac still managed to get the most goals for the duration of the entire season with 21, and Payet in second place with 15. Drogba and Andre Ayew shared the third spot with 9 each.



Player of the Season

Defensive


Rod Fanni Av. Rating 7.31
A rock at the defence for most of the season, never disappointed, sometimes excelled.
I'm really happy with him and I'm sad that he's not younger so he could stay with us for many years to come.

Offensive


Dimitri Payet Av. Rat 7.13
Did really well in his first season here with us. 15 goals and 13 assists in 41 games is totally forgivable.
A constant threat creating opportunities for both himself and his teammates. We're lucky to have him.


Words from the Manager

So a good first season I think. Considering that while our first 11 is pretty strong, our squad doesn't really have any depth. Injuries and tiredness really hurt us from time to time. Gago and Romero still need some time to get into the team properly. They played a lot since they came, and managed a decent result, nothing spectacular though. Now I have to get the national side ready for the world cup. We have scheduled a bunch of friendlies before the tournament begins, so I hope we can get a real friendly atmosphere withing the team until then.
Thanks to everyone who's bothering to read and comment, that's the reason I'm documenting this at all.​
 
Enjoying this read! nice to see Gago back in europe, i'm sure he will do well for you and i hope you smash the world cup!
 
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