Espanyol - The Royal Spanish Sports Club

[Mike]

Thanks pal. My laptop's being gaily slow, end of January and December update coming within 15 mins.

 

[Mike]

DECEMBER


4.12.11: Real Madrid 2 : 0 ESPANYOL – K. Benzema (36), C. Ronaldo (52)
7.12.11: ESPANYOL 2 : 4 Arsenal – L. Garcia (17, pen 68) : Eduardo (1, 71), T. Walcott (13), C. Davies (90+2)
10.12.11: ESPANYOL 1 : 0 Barcelona – V. Obinna (15)


EURO Cup 1st and 2nd Round draw: Panathinaikos/FC Kobenhavn vs. ESPANYOL/Porto


18.12.11: Castellon 0 : 1 ESPANYOL – R. Tamudo (65)


Mega pleased with the performance against Barcelona. Real Madrid were the better team throughout the defeat. A good month in the league overall.


JANUARY

Transfers in: Seydou KEITA (£3.4M)
Transfers out: Bogdan MOLDOVAN (£160K)


View attachment 23221


1.1.12: ESPANYOL 0 : 0 Villarreal
4.1.12 (Spanish Cup Fifth Round Leg 1): Elche 2 : 0 ESPANYOL – R. Gomez (26, 86)
8.1.12: Recreativo 1 : 2 ESPANYOL – J. Cruz (43) : V. Obinna (9, 78)
11.1.12 (Spanish Cup Fifth Round Leg 2): ESPANYOL 6 (6 (six)) : (3) 1 Elche – R. Tamudo (13, 66), N. Pareja (17), S. Pienaar (45+1), L. Garcia (58), S. Keita (79) : D. Generelo (60)


Spanish Cup Quarter Final and Semi Final draw:

Barcelona/Valladolid vs. ESPANYOL/Racing


15.11.12: Valladolid 1 : 3 ESPANYOL – A. Rubio (21) : F. Pinto (27), J. Verdu (32, 69)
18.1.12 (Spanish Cup Quarter Final Leg 1): ESPANYOL 2 : 2 Racing – L. Garcia (76, 89) : M. Arana (16), A. Geijo (34)
22.1.12: ESPANYOL 2 : 1 Real Zaragoza – C. Vela (28), D. Beckham (38) : I. Obradovic (49)
25.1.12 (Spanish Cup Quarter Final Leg 2): Racing 3 (5) : (4) 2 ESPANYOL – A. Geijo (7, 60), M. Lacen (27) : C. Vela (43), Valdo (84)
29.1.12: Valencia 1 : 1 ESPANYOL – D. Villa (41) : C. Vela (61)


A ****** nightmare month for fixtures, not so bad for results. Unlucky against Valencia, now dropped down to second in the league, but not to worry



Last 13 results:

View attachment 23220

End-of-January league table:

View attachment 23222

 

[Pompey_Dan]

Not sure how I missed this thread before, but just read it from the beginning and was totally engrossed! You've done brilliantly so far and I can't wait to see how this season finishes, with only 1 point seperating you and Barca at the moment!

Great free signing in Vela too.

Keep it up Mike, one of the best story threads on the site! (H)

 

[timmsy123]

Well done mate, doing really well followed this closely as you're also Espanyol as i am in my thread, see you've spent drastically less than me which in a way im jealous of as you're doing as good if not better with limited resources!

 

[Mike]

Lol looking at your thread made me want to spend big :S btw I've regained top spot after Real Madrid beat Barca

 

[timmsy123]

Haha it was nice to spend big and bring in exactly the players i wanted mate, but spending money wont guarantee me success will have to wait and see! 2 wins and 2 draws in my first 4 league games with the new look side dunno if you saw ? Congrats on regaining top spot, how many games you got left to go? Hope you hold out! Interesting to see you're playing the goals galore tactic im using complete dominance, which means i use no wide men which is new for me on fm as i love wingers!

 

[TriggaByte]

ur well above expectation...good luck with the rest of the season i will be following this

 

[Mike]

FEBRUARY


4.2.12: ESPANYOL 4 : 1 Real Betis – L. Garcia (3), B. Sahar (52, 73), Valdo (65) : Nelson (48)
12.2.12: ESPANYOL 1 : 0 Athletic Bilbao – D. Beckham (53)
16.2.12 (EURO Cup First Knockout Leg 1): EPSNAYOL 4 : 2 FC Porto – Valdo (pen 21), L. Garcia (26), Rolando O.G. (31), V. Obinna (90+1) : Hulk (57), F. Belluschi (64)
19.2.12: Athletico Madrid 2 : 2 ESPANYOL – Pablo (34), J. A. Reyes (90+3) : V. Obinna (11, 55)
23.2.12 (EURO Cup First Knockout Leg 2): FC Porto 4 (6 (six)) : (6 (six)) 2 ESPANYOL – Espanyol win 8-7 on penalties – S. Varela (15), Hulk (24), R. Meireles (51, 63) : Valdo (pen 47), R. Tamudo (67)
26.2.12: ESPANYOL 2 : 0 Xerex – V. Obinna (35, 70)


Very good month for the club, winning 3 out of 4 league games, and an away draw to Athletico who are still a strong club. Disappointed with the away performance against Porto, but just pleased on going through despite on penalties.



Last 6 results:

View attachment 23827

End-of-month league table:

View attachment 23828

 

[Hezho]

This is one of the best stories in FM-Base mate, keep it going because im really enjoying it (H)

 

[Mike]

I've honestly got no intention of stopping at any time soon. My main aim was to complete 2 seasons as I didn't finish my Newcastle story, but I'm really enjoying and I want to go on for as long as I can.

 

[Deleted member 79730]

i picked the best team for you, i found something i can do, anyway amazing season so far

 

[Mike]

Yeah Joe mate, cheers for that. Any recommendations for a DC in the summer coming? Don't worry if not.

 

[Deleted member 79730]

richard dunne or chinedum onouha, or you could try and be ambitious and sign someone like ryan shawcross or neven subotic

 

[Mike]

Sounds good, cheers, I'll give them a try.

 

[Frank]

Although not been commenting much, I have been reading up, you've really done well at this. Title could be yours soon (Y) Well done pal

 

[Mike]

Thanks mate, I really hope I can win the title. Trying to concentrate on both league and EURO Cup, but to me that's like a side-competition, I'd rather win the league than Europa.

 

[Mike]

MARCH


4.3.12: Getafe 1 : 1 ESPANYOL – R. Soldado (55) : L. Garcia (22)
8.3.12 (EURO Cup Second Knockout Leg 1): Panathinaikos 2 : 1 ESPANYOL – S. Ninis (41), L. Christodoulopoulos (48) : V. Obinna (77)
11.3.12: ESPANYOL 1 : 0 Almeria – C. Vela (38)
15.3.12 (EURO Cup Second Knockout Leg 2): ESPANYOL 4 (5) : (3) 1 Panathinaikos – C. Vela (42), L. Garcia (45+1, pen 79), S. Pienaar (87) : D. Salpingidis (90+2)


EURO Cup Quarter Final and Semi Final draw:


ESPANYOL/Wolfsburg vs AZ/Leverkusen


I’m fully confident that this is probably the easiest of draws, as the other draw is Marseille/Rangers vs Sevilla/Bayern Munich


18.3.12: Hercules 3 : 5 ESPANYOL – B. D. Dialiba (39), S. Diaz (45+1), S. Paraiba (69) : Valdo (9), L. Garcia (14, 90+3), B. Sahar (17, 55)
25.3.12: ESPANYOL 1 : 0 Tenerife – C. Vela (89)
29.3.12 (EURO Cup Quarter Final Leg 1): ESPANYOL 2 : 1 VfL Wolfsburg – C. Vela (13), J. Verdu (63) : M. Schafer (35)


Very pleased with the month, 3 out of 4 league wins and a draw sees us back at the top after Barca slipped up. Ecstatic to make it past PAOK and winning the first leg in the Euro Cup QF. I have a very good feeling this is our season going into April



Last 7 results:

View attachment 24167

End-of-month table:

View attachment 24168

 

[Mike]

APRIL


1.4.12: Racing 2 : 3 ESPANYOL – A. Geijo (9), J. Goncalves (77) : V. Obinna (22), J. Forlin (29), C. Vela (90+4)
5.4.12 (EURO Cup Quarter Final Leg 2): VfL Wolfsburg 1 (3) : (5) 3 ESPANYOL – G. Ziehmer (46) : V. Obinna (3), Valdo (pen 44), B. Sahar (69)

The win put us through to the semis against AZ Alkmaar.

9.4.12: ESPANYOL 5 : 0 Levante – S. Keita (6, 18, pen 32), B. Sahar (12), V. Obinna (16)
14.4.12: Barcelona 1 : 4 ESPANYOL – A. Meseguer (25) : C. Vela (10, 38), V. Obinna (14, 60)

View attachment 24590​

19.4.12 (EURO Cup Semi Final Leg 1): ESPANYOL 1 : 0 AZ Alkmaar – J. Verdu (45+3)
22.4.12: ESPANYOL 0 : 2 Real Madrid – X. Alonso (29), Raul (71)
26.4.12 (EURO Cup Semi Final Leg 2): AZ Alkmaar 1 (1) : (3) 2 ESPANYOL – J. Versteeg (4) : L. Garcia (15), C. Vela (63)
29.4.12: ESPANYOL 4 : 2 Castellon – C. Vela (3, 61), J. Verdu (5, 58) : Gari (20, 62)


A truly inspirational win against Barcelona! I expected to be heavily destroyed like the 7-0 defeat last season, but there wasn’t a repeat of that! I don’t quite know what happened at home to Real Madrid after the great performance previously. Very happy with the performance in the league, and with 3 games left and 3 points ahead of Barca, the title could be coming home XD

Anyway, a spirited performance away at Wolfsburg saw us through to the semis of the EURO Cup, then an even better away victory against AZ see us in the final with Bayern Munich... gulp!



Last 8 results:

View attachment 24588

End-of-month league table:

View attachment 24589

 

[Mike]

MAY


2.5.12: Sevilla 0 : 1 ESPANYOL – J. Marquez (53)


A good result in my book ^^)

I've purposely updated this after only one game as there is only two games left in the league, and I will be doing a special on the next two games in all comps - game 37 in the BBVA and the EURO Cup Final.

 

[Mike]

Saturday, 5 May – Sunday, 6 May: LIGA BBVA TITLE SPECIAL

CRUNCH MATCH ONE

Saturday, 5 May; 22:00
Barcelona 2 : 0 Getafe
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (25), Lionel Messi (pen 36)​

Barcelona keep up the pressure on Espanyol for the Liga BBVA title as they beat Getafe 2-0 on home turf. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores a wonderful solo effort after running from the half-way line with the ball seemingly sticking to his feet like glue. Lionel Messi completed the scoring for the day by coolly converting a penalty. Manager Josep Guardiola is said to have started the close-season mind games by telling Espanyol manager Wayne Thomas that Barcelona hope they ‘crash and burn’ in this fixture, taking the decision-day to the final league match. Thomas sincerely hopes for the opposite to happen.

View attachment 24696



CRUNCH MATCH TWO

Sunday, 6 May; 21:00
Villarreal 1 : 0 ESPANYOL
S. Cazorla (14)​

A disappointing performance all-round for Espanyol today. Santiago Cazorla tucked away an easy tap-in after a truly superb move by Villarreal. That was enough to see off Espanyol, thus taking the title-clinching day to the last match of the season. This is something manager Wayne Thomas had previously reacted badly to, hoping his team didn’t ‘crash and burn’, but it seemed they did.

View attachment 24697



WEEKEND 37 – TOP OF THE TABLE​

1 -- ESPANYOL -- PLD37 W28 D5 L4 FOR70 AG29 GD+41 PTS89
2 - BARCELONA - PLD37 W28 D5 L4 FOR70 AG18 GD+52 PTS89


Thanks to the system in the Spanish leagues where the league positioning goes by the results between the teams, Espanyol sit above Barcelona after beating them on two occasions.