FC Inter Turku - European Giant


FC Inter Turku
Champions League 2021/2022 - 1st Knockout Round

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FC Inter Turku 2 - 3 Borussia Dortmund

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A great effort from the boys in the first leg at the Veritas Stadion, but ultimately we came up short with a defeat after a 91st minute winner from Dortmund. We did take the lead early in the game after just 2 minutes from Arza, before Dortmund turned it round to go infront themselves at 2-1. However, we hit back quickly and I though we were going to cling on to a well earned draw but it wasn't to be!

Borussia Dortmund 2 - 1 FC Inter Turku

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We may be heading out of the Champions League after a 5-3 aggregate defeat to Dortmund, but we can hold our heads high and we gave a great account of ourselves during the competition, especially against a great Dortmund team in the knockout round!

Next up will be a season preview for the 2022 season!


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FC Inter Turku
Pre-Season + April and May 2022

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Finnish League Cup:

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So we fail to retain our League Cup trophy as international call ups catch up with us and a weakened squad gets beat by HJK in the semi finals.

Fixtures:

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Are HJK going to become our bogey team? They beat us on the opening day of the season to bring a long unbeaten run to an end! After that it has been business as usual as we've climbed back to the top of the league and through to the Finnish Cup semi's.

Player Stats:

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17 year old striker Strandvall has played brilliantly when called upon and already has numerous of big clubs around Europe chasing his signature and, like all Finnish youngsters, is refusing to sign a new contract with the club. Luckily, he stills has 2 years to run on his current one so I've got time to hopefully get him to change his mind.

League Table:

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HJK are the nearest to us in pursuit. A few of the other teams are starting to bring in key players from South America (Mostly on loan) which is very slightly improving the quality of the league.

Other News:

1) Drew Sterling and Warren Barnes are heading to the World Cup with the USA, whilst Taye Ameobi is heading there with Nigeria.

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Next update will be a June and July review...

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FC Inter Turku
June and July 2022

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Fixtures:

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100% record over the 2 months, including a nice revenge 2-0 victory away at HJK after they beat us earlier in the season and knocked us out of the league cup!

Player Stats:

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League Table:

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The opening day defeat to HJK is the only blip on our record as we have won 20 straight league games since!

Other News:

1) The Finnish Premier League sits still in the competition rankings and the coefficient rankings, whilst we move up a few places to 31st in the club coefficient rankings after making it to the knockout rounds of the Champions League last season.

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2) We sell Argentinian full back Andrada, who hasn't developed as planned and apparently fulfilled his potential, and replaced him with Israeli international right back, 20 year old Avi Ben-Simon.

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Next update will be of the Champions League qualifiers...

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FC Inter Turku
Champions League Qualifying - 2022

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3rd Leg - FC Inter Turku 8 - 0 FC Red Star Belgrade (On Aggregate)

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A comfortable 4-0 victory in the first leg in Serbia was followed by another 4-0 victory at the Veritas stadion, sending us through to the playoff round with ease. Brazilain winger Cesar scored 5 over the two legs, so it's fair to say Red Star won't want to see him again any time soon!

Playoff Round - FC Inter Turku 7 - 2 FC Zurich

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We blew the Swiss champions away with a 6-0 victory in the first leg, however then succumbed to a 2-1 defeat away from home. Still, the second leg defeat is irrelevant as we are through to the group stages again, where we are now the 3rd seeds in our group!

Group C:

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Not too bad of a group but I was hoping that we would get a side from one of the smaller nations as the 4th seeds. You would imagine United would take top spot but the rest of the group should be a decent battle.

Next update will go over the last few months of the domestic season...



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FC Inter Turku
August, September and October 2022

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Fixtures:

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3 draws in a row in the league qualifies as a bad period for us XD Still unbeaten after the opening day loss and we did win the Finnish Cup, making it 2 domestic trophies out of 3 this year.

Player Stats:

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League Table:

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3 points down from last season and that defeat on the opening day to HJK was the big difference!

Other News:

1) Star winger Walter Arza has now qualified to play for the Finnish national team! Currently, FInland don't play with wingers so I'm hoping they'll adjust formations to accommodate him as he could be their first choice winger for another 5 or 6 years yet!

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2) More improvements to the club's youth facilities are to be made, costing £4,000,000.

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Next update will be of the Champions League group stages, can we make it to the knockout rounds 2 years in a row?..​
 
Love this story! Always looking for updates for this, very interesting. Keep it up :)
 

FC Inter Turku
Champions League Group Stage - 2022

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FC Inter Turku 0 - 1 Manchester United

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We were unlucky to fall to a defeat in the opening group stage game against Manchester United, as they edged a fairly even game 1-0 at the Veritas Stadion.

Stade Rennais 0 - 1 FC Inter Turku

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We bounced back from the defeat against the Red Devils with a real hard fought one nil victory away in France, with Finnish striker Jorma Vilnajen scoring the winner in the 66th minute.

FC Inter Turku 3 - 1 Galatasaray

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6 points from 3 games now as we beat the Turkish giants at the Veritas Stadion. We went 1-0 up early on through the now Finnish winger Walter Arza, and then doubled the lead on the half hour mark through American centre back Drew Sterling. We then thought we had killed the game off early in the second half when Vilnajen got his second goal of the group stages, but they pulled one back straight away to keep the game going as a contest until the very end.

Galatasaray 0 - 5 FC Inter Turku

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A deadly performance from the boys saw us run away with a crushing 5-0 victory over Galatasaray away in Istanbul. A brace from Arza, along with goals from Cesar and Vilnajen saw us to victory and left us just one point from qualification.

Manchester United 4 - 0 FC Inter Turku

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Ouch, Man United brought us right back down to earth with a crushing 4-0 victory at Old Trafford. Luckily though, Rennias and Gala drew in their match so we have qualified with a game to spare.

FC Inter Turku 1 - 1 Stade Rennais

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We couldn't end with a win unfortunately, as an 88th minute equalizer from Rennais cancelled out Vitor Cesar's first half strike.

Final Group Standings:

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We only finished 2 points behind United in the end as they lost both of their away games that weren't against us. In all honesty I would probably preferred to finish 3rd to see how far we would get in the Europa League but we now face Dortmund in the Champions League 1st knockout round for a second year running!

Next up will be an end of season review...

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FC Inter Turku
End of Season review - 2022

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Finnish Premier League - Winners

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Finnish Cup - Winners

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Finnish League Cup - Semi Final

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Champions League - 1st Knockout Round (In progress)

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Fans Player of the Year - Jorma Viljanen

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Next update will be a 2022 review for the Finnish national team, which I still don't manage!..

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Finland
2022

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Fixtures:

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Not a great year in comparison to the previous year, but still only one defeat over the whole year. The highlight of the year is comfortably the comprehensive 12-0 victory over minnows Gibraltar!

World Ranking - 43rd

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They did rise to an all time high of 18th during the year but have since slipped back down into 43rd.

Euro 2024 Qualifying Group:

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Not the greatest of starts to the qualifying campaign but there is more than enough time to turn it around. I feel they should be aiming to get 3nd place and automatic qualification, whilst finishing any lower than 3rd in the group and not making even the playoff would be a disaster.

Player of the Year - Lukas Hradecky

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Under 21 Player of the Year - Marko Byskata

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Next up will be our Champions League 1st knock out round tie vs Dortmund...

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the CL draw is rigged :P
Dortmund 2nd year running...

Tough draw but the team's performance is getting better and better.. hope the team better last year's result.
 

FC Inter Turku
Champions League - 1st Knockout Round (2021/2022)

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1st Leg - FC Inter Turku 0 - 2 Borussia Dortmund

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A record FC Inter Turku attendance of 15,000 saw us fall to a 2-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund within the national stadium (I assume our ground is too small for knock out round games), leaving us with very little chance of progress into the 1/4 finals. The problem for us was that we had a makeshift defence playing due to injuries and low fitness of players coming back from the African cup of Nations, and we really need to be at full strength to compete with the teams at this stage of the competition.

2nd Leg - Borussia Dortmund 2 - 1 FC Inter Turku

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A better performance in the second leg saw us leave Germany with a respectable 2-1 defeat. We had a stronger squad to pick from today and if we had the same team in the first leg, who knows what might have happened. Anyway, that's us out of the Champions League until the qualifying rounds in July!

Next update will be a 2023 season preview...

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FC Inter Turku
Season Preview - 2023

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Transfers:

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One backup centre back was allowed to leave on a free whilst we brought in a replacement also on a free, in Ukranian Batischev.

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Finnish League Cup:

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We wrestled the League Cup in pre-season, beating IFK 4-1 in the final to bring the trophy back to Turku. We did well to progress through the quarter and semi finals as we had loads of players missing through international duty, meaning we only had 13 players to chose from and ad to play players out of position.

Squad:

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Conor Coady and Marcinovic only have one year to run on their contracts and at 30 and 29 respectively, I will be looking to move them on when the transfer window opens. I may also look to bring in a couple of the youngsters that I let go back on loan as there are a couple rotting in the reserve squads and not progressing as they could.

Next update will go over the first couple of months of the domestic season...

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FC Inter Turku
April and May 2023
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Fixtures:

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A great start to the domestic season, picking ourselves up after the exit in the Champions League in February/March. 100% record in the league and through to the Finnish Cup semi final, a domestic treble is looking a great possibility the way things are going...

Player Stats:

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Jesse Standvall has really stepped into the shoes of Coulthirst as backup striker now, and I'll be looking to move Coulthirst on soon as possible to make sure he stays in match fitness for the national team.

League Table:

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9 games in the league and we've scored 31 goals and only conceded 2.


Other News:

1) After deciding to allow Marinkovich and Coady to move on when their contracts expire, I went and agreed deals to bring in 2 players to replace them on frees. Firstly, English defensive midfielder Danny Norris from Man City and Argentine left back Martin Vera from River Plate.

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Next update will be a June and July review...

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FC Inter Turku
June and July 2023

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Fixtures:

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We've been marching on in the league, winning all but 2 games in the league over the 2 month period. Disappointing for our 100% record for the season to come to an end but at least we're still unbeaten and the goals are flying in!

Player Stats:

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Young Finnish striker Strandvall is still banging the goals in and has finally caved in and agreed to sign a new contract, meaning we have him tied down until 2027.

League Table:

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Still cruising in the league, with IFK leading the race to finish runners up, with HJK in close pursuit.

Other News:

1) Bad news for the Finnish League as we have lost the 2nd Champions League place due to slipping 2 places in the European coefficient rankings. The league also dropped a few places in the competition rankings and the club is now 35th in the coefficient rankings.

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2) Conor Coady agrees to leave on a free to Hibernian and Marinkovic to Zenit.

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Next update will be a Champions League qualifying update. Would you like me to include how the other Finnish teams European qualifying campaigns went?
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FC Inter Turku
Champions League Qualifying 2023

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3rd Round - FC Inter Turku 3 - 1 FC Kobenhavn

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The Danish champions put up a strong fight in the 3rd qualifying round but ultimately we had too much for them, beating them 1-0 away and then 2-1 at home to put us through 3-1 on aggregate.

Playoff Round - FC Inter Turku 9 - 0 Maccabi Tel-Aviv

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The playoff round in theory should be tougher than the 3rd qualifying round, however that was not case here as we smashed the Israeli champions 4-0 away from home and then 5-0 back at the Veritas Stadion. We were 3rd seeds in our group, and this is what we were drawn in.

Group B:

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Not too bad of a draw in all honesty. We are a better team than Plzen and the last time we had Ajax in our group we took 4 points off them, albeit that was 5 years ago. We only took one point off of Manchester United last year but we were unlucky not to get anything off them at home. Overall, I think we can take 2nd but as with last year I would probably prefer 3rd to try and have a real go at the Europa League...

Other Finnish Clubs in Europe:

HJK Helsinki - Europa League Group Stage

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IFK Mariehamn - Europa League Playoff Round.

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FC Lahti - Europa League Playoff Round

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FC Haka - Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round

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Next update will go over the last few months of the season...

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FC Inter Turku
August, September and October 2023

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Fixtures:

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100% record over the 3 months, meaning we retained our Finnish League title and the Finnish Cup, beating Jaro in the final. We also went on an incredible run of 15 domestic games without conceding a goal!

Player Stats:

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Strandvall had a great season as the backup striker, just at 18 years old! Hopefully in a season or two he'll be ready to take over the reigns as first choice striker in Europe.

League Table:

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A new record points total of 95 points set, and a goal record of 99 goals in a season. We only conceded 11 goals in 33 games as well so we averaged 3 goals scored a game and a 1/3 of a goal conceded per game.

Youth Intake:

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A half decent intake, with a right winger with good potential but a distinct lack of pace. The centre midfielder is ok as well, but I doubt he'll ever make it here.

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Other News:

1) Former midfielder Marko Byskata moved from Arsenal for a massive £18,500,000, of which we pocketed 50% because of a clause agreed with Arsenal when we sold him.

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2) The best news of this update though, is the fact that the Finnish national side has qualified for the 2024 European Championships in Spain. I'll go into this in more detail in the 2023 review for Finland.

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Next update will be a Champions League group stage review...

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Wow. Just read my way through this. This is fantastic and has made me consider trying my hand at a country like this. I've never managed a country apart from the big ones apart from Belgium and come to think of it, I enjoyed that too! Thanks for this story it's brilliant to follow and I will make sure to come back for more!
 

FC Inter Turku
Champions League Group Stage - 2023

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Ajax 4 - 3 FC Inter Turku

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A thriller of a game to start the group stages ended with a last minute winner for Ajax, sending us back to Turku with nothing! We went 1-0 down, before going 2-1 up and then 3-2 down before we equalized in the 75th minute. We were unlucky and probably deserved a point.

FC Inter Turku 0 - 2 Manchester United

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2 defeats from 2 to start the group, as Manchester United defeated us 2-0 at the Veritas Stadion. The game was pretty even stats wise, but ultimately their extra class showed through and we never really looked like getting anything.

FC Inter Turku 3 -0 Viktoria Plzen

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We finally get our first points on the board as 3 goals inside 6 minutes gave us a comfortable 3-0 victory over the Czech side.

Viktoria Plzen 1 - 1 FC Inter Turku

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Unfortunately, we couldn't follow up our home victory with a win in the Czech Republic as a 2nd half equalizer from Plzen ruled out Viljanen's first half goal.

FC Inter Turku 3 - 1 Ajax

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We get revenge for the defeat to Ajax on match day 1, beating them 3-1 at the Veritas Stadion. We were always in control of the game and deserved our win, whilst it was nice to see 18 year old Strandvall on the score sheet.

Manchester United 3 - 0 FC Inter Turku

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The last match day saw us take a footballing lesson from Manchester United and a comfortable defeat. We were never in the game and the difference in class between the teams was very evident.

Group Final Standings:

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We finish 3rd in the group and drop into the Europa League for the knockout rounds, not that I'm complaining! We've been drawn against Valencia in the 1st Knockout round, with us at home in the 1st leg. Not the easiest draw but if we win the 1st leg I think we may have a chance. The winners of our tie will play Vitesse or Real Zaragoza.

Next update will be an end of season review...

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