MFK Skalica - A Slovakian Adventure

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Europa League First Knockout Round draw

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More new territory for the Club as we are in the knockout rounds of a European competition for the first time in our history. You could say it was the backwards way of getting through as we reach this round due to our third place finish in the Champions League Group Stage. I'm not expecting to get through this round and intend on using it as a building block for our future.

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We meet our old enemy Celtic in the 2018/19 Europa League First Knockout Round! We have previous with the Scottish side after they hammered us in the Champions League Play-Off in our first season in Europe in 2016/17. It will be interesting to see how the game pans out to see how far we've come as a Club since then...

Full Draw

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[Godfish93]

Love how well written this is, looking forward to you smashing the Scots!

 

[MPH93]

Love how well written this is, looking forward to you smashing the Scots!

Thanks for the comment, and for reading! I have to be good at writing for my job so I think that helps haha!

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Winter Break

Squad Overview

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Key Players

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Milan Lalkovic (Midfielder)
MFK Skalica’s top goalscorer so far with 16 goals to his name, Milan has been a revelation since arriving at the Club. He has been on fire on the left wing and is always latching on to crosses at the back post, as well as linking up well with whoever is playing upfront. He’s also got nine assists and an average rating of 7.66 so it’s been a great season for the Slovakian so far.

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James Maddison (Midfielder)
One of my best ever signings, James has been fantastic since his arrival from Coventry in the summer. His stats are ridiculous for the season so far – 24 games played, 6 goals, 10 assists and an average rating of 7.97. Hopefully his form will carry on for a long time!

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Kalin Todorov (Midfielder)
As you may notice, all four of the key players have been midfielders as they have drove the team forward in the opening six months of the season. Kalin, along with Lalkovic, are the top two goalscorers at the Club and both have been deployed on the wings. He’s improved a lot since I first brought him in from his native Bulgaria and is still improving as he is only 19-years old.

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Matej Kochan (Midfielder)
Matej has been playing alongside Maddison in central midfield and has been equally excellent so far. He’s made 28 appearances in all competitions, scoring six, assisting five goals and being named Man of the Match six times – all while achieving an average rating of 7.70.

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We currently sit top of the table and are 12 points clear of second place Michalovce. We’ve only lost three times in the league this season – Ruzomberok, Dun. Streda and Michalovce – which is pleasing as we’re turning the majority of games into victories. Our defence has been superb so far this season, having conceded just 15 goals in 19 games – conceding just three in the last nine games leading up to the Winter Break.

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Finally, we’ve got past the third round! In my career so far, we’ve never got past the second round so I’m delighted that we have finally done so. We’ve only faced lower league opposition so far so haven’t been tested a lot, but it’s pleasing that we’ve scored eight and conceded none in those three games.

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As you’ve seen in the updates so far, we did well in the Champions League this year and managed to reach the Group Stage which provided the Club with a massive financial boost. The highlight of the campaign would undoubtedly be the win against Dynamo Kiev in matchday one as that was our first ever match in the Group Stage. As previously announced, we face Celtic in the Europa League First Knockout round due to finishing third in Group B.

In other news…

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Lalkovic’s fine form in the league has been rewarded with him being named the Slovakian First Division Best Player of 2018. It was a good year for Skalica with Matej Kochan and Viktor Luptak finishing second and third respectively.

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As well as finishing third in the above award, Luptak has been named as the Slovakian Young Player of the Year for 2018. He’s grabbed 14 goals in 24 games, mainly due to injury, and beats CSKA Moscow’s Marian Kovac and Zilina’s Jakub Michlik.

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To complete the awards, Kalin Todorov was named as runner-up in the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award.

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Andrea Sicuro has filled the gap left by Luptak’s injury superbly this season and has been called up to the Australia squad for the upcoming Asian Nations Cup.​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Winter Transfer Window

Transfers

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As you can see no one left the Club, we'll get to that shortly, but there was three players that came in...

In

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Tupazinho - £8,000 (Marilia)
One of three youngsters from the lower leagues of Brazil to arrive in January, Tupazinho arrives for a very small fee. He's got decent attributes already and will slot into an U19s side that has been performing excellently so far this season. I'd say he will be in the first team by the time he is 21...

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Carabina - £100,000 (Criciuma)
The goalkeeper arrives at MFK Skalica after over a year of waiting, due to Brazilian regulations. He's already at a similar level to Tomas Kosicky and will be deployed as his back up for the remainder of the season before potentially becoming the number one in 2019/20.

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Ferreira - £1,500 (Anapolina)
Another striker that will be at the Club ahead of a tactic switch in the summer, Ferreira arrives with a low reputation but high potential. He's not really well known yet because he hasn't played much but I imagine that a youth international cup isn't too far away...

Out

So here's the news that I mentioned above...

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Our board decided that City's offer was good enough to accept, despite me rejecting 100% cash offers of a similar value. and one of my star assets was on his way out. With us losing out on a potential decent fee, I decided to offer him to other clubs for £4,500,000 upfront and that saw numerous teams bids for him include Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United. Then this happened...

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Out of all the offers he had, Luptak decided to choose Al-Hilal because of the wage they were offering rather than progressing his career. This was a massive boost for me as it gave me the option to cancel the deal, to which I duly obliged and he will remain at the Club until at least the end of the season. Get in!

In other news...

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I decided to boost the numbers in my U19s team by bringing in Nicolas Anelka as a coach to work with Eidur Gudjohnsen. He's played at an elite level so will hopefully be able to assist my youngsters in getting their mental attitude towards their careers right!

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The veteran striker has hardly played this season so it makes sense that he will retire at the end of the season. He's done his job when needed and was a good acquisition for the Club.
​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Europa League First Knockout Round

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First Leg

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It's safe to say we don't like playing in Scotland! Our second visit to Celtic Park and it was double the scoreline from our last trip there in 2016/17. The tie is all but over as Celtic take a four-goal lead into the second leg, although we did manage to grab two away goals which could prove to be important. The home side took both halves by the scoreline of 3-1 - Milan Lalkovic with both of our goals.

Second Leg

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So our European adventure is over for another season, but it's one that has been thoroughly enjoyable! We managed to gain a creditable 3-3 draw in the home leg but Celtic were already through at this point. They took a 3-1 lead into half time and we showed great character to fight back with goals from Joe Riley and Jonas Lindstrom in the second half to secure the draw. It might not have been a good result, but our finances have been significantly improved due to our European adventure this season. Here's hoping we have a similar income next year!​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Youth Intake

Overview

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It's another disappointing year for the Youth Intake with only one of the players being rated as two stars. I'll be looking overseas for talent to enter the U19s team and continue their good form into next season. I think investment in the youth facilities and coaching will be needed at the end of the season and the Champions League money will pay for it. Here is the 'best' rated player for this year's intake...

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In other news...

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Four players have extended their contracts in recent weeks with their previous ones having just one season left on them. Joe Riley has been great for us since his arrival, as has David Berezny. It was important for me to extend the deals for Robert Oprea and Josh Bull as they will be playing a big part in the first team squad next season.

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Despite us being eliminated from Europe, our U19s have had great success in the UEFA Youth League and are in the latter stages of the knockout rounds after beating Liverpool!​

 

[Yeti01]

Going great mate - really enjoying this.

That was a really good idea with Luptak and something I will be trying next time my Board accepts an offer they shouldn't!! Offer him out, hope he accepts from a different club and then cancel it - genius!!

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 End of Season Review

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Squad Overview

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Manager’s Player of the Year

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Kalin Todorov (Midfielder)
He’s improved significantly since arriving in my first year in charge at the Club and his recent performances have been excellent. It was a close call between Kalin and Milan Lalkovic for the award, but I decided to go with the Bulgarian due to this being his first proper club. He appeared 48 times for MFK Skalica last season, scoring 23 goals and maintaining an average rating of 7.67.

Fans’ Player of the Year

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James Maddison (Midfielder)
The former Coventry midfielder has been fantastic for MFK Skalica since his arrival last summer and deserves this award due to outstanding performances. He’s featured 41 times this season and maintained an average rating of 8.01 – an impressive feat. During those appearances, Maddison has scored 11 goals and claimed 15 assists to claim the award.

End of Season awards

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Fans’ Player of the Season voting
1 – James Maddison (61%)
2 – Joe Riley (17%)
3 – Lukas Skovajsa (13%)

Goal of the season
Matej Kochan v Zlate Moravce (2 December 2018)
<span style="font-family:tahoma;">[video=youtube;4xh2uqsGsa4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xh2uqsGsa4[/video]

Signing of the season
James Maddison – Free (Coventry)

Young Player of the season
James Maddison

Team of the season

GK – T.Kosicky
LB – L.Skovajsa
CB – A.Solli
CB – M.Skrtel
RB – J.Riley
DM – J.Lindstrom
LM – F.Pascual
CM – K.Todorov
CM – J.Maddison
RM – M.Lalkovic
ST – A.Sicuro

League Awards

Team of the Year

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GK – T.Kosicky (MFK Skalica)
LB – L.Skovajsa (MFK Skalica)
CB – A.Solli (MFK Skalica)
CB – M.Skrtel (MFK Skalica)
RB – V.Kukol (Trencin)
LM – E.Pacinda (Dun. Streda)
CM – K.Todorov (MFK Skalica)
CM – J.Maddison (MFK Skalica)
RM – M.Lalkovic (MFK Skalica)
ST – T.Muller (Dun. Streda)
ST – Mauricio (Myjava)

Top goalscorer

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1 – Mauricio (Myjava) – 20 goals
2 – Michal Hamulak (Michalovce) – 17 goals
3 – Milan Lalkovic (MFK Skalica) – 16 goals

Goal of the season

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1 – Daniel Gelssier – Ruzomberok (v Nitra)
2 – Matus Opatovsky – Trencin (v Podbrezova)
3 – Mauricio – Myjava (v Ruzomberok)

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Champions

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Winners

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Winners

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Group Stage

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First Knockout Round

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Slovakian teams in Europe

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Zlate Moravce (First Qualifying Round)

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Zilina (Second Qualifying Round)

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Dun. Streda (First Qualifying Round)

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In other news…

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Pavol Balaz and Filip Holosko announced their retirement from professional football in recent weeks. Both did well for me in their time at the Club but now it’s time to move the squad forward as we look to compete in Europe.

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A nightmare injury for Josh Bull as he has been ruled out for up to eight months after he was found to be suffering knee tendonitis. A real shame as he was due to be promoted to the first team squad for the upcoming season.

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The injury list was expanded shortly after the Bull injury when Andrea Sicuro picked up a torn hamstring in training and will be out for up to four months.

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Our success over the past season has seen us move up 190 places in the European club rankings, more places than any other club. We’re now in 116th position and I’ll be looking to break into the top 100 for the 2020/21 season.

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Our rise in the European rankings means a rise in the domestic rankings and I’ve completed one of our aims by becoming the most reputable club in Slovakia.

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As well as improving in the club rankings, MFK Skalica have helped improve the Slovakian First Division as it moves up to 34th place in the latest competition rankings list.

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It’s been another year of success for the commercial sector of the Club with them getting four main sponsorship deals, which bring in an annual revenue of £745,000. Shirt sales have improved as well with just under 7,000 shirts being sold, striker Viktor Luptak the most popular player in terms of sales.

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Two of my younger players, Jonas Lindstrom and Rami Makela, have been called up to the Finland U20s squad for the upcoming French Youth Invitational tournament.

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Robert Oprea, another young player in my squad, has seen his recent form rewarded with a call up to the Romania U20s squad for the U20 World Cup in May and June 2019.

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A big positive towards the end of May was that Felix Pascual has extended his contract with the Club until June 2022 after deciding he wanted to stay following recent interest.

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With the additional money in the bank account, the board have listened to me and will be improving the youth facilities in an attempt to allow the Club to develop our own players rather than bringing them in elsewhere.​

 

[MPH93]

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2019/20 Stadium Relocation

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It's been a few years in the making but the Club have completed the relocation to the new stadium in time for the 2019/20 season.

Skalica Stadium is an all-seater stadium that has a capacity of 8,198, with the room to expand to 16,396, and boats undersoil heating, which is a league requirement.

The new stadium is a massive boost to the Club as it meets all the European requirements, meaning that we won't have to play away from our ground like we have down in previous seasons.

It also allows our finances to be improved in the near future as we'll be able to sell more season tickets and accommodate more fans, which will be more evident in Europe rather than the domestic league.​

 

[MPH93]

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2019/20 Champions League Second Qualifying Round draw

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Last season's success in the Champions League meant that hopes were high going into the draw. I'm expecting to reach at least the Play-Off in the hope that we will have another massive cash boost to further progress the Club both on and off the field.

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It looks like a relatively easy draw for us as we have been drawn against Armenian side Shirak Gyumri in the Champions League Second Qualifying Round. I'm hoping that we establish a big lead in the first leg before resting a few key players ahead of the away leg.​

 

[dave8721]

just caught up with the story. congrats so far, last season in the Champs Lge was awesome and so close to qualifying!
good luck and i'll look forward to your next update

 

[MPH93]

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2019/20 Pre-Season Update

Transfers

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In

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Yusuf Sezer – Free (Viktoria 1889)

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Adriano – £14,000 (J.Malucelli)

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Biro – £500 (Mineiros)

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Khalid Tran – Free (US Torcy)

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Junior – £500 (Audax SP)

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Kevin Lemonnier – £3,400 (Aviron Bayonnais)

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Sergey Ivanov – Free (Rotor)

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Adam Le Fondre – Free (Unattached)

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Sebastian Coates - £350,000 (Crystal Palace)

The two big transfers that we have made in the Summer transfer window are the latter two. The money made from sales (see below) allowed us to convert that into our wage budget to get some high quality players in. First, Adam Le Fondre joined on a free transfer and will be a direct replacement for Viktor Luptak. ALF scores goals wherever he goes and I have no doubt that he will succeed here and be able to get at least 20 goals this season. The second is Sebastian Coates, who arrives from Crystal Palace for a fee of £350,000 and links up with his former Liverpool team mate Martin Skrtel. This now means we have an extremely solid back line and will have two of the best centre backs in the league, so, hopefully, we’ll concede very few this season.

The other players to arrive in the transfer window are all youngsters, with most of them adding to our already successful U19s side. The only one that will be used in the first team straight away will be Adriano as he has very good attributes already and he will be used as a back-up striker after the injuries to Josh Bull and Andrea Sicuro.

Out

17 players released
Matej Kochan – £500,000 (OHL)
Kalin Todorov – £800,000 (Standard)
Hillel Konate – £5,000 (Brondby)
Viktor Luptak - £6,500,000 (Arsenal)

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As you can see, Viktor Luptak has become the second MFK Skalica youngster to join Arsenal in recent years. He only had a year to go on his contract and was refusing to sign a deal as we ‘didn’t match his ambitions’, so it made sense to try and cash in while we could instead of losing him on a free at the end of the season. I started by trying to shift him out by offering him to clubs for £10,000,000 but no one was interested so lowered the price to £7,500,000. Big clubs had started to up their offers but Arsenal offered £6,500,000 straight cash so I made the difficult decision to accept as it will allow us great manoeuvre in the transfer market, as well as securing the future of the club. At the end of the day, we are nothing in terms of the powerhouses in Europe and will be a selling club until we can match the ambitions of the bigger clubs and succeed in the Champions League.

Two other players that left for big fees in pre-season are Kalin Todorov and Matej Kochan. It was a similar situation with Todorov, he had a year to go on his deal and was refusing to sign a new contract. Ideally, I’d have liked to get a bit more for him but £800,000 is a massive profit for what we paid for him and it now gives us the chance to promote from within. Matej Kochan was complaining about the lack of first team football after Jonas Lindstrom’s impressive second half of the season, so he was quickly dispatched to Belgium for another big profit with him being signed for free.

In other news…

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The board no longer view the Slovakian FA Cup as an important competition which is both good and bad. It’s good because I can now play a full side of youngsters to speed up their development and not worry about the consequences, but it’s also bad as it should be an important cup seen as we have only won it once. They also now expect me to win the league and won’t accept anything else!

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Another boost in pre-season was that Paul May has extended his contract until June 2022. He’s been great for the U19s and will now be pushing for a place in the starting XI for the upcoming season.

And finally…

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We are finally the odds on favourites to win the league! We’re priced as 4/5, meaning they expect us to walk the league with the second favourite being priced at 10/1.​

 

[AndySams10]

Great work mate and a couple of very good signings too. Keep up the brilliant progress.

 

[MPH93]

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2019/20 Champions League Second Qualifying Round

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First Leg

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As I predicted, the first leg was very easy for us and we never really got out of second gear. The stats don't lie and, as you can see, we dominated in all areas of the pitch and got our rewards with a 4-0 win. Felix Pascual opened the scoring early on before a Javier Vallejo double gave us a three-goal advantage. We took our foot off the gas in the second half and it remained 3-0 until late on when Martin Skrtel wrapped up the scoring.

Second Leg

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The first leg score line allowed us to rest a few key players and get a few of the younger players involved. One of them that had an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the starting XI was Alan Black and he duly obliged by opening the scoring in the third minute. It was soon a two-goal advantage when Vallejo scored two minutes later before Pascual sealed a 7-0 aggregate win shortly before half time.​

 

[MPH93]

Great work mate and a couple of very good signings too. Keep up the brilliant progress.

Cheers, mate! It was a shame to lose Luptak but I'm confident that someone will step up in the next season in a bid to replace him for years to come.

 

[AndySams10]

Cheers, mate! It was a shame to lose Luptak but I'm confident that someone will step up in the next season in a bid to replace him for years to come.

Really like the look of that Brazilian striker, hopefully ALF will score lots, then Adriano can come of age.

 

[MPH93]

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2019/20 Champions League Third Qualifying Round draw

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I was hoping for a similar draw to last year, when we were drawn against Welsh side TNS, to give us the best chance of making it through. However, that proved not to be the case...

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Yes, we've been drawn against Celtic (again)! It's probably the worst possible draw for me as Celtic have been extremely tough opponents in both times we've played them in Europe. The positive is that we should get some decent revenue in to the Club as we're likely to draw in two big crowds and both stadiums will be nearly full for the games.

In other news...

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Defender David Berezny will be out for up to four months after breaking his ankle in the second leg. Another to add to the ever growing list!​

 

[MPH93]

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2019/20 Champions League Third Qualifying Round

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First Leg

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Wow, where to start?! I don't think I've ever been involved in a game like it in the whole time I've played FM! Adam Le Fondre was the hero as he scored four of the seven goals we scored to earn himself the Man of the Match award, but everyone was fantastic in the first leg. If I went through all the goals, the post would be a full page long! The only negative is the four away goals so hopefully that doesn't cost us!

Second Leg

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Yes, we've done it! We've finally beat Celtic over two legs! They only managed to beat us 1-0 at Celtic Park so we progress through to the Champions League Play-Off with a 7-5 aggregate victory. Celtic's Alejandro scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half before we shut up shop and sealed progression into the Play-Off. Get in!​

 

[MPH93]

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2019/20 Champions League Play-Off draw

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After the win against Celtic, I feel that we can beat anyone that is put in front of us as long as we stick to our game plan and was highly confident going in to the draw. We're unseeded in the draw and can be drawn against one of the following:

Olympiakos (GRE)
Ludogorets (BUL)
Feyenoord (NED)
Legia (POL)
APOEL (CYP)

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So it's a trip to Greece for us in the first leg with one foot in the Champions League Group Stage up for grabs. Olympiakos and Feyenood were the two strongest teams that we could have been drawn against so it will be a great challenge for the squad. If we fail to make it, we're still get around £4,000,000 and will be entered into the Group Stage of the Europa League - similar to the 2016/17 season.​