OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge

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Having read http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...ybos-ultimate-champions-league-challenge.html and a couple of others on here I was excited to try my hand at this challenge hoping the chance to frequently change teams and challenge for the top trophies will allow me to go a bit further in this save than most.
It works as follows:
The aims of this challenge is to win the Champions League with all 22 previous winners of the trophy. Once you win it with a club you can leave and join another previous winner, doesn't have to be the 1st team that's available but leaving is important so you can add to teams to your list although small points are available for repeating success with a team



Points for winning Champions League with clubs

5 FC Barcelona - 5
10 Real Madrid CF - 5
5 FC Bayern Munchen -5
3 Manchester United FC - 5
1 Chelsea FC - 10
2 Juventus FC - 10
7 AC Milan - 10
3 Inter Milan - 10
1 Borussia Dortmund - 15
2 Futebol Clube do Porto - 15
5 Liverpool FC - 15
1 Hamburger SV - 15
2 Sport Lisboa e Benfica - 20
4 Ajax Amsterdam - 20
1 PSV Eindhoven - 20
1 Olympique de Marseille - 20
1 Celtic FC - 25
1 Feyenoord Rotterdam - 25
1 Aston Villa FC - 30
1 Red Star Belgrade - 40
1 FC Steaua Bucharesti - 40
2 Nottingham Forest - 50

Bold = Champions League's won

Bonus points
*100 points for winning it with all teams within 30 seasons
*50 Points for winning it with all teams within 40 seasons
10 Points for winning the CL more than any other manager - 4 titles required
20 points for 100% record campaign in 1st Champions League season
10 points for 100% record campaign in any Champions League season
**5 points for winning CL with club and there "Derby" rivals. List of teams as follows

Barcelona + Real Madrid
Inter Milan + AC Milan
Inter Milan + Juventus
Manchester United + Liverpool
Porto + Benfica
Bayern Munich + Hamburg SV
Ajax + Feyenoord

5 points for winning the CL unbeaten
5 points for clean sheet through the whole competition
2 points for being the 1st manager to retain the CL with a team
1 point for recording the biggest winning margin, 11 goal margin required. Preliminary rounds don't count
1 point for every time your regain the Champions League with a team you previously won with

Trophy Cabinet
2014/2015 Champions League
2015 Community Shield
2015/2016 Capital One Cup
2015/2016 FA Cup
2015/2016 English Premier League
2015/2016 Champions League

Teams
FC Barcelona 2014/2015
Manchester United FC 2015/2016

CL Challenge Points = 11
FC Barcelona 2014/2015 Champions - 5 Points
Biggest Winning Margin 11-0 FC Barcelona Vs Schalke 2014/2015 – 1 Point
Manchester United FC 2015/2016 Champions - 5 Points

Up next will be my first assignment and a bi-annual update​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge
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Team One
FC Barcelona
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2014/15 Part One August – December

Pretty easy decision to start with the Catalan giants as their ability to win the Champions League first up should get me an opportunity to put my first trophy to bed.

Transfer Ins & Outs

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Hard to pass up Turan so cheaply especially considering the lack of depth in forward areas even though the quality of those there is immense. Musacchio adds quality depth at a good price. We only started with a transfer budget of £17M so the sale of Adriano for a very good price helped us to achieve our targets.

Champions League Group Stage

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After being drawn in a very easy group we proceeded to top it scoring 18 goals along the way with Messi scoring 7. The only blemish being a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Schalke in Germany where we weren’t at the races at all.

La Liga

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More dropped points than I would have liked normally but as this is a Champions League challenge I’m not that bothered!

So a good first half of the season and were on track for a successful campaign. We've drawn PSG in the First Knockout Round so we get the chance to knockout a big side early on.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge
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Team One
FC Barcelona
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2014/15 Part Two January – May

La Liga

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As you can see we surrender our title to Real Madrid despite beating them 7-1 at the Camp Nou. The loss to Valencia saw us concede the league and Real never slipped up afterwards. Messi and Suarez topped the scoring charts with 36 and 30 goals respectively while Neymar joined the two aforementioned players in leading the assists.

Spanish Cup

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Not a whole lot to mention here as we cruise past Guadalajara then a reserve side got knocked out by Valencia and zero ***** were given that day.

Champions League

First Knockout Round Vs Paris St Germain

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A crucial away goal in the first leg was welcomed as we returned to the Camp Nou and quickly got 4-1 up inside 25 mins to cruise to a Quarter Final place against Bayern Munich. Youngster Munir stepped in for the injured Messi and bagged a couple of goals to go with his MotM award.

Quarter Final Vs Bayern Munich

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A professional job at home with Dante getting sent off for the visitors. Early away goal in the second leg coupled with Rode’s second half sending off ensured a comfortable tie against a team that should have given me real problems.

Semi Final Vs Schalke

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One of the more incredible results I’ve ever seen in any level of football let alone in a Champions League Semi Final! We equal the biggest win in Champions League history. After Kolasinac got sent off after half an hour it was a precession as Messi helped himself to four in the second half, Suarez a hat trick and Neymar a double. The second leg was a mere formality as we win that as well to make a date with Atletico Madrid in the Final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge
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Final 2015

FC Barcelona Vs Club Atletico de Madrid

So while we faced PSG, Bayern Munich and Schalke on the road to Berlin, Atletico had trips to Liverpool, Roma and Juventus after finishing top of a group consisting of CSKA, Dinamo and Basel. Both teams were geared up for an all-Spanish Final with Barca being the overwhelming favourite after beating them 3-1 at the Camp Nou and 3-0 at the Vicente Calderon in La Liga with the latter fixture occurring only two weeks before the final.

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This is how the two teams lined up for the final. Atletico had some noticeable absentees, Turan who I signed in the pre season and Raul Garcia, Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic who all miss out through injury. The loss of Turan makes their rise to the final all the more impressive.

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Champions!!! The match itself was an anti-climax as we were always in control but didn’t put it to bed on the scoreboard until the last 15 minutes even though Atletico never seriously threatened our goal. Messi’s two goals sees him get the nod for MotM ahead of Xavi who controlled the game.

Player Stats by Appearances

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All the usual suspects at the top. Turan was under used as I changed formations in mid October. Mascherano didn’t play a lot either as Mathieu was impressive at centre back even keeping out new signing Musacchio. 55 goals from Messi and 40 from Suarez led the way while Neymar and surprisingly Pique the only other two to hit double figures.

This Seasons Points

CL Winners Barcelona – 5 Points
Biggest Winning Margin 11-0 Vs Schalke – 1 Point

Summary

So the first Champions League is in the bag and even though it’s the easiest of the lot it’s good to pop the cherry early on. I’m already trying to leave Barca as the Chelsea spot opened up the week before the CL final but even though I was a front runner they rejected my application. It’s probably for the best as they finished 5th​ in the EPL and don’t have CL football next season. I’m not sure whether to resign from the Barca post or stay here into the new season and wait for an opportunity.
​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge
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So after concluding my first CL win and season at Barcelona I had a decision to make. Did I stay there and wait for a job to open up or be proactive and resign in the hope that a top manager took over my job and would lead to a merry go round that would eventually see me at an eligible club. I figured after I didn’t even get an interview at Chelsea despite being the bookmakers favourite for the job, that my recently signed four year £75,000 a week contract was standing in my way as the compensation would be way too high for most clubs to consider.

I decided then and there to resign. It was a big risk as I didn’t know whether it was my contract or my lack of experience which was holding me back. The situation at Barcelona wasn’t going to get any better as the transfer embargo in place denied me the opportunity to strengthen the squad with Dani Alves deciding to join Manchester United at the end of his contract and the morale within the squad pretty average despite the recent CL win.

My resignation did open up an opportunity but it wasn’t the job I ended up getting….

First off Diego Simeone ended up getting the Chelsea FC job opening up the Club Atletico de Madrid job. That one was no good to me as a last minute equaliser a couple of years ago denied them a CL trophy. That vacancy interested Frank de Boer and he took it leaving a space at Ajax Amsterdam. I was definitely interested in managing there as they were four time winners but I knew that would be fairly long term to get them into a position to be challenging for the CL but I applied for the job nonetheless. My previous post at Barcelona was taken by former player Phillip Cocu creating a vacancy at PSV Eindhoven which I promptly applied for also after their CL win in 1988 against Sport Lisboa e Benfica.

I received an interview at Ajax to which they promptly offered me a contract afterwards. While all this was going on Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal retired from football opening up a dream job for me as they were listed as my favourite club. I applied and while I was waiting to hear back about an interview I got the Ajax contract offer which I successfully delayed for a week. United then gave me an interview demanding that I play attacking football and not change any of my backroom staff. I agreed with those demands and answered the rest of their questions and waited for their reply. During that anxious period Ajax came back with their contract offer and I asked to delay it for another week knowing fully that they could reject that and I could lose that job as well as missing out on the United post. Thankfully Ajax accepted the second week delay (they must really want me!) and then PSV offered me an interview. I declined the opportunity as I had decided that if I didn’t hear back from United by the end of the week I would take the Ajax job. By the end of that week my new challenge was unveiled….

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The Theatre of Dreams

After being satisfied with my interview and perceived lack of experience I was signed up to a four year deal to lead them to Champions League glory! After finishing 4th​ last season, a point ahead of Chelsea we would have to deal with a CL qualifier against Toulouse to reach the group stage. The board expect a top four finish in the EPL, a final appearance in the FA Cup and a semi-final in the Champions League. Before I arrived they had already signed Falcao to a permanent deal worth £41M and the free transfer of Dani Alves I mentioned earlier. I was happy with both deals but what I wasn’t happy with was the remaining transfer budget. £21M wouldn’t be enough I thought to get a squad ready to challenge for a CL in my first season. Here’s the business Louis van Gaal did last season:

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He basically swapped Phil Jones for Jan Vertonghen which is a good piece of business. I knew for some reason the Adriano sale would come back to bite me so I’m trying my best to sell him again. Sneijder and Dede are welcome additions to the squad and my opinion is still out on Florenzi. Up next I will review my first half season in charge.
​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge
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Team Two
Manchester United FC
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2015/2016 Part One August – December

Transfer Ins & Outs

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Lots of activity to get a team that finished fourth into a team capable of winning the Champions League. The Falcao and Alves transfers were already completed before I came on board leaving us with about £21 million left to spend. Gonalons was a cheaper replacement for Fellaini who was moved on. I didn’t really want to sign Aboubakar because that would mean weakening a future team I would be in charge of, Porto. As Real Madrid and a couple of others had bids accepted there was no need to worry anymore and we pounced. Hojbjerg was signed to help boost depth but to also get a season of football in for an exciting young talent that I may indeed manage down the line at Bayern. Berahino, Barkley and Zieler were signed to fill our home grown spots in the Premier League and Champions League while Nani, Adriano, Valencia and Valdes were surplus to requirements.

Champions League Group Stage

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We got through the playoff against Toulouse with a comfortable 6-0 aggregate scoreline. A nice straightforward group for our return to Europe. Only the one loss to Sparta Prague which ruins my 100% record for the season. Beforehand I thought AC Milan would be the big challenge but they bombed out of the group seeing their manager Inzaghi sacked in the process. Mattia Destro starred scoring 5 goals after his bargain move from Roma.

English Premier League

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Only a couple of losses there culminating in a very encouraging first half of the season. Sitting top with a game in hand is more than I expected. Rooney leads the scoring with 10 league goals while Sneijder who was signed last season has been impressive in the centre of the park with 6 goals, a couple of assists and just all round good performances.

English Community Shield

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Back in August we started my reign with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Arsenal in the Community Shield. Aboubakar was outstanding in his debut but was injured in training after this game costing him the best part of five months on the sideline.
A good start for us and a Champions League draw against Atletico Madrid in the First Knockout Round who I dominated as Barcelona in last season’s final. Falcao and Aboubakar were out injured until November and December respectively so they will add some more firepower to an already firing front line.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge
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Team Two
Manchester United FC
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2015/2016 Part Two January – May

Transfer Ins and Outs

Two ins and two outs in January as we sign attacking midfielder Jese from Real Madrid for a fee of £2.2M along with 18 year old Colombian Julio Cesar Pulgarin from Atletico Nacional for £550K. Angelo Henriquez left to Mainz on loan for the rest of the season while Maxime Gonalons made a permanent move to Zenit St Petersburg for £9.5M, a profit of £5M only six months after signing due to being unhappy about his lack of game time.

English Premier League

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What a season! After a poor run of four games without a win in late January our title chances seemed shot as Liverpool were running away with it but the return to form of some key players saw us only drop two points in the final thirteen games. Some really memorable results including a 6-0 defeat of Swansea, a 5-0 defeat of City at the Etihad, a 9-1 mauling of Everton and a 7-0 thrashing of QPR to confirm the title on the final day.

Capital One Cup

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Success! Our second trophy of the season after the Community Shield triumph. A fairly straightforward run to the final even beating Liverpool again on our way to a comfortable final victory against Swansea.

FA Cup

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And that’s the quadruple! Another good run to the final beating Liverpool again in the Semi Final this time to record my fourth trophy of the season as Manchester United boss. The final was an exciting affair as we took an early lead through Angel Di Maria before Aboubakar missed a penalty two minutes later. Dragovic scored an own goal to give us a seemingly comfortable two goal cushion before Rafael, a first half sub for the injured Dani Alves got himself sent off two minutes before Jonny Evans scored an own goal to setup a nervy final 30 minutes. We managed to see it out with a minimum of fuss to add this to our Community Shield, Capital One Cup and Premier League successes.

Champions League

First Knockout Round Vs Atletico Madrid

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Our reward for topping our group is a first knockout round tie against last year’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid. A crucial away goal draw followed by a 6-0 romping back at Old Trafford thanks to an Aboubakar hat trick puts us through to a quarter final tie against another Spanish Team in Valencia.

Quarter Final Vs Valencia

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Another Spanish team and another empathic victory at Old Trafford to put the tie to bed after 6 first half goals. The second leg gave us an opportunity to give some squad players a run out and they didn’t disappoint wrapping up an 11-1 aggregate victory and another encounter with Spanish opposition, this time Real Madrid in the semis.

Semi Final Vs Real Madrid

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An excellent first leg at home was spoilt by a late Cristiano Ronaldo away goal which was then tempered by the fact he went off injured meaning he will miss the second leg at the Bernabeu which can only be good news for us. An enthralling second leg for the neutrals as we raced to a two away goal advantage inside 12 minutes giving us a 4-1 aggregate lead. It stayed that way until the second half when Real came out firing scoring 3 goals in the first 8 minutes to leave the tie on a knife edge. They were absolutely all over us until Januzaj scored to assure us a spot in the final, my second in two seasons.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

OhhhRickieLambert's Ultimate Champions League Challenge
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Final 2016

Bayern Munich Vs Manchester United

After knocking out three Spanish teams on the way to the San Siro all that stood in our way was German champions Bayern Munich who I knocked out as Barcelona last season. They got revenge in this year’s semi final beating Barcelona on away goals. They also beat Juventus and PSV in the knockout rounds after coming through a group consisting of AS Monaco, Galatasaray and Shakhtar Donetsk. This would be a repeat of the 1999 final in which United scored two stoppage time goals to break German hearts.

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So this is how the two sides lined up for the final. Bayern had no injury concerns while we were missing Dani Alves and Juan Mata both injured. This had all the hallmarks to be a classic final with two teams at the top of their games.

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What a game it was! Put these two teams together in a final and they know nothing but how to bring the excitement! Falcao gave us an early lead and while we had a monumental amount of shots we never really gave Neuer too many problems. It was end to end in the second half but we weren’t able to kill the game before Holger Badstuber rose highest from a corner to put Bayern level and send it to extra time. Although there would be no stoppage time heroics like the final 17 years previous German hearts were still broken, this time in extra time with home grown centre back Jonny Evans putting United ahead in the 101st​ minute. It would end that way and give me a second Champions League title in two years and an incredible quintuple!

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Player Stats by Appearances

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With 68 competitive games this season and a rather large first team squad we were able to share the games out which I think ultimately led to our success over multiple competitions. De Gea was of course a mainstay in the side only giving up his place for some cup and European games. We had 9 players score double figures which was a complete turn around from Barcelona last season where there were only 4. Aboubakar was our leading scorer with 30 but Januzaj was my player of the season. The wonderkid had a breakout season scoring 19 and getting 31 assists from 44 starts.

This Seasons Points

CL Winners Manchester United - 5 Points

Summary

A quite incredible season that was completely unexpected. After last year’s success I didn’t think my second would come so quickly. When I took over I didn’t think we had a squad capable of beating the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and my previous team Barcelona. I think we were quite intelligent in the transfer market and bought a team capable of challenging. I think I’ll go the same way I did last season and resign from my post and hope a merry go round produces another position for me. There are already spots available at PSV Eindhoven and Benfica but I think I’ll hold out for a bigger position and a chance at a Champions League three-peat!​