The Return of Aitor Herrera - The Boss of Bilbao

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My chairman - Jose Urrutia

MARCH

9 times we gave away the lead during this month!! My defence is really bothering me but there isnt a lot of other options out there really and I dont want to tinker with my tactic too much. I may have to wait while my players improve naturally.

We progressed in Europe and got the luck of the draw in the quarter finals as we are due to play Metalist Kharkiv.

Now for the youth intake - I am very happy!!!!!! Two players with a PA rating of 4 stars and a couple of other decent ones with the best 3 being a left back, centre half/central midfielder and thankfully a forward!!!!! In the end I signed up about a dozen players - all rated a minimum 2 stars for PA. There wasnt a player who will go straight into the 1st team like I did but they will be involved certainly at some point.
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Atletico Madrid 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
San Jose (pen), De Marcos

I like getting help from fellow Basque players! Raul Garcia gave away the penalty and then got sent-off to set us on our way here. We were 2nd best throughout though.

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UEFA Europa League 2nd Round 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Dynamo Kiev
Muniain, Aduriz, Toquero

We were 2 up and cruising but inexplicably we threw the lead away but thankfully Toquero scored late on to give us the advantage.

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Athletic Bilbao 2-4 Valencia
Aduriz, Susaeta

We took the lead twice so this was a horrible result - even if we were without 3 first picks. We are actually the top scorers in the league with 59 goals after this game but we have conceded 42 which is even more than one of the teams in the relegation zone! The fact that San Jose got injured and is out for a month wont help that either I suppose....................

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UEFA Europa League 2nd Round 2nd Leg
Dynamo Kiev (2) 5-4 Athletic Bilbao (3)
Aduriz 3, Muniain
(Agg: 7-7 - Athletic Bilbao win on away goals)

We actually took the lead 4 times in this game! An entertaining game it may have been but it emphasises my need for improving the defence.

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Getafe 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
De Marcos, Muniain

Jesus christ! Once again we take the lead (twice) and once again we throw it away. This is not funny.

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Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Granada
Aduriz, Amorebieta

A vital win this as Granada are right on our coat-tails. I still fancy us to get a Champions League spot but with Barca and Real left to play I cant be sure!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
IKER MUNIAIN
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You're doing great so far, defence hopefully won't prove too critical in the latter months of the season. Good youth intake too, strike looks especially good :)
 
yeah u have some great regens here...instead of a blue square to prem story i may do a spurs story as i am in april and have a very gd 4.5 star regen
 
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APRIL

A hectic month with big games against Barca, Real and Sevilla as well as the European games however we ended the month in 4th place and only have a 4pt lead over the 5th place team. Hopefully we can still get 3rd place ahead of Granada.

I gave 4 of my new youth players their debuts during the month and spent a long while searching for 16y/o Spaniards!

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UEFA Europa League QF 1st Leg
Metalist Kharkiv 1-3 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain 2, Susaeta

That will do! We should be through to the semis after this result.

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Sevilla 2-4 Athletic Bilbao
Ibai Gomez, Aduriz 3(1pen)

I dont know how we won this! 2 down after 10min, De Marcos sent-off and we came back with only 7 shots on goal and they had 28!

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UEFA Europa League QF 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao (3) 1-0 Metalist Kharkiv (1)
Inigo Perez
(Agg: 4-1)

3 of my recent youth intakes started here and made their debuts - Prieto, Vero and Viana

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Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Real Madrid
Ibai Gomez

We went a goal down early on but then Ronaldo got sent-off and we dominated but couldnt get the winner.

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Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Ibai Gomez

We shouldnt have lost this as we actually played quite well. Both sides had a goal disallowed also.

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UEFA Europa League SF 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Muniain, Aduriz

A good result but we conceded the away goal late on in the match so instead of having one foot in the final we quite possibly are 2nd favourites to make it. Zenit and Rubin drew 1-1 in the other semi.

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Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Barcelona

We were without 6 players here so we were always going to be up against it. We actually played quite well but Messi struck twice in the first half and missed a penalty (again) in the 2nd half. Thats 2 defeats in a row now and no wins in the last 3 league games.........................

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
IBAI GOMEZ
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Nice result against Tottenham, unlucky against Barca though, but then again it's Barca
 
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MAY

The season is over and we managed to win the Europa League in a thrilling final as we came out on top in a 9 goal thriller. We managed to secure 3rd place and Champions League football also however we did lose in the Copa del Rey final unfortunately.

Off the field I signed a new contract - now getting paid £40,000 a week.

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UEFA Europa League SF 2nd Leg
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 0-1 Athletic Bilbao (2)
Iturraspe
(Agg: 1-3)

How we pulled this off I dont know! We were hanging on and then Iraola got sent-off so I took off Aduriz, brought on Iturraspe and basically played a 4-5-0 formation and Iturraspe scored!!!! Zenit and Rubin drew 3-3 so we will play Zenit in the final.

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Celta Vigo 2-4 Athletic Bilbao
Aduriz, De Marcos 2, Susaeta

Happy birthday to me............ 2-1 up against 10 men with 20min left we found ourselves at 2-2 with 2min left and still won! This win propels us back up to 3rd.

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Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Mallorca
Aduriz 2

Rested most of my side for the final against Zenit in 3 days time. Ibai Gomez had a goal disallowed too. Mallorca are 5th in the table so I took a big risk but we still won and should get Champions League football for next year in doing so.

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UEFA Europa League Final
Zenit St. Petersburg 4-5 Athletic Bilbao
Aduriz 2, Ibai Gomez, Benat 2

Where to start??????????? 3-1 down at half-time (harshly) and I then had De Marcos and Aurtenetxe taken off injured so I put on Ibai Gomez and Castillo. Ibai Gomez quickly scored, so did Benat then they had 1 disallowed before going 4-3 up. We then had a goal chalked off but equalised through Benat (85) and Aduriz struck the winner in the 91st minute!

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Copa del Rey Final
Real Madrid 1-0 Athletic Bilbao
AET

I didnt honestly think we could both finals and so it transpired. We were outplayed but managed to get it to extra-time but Ronaldo scored in the 101st minute to win them the cup. Disappointing but not the end of the world.

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Real Zaragoza 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Amorebieta, Aduriz

I had a touchline ban for this game so picked the side and went on a days holiday! We won apparently and thus ensured Champions League football for next season.

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Athletic Bilbao 2-3 Levante
Viana, Ruiz de Galarreta

As 3rd place is secured I rested everyone against the team rooted to the bottom and we got beat! Viana breaks the club and league record as the youngest scorer.

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Rayo Vallecano 3-2 Athletic Bilbao
Viana 2

Rayo are also relegated but the defeat doesnt really matter - Viana scoring at such a young age does however......

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ARITZ ADURIZ
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END OF SEASON POST TO FOLLOW............​
 
What a Europa final!

Am i correct in saying thats the first final defeat as Bilbao in FM12+13?
 
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END OF SEASON

What a season that was! 3rd in the league was what I thought I could manage if things went well, Europa League winners was a great achievement and we were unlucky in the final of the Spanish Cup. My B side finished just outside the play-off slots while the u19s did ok but won no trophies. I should add that we scored a pretty healthy 52 goals in the Europa League alone!

SQUAD
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Special praise should go to Aduriz, De Marcos and Ibai Gomez.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON
MARKEL SUSAETA
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FINAL LEAGUE TABLE AND STATS
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MY LEAGUE SCORERS
21(1p) Aduriz, 9 De Marcos, 9 Susaeta, 6 Llorente, 6(4p) San Jose, 5 Amorebieta, 5 Muniain, 3 Benat, 3 Herrera, 3 Ibai Gomez, 3 Inigo Perez, 3 Viana, 2 Toquero, 1(p) Iraola, 1 Iturraspe, 1 Ruiz de Galarreta

LIGA BBVA AWARDS
Spanish Player of the Year: Xavi (Barcelona)
Spanish Young Player of the Year: Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)
Player of the Year: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Manager of the Year: Tito Vilanova (Barcelona)
Top Goalscorer: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Pichichi Award: Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)
Goalkeeper of the Year: Victor Valdes (Barcelona)
Most Improved Team: Mallorca

TEAM OF THE SEASON
Valdes (Barcelona)
Ramos (Real Madrid)
Rami (Valencia)
Pique (Barcelona)
Alba (Barcelona)
Verdu (Espanyol)
Rico (Granada)
Navas (Sevilla)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Messi (Barcelona)
Negredo (Sevilla)

AROUND EUROPE
Barca win the Champions League - beating Man City 2-1 in the final
Q.P.R. finish 4th in England!!!!
Man Utd, Marseille, Bayern, Juventus and Sporting CP win their leagues
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Jeez what a final. Unlucky in the Copa Del Ray but beating Madrid is hard. I'd be lucky if I pull off a draw In my Valencia story
 
Congrats!! Great first year. Aduriz looks like a beaaast. Strange league table as Levante finished 4th I think oon my Blackpool save?!
 
CL qualification, Europa League winners and Copa del Rey runners-up. You couldn't ask for more considering you had a weaker squad to work with.
 
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Great first season, unlucky with the Copa Del Rey, but Real Madrid is always a hard game. Europa League champions and Champions League football next season though, great start!
 
I have a request peeps - would some peeps (especially regular followers - you know who you are) chuck me a friend request on steam please?

My steam id is kliippybo (i know i added an extra i lol accidentally). the reason being i think it would be interesting to see how everyone ranks in the new hall of fame thing in the friends list
 
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