The Return of Aitor Herrera - The Boss of Bilbao

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Doing brill but that last month was a bit of a low point. Especially all the losing, I'd never heard of it before.
 
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Amorebieta making friends lol

DECEMBER

It was all about the cups this month and I also managed to give my younger players some vital game time. In the Copa del Rey we beat Portugalete and had a frustrating draw against Barca while we beat Kobenhavn in the Champions League and we will play Celtic!!!!!! Q.P.R. also made it to the knock-out rounds.

My B team sacked their manager Ziganda (despite lying 6th in the table) and appointed Jose Miguel Campos.

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Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao (1) 5-0 Potugalete (0)
Ramalho, Bernal, Hoz, Gonzalvo 2
(Agg: 6-0)

Iraizoz apart this was my u19 team so I was fairly pleased with the end result. I am trying but failing to sign any of the ones that are on loan permanently though.

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UEFA Champions League Group D
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 FC Kobenhavn
Artola (pen)

This time I only played the u19s who are here permanently (Vera, Viana, Etxeberria, Prieto, Artola, Bernal). Ibai Gomez had a disallowed goal just before Artola scored the late winner to become the competitions youngest ever scorer.

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Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Barcelona
Amorebieta

AAGGGGHHHHH!!! We dominated and had 19 attempts and 60% of posession yet up popped Messi near the end. A missed opportunity no doubt.

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Athletic Bilbao 4-1 Almeria
De Marcos, Susaeta, Muniain 2

A nice win I suppose. Ends the run in the league without a win!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
GORKA IRAIZOZ
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the only player to play in every game......

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I remember in my FM12 game I won the Champions League in the 2nd season with Bilbao thanks to a very easy draw and a lucky result in the final. Can it happen again?​
 
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Our new record signing - Antoine Griezmann

JANUARY

January is always a busy month and this was no different - despite being knocked out of the Copa del Rey early on!

Anywho as you can see above I managed to sign Antoine Griezmann from our rivals Real Sociedad for a club record £19m. To get this talent so early on in his career is a big boost as I would have expected him to move abroad before we could get him but he wanted to leave Sociedad so in I swooped although my director of football dealt with the contract which I wasnt best pleased about but he didnt do too badly in the end!

I will probably play Griezmann LW and De Marcos may be benched but I will have to see really. Herrera is doing well at AMC and anyway, Bilbao not having a Herrera playing AMC is just wrong! I should point out that as always I paid the transfer fee up front.

Leaving the club was a few youngsters on loan - other than that it was all quiet.

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Copa del Rey 5th Round 2nd Leg
Barcelona (1) 4-1 Athletic Bilbao (1)
Muniain
(Agg: 5-2)

We had more shots, more posession and still lost. We were 4 down at half-time so it was just one of those days.

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Real Sociedad 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
De Marcos, Muniain

**** sake. We went a goal up, got pegged back and then they had a man sent-off. We took the lead and dominated but Carlos Vela equalised on 76min. Very annoying.

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Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Malaga
Susaeta, Muniain 2

Hmmm. We were 1 down at half-time so I lost my rag a bit and despite De Marcos missing a penalty and getting sent-off (in the last minute) we did enough to get the points.

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Athletic Bilbao 5-1 Real Betis
Verkhovtsov (og), Griezmann 3, Susaeta

As debuts go this was pretty special I would say as Griezmann netted a first half hat-trick. He played on the LW as De Marcos was suspended.

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Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Deportivo La Coruna
Amorebieta, Aduriz

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Osasuna 0-1 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain

Always nice to win a derby match - especially against an awkward team like Osasuna

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Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Real Valladolid
De Marcos, Aurtenetxe, Toquero

We were missing about 6 players for this game so to get the win was very good. Iraola missed a penalty. We could have got double figures really.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
IKER MUNIAIN
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2nd place should be ours but the title? you never know...............

TOP 5 JANUARY TRANSFERS IN LIGA BBVA[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME
[/TD]
[TD]FROM
[/TD]
[TD]TO
[/TD]
[TD]FEE
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Falcao
[/TD]
[TD]Atletico Madrid
[/TD]
[TD]Chelsea
[/TD]
[TD]£36m
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Cesar Azpilicueta
[/TD]
[TD]Chelsea
[/TD]
[TD]Barcelona
[/TD]
[TD]£11.25m
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dani Parejo
[/TD]
[TD]Valencia
[/TD]
[TD]Atletico Madrid
[/TD]
[TD]£6.25m
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Geraldo
[/TD]
[TD]Coritiba
[/TD]
[TD]Atletico Madrid
[/TD]
[TD]£5.25m
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lazar Markovic
[/TD]
[TD]Partizan Belgrade
[/TD]
[TD]Atletico Madrid
[/TD]
[TD]£4.4m
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Needless to say that I am seriously ****** off about the transfer of Cesar Azpilicueta - he wasnt interested in joining us.​
 
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FEBRUARY

We are still going strong!!! Despite having tough away fixtures to Sevilla, Atletico and Valencia we came through the month unbeaten although the draws may have cost us any chance of winning the title. We did the job in the Champions League against Celtic and should be into the next round.

In other news Atletico Madrid sacked their manager Abel Resino and appointed Guus Hiddink.

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Hercules 1-4 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain, Griezmann, San Jose, Ruiz de Galarreta

We fell behind early on here but ended up winning comfortably. Only had 6 shots on target so we were pretty lethal!

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Atletico Madrid 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain, Toquero

We deserved the 3pts but it could have been very different as we were 1 down at half-time and they had a goal disallowed. Toquero came off the bench to score with his first touch. This is the kind of result that potential champions get................

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Sevilla 1-1 Athletic Bilbao
San Jose (pen)

A decent result I suppose - cant complain too much.

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Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Espanyol
Benat, Muniain

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Valencia 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
Ruiz de Galarreta, Toquero

Toquero was almost the super sub again here. We were 1 down at half-time and turned it around to go 2-1 up but Soldado levelled late on for them. 12 games unbeaten in the league now.

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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Celtic
San Jose 2, Anele (og)

Joe Mason gave Celtic an early lead and I was pretty livid as a defeat here would be embarrassing but our quality came through in the end!

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Athletic Bilbao 5-0 Getafe
Muniain, Griezmann 2, Monreal, Amorebieta

We were 4 up after only 20min here as we just blew Getafe away.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MIKEL SAN JOSE
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View attachment 282375​
 
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MARCH

Almost a fantastic month but a defeat to Sporting Gijon left me thinking what might have been. Other than that horrendous result we did quite well and scored a few goals. In Europe we navigated our way past Celtic and were rewarded with a kind draw against Marseille.

The youth intake was ok with not much quantity but a little bit of quality. These 2 were the best that came through..................
View attachment 282386View attachment 282387

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Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Celta Vigo
Herrera, Muniain

Real Madrid lost beforehand so we reduce their lead at the top to 3pts.

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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg
Celtic (1) 2-4 Athletic Bilbao (3)
Viana 2, Ekiza, Ibai Gomez
(Agg: 3-7)

Decided to rest a few players for this game and the players who came in were excellent as we scored 3 in the first 15min! Ramalho had a stoppage time goal disallowed.

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Sporting Gijon 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Amorebieta

What a ******* joke! This lot were in the relegation places and we were 1up at half-time and I warned my team not to get complacent yet they did. Sporting even had a last minute penalty saved. This has cost us any chance of winning the title!

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Mallorca 2-4 Athletic Bilbao
Griezmann, Iraola (pen), Benat, Susaeta

Thats better! Should have done this against Sporting though. Fortunately Real Madrid drew so maybe the title race isnt over after all...........

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Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Granada
Bueno, Amorebieta

Bueno only signed a professional contract on the morning of the game and was pitched straight into the starting line-up as Muniain was injured. Real Madrid dropped another 2pts which is a massive boost!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
FERNANDO AMOREBIETA
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Doing Great!!! Griezmann is a top signing and Barcelona are a bunch of kill joys.
 
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APRIL

This month saw us complete 2 ties in the Champions League, a derby v Sociedad and huge must win games against Barca and Real Madrid!!!

In the end our league title dream is over as despite coming back to defeat Barca we fell to a 6-3 defeat against Real Madrid however we have a chance to avenge that defeat as we will play them in the Champions League final!!!!!!!

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UEFA Champions League QF 1st Leg
Marseille 3-4 Athletic Bilbao
Herrera, Griezmann 2, Viana (pen)

The win away from home is nice. The 4 away goals is nicer!!!!

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Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Barcelona
Illarramendi, Susaeta, Benat

GET IN THERE!!!!!! We fell behind twice but pegged them back to go in at the break at 2-2 and Benat struck from long range to give us a vital 3pts. Beginning to think something special might be happening!

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UEFA Champions League QF 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao (4) 3-1 Marseille (3)
Muniain 3
(Agg: 7-4)

We took an early lead but they got an early equaliser! Muniain scored 2 quick goals in the 2nd half for his hat-trick and then Andre Ayew got sent-off for them to make it a very easy 2nd half.

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Real Madrid 6-3 Athletic Bilbao
Griezmann (pen), Muniain 2

We actually took an early lead here and went in at half-time level at 1-1 but in the 2nd half we were terrible and they even had a goal disallowed. 5pts is the difference now so the title race is pretty much over.

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Real Betis 0-1 Athletic Bilbao
Amorebieta

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UEFA Champions League SF 1st Leg
Paris Saint-Germain 2-3 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain 2, Ibai Gomez

What a game! After 6min both players had a player sent-off (Inigo Perez for us) and after 15min both teams had scored. In a very even game we got a late winner as PSG went chasing the lead to take to Spain.

Real Madrid beat Barca 1-0 at the Nou Camp in the other semi.

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Athletic Bilbao 3-3 Real Sociedad
Susaeta 2, Benat

Not too upset at failing to win the derby after we lost to Real Madrid - think I will just play the youngsters in the remaining 3 league games now.

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UEFA Champions League SF 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao (3) 3-1 Paris Saint-Germain (2)
Herrera, De Marcos, Muniain
(Agg: 6-3 )

Into the final we go as we came behind to win this match. I didnt play Benat as he was a booking away from suspension so that was good management! lol. Real Madrid await in the final...................

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
IKER MUNIAIN
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MAY

CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were just counting down to the day of the Champions League final as I played my youngsters in the remaining league fixtures with missed results.

In the Champions League final we were excellent although Real Madrid did capitulate quite easily.

In my 2 years at Bilbao I have won the Champions League, Europa League, Euro Super Cup and split the big two in Spain - **** that Copa del Rey final defeat!!!!!!

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Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Osasuna
Artola

Didnt play the back-ups here. I played the u19s - the future of the club - which I suppose was a bit dangerous doing so in a derby match!

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Almeria 1-0 Athletic Bilbao

Meh - the youngsters just didnt perform here

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Malaga 2-4 Athletic Bilbao
Aguilera 3, Bueno

Not a bad way to end the season. How we won this one and not the other two I dont know.

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UEFA Champions League Final
Real Madrid 2-4 Athletic Bilbao
Susaeta 2, San Jose, Griezmann

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! We ripped Real apart here. They took the lead on 7min but Susaeta soon equalised and then San Jose missed a pen. Disappointment didnt last long though as we went in at half-time 3-1 up thanks to Susaeta's 2nd and San Jose making amends plus Pepe got sent-off for them.

In the 2nd half Griezmann put us 4-1 up and although Ronaldo pulled one back we were not to be denied!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MARKEL SUSAETA
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So I do what I did in FM12 - win the Champions League in the 2nd season - once again thanks to an easy draw and a very fortunate final.​
 
A massive achievement winning the Champions League and finishing second clear of Barcelona! The domination starts here?
 
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