I really love this game sometimes....

First of all, a little background:

In my Rangers save - of which I'm currently in the fourth season - my attempts at Champions League glory have been brought to a screeching halt in the previous two seasons by Manchester United. In the 2012/13 season I met them in the semi-final and they beat me 2-0 at Old Trafford and 1-0 at Ibrox. Admittedly, this result was not unexpected - I was a rubbish SPL side after all, and I had yet to mould the team entirely into what I wanted. Reaching the semi-final of the Champions League with a bunch of rejects and bargain buys was an achievement in itself. In 2013/14, I advanced with ill-deserved confidence to the quarter-finals where again I met the Red Devils. Queue a 3-1 spanking at Old Trafford followed by a heartening but ultimately futile 2-2 draw at Ibrox. Again, my attempts to get my hands on the 'Big Wan' - as Celtic fans are prone to calling it - had been interrupted by the same bloody team. I could beat the likes of Barcelona and Milan but Manchester United were quite clearly developing into my bogey team - an unmoveable object, and Old Trafford was an impenetrable fortress. At this point I was beginning to develop an irrational hatred of Manchester United and wondered if I would ever taste European success. During the 2014/15 season a job offer came in from Arsenal offering me a ridiculously sized transfer budget; I was tempted, but decided to stick with my boyhood heroes, and determined to plough on in my futile quest for CL glory.

I awaited the first-knockout round draw with deserved confidence - my team had steadily improved and were playing some fantastic football, and in the group stages we had more than held our own. When the draw was made, and to my consternation we were drawn against my bogey team once more, I scolded myself for not jumping ship to Arsenal when I had the chance.

Anyway, the first leg proceeded as follows:

We had more than matched them but the concession of that away goal gave me a sinking feeling. We needed to play out of our skins at Old Trafford to have a hope in hell of advancing to the quarter-finals. Above all else we needed to avoid conceding an early goal.

It only took a minute for Man U to fire themselves in front and I immediately resigned myself to defeat at their hands yet again. My players however had a different idea in mind, and they took the game to our opponents, dominating possession and creating several good quality chances. At half-time I gave them a rousing team-talk, and set them out with an attacking strategy. After exerting some more pressure we were back in the game thanks to Diego Buonanotte, who eventually found the net after missing several one-on-ones with the GK. After this, I went back to a defensive strategy and unfortunately we found ourselves behind again, when Dimitar Berbatov - who was clearly offside ref, FFS! - scored after getting in behind our defence. Again I had to throw caution to the wind and went back to an attacking strategy, and it only took a few minutes for Fernando Belluschi to score, putting us 4-3 up on aggregate. A few minutes later, the ball landed at John Fleck's feet just inside the penalty area and he lashed the ball past David De Gea, making it 3-2 to us on the night, and 5-3 to us on aggregate. When the ball hit the back of the Manchester United net for our third goal I quite literally leapt out of my seat and punched the air in jubilation. FM hasn't made me do that in a long time. By this point in the game the mighty Red Devils looked shell-shocked and they scarcely troubled us for the rest of the game, content to merely hit wayward long-range efforts.

At the final whistle a permanent grin affixed itself to my face, and I can't seem to get rid of it.

Match highlights are here, if anyone cares:

Nice story, well done for your persistence.

It's moments like this that make the game what it is.

THAT, right there is why I LOVE this game, bravado my friend hope you win the CL.

Yeah, amen to all of the above. Strangely enough, some of my best times with FM are in the middle of ugly relegation fights where I'm patching up an injury-riddled, hopelessly-outclassed team of misfits. Sometimes we survive, sometimes we don't but it's great fun. A goal and a win at a crucial moment will sometimes power me on a high for a couple of (real) days.

Thanks for the nice comments, chaps.

I've drawn Lyon in the quarter-finals. Victory against them would see me face either Shakhtar or Marseille in the semi-final. Not too bad. Unfortunately I would likely face Real Madrid or some other footballing collosus in the final, and knowing my luck I'd end up outplaying them only to lose by the narrowest of margins. In FM10 I played Juventus in the CL final and lost out on penalties. I was so heartbroken I resigned the next day. I eventually managed to win it in another save though.

Congrats on beating my side

And so the European adventures of Scotland's gallant few continues unabated......

In the first leg of the quarter-final against Lyon it finished:

A relatively even match to be fair. My left winger, Doka Madureira, was the difference on the night, as he tormented the Lyon defence and scored two absolutely majestic goals - so good in fact they should be put on permanent display in an art gallery. For his first goal, he picked up the ball about 50 yards from the Lyon goal, weaved through their defence with consummate ease, before thumping the ball into the top corner. His second goal was not quite as spectacular, but it was still pretty special. He latched onto a through ball inside the Lyon penalty area, at a tight angle to the goal, then proceeded to hold the ball up for what seemed an eternity, before once again thumping the ball into the top corner. He really is a special player, even if he infuriates me sometimes with his lack of teamwork.

For the second leg I ummed and ahhed over what my approach should be. In the end I decided to play my normal system and strategy, albeit without the heavy pressing game I play at home. The game started well as we controlled possession and created some chances, culminating in a goal on 6 minutes. Diego Buonanotte picked the ball up on the edge of the Lyon penalty area, skipped past the lunging challenge of the Lyon left-back - leaving him on his arse - cut inside, took the ball into the area and placed a shot past the onrushing Hugo Lloris. This course of events merely served to anger Lyon, and they proceeded to throw everything they had at us, and we pretty much took a battering for the rest of the game, with shots hitting the bar and six-yard box scrambles a plenty. In the first half though we still occasionally managed to advance over the halfway line which directly led to not one, but two further goals. My Romanian centre-back, Paul Papp, managed to bag himself an unlikely brace, scoring from a corner and a free-kick.

As half-time came I looked at the scoreline in disbelief. We were leading 6-1 on aggregate. Lyon had to score six goals in the second half to defeat us. They didn't score six goals. They didn't score any goals. My boys defended heroically, even if they didn't really need to.

Marseille, you are next! Revenge for 92/93!

Well done chap. Lyon seem to be my CL bogey side so it's nice to see this.

I feel your pain bud. Lyon were my CL bogey team in FM11 - I eventually ended up exorcising their curse by thrashing them (sort of) away from home. On that occasion I was 4-0 up after 20 minutes or something equally ridiculous, and mostly against the run of play. They pummelled us for 80 odd minutes and came back to lead 5-4, much to my annoyance, and then I eventually scored a dramatic late equaliser to go through on away goals. The match was absolutely epic, but I never ever want a repeat of it!

On FM10 my CL bogey side though was Real Madrid - when they used that 4-2-4 formation with the DM's and AML/R's. Ripped me apart every single time.

Just lost the final to Barca on penalties.

If anyone needs me I'm off to slit my wrists.

You still there, mate? I read your first post and tbh Berbatov didn't seem to be offside... But anyways your post was great stuff compared to the usual whine and cr*p some people post. It's the moments like yours that make this game so great (and annoying).

I like celtic but i still enjoyed your tale OP

You still there, mate?

Aye. I'm still hurting though.

One of the good things to come from this CL run is that:

a) the coefficient has improved to the point where I automatically qualify for the group stages

b) the finances of the club have increased substantially - my transfer budget for next season is £27M. The previous season it was around £5M.

I read your first post and tbh Berbatov didn't seem to be offside...

You're right, but it certainly didn't seem like it at the time.

Thanks again for the nice comments guys. I felt some positivity wouldn't go amiss round here.