Dalbeider

Aug 16th 2030 Somewhat unexpected offer coming from Porto, who want to buy Stjepanovic for €17.75M. Not nearly enough, and considering how much we'd owe Partizan due to his sell-on clause replacing him with an equally good player would be difficult. Rejected, they'll have to go up to €25M at the very least. Phew, Bayern-Leipzig as the very first game of the Bundesliga season. Bayern win 2-1, and so take an early lead in what's likely to become another battle for the title between them. We'll see if we can sneak ourselves into it, too. Aug 17th 2030 The draw for the second round of the DFB Pokal pairs us against Jahn Regensburg, currently in the 2.Bundesliga although last season they got really close to the relegation places, finishing 16th. Not the hardest tie we could get, of course, and for once we can look down on Bayern since they'll be playing away to new Bundesliga members Fortuna Düsseldorf. Leipzig will also have a relatively difficult tie against Union Berlin, although at home in their case. Aug 18th 2030 Just before our Bundesliga debut the board announce our season ticket sales, and we've gone up from 16,800 to 18,100 tickets sold. We really need to expand the stadium for the next season, I think... * * * Sport-Club Freiburg vs. TSV 1860 München (Bundesliga, 1/34) And back into the fray. We start the league away once again, and against a tough customer like Freiburg, a consistent top half performer that nonetheless never quite makes the jump to the European battle. We know who we are, and we showed the world how good we are just four days ago. Now we only have to carry that into the league and get to a good start. * * * FREIBURG (4-2-3-1): Florian Müller (GK); Hugo Siquet (DR), Laurin Moser (DCr), Eric Martel (DCl), Julio Ayala (DL); Marco Kana (MCr), Maximilian Eggstein (MCl); Jan Thielmann (AMR), Lazar Samardzic (AMC), Danrlei (AML), Nicolai Skoglund (ST) 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Ezequiel Beltramone (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl) * * * Some forced rotation today after the 120 minutes of action midweek, while Freiburg have a couple of notable changes from our last meeting, most notably with Germany's second keeper Müller, bought mid-season from Monaco, starting today ahead of Verbruggen. We have the upper hand in possession during the first ten minutes, but there's no danger to be had on either goal until the 11th minute, when we move the ball freely around Freiburg's penalty area until Ball spots Schulze's run forward and crosses the ball ahead of him, allowing the midfielder to score with a subtle and precise touch. Not a bad way to start the season. Freiburg try to react quickly with a cross from the right that Samardzic heads straight at Kretzschmar, then with a more dangerous header by Moser in a corner kick that the keeper manages to parry and Ball clears away from danger. We try to regain control, but in the 23rd Siquet sends a cross into the box from the right and Skoglund catches it first-time, surprising Kretzschmar and drawing the game. Only then we're allowed to attack again, and we almost make it count after a good combination between Basualdo and Schulze ends with another chance to score for the midfielder, but this time Müller manages to deflect the ball over. Both teams are now on equal terms in both play and score, and the next chance falls to Samardzic after a rebound he tries to hit first time, but Kretzschmar sees it coming this time and dives well to save. Our turn comes next, with Neves assisting Basualdo on the run only for the false nine to shoot wide, wasting a great chance to restore our lead. Midfielder and forward trade places next, this time with Basualdo assisting and Neves at least finding the target, although not managing to beat a well positioned Müller. We get a corner kick from it at least, and Lang almost puts it in with his header, but the ball misses the crossbar by a couple of inches. Yet in injury time Freiburg attack again, and this time Ayala manages to cross towards the far post and Thielmann sneaks away from Ball's attention to tap the ball in, giving the home team the lead just as the first half reaches its end. HALF TIME - 2-1 We restart the game looking good, and for a change we make it count quickly: five minutes in a pass into space leaves Özcan on the run, but he's forced towards the left side of the attack by the defense. No matter, he turns around and passes across the box towards Schulze, who hits it first time and scores his and our second of the day. Özcan has the opportunity to complete our comeback moments later, but his finish following a great assist by Neves isn't good enough to beat Müller. We soon make our first substitutions, bringing Palomeque and Ernesto in for Miranda and Beltramone, the latter of which after not exactly the best of league debuts. The game then seems to stall, with no chances happening on either side for a long while, and in the meantime Touré comes in for Ball as our final substitution. We go all the way until the 78th minute without nothing happening, and what changes the trend is a low cross by Touré that Özcan blasts well wide. Three minutes later Schulze splits Freiburg's defense apart with a beautiful through ball towards Neves, but Müller comes forward to cover up the space before the midfielder can get a good shot in, and the chance is once again aborted. The final minutes of the game find us looking like the most likely team to grab a late winner, but two minutes before full time Freiburg launch a quick cross into the box and Skoglund gets his head to it, looping the ball over Kretzschmar and straight into the crossbar. The play continues with a cross from Böller towards Skoglund who this time manages to volley it in, but from an offside position well caught by the linesman. In injury time we once again break through the center, this time with Basualdo assisting Neves for another run into the box that Müller stops dead with a great rush and save. Kretzschmar then saves another header by Skoglund, this one a bit less dangerous, Özcan misses the target by inches with a 20-yard shot immediately afterwards, and a very entertaining game finally ends in a draw. * * * Sport-Club Freiburg 2 (Nicolai Skoglund 22, Jan Thielmann 45+1) TSV 1860 München 2 (Maximilian Schulze 11 50) - - - Great fun today, even if the result wasn't the one we'd hoped for. Freiburg did well to take their chances, and we once again failed to put them in and paid the prize in the shape of two points we should've kept to ourselves. Oh well, not the worst result, but certainly not the best. Also Schulze has started the season absolutely on fire when it comes to scoring, huh. Wish our forwards learned a thing or two from him...

Aug 12th 2030 Shock in the cup: Dortmund lose to Darmstadt 1-0 and are out at the first hurdle. Can't complain about removing strong rivals from the running, really. Aug 13th 2030 City come back, but this time for a different player: Amador. Their offer is a bit short at only €23.5M plus some clauses, but considering how close they are to his €30M release clause it's probably just a matter of time until they decide to just take him away. Still rejected. Aug 14th 2030 TSV 1860 München vs. Real Madrid C.F. (European Super Cup) Super Cups are always a funny matter, only mattering for those who win it. Just in case, and because we know from recent experience that Zidane's Real Madrid are just that good, we won't be putting much stock into this game, although we'll still play our best eleven and see if we can get lucky. A fun fixture for sure, just not one I'd put too far above a friendly in importance. * * * 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Ian Amador (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Tomislav Javorcic (DL); Thiago (DM); Aymeric Meunier (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl) REAL MADRID (4-3-3): Dragan Stojanovic (GK); Diogo Dalot (DR), Maxence Lacroix (DCr), Éder Militao (DCl), Isak Jóhannesson (DL); Eduardo Camavinga (DM), Fede Valverde (MCr), Bruno Fernandes (MCl); Yeremy Pino (AMR), Justin Kluivert (AML), Kylian Mbappé (ST) * * * Schulze misses out today due to suspension and Meunier takes his place in the lineup, but other than that and Özcan starting in Rijkhoff's place we repeat the same eleven that won the Europa League against Arsenal. Real Madrid have just seen their long-time goalkeeper Courtois retire, but have already splashed the cash in a worthy replacement with Stojanovic, one of those potential replacements for Kretzschmar we saw get poached before we had the chance to make a move. Otherwise, a similar eleven to the one we met two years ago in the Champions League. The match starts slowly, but with us controlling possession in the early minutes and even creating a very good chance six minutes in, with Meunier passing into space and Özcan running into it before missing the target with a narrowly wide finish. You can't miss those chances against Real... Soon we find another way through, Caraballo trading passes with Amador and shooting into Stojanovic's legs from a difficult position, and immediately we generate a third one with Özcan, Caraballo, and Miranda combining and setting up the midfielder for a left-footed finish that the keeper dives to tip wide for a corner kick that Ernesto ends up heading wide. Looking really good so far. Real finally respond in the 13th minute with a good direct free kick by Bruno Fernandes that makes Kretzschmar stretch to his limits in order to save it. Possession soon starts switching sides, but los Blancos can't turn it into chances and it isn't long until we hit them on the break again, this time with Caraballo finishing and Stojanovic flying for a fingertip save. That's another corner kick and another header by Ernesto, this one going narrowly over. Our best one comes in the 27th, with Caraballo assisting Özcan with a neat touch into space and the striker finishing with a good-looking chip that bounces clear off the crossbar. In the 33rd we hit wood again, this time with a beautiful lob by Miranda that gets this close to going in, and by now we really have deserved to take the lead already. Rodríguez tries next with a direct free kick that Stojanovic saves easily, but that's our last approach of a very one-sided first half, as expected, only towards the completely unexpected side. HALF TIME - 0-0 Not much happens in the first fifteen minutes of the second half other than a blocked shot by Rodríguez, and soon it's time to start rotating players around. Palomeque and Touré are the first to come in, replacing Meunier and Javorcic, the latter of which has had a pretty horrible game today. Things remain deadlocked afterwards, and soon we reach the final twenty minutes with nothing to entertain the Greek fans in the stands. Neves then enters the game replacing Miranda, and his appearance gets us going once again, soon generating danger with a one-two combination with Özcan that the midfielder finishes with a very narrowly wide shot. Two blocked shots for Özcan and Neves follow, both extremely dangerous but not even reaching Stojanovic's hands. Real Madrid then generate danger the only way they seem to be able to: a set piece, this time a corner kick taken by Bruno Fernandes and headed by Tavares that Kretzschmar blocks and Amador clears away. The game then goes to sleep once again, not waking up until Rodríguez runs towards the left side of the box in the 90th minute and cross towards Özcan, who sees his header go straight into the keeper's gloves. Injury time sees Caraballo smash another great chance created by Amador into Stojanovic's body, but we can't manage to turn our surprising superiority into goals before the game ends, and both teams are then headed into extra time. FULL TIME - 0-0 We take the chance to make our extra fourth substitution before restarting the game, bringing Rijkhoff into the fray in Özcan's place. The striker has a chance to make an impact in the eighth minute of extra time following a great long ball by Neves, but he's also incapable of putting his finish past an excellent Stojanovic. In the 104th minute Real Madrid create their first chance from open play of the whole game when Motika dribbles his way into the box from the left wing and passes it back towards Mbappé, whose first relevant action in the whole match is smashing the ball into the back of the net to score the 0-1. Neves tries to respond immediately with a very similar play, but Rijkhoff can't shoot past Calabria's challenge. Differences. The second half of extra time starts with Real Madrid looking more comfortable than they've been during the whole game until that point. And that's precisely when a long passing play ends with the ball under Thiago's control on the left side of our attack, the midfielder passes it to Touré, and the young left back unleashes a surprising 30-yarder with his right foot that Stojanovic simply can't reach, and the game is all tied once again. Not a bad way to score his first senior goal for die Löwen. Two minutes later Neves misses by inches with his finish after a fantastic long pass by Palomeque, and we're back to the usual flow of this game. Yet once again against the flow of the game Calabria runs down the right wing, gets a cross past Touré's mark, and Mbappé connects an unstoppable header that puts Real ahead once again with a bit over two minutes to play. Our last-ditch effort leads nowhere good, and we end up losing a game we should've won clearly. * * * TSV 1860 München 1 (Mahamadou Touré 110) Real Madrid C.F. 2 (Kylian Mbappé 104 118) - - - Told you one can't waste chances when playing against Real Madrid... This game was so one-sided it should've finished 3-0 or more in our favor even before extra time, yet we just couldn't find a way to put it past a very good goalkeeping performance by Stojanovic, and then Mbappé finally showed up and it was over. We still played magnificently against the current European champions, though, and that has to be worth something. No title for us, but we have to be proud of our performance. This becomes easier when the defeat is worth €3.5M, of course... Incidentally, Touré just became the youngest player to ever score a goal in the European Super Cup. That's something.

Aug 1st 2030 Another of our interesting youngsters is Romelle Leacock, who spent last season on loan in Stockport and doing quite well. Now Fortuna Düsseldorf want to loan him, but they also want to attach a mandatory fee into the deal in case they manage to survive in the Bundesliga. I wouldn't mind too much, but the money they offer is nowhere close to enough and the player doesn't want a permanent move to Fortuna, so the deal's out. There's some interest from Feyenoord in a full transfer, so there might be movement around the kid in following weeks. Aug 2nd 2030 Ah yes, things are picking up now. Couldn't have a summer without a ridiculous part-exchange offer from someone... Stuttgart are the culprits this time, offering a paltry €2.4M plus defensive midfielder Ronny Klotke for Basualdo. As Australians often say: yeah, nah. Bad news for young Althoff, who'll be out for 3-4 weeks with a pulled calf muscle and will miss his best chance to start with the first team in the DFB Pokal first round. Aug 4th 2030 TSV 1860 München vs. Athletic Club de Bilbao (Friendly) Our last friendly of the preseason brings historic Basque side Athletic to Munich, and our stadium is filled to the brim to welcome them. Of course it's a much more even match than the previous friendlies we've played, and both teams struggle for possession and trade blows during the early game without managing to break through. Rodríguez, Schulze, and Rijkhoff have our best chances, but in the end the first half ends without goals. In the first minute of the second half striker Aguado profits from a loose ball inside our box after a cross from the left to smash the ball into the net for the 0-1, but only six minutes later Özcan fixes things gathering a pass from Palomeque, dribbling past a defender and the keeper in a single movement, and passing it into the net to draw the game. Lang then heads in a corner kick taken by Basualdo and gives us the lead just two minutes later, followed by Meunier blasting it in with power after another great pass by Palomeque, very active today. Even Javorcic joins in the attacking fest with a perfect cross towards the far post so Özcan can score his second and our fourth come the 69th minute. We then proceed to dominate the rest of the game with ease, denying Athletic even a single shot after their goal. Great comeback to close up the preseason. TSV 1860 München 4 (Vedat Özcan 52 69, Niklas Lang 54, Aymeric Meunier 67) Athletic Club de Bilbao 1 (Jorge Aguado 46) Aug 7th 2030 Not Chelsea, but the Premier League did come back for Kretzschmar. Manchester City offer €22.5M, clearly insufficient, but we could probably negotiate it to a more acceptable fee. Problem is, all the potential replacements we had in mind have already been sold to other teams, and it feels too risky to sell our starting keeper without a replacement ready. Rejected, but we'll put our scouts to work specifically on this matter starting now, just in case. Aug 11th 2030 FSV Union Fürstenwalde vs. TSV 1860 München (DFB Pokal 1st round) Here we go again. The official start of the season with the traditional trip to a small stadium somewhere in Germany is already here, and while it usually is a perfect chance to see how any new signings perform in a competitive setting, there aren't any of those this time! So, it'll instead be a good opportunity for returned loanees and youngsters to show how good they are, and that they deserve a place in the first team, either now or in the future. * * * FÜRSTENWALDE (3-2-2-2-1): Marcin Stainszewski (GK); Manassé Eshele (DCr), Jan Just (DC), Adrian Jarosch (DCl); Paul Manske (WBR), Moritz Römling (WBL); Jeremy Postelt (MCr), Max Winter (MCl); Chinedu Ekene (AMR), Kajetan Wasielewski (AML); Antonio Bück (ST) 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Alex Ball (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Ezequiel Beltramone (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Romelle Leacock (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl) * * * Beltramone and Leacock get their first starts with 1860 today, with young Katic waiting for his chance on the bench. Most of our starters rest today in order to be available against Real Madrid in three days, and some even aren't on the bench today. Hopefully we won't need them... Early signs are good, at least, and within two minutes Palomeque has already scored, although from an offside position that invalidates what would've been his first goal for 1860 one year after his arrival. The first legal chance comes through our very own World Cup winner, Rijkhoff, who gathers a ball from Neves and walks into the box only to shoot weakly into Staniszewski's hands. Beltramone comes next with a 25 yard effort that sails over the bar, then Rijkhoff has another one-on-one stopped by the keeper after a great assist by Palomeque, followed by a high effort from the edge of the box by Leacock come the 10th minute. It's coming, but we can't seem to find the right way to finish the job, and Rijkhoff's third chance of the game ends in a wide shot, wasting a good pass by Leacock. Basualdo tries next with a direct free kick that goes just over the bar, then Staniszewski saves two consecutive long-range attempts by Palomeque and Touré. Twenty-one minutes and we're still goalless, and Rijkhoff's fourth clear-cut chance ends in another wide finish, showing the striker's heart isn't on it today. Leacock shoots over the bar next after a nod by Neves, and even Lang joins in heading onto the top side of the net a corner kick taken by Basualdo in the 25th. Rijkhoff's luck remains abysmal as he sends his shot into the crossbar following a fantastic long pass from Ball, and Basualdo doesn't fare much better with his second free kick attempt, this one saved by the keeper. That's when Fürstenwalde get a free kick near our box, they take it towards the frontside of the area so Ekene can pass it forward into the box, and an unmarked Just taps it past a woefully positioned Rexhepi and scores the 1-0. Shock. Thankfully the horror story lasts all of two minutes, which is what we need to lay siege to their goal once again until Beltramone spots Palomeque's run into the box and assists him for an easy finish that, finally, goes past the keeper to become the 1-1. That's his first goal for die Löwen, and it seems to give him the motivation he needs because in the 42nd Palomeque gathers the ball from Rijkhoff outside the box and places a perfect little shot right next to the post, scoring the 1-2. There's still time for Stainszewski to save a header by Rijkhoff in injury time before we head into the dressing rooms ahead by an inch. Crisis averted, for now. HALF TIME - 1-2 "For now" is right, as two minutes into the second half Fürstenwalde are already attacking our left wing and crossing into the box, where Bück half-volleys it into the crossbar and clear, then two minutes later Rexhepi has to work hard to save two consecutive finishes by Wasielewski following a pretty bad pass by Ball and an even worse recovery by the full back. We finally get back into the right half of the pitch in the 50th, with Neves assisting Leacock and the youngster smashing his finish into the keeper's body. Stainszewski also saves a header by Rijkhoff one minute later, as it looks like the game is going back to normalcy. A high shot from distance by Touré is our next approach, already in the 59th and with the bench players getting ready to come in. They do soon after, with Katic getting his debut in Rijkhoff's place and Schulze and Meunier coming in for Neves and Leacock. Meanwhile the home team keep believing they can give us another scare, and soon Wasielewski heads wide a cross from the right side of the box. In the 66th minute Basualdo gets really close with a first time finish after a cross from deep by Meunierr, although his finish ends up hitting the sidenetting, and two minutes lter Palomeque tries to find a hattrick for distance but finds the stands behind the goal instead. We are increasing the pressure little by little now, and Casas gets really close with a narrowly wide header in a corner kick come the 72nd minute. Basualdo tries a left-footed shot into the top corner but sees the goalkeeper swat it away at the last second, and in the 79th he sends a great through ball towards Katic that the youngster finishes with accuracy and style, but his goal is disallowed in the end due to a clear offside position. Two minutes later, though, a header by Basualdo that Stainszewski parries with difficulty leaves the ball dead at Schulze's feet, and the midfielder manages to put it in from a very tight angle to, finally, score a very relieving 1-3. We take it easier afterwards, holding the ball to prevent any further shenanigans and secure a win that shouldn't have taken us this much effort to achieve. * * * FSV Union Fürstenwalde 1 (Jan Just 33) TSV 1860 München 3 (Juan David Palomeque 35 42, Maximilian Schulze 81) - - - We can't have a calm first round in the cup, can we? Not lately, at least, and no matter who the opposition happens to be. We played well today and deserved at least a couple more goals, but our lack of finishing (Rijkhoff had one of those days) and Rexhepi falling asleep at the worst possible moment gave us one hell of a scare. Good thing Palomeque seems to have started this season on a much better form than he had all last year, and that was enough to see us through. Good show by the young midfielders, too, Beltramone in particular, and Katic was unlucky to get his debut goal disallowed but showed some glimpses of quality off the bench.

@oche balboa: thanks! * * * Jul 1st 2030 Transfer window opens, loanees return, and Ernesto joins permanently. Time for the fireworks to start again. Just for starters, PSG want to buy Caraballo according to the press. Yay. In fact, this could be a good moment to review who's most likely to leave considering who's trailing them and how much they're willing to pay. As mentioned, PSG want Caraballo, but he's also being tracked by the likes of Spurs, Sevilla, HSV, and Everton, just to name a few. Of those I think only PSG and Spurs are likely to both be attractive to him and pay enough for us to be willing to sell (€70M+). Spurs are also following Rijkhoff, so it'll likely be a one-or-the-other deal for them, doubtful they'd go for both. His release clause is only €48M, so that's what we'll expect to receive. We've mentioned Meunier's suitors before (HSV, Monaco, Sevilla), although now Benevento has joined the pile. His value has more than doubled in this last season, so I'd expect upwards of €40M for him. Newcastle and Roma are chasing Amador. Valued at €35M but with a release clause of €30M, we'll try to offer him a new contract to retain him as soon as we can free up some funds. Stoke have already made a couple of bids for Palomeque, and now Benevento are also interested. We'll want at least the €20M we paid for him one year ago, ideally more. Benevento show up again as interested in Basualdo, together with Stuttgart, Lazio, and Udinese. Probably the cheapest of our first team players right now, he could leave for as little as €15M. Interest in other players like Thiago, Özcan, or Lang seems to have cooled off as of late. Lang's case might end up as a repetition of Rodríguez's last season, in which he's willing to leave but no one ever shows enough interest to make a serious bid for him. This time, though, it comes with the added problem of his contract expiring in June 2031, so if he's really set on leaving he can do so on a free and we probably won't have a way to stop him. Would be a sad end to his time with us, but oh well. We do receive two bids for another of our players, too, with Paderborn and Dresden wanting to buy Karlsen for €925k. Considering he's already 22 years old, has shown no signs of progress during his loan in Dresden last year, and is still far from the required level to be a part of our current midfield rotation, plus the fact that he's on a contract year, we decide to accept both bids. I'd have wanted a percentage on future profits, but oh well. Jul 2nd 2030 Stjepanovic finally got his chance to play for Serbia in the World Cup, and did so in a solid full-game performance, helping his teammates defeat Austria 2-1 in the third round. A couple of hours later Rijkhoff did the same, scoring once again for the Netherlands as they beat Australia 3-0, and catching up in the Golden Boot table with Musiala and Mbappé, all three with six goals so far. Once again most favorites progressed, with the bigger names to fall at this hurdle being Spain (to Germany, as mentioned) and Portugal (heavy 3-0 defeat against France for the previous champions). The quarterfinals will be 100% European: Germany-Belgium, France-Poland, England-Serbia, and Italy-Netherlands. Jul 5th 2030 Germany are the first semifinalists of the World Cup after a penalty win over Belgium, and are soon followed by France, who won 2-0 against Poland. Neither Musiala nor Mbappé scored, so Rijkhoff has a chance to become the top scorer in the tournament now. Jul 6th 2030 No such luck, and Rijkhoff had his first bad game of the tournament, being substituted as the Netherlands drew 1-1 against Italy en route to an eventual triumph on penalties. Stjepanovic played the whole game with Serbia again, but this time he was one of the culprits of England's easy 3-0 win. So, Germany-Netherlands and France-England in the semifinals, quite an interesting lineup. Jul 8th 2030 Preseason starts! No changes in the roster so far, which is a welcome change from previous years. I don't expect that to continue for long, though, mostly considering Meunier's and Lang's situations. And Karlsen, of course. Who happens to leave that same afternoon after agreeing a €925k move to Dynamo Dresden, and thus staying in the Bundesliga for the time being. A case similar to Sapmaz last season, he was full of promise and had some really good performances from time to time, but never found consistency in his play and at some point he fell way behind the expected level as we continued to grow while he stagnated somewhat. Last year's loan in Dresden was apparently good enough to convince them to sign him permanently, so hopefully it'll go well for him this season at a higher level. Jul 9th 2030 Kretzschmar-Rijkhoff duel in the World Cup semifinals, only the striker played 22 minutes as a sub and the keeper didn't play at all, as expected. Maybe he should have, because the Netherlands didn't even need their best scorer to be on the pitch to put three past Nübel and secure their place in the final. Another chance for the Oranje to win a title they've been hungering after for decades. Jul 10th 2030 One of the outstanding issues we had with the squad during most of the previous season was offering Rodríguez a new contract. We finally got to it today, and he'll become the top earner in the squad with a weekly wage of €90k, while his release clause sees a small bump up to €90M. Fair price for one of the best young players in the world currently, and someone we'd be hard pressed to replace with someone of equal quality if he ever decided to leave. Keeping him happy and as tied down as possible is paramount to our future success. Of course there's the matter of our wage budget being almost completely spent even before this deal happens but hey, that's what all that cash in our transfer budget is for after all. France become the second World Cup finalists after dispatching England with relative ease, two goals to nil. Jul 11th 2030 Another player who signs a new contract is 19-year-old Beltramone, still on quite low wages (only €6.25k per week), but with the idea of keeping him with us this season as a backup midfielder. We could really do with an extra body in midfield from time to time, particularly if any other long injuries happen this season again, and he's still as promising as ever, comes from a very good year in Karlsruhe, and should be more than happy with just the occasional appearance off the bench plus starting in easy fixtures to help our usual starters rest. Jul 14th 2030 Heeere comes trouble. Chelsea offer €25M for Kretzschmar, and while the player isn't exactly aching to move, he wouldn't mind the transfer either. Offer rejected for now, but if they intensify the chase we might have to start thinking seriously about what to do here. More contract issues, with Ball being the next to knock on my door with his agent in tow. They want a new deal, of course, and while we can in the end convince him with a very small wage increase up to €55k per week, he gets away with a decrease in his release clause down to €9.75M, almost exactly his current market value. The only reason we've agreed to this is because he cost us practically nothing, so even such a small fee would still be a big profit. World Cup final, and with a Löwe taking part! Rijkhoff was one of the best performers for a Netherlands team that got a two-nil lead early in the game thanks to goals from Danjuma and Kluivert (with Rijkhoff providing one assist) and then proceeded to dominate the rest of the final, erasing France's stars and denying them any clear chances to get back into the game. The Netherlands are thus the new World Cup winners for the first time in history, inheriting the throne from another first-time winner like Portugal. The individual awards for the World Cup see Rijkhoff finishing second in the Golden Ball behind Mbappé and ahead of teammate Teun Koopmeiners, also second in the Golden Shoe tied with the eventual winner (Mbappé again), and earning himself a place in the Dream Team. Not bad. Jul 16th 2030 Young Violets Austria Vienna vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly) Our first friendly of the preseason comes with the team already in Styria for their training camp, and with Rijkhoff just returned from his success at the World Cup. We play against Austria Vienna's youth team for a bit of a warm-up exercise, and as expected we take an early lead thanks to a penalty on Stjepanovic in a corner kick that Miranda turns into the 0-1. We quickly chain chances for a second until Rodríguez finds the way from twenty yards away in the 21st minute, then Schulze quickly adds another practically from the same spot after a good pass back outside the box by Rijkhoff. In the 31st Rodríguez strikes again, this time with a perfectly taken direct free kick, then Caraballo profits from a loose ball after a header by Rijkhoff to make it 0-5. That's it for the first half and the Europa League final starters, and the second unit takes over then, with Beltramone as our anchor. Soon Özcan adds a sixth following a nice through ball from Neves, then Meunier does the same following Basualdo's assist. We take it a bit easier afterwards, and while we have chances for more, the result doesn't change. Not a bad start to the year. Young Violets Austria Vienna 0 TSV 1860 München 7 (Matías Miranda 4p, Jair Rodríguez 21 31, Maximilian Schulze 24, Rodrigo Caraballo 34, Vedat Özcan 52, Aymeric Meunier 55) Jul 20th 2030 TuS Bad Gleichenberg vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly) More Austrian minnows to get ourselves up to physical speed. Three minutes is all we need this time, with Miranda crossing towards Rijkhoff for a good header and the 0-1. The striker scores again in the 16th profiting from a loose ball inside the box, then Schulze adds a third after a good pass from Amador. That's where our good finishing ends, though, and we can't find a fourth before the first half ends. Casas finally breaks our duck two minutes into the second half in a corner kick, then Basualdo grabs himself the fifth of the evening with a beautiful direct free kick, then does it again only from further away. We also hit the woodwork *four* times only in the second half, all before Beltramone scores the 0-7 with a nice 25-yarder. There's still time for an eight courtesy of Neves in a counterattack four minutes before full time, and a ninth for Palomeque three minutes later finishing another quick movement through the center. Very pleasant stuff overall. TuS Bad Gliechenberg 0 TSV 1860 München 9 (Julian Rijkhoff 3 16, Maximilian Schulze 22, Arnau Casas 47, Jonatan Basualdo 68 75, Ezequiel Beltramone 78, Joao Neves 86, Juan David Palomeque 89) Jul 23rd 2030 VSC Hertha 1912 vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly) Third training camp friendly, still raising our fitness levels against semi-pro sides. Our first comes five minutes in this time, in a corner kick taken by Miranda and headed in by Ernesto. Five minutes later Rijkhoff finishes a long pass by Amador for the second, but after that it's a good long slog until the 33rd minute, when right back and striker connect again to give us the 0-3. Another header by Rijkhoff, this time assisted by Rodríguez's cross, turns into his hattrick four minutes before the end of the first half. In the second half Özcan starts early, grabbing the 0-5 seven minutes after restart, but afterwards we relax way too much and even allow Hertha to score in a set piece. Not our best moment of the preseason, but still a comfortable win as expected. VSC Hertha 1912 1 (Amar Hodzic 72) TSV 1860 München 5 (Ernesto 5, Julian Rijkhoff 10 33 41, Vedat Özcan 52) Jul 25th 2030 Floridsdorfer AC Wien vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly) One final friendly before returning home, with our foe today sporting a strange variation of the 4-3-3 with two defensive midfielders as a way to test ourselves against overcrowded centers. They do make things more difficult for us in the first half, and an early knock on Miranda doesn't help matters. Thankfully there's always corner kicks, and in the 17th Miranda himself takes one so Stjepanovic can finally give us the lead. Schulze adds a second from twenty yards away in the 33rd, but that's all we can manage in the first forty-five. Things get even worse in the second half, with the locals only failing to score due to offside and some help from the woodwork. Neves finally grabs our third in the 75th with a placed 20-yarder, but the score doesn't move any further than that. Floridsdorfer AC Wien 0 TSV 1860 München 3 (Mateja Stjepanovic 17, Maximilian Schulze 33, Joao Neves 75) Jul 28th 2030 Back in Munich in time to watch the draw for the first round of the DFB Pokal. We get an easy one this time, Fürstenwalde, a semi-pro club from the Oberliga divisions. Should be a good chance for our youngsters to get some playing time. Incidentally, we're almost in August and there are still no first team-relevant sales. In fact there haven't even been any bids since Chelsea's for Kretzschmar, and that was a while ago already. We might get through the summer without selling anyone, although most likely things will pick up in the final weeks of the transfer window. Jul 29th 2030 On that topic, looks like Meunier has got over his contract-related unhappiness and now he's happy to stay with us. One less problem to deal with. Jul 31st 2030 SC Fortuna Köln vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly) Our first post-training camp friendly ups the ante slightly, bringing us to Köln to play Regionalliga side Fortuna, who happen to play a flat 3-5-2. The players look more motivated today, although we need quite a few tries until we find our first goal of the evening. Rodríguez is the one to get it, catching a nod from Schulze inside the box and placing the ball inside the net with fifteen minutes played. Rijkhoff soon adds a second, well assisted by Rodríguez himself, who then sends a direct free kick into the crossbar. We need many more chances and a penalty on Rijkhoff to finally scored the third, with Miranda scoring from the spot just before the end of a very good first half. Things slow down in the second half, as they usually do, and there aren't any more goals today. SC Fortuna Köln 0 TSV 1860 München 3 (Jair Rodríguez 15, Julian Rijkhoff 23, Matías Miranda 44p)

May 31st 2030 We end the season with a 97% average attendance in our new stadium. We miiight have to think about expanding soon, probably... Despite reaching many of our long-term goals this year, the board's revised five-year plan doesn't change much from what we already have, and in fact is somewhat more conservative, only requiring us to keep qualifying to the Europa League year after year. For the upcoming season we also have the expectation of making it to the group stage in the Champions League, which is already guaranteed. I love working in low-pressure environments. After a brief congratulatory talk and the mandatory dinner with the whole squad, the players depart on holiday. Or rather, those who won't be taking part in the World Cup within a few weeks do. Everyone's expected back on the 8th of July, ready to start our yearly training camp. This time we'll be going to Styria in Austria. Before that, though, a few awards from the Europa League: Miranda finishes second in the Player of the Season award just behind Atlético's Matheus Cunha, who also was the top scorer of the competition with ten goals, one more than second-placed Özcan. Finally, our performance earns us five slots in the Squad of the Season, using a 3-4-3 formation for some reason, with Stjepanovic and Casas at the back, Touré as a left wing back, Miranda in midfield, and Rijkhoff as the lone forward. Jun 2nd 2030 The board decide to allow us an extra two scouts, plus one more sports scientist. We already have the best scouting department in the whole Bundesliga, but I won't say no to an improvement for sure. Meanwhile we start planning the upcoming transfer window, which is likely to be a purely reactive one. We don't want to actively sell anyone, and we'll be only purchasing the players we need to replace those that may leave due to wanting a move or receiving offers too good to refuse. Our first action, though, is to secure a permanent move for Ernesto, and Inter are surprisingly receptive to a €11M bid with a 20% of future profits on top. To be fair he only has one year left in his contract, but I'd expected them to ask for the whole amount of the agreed clause in his loan contract. Oh well, you won't hear me complain. We soon agree a €40k per week deal for the next four years, together with a €41M release clause and an agreed raise should he ever reach five senior international appareances. Jun 6th 2030 The first round of pre-World Cup friendlies bring a good defensive performance by Javorcic and two mediocre games for Rijkhoff and Rodríguez. Jun 9th 2030 The second has another full-game performance by Rijkhoff but still no goals, a cameo appearance by Rodríguez which is still enough for him to set up a goal against Ireland, seventeen minutes off the bench for Stjepanovic, and a poor game for Javorcic, who to be fair had to deal with Brazil's forwards. The end of the fiscal year brings the usual number salad, with little of immediate interest other than a new three-year sponsorship with a telecom company worth €3.4M in total. Our income due to sponsors and broadcasting revenues dropped a bit due to not being in the Champions League, but they're sure to recover next season. Jun 11th 2030 The first offer of the summer (even though it's not summer yet) comes from Stoke, who try their luck with Palomeque offering €13.5M plus clauses. Not enough, and the player isn't interested, so it's an easy rejection. He's still one of the few players I'd consider negotiating for if a somewhat bigger bid came along, though. Jun 14th 2030 Three days later Stoke come back, this time with a much bigger €31M offer for Thiago. Again, a player I wouldn't mind too much selling for a good amount, but also again, he's not interested in a move to Stoke. It'll take someone playing European competitions to tempt my best players away, I think. The World Cup starts for our internationals with a 1-1 draw between Mexico and South Korea, with Rodríguez playing most of the match at a very acceptable level. Not the best result for them, but with Northern Ireland as the third member of their group they still have a great chance to progress. Jun 15th 2030 Our Europa League win means we're now among the elite clubs according to the rankings. In one swift blow we've moved fifty-nine places up, and right now we're the 45th best team in Europe. Or so the rankings say. I'm somewhat surprised about the lack of noise coming from the dressing room so far, particularly since I was expecting lots of players to want new contracts now. Finally Meunier is the first one to speak up, and the negotiations don't go particularly well. His agent demanded a big pay rise and an important player status, both things I can't afford to offer to who in the end is a solid rotation midfielder but little else. The player is of course unhappy now, and teams like Monaco, Sevilla, and Hamburg are already hot on his trail. Looks like we might have the first mini-crisis of the summer in our hands. Jun 16th 2030 A weird date for this, but okay: five nations (Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and North Macedonia) decide to join the European Union. Not particularly important for us since the Bundesliga registration rules don't particularly care about nationality, but I'm sure it'll be important news elsewhere. Jun 17th 2030 Much better debut in the World Cup for Rijkhoff, who gets on the scoreboard in the Netherlands' easy 3-0 win over Iran. Ecuador are the other team in their group. Jun 18th 2030 Meanwhile, Javorcic has a pretty good show in a full-game performance in his own debut in the competition, yet Croatia lose 1-0 against Nigeria. They now need to beat Costa Rica in their second and last group stage match to advance. Jun 19th 2030 The biggest event of the off-season so far happens when Lang calls to discuss being allowed to leave in order to find a new challenge. This is a very difficult decision, since Lang is already considered a club icon and is, together with Kretzschmar, the last remnant of the squad I found when I first arrived in Munich. Not to mention he keeps performing wonderfully well at the highest level of competition. In short, I'm very hesitant to let him go, for both sentimental and practical reasons. Yet he only has one year left in his contract, so if I make him unhappy he's very likely to just leave on a free come this time next year. In the end we agree to take the middle ground: I won't actively try to sell him, but if a bid comes I will consider it. Right now only Valencia are interested and his market value is of around 16-19 million euros. Jun 20th 2030 Well, looks like the board decided to rethink their plans, at least in the short term. The meeting to discuss this season's expectations ends with three requirements: qualify for the Champions League through the Bundesliga, reach the first knockout round in the Champions League, and reach the quarterfinals in the DFB Pokal. Looks like we'll need to step things up a bit further, then... Our budgets remain as they are, though, which is somewhat unfair but I'm sure we'll be able to cope. Somehow. The Bundesliga will be starting for us with a trip to Freiburg and a home game against Eintracht, which sounds like a gentle entry but soon becomes nightmarish as we travel to Dortmund and host the first Münchner Derby of the season. The season will end in Nürnberg, not the easiest of places to go hunting for any last minute points, really. Jun 21st 2030 Another important fixture is announced today: the European Super Cup! Almost forgot this was a thing that existed, but yes, we'll be playing Real Madrid in Olympiacos' stadium Georgios Karaiskakis come August 14th, exactly three days before our Bundesliga debut. We finally have our new affiliate club: Karlsruhe. They'll perform the same role Dresden did last year as our preferred target for any prospects on the fringes of the senior squad. Beltramone played there this season, did well and developed in very positive ways, so we know it's a good place for our kids, plus their facilities are also top-notch for a 2.Bundesliga side. Jun 22nd 2030 Mexico almost got themselves into trouble: their second group match ended in another 1-1 draw, and only because Rodríguez managed to score in the second half to neutralize Northern Ireland's early goal. Thankfully South Korea beat Northern Ireland beforehand, so the draw was sufficient to see the Mexicans through as the second best team in the group. Croatia also advance to the next stage after a convincing 3-1 win over Costa Rica, once again with Javorcic looking solid in defense. Jun 24th 2030 Two days later the Netherlands also seal their qualification, top of the group in their case after defeating Ecuador 4-2, once again with Rijkhoff scoring one. Serbia also finish first in a group with Chile and the United States, although Stjepanovic hasn't featured in either of their two games so far. Their reward for finishing first is a tie against Brazil in the next round. I love this format... Germany will play against Thailand (no caps for Kretzschmar just yet, Nübel and Müller remain first and second choice), Croatia will face South Korea, the Netherlands have an easy tie against Saudi Arabia, and Mexico a toughie with Nigeria. The group stage ends with a few big names eliminated, most notably Argentina finishing last in a group with Austria and Saudi Arabia. Jun 26th 2030 One out of two ain't bad: Javorcic's Croatia progress into the next round after beating South Korea 1-0, while Rodríguez's Mexico fall heavily against Nigeria, who put four past them. Obviously the midfielder couldn't do much against that, while Javorcic had another pleasant defensive game as a right back. Jun 28th 2030 Rodríguez is now homegrown! Should come in handy for registration purposes. The Netherlands are also through to the third round of the World Cup after an easy 4-0 romp against Saudi Arabia. Rijkhoff had his best game in the tournament so far, grabbing himself a hattrick and a player of the match award and propelling himself to the second place of the World Cup's scoring charts, just behind Musiala. Germany and Serbia also advance, still without any minutes for Kretzschmar and Stjepanovic. The Serbians' 2-1 win over Brazil is the biggest surprise of the round and the tournament so far, with most favorites advancing otherwise. Jun 30th 2030 Croatia's World Cup dream ends in the third round following a 1-0 defeat against Poland. Javorcic completed a very solid-looking tournament with another good defensive performance, although it wasn't enough this time. Germany advance again, this time defeating Spain 2-0 in the most high-profile matchup in this round.

Ah, to be 16 again... Probably the best part of every iteration of this.

@Sizeman21: thanks! It was one of the most entertaining and outright stressing games I've ever played in FM, that's for sure. This team has grown a lot, let's see if we can go all the way. * * * END OF SEASON 2029/30 - PLAYER SUMMARY GOALKEEPERS Name Apps Conceded Clean Sheets PoM Av.Rat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Kretzschmar 34 32 13 2 7.11 Kevin Rexhepi 20 16 7 0 6.96 Much better season for Kretzschmar in general, although he was certainly helped by our defense being basically unbreakable during the first half of the season or so. Conceding less than one goal per game was good, and his performances in general were also remarkable, although just like the rest of the team he had a few howlers in the final third. His backup Rexhepi also enjoyed an increased role this season, playing lots thanks to our long cup and European runs, and while he was solid in general, there came a point where his performances became a bit suspect in the final stages of both competitions. Still, he's developing properly and has earnt himself the right to remain as our second keeper for the time being. I don't expect changes in this line for the next season, and playing time should remain roughly the same for both of them. DEFENDERS Name Apps Goals Assists PoM Y.C R.C Av.Rat. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arnau Casas 30(3) 3 1 2 12 0 7.26 Niklas Lang 29 1 1 2 4 0 7.24 Ernesto 28(13) 4 0 2 7 0 7.18 Ian Amador 30(5) 0 4 3 14 1 7.15 Mateja Stjepanovic 25(6) 1 1 0 8 0 7.13 Mahamadou Touré 24(9) 0 2 1 4 0 7.00 Alex Ball 27(7) 0 4 2 11 0 6.99 Tomislav Javorcic 26(9) 0 1 0 14 1 6.90 Markus Althoff 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 6.90 That's a lot of yellow cards, isn't it? We're certainly not used to such big numbers in that column, but one full year using our new, much more aggressive tactic had these results in the end. There's some fine tuning to be done there, for sure, but there's also large differences between players despite similar playing times and identical roles. Like, compare Casas with Lang, for example, or Javorcic and Amador with Touré. Something to improve on for sure. Regardless, this was overall a fantastic season for our defensive line, just like the whole squad in general. Casas was once again the best of the bunch rating-wise, but Lang was once again among the best in the squad, the absolute legend that he is, and newcomer Ernesto showed more than enough reasons for us to buy him permanently from Inter this coming summer with solid performances in defense and midfield, plus that all-important opening goal in the Europa League final. Even the "worst" of our four center-backs, Stjepanovic, had one of his best seasons with us, so there are absolutely no complaints here. The wings weren't as brilliant in general, but Amador in particular showed that he's a more than worthy replacement for Baldé on the right back, horrid discipline aside. Javorcic continued improving and his market value keeps skyrocketing, while the two just-arrived youngsters, Touré and Ball, had almost equally good debut seasons as regular starters in our rotation scheme. Touré in particular showed a remarkable maturity for a kid as young as he is, showing early signs that the huge fee we paid for him at the end of the summer transfer window was more than worth it. Special mention for Althoff, who became our youngest debutant ever off the bench in a cup game and could have a slightly increased role next year if he keeps developing as well as he's done so far. Expect no sales in this line either, unless we receive any outrageous offers for the likes of Javorcic or Casas. MIDFIELDERS Name Apps Goals Assists PoM Y.C R.C Av.Rat. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matías Miranda 36(11) 9 10 4 5 0 7.27 Jair Rodríguez 36(12) 11 10 5 1 1 7.15 Joao Neves 28(24) 7 9 1 5 0 7.07 Maximilian Schulze 37(5) 6 5 2 12 1 7.03 Aymeric Meunier 26(14) 2 5 1 7 0 7.01 Thiago 31(9) 1 5 0 10 0 6.94 Juan David Palomeque 18(11) 0 1 0 4 0 6.87 Again, many yellow and red cards here, but the jump isn't as noticeable as it was in our defensive line. Thiago's remained roughly the same as last year, and Schulze was always going to play this kind of role, so it's not as unexpected. Still, two reds is two too many, and we'll have to work on that. The rest of the numbers for our midfield are huge, too, so in the end it all adds up to a great general performance by the line. Miranda had another fantastic year and he isn't feeling his age one bit. His performances in the final stretch, including two key goals against Atlético to book our place in the final and then two assists in said game against Arsenal, were out of this world. Together with him, Rodríguez showed signs of a greater maturity and consistency this year, and double figures in both goals and assists from midfield is always a remarkable achievement. Behind our two stars are two players we signed on really cheap deals and who have proven to be worth much more: Neves won many games off the bench with his creativity and unstoppable drive in high-tension situations, once again including the Europa League final, and Schulze was a rock in midfield all year long, giving us some much needed defensive consistency in that area while also having a quite notable contribution in attack. Not as good was Palomeque's season despite being the most expensive of our new midfielders, even if we take his injuries into consideration his numbers were pretty bad, but he'll still get another chance next season. As for our defensive midfielders, Thiago had a bit of an off-year despite playing as much as before or even more. Still a very solid performer, but he might have reached his ceiling and we'll have to think hard if any transfer offers come for him, he's probably the most easily replaceable of all our regular starters. Ernesto played on and off in that position, too, which combined with Palomeque's injuries and Schulze's suspensions pushed Meunier into more advanced roles quite frequently, and the midfielder thrived in that scenario, increasing his attacking contributions by a lot while still being solid as always in defense. He's also not a guaranteed keep should he attract any good offers, though. ATTACKERS Name Apps Goals Assists PoM Y.C R.C Av.Rat. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rodrigo Caraballo 28(6) 10 8 4 0 0 7.36 Vedat Özcan 23(8) 20 4 4 2 1 7.33 Julian Rijkhoff 29(7) 18 9 3 0 0 7.23 Jonatan Basualdo 28(3) 5 7 2 1 0 7.03 On the topic of big numbers, look at that! When was the last time we had two strikers who could score almost twenty apiece in a season? Don't think too hard, the answer is never. Rijkhoff and Özcan had a good, if quite streaky, season, and their final numbers show. The Turk was the go-to man in the key moments, though, what with his hattrick in our comeback against Napoli and his decisive goal in the final, while Rijkhoff carried us through the early-mid season, and that's worth some praise too. Great year for both all in all, and it shows in the number and quality of teams chasing them right now. I'll do my best to hold onto them, but one of the two might leave, with Rijkhoff's €48M release clause looking like a likely target for big teams all over Europe. The big news of this season, though, was Caraballo's nuclear explosion. After two decent-to-bad years he suddenly became an absolute stud, leading the whole team in rating and at moments looking like the actual best player in the team, particularly in those unbeaten first two thirds of the season. His actual production wasn't outrageous by any means, but he managed to play well even when he didn't contribute directly to the result, and that's already a very good sign for his future. Of course his transfer value skyrocketed too, and it was a minor miracle that no one came to take him away before his release clause expired at the end of January. He's once again attracting attention, but now it'll take much more than €24M to get us to sell. Triple that, maybe... His backup, Basualdo, was the least great of our four forwards, and even he had a pretty good year with numbers that would've looked much better in any other season. He does need to take a step up if he wants to remain part of the team in the long term, though. * * * ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD Premier League: end of an era. Manchester City lost their first league title since forever ago, and it had to be none other than Manchester United who took it from them. City couldn't even hold on to the second place, finally taken by Newcastle after having led the table back at the turn of the year. Liverpool completed the top four this time, with Arsenal and West Ham close but not enough to escape the Europa League. Chelsea finished 7th, but they'll also join the two teams ahead in the second European competition after winning the FA Cup against City, who only had the small consolation prize of defeating Liverpool in the League Cup final. Relegation fell on three 'B' teams, and not for the first time since I've been keeping track. This time it was Burnley, Brighton, and Blackburn. LaLiga: closest title run in recent years in Spain, although once again with the two obvious protagonists. Real Madrid had the upper hand this time, ending a three-year streak for Barcelona by only two points. Behind them Villarreal and Real Sociedad continued their recent good performances with another qualification for the Champions League, while Valencia and Athletic filled the Europa League places. The Basque team won't be going there, though, because there was a shock Copa del Rey winner: Celta de Vigo, who beat Athletic themselves in extra time of the final and, together with a remarkable seventh place, completed their best season of all time. Las Palmas, Getafe, and Granada were the unlucky ones this year, with Las Palmas being extremely unlucky to lose out on salvation by goal difference and against regional rivals Tenerife. Serie A: yep, Juventus domination is a thing once again. Fourth title in a row for the bianconeri, once again clearly ahead of the Inter-Milan duo, and with a shocking guest in the fourth place: Empoli, who under Savo Milosevic's rule completely obliterated their best league position of all time (7th in 2007). Udinese, Fiorentina, and Sampdoria follow behind and fill the minor European positions, immediately trailed by the disappointing trio of Roma, Napoli, and Lazio. Even more disappointing were the relegations of Parma, Lecce, and Spezia, while the Coppa also went to Juve, who needed penalties to crush Roma's dreams in the final. Ligue 1: Lille did manage to escape the relegation scuffle in the end, although their final 13th place is still a disaster for a team that was challenging for the title not that long ago and qualifying for the Conference League just last year. The ones to drop were Bourdeaux, Dijon, and Troyes, none of them particularly unexpected, and at the top the only slightly surprising thing is seeing Rennes in sixth place. The rest are the usual: Monaco and Nice in the Champions League, OL and OM back to the Europa League. And yes, PSG won, as if we didn't know that already. Champions League: fifteen. That's the number of times Real Madrid have lifted the big one now, following their penalty win over PSG in Old Trafford. It probably shouldn't have taken them that long, though, since the French champions played the last twelve minutes of regulation and all of extra time with ten men after Theo Hernández got himself sent off, and they also lost Musiala to injury not long afterwards. MVP Mbappé was the best player of the match against his ex-team, just for extra bitterness. The semis saw Real disposing with surprising ease of arch-rivals Barcelona, while PSG had to come back from a first leg 2-0 defeat against Juventus. Conference League: the lesser European trophy went from Paris to London after Chelsea scored a pretty easy 3-1 win over Real Sociedad, who didn't have enough in them to make the game more difficult for the champions. Lille and Crvena Zvezda couldn't get past the eventual finalists in the semifinals, both losing quite heavily on aggregate.

May 21st 2030 Our two young full backs, Ball and Touré, make the last Team of the Week of the season. So does Kastenmeier on goal, incidentally. May 22nd 2030 Palomeque is finally back in full training! He'll be available for the final, although most likely won't start. May 25th 2030 Javorcic repeats award, being chosen for the second year in a row as the Croatian Young Player of the Year. The DFB Pokal final brings no surprises, and Bayern lift the trophy once again thanks to an early goal by Havertz and another by Moukoko already in the second half. With this Hamburg will drop to the Conference League and Wolfsburg will be playing in the Europa League. Oh, and Nagelsmann will probably keep his job for another year despite another failure to win the Bundesliga and a very early exit in the Champions League. Oh well. May 26th 2030 In the end only five of our players will take part in the World Cup, with Palomeque and Schulze being dropped in the last cut. This means that Kretzschmar makes the final squad for Germany, though, which is huge news for both him and us. The other four players involved will be Rodríguez for Mexico, Javorcic with Croatia, Rijkhoff with the Netherlands, and Stjepanovic for Serbia, all four as very likely starters for their nations. Two of our recent ex-players, Vuskovic and Magaña, will also be there despite pretty average seasons for their current clubs. May 27th 2030 Welp, looks like we'll need to find ourselves a new affiliate team... The playoff seemed to be going in Hoffenheim's favor after a 4-2 first leg win, but the second leg was a complete turnaround with Dresden absolutely demolishing them five goals to nil and earning themselves a place in next season's Bundesliga. That's two historic teams returning to the top in one year, even though Dynamo's best years came when they were among the top teams in East Germany. Still, nice to see. May 28th 2030 With the Bundesliga finally over it's time for the seasonal awards. We don't get much this time, but Ernesto does show up in the Newcomer des Saison award, finishing in third place behind Bayern's Deivid and the eventual winner, Leipzig's Marko Cumic. May 30th 2030 Arsenal vs. TSV 1860 München (Europa League final) And here we are. The biggest match die Löwen have ever played, our first continental final ever. We're not the favorites today, though, because Brendan Rodgers' Arsenal (yes, seriously) have a very strong squad and come from a quite decent season in the Premier League, where they've finished fifth. Then again, not sure if a fifth place in the Premier League is worth that much more than a third in the Bundesliga... Regardless, we've made ourselves proud to make it this far, but lifting the trophy would be a fantastic way to end this already quite remarkable season. Let's give it all we've got. * * * ARSENAL (4-3-3): Sebastián Rojas (GK); Mohamed Malih (DR), Benjamin White (DCr), Benoid Badiashile (DCl), Alejandro Balde (DL); Adama Diallo (DM), Martin Odegaard (MCr), Dominic Szoboszlai (MCl); Bukayo Saka (AMR), Eljif Elmas (AML), Gabriel Martinelli (ST) 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Ian Amador (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Tomislav Javorcic (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl) * * * Only two changes from the team that won against Atlético, with Stjepanovic and Javorvic replacing Casas and Touré. Everyone is fully rested and healthy for a change, and the players are raring to go after being reminded that we've done more than good enough already just by reaching this stage, and that winning today would just be a very delicious helping of gravy on top. Youngsters Althoff and Katic make the bench today, since UEFA allows twelve subs in finals, as a reward for their fantastic season with the U19 squad. Arsenal, on the other hand, are only the second team playing 4-3-3 we've come across this season after Dortmund, strangely enough. Saka, Szoboszlai, Martinelli, and Odegaard are probably their best players, although it's slghtly surprising to see the likes of Tomiyasu on the bench and Ilaix Moriba not even making the twenty-three. Somewhat unexpectedly, we manage to steal the ball away from them in the early game, pushing them into their own half despite still holding ourselves back a bit compared to our usual attacking outlook. The early game is the usual in such an important match, though: slow, methodical, and with no one willing to make any stupid mistakes this early on. As a result there are no real chances until the 16th minute, in which we earn a corner kick that Miranda takes with his usual precision towards the near post. And there's Ernesto, all year long a threat in set pieces like this one, ready to jump high and head it into the back of the net to put us ahead. After such a dream start we do exactly what we must: keep the ball, slow the game down, and not allow Arsenal any clear looks at Kretzschmar's goal. That works out fine until the 23rd, when a chain of minor defensive mistakes leads to the ball reaching Elmas inside the box, although Ernesto is there to do his other job with a fantastic block, protecting our goal with his body. But the corner kick that follows, harmless as it looks, has poison in it: the ball seems to hit Miranda's arm as he jumps to clear it, VAR spots it, and it's a penalty kick for Arsenal. Old acquaintance Szoboszlai takes it from the spot and doesn't miss. Back to the drawing board it is, then. Momentum shifts, and now Arsenal have the wind in their sails, soon striking again with a cross from the left by Elmas and a wide volley by Saka. They are nowhere close to dominant, though, and it's not long before we're back in command with the ball under control, probing at their defense but running into a couple of narrow offside positions in our best looking movements. No such problem in the 35th, though, when Amador sends a ball ahead of Caraballo with miles of space and nothing else in front of him, yet the false nine can't put his finish past an excellent Rojas and the ball ends up cleared away from danger. Arsenal still try from time to time, like they do in the 40th minute with a long-range attempt by Malih that sails well over the bar. One minute later Saka gets much closer with another twenty-yarder, this one licking the upside of the bar before going over. In the 44th it's our turn, and a pass by Miranda that was intended for Rijkhoff ends up deflected towards Rodríguez instead, allowing the young Mexican a free run through the center and a finish that Rojas blocks once again. Shortly after that the first half comes to an end, and while the result is still even, we can be quite happy with our performance so far. HALF TIME - 1-1 The second half starts somewhat slowly, too, although seven minutes in we manage to give Arsenal another scare in a long ball by Amador towards Rijkhoff, who can't stay calm and shoots way too early and way too high. Arsenal hit back in the 55th with a great pass by Odegaard towards Martinelli near the penalty spot, allowing the striker a good finish that Kretzschmar nonetheless manages to deflect wide. The keeper then is called upon to perform another of his miracles by parrying a point-blank header by Badiashile in the corner kick that follows, but he can't do anyting when in the 59th Martinelli taps a short pass towards the right wing so Malih can run into the box and shoot with all his strength, bending Kretzschmar's hands to give Arsenal the lead with his first ever goal for the Gunners. It's time for changes, with Touré and Neves coming in for Javorcic and Schulze, both pretty average today. Even worse has been Rijkhoff's performance, and the striker is soon after replaced by Özcan as we look to turn things around. And turn them around we do: Touré steals the ball from Saka in Arsenal's own half and quickly sends the ball towards Miranda, who then crosses towards the far post and finds Neves barging into the box ready to volley it past Rojas: 2-2. Saka tries to compensate for his mistake soon after, heading a cross from the right by Odegaard, but it comes out weak and easy for Kretzschmar to catch. We enter the final twenty minutes of the final looking at least as Arsenal's equals, and soon Miranda gets really close to an assists hattrick with a great cross towards Özcan, whose header is somehow intercepted by Rojas in what's probably the save of the game. The keeper does well again saving and holding Stjepanovic's header in a corner kick, while Amador and Touré perform heroics in the 79th to block dangerous finishes by Saka and substitute striker El Hadji Adamdu. The next ten minutes are surprisingly tame, with only a couple of easy catches for Kretzschmar to long range attempts by Arsenal's midfielders, but in injury time we launch a good counterattack with a long ball towards Özcan, who then nods it towards Caraballo only for the false nine to see the ball nicked away from him at the very last moment by Badiashile. There are no last second heroics on either goal, and the match is headed into extra time. FULL TIME - 2-2 The first minutes of extra time pass by quickly, with only a weak header by White in a set piece in the 96th minute to give Kretzschmar something to do. One minute later we run on the counter once again with Miranda running down the left flank. His cross is once again picture perfect towards Özcan, yet the striker's header is once again blocked by Rojas. The difference, though, is that this time the rebound falls to Caraballo, and the Venezuelan only needs to push it over the line to score the 2-3. Arsenal now have to go forward with all they have, and in the 101st minute Szoboszlai creates a fantastic chance with a through ball towards El Hadji Adamdu, who nonetheless can't finish the job and sends his shot high and wide. A corner kick taken by Rodríguez three minutes later ends in a high header by Ernesto, and soon afterwards the first half of extra time reaches its end. We make our fourth substitution right at the start of the second fifteen, with Meunier coming in for Thiago after the defensive midfielder picks a dangerous yellow card. Meunier's fresh legs right in front of our defensive line help us keep Arsenal away, and the one time they manage to get through is with a cross towards Ogbonna, whose header is an easy save for Kretzschmar. In the 113th a steal, run, and cross by Szoboszlai turns into nothing more than a corner kick thanks to Stjepanovic's timely tackle, and substitute Tomiyasu can only head it over the bar. Arsenal are getting desperate now, and that means it's our moment to strike back: Neves gathers the ball in midfield and spots a path towards the area that no one else can see, runs through it all the way, then assists Özcan inside the box so the striker caps a fantastic move with a subtle chip over Rojas, scoring the 2-4 with only five minutes left on the clock. But the game is not over just yet: two minutes later a long ball towards the right wing is controlled by Balde, now playing on the opposite side, and the wing back sends a great cross towards Ogbonna so the winger can half-volley it past Kretzschmar and make it a one-goal game once again. That's our one and only mistake in defense, though, and we manage to hold on tight for the few minutes that remain without suffering any more chances against our goal. The referee whistles for the end of the match one minute after regulation ends, and die Löwen are the new Europa League champions! * * * Arsenal 3 (Dominik Szoboszlai 24p, Mohamed Malih 59, Suleman Ogbonna 117) TSV 1860 München 4 (Ernesto 16, Joao Neves 65, Rodrigo Caraballo 97, Vedat Özcan 115) - - - We are the champions, my friend. And deservedly so, in a game in which we matched Arsenal blow for blow and managed to come on top in the end. Inspired substitutions helped today, too, as Touré, Neves, and Özcan proved instrumental in our second half comeback and in our eventual triumph in extra time. But there's one player that shone above the rest today, and that's none other that Matías Miranda, absolute hero of the day with two-and-a-half assists and a performance to be watched over and over in our museum's video player. A museum in which we'll have to make space for another trophy, all those years later. We've finally made it, but now we want more. Our triumph in the final nets us a prize of €8.6M, which is... quite small compared to the Bundesliga prizes, but still very welcome. We also get an extra €1.2M from both TV rights and the coefficient ranking pool money. Of course most of this money flies away as quickly as it arrives in the shape of squad bonuses, all thoroughly deserved.

May 10th 2030 Bad news coming from Dresden, who call up to inform us of Karlsen going down with a slipped disc. That means over a month of recovery, so considering he won't be playing for them again this season we recall him to take care of his healing ourselves. He's had a decent year there, helping them along into a promotion run that might actually prove successful in the end, but still quite far from the level we'd expect from a first team midfielder at this point. May 11th 2030 The kids obviously relaxed a bit too much in the second leg against Köln, but still got through with an 8-3 aggregate win. The final will be against a surprising Werder Bremen U19 side, who also ended top of their group ahead of teams like HSV and Wolfsburg. May 12th 2030 Marc-André Ter Stegen announces his retirement at the end of the season. Barcelona legend and only stopped from being the same at a national level by Manuel Neuer's existence. This also means one less player ahead of Kretzschmar in the picking order for Germany, so yay? May 13th 2030 Very early callups for the summer international window, which includes the World Cup to be held in Spain, and Klopp gives us not one but two pleasant surprises: both Kretzschmar and Schulze make the German preliminary team! They might get cut before the main event, but still. Palomeque also gets a chance for a senior debut with Colombia right after recovering from his current injury (he could possibly play against either Union or Arsenal, too), while other frequent internationals like Rodríguez, Rijkhoff, Stjepanovic, and Javorcic also get their customary callups. Let's see how many of them make it to the World Cup proper. May 18th 2030 Absolutely no contest in the A-Junioren-Miesterschaft final between our U19s and Werder's, with Katic scoring half the goals in a 4-0 demolition. A great end to a fantastic season for our youngsters, in which Althoff featured to a high level and even earnt himself a second place in the Fritz-Walter-Medaille U17, awarded to the best U17 players in the nation, only behind Kaiserslautern's midfielder Daniel Reiter * * * 1.FC Union Berlin (12th) vs. TSV 1860 München (3rd) (Bundesliga, 34/34) And it's curtains for the Bundesliga with the title and two relegation places still left to be decided. This match won't be one of those must-watch fixtures today, though, since Union have already done the job of staying up and we only need a draw to guarantee the third place, and even a defeat could be enough if Dortmund don't absolutely destroy Hertha today. A relaxing fixture in which we won't risk too many starters before the Europa League final, but which we still expect to win. * * * UNION BERLIN (4-2-3-1): Florian Kastenmeier (GK); Nathan Phillips (DR), Reece Oxford (DCr), Jarrad Branthwaite (DCl), Maximilian Mittelstädt (DL); Kristoffer Askildsen (MCr), Rani Khedira (MCl); Linton Maina (AMR), Aymen Barkok (AMC), Andreas Skov Olsen (AML), Iker Bravo (ST) 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Alex Ball (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl) * * * Rexhepi gets a league start to compensate for his absence against Atlético and, most likely, against Arsenal, while we produce a mix of starters and rotation players to fill our starting eleven today. Union return to their usual 4-2-3-1 after a somewhat surprising 4-4-2 diamond interlude in our previous meeting, and we start the game under Berlin's overcast and overflowing sky. We start well once again, soon creating our first chance through Neves' pass into space and Schulze's run into the box and somewhat poor finish, not too hard for Kastenmeier. Neves himself is the next to try in a counterattack come the 11th minute, trying a lob over the keeper from afar but kicking it a bit too hard and high in the end. Union's gegenpress isn't trivial to break, though, and in the 14th they get their first chance with a cross from the left that Askildsen heads into the troposphere. Our answer comes, as almost always, through the center in a combination between Neves, Basualdo, and Özcan that the latter sends wide with a defective shot. Much better is Neves' chance in the 26th, shooting first time from close after a nice low cross by Schulze but being blocked by Kastenmeier's show of reflexes. One minute later a bad pass by Casas gifts Bravo a great opportunity to score out of nowhere, but thankfully his finish isn't good enough to beat a well-positioned Rexhepi. A long period of tranquillity follows, and it takes until the 41st minute for Union to generate danger again, this time from a corner kick that Branthwaite heads clearly over the bar. Three minutes later it's our turn with a quick break through the center led by Schulze and completed by Miranda with a subtle touch towards Özcan, who tries a powerful finish but finds Kastenmeier in the way. With that, a competitive but not particularly thrilling first half comes to an end. HALF TIME - 0-0 We need a bit more to really take control of this match, and the players are told as much during the half time break. The results aren't exactly scintillating, though, and the first fifteen minutes pass us by without a single chance worth mentioning on either goal. That's when we finally see a way through and Schulze assists Miranda through it, only for Kastenmeier to dive once again and tip his finish wide. Two minutes later Touré intercepts and clears a dangerous finish by Mittlestädt in a corner kick, and soon after we bring our first two pairs of fresh legs into the game, Meunier and Rodríguez taking Schulze and Miranda's places. Neves has our first try with a shot from twenty yards away that Kastenmeier pushes behind, but come the 70th minute we're still waiting for the first goal. Rijkhoff then replaces Özcan, very imprecise today, and soon he's trying a curler from distance that goes wide by a foot or two. We soon need to work in defense, too, as a counterattack by Union ends with a pass from Bravo towards the unmarked Skov Olsen, but Touré rushes back just in time to tackle the ball away from the forward before he finishes the job. Not much happens from then until the 90th minute, when Touré goes on the offensive with another long shot, this one a bit too high. Injury time brings a clearly illegal goal headed in by a very advanced Mittlestädt and very little else, and both teams look happy to share the points in the end. Objective achieved. * * * 1.FC Union Berlin 0 TSV 1860 München 0 - - - That'll do. We got the point we needed (only not really, because Dortmund failed to win against Hertha anyway), and we probably should've got all three given we had the best chances, but once again we came across a great keeper. Oh well, still third, no injuries, and everything ready for the big game in twelve days. Our final place also comes with the usual prize attached, which in this case amounts to exactly €100M. I love this league. * * * | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | GD | Pts | Form | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | RB Leipzig | 34 | 26 | 5 | 3 | 83 | 28 | 55 | 83 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | CL | FC Bayern | 34 | 24 | 8 | 2 | 83 | 23 | 60 | 80 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | CL | 1860 München | 34 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 55 | 29 | 26 | 66 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | CL | Borussia Dortmund | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 46 | 26 | 20 | 63 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | EL | Mainz | 34 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 47 | 35 | 12 | 55 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | ECL | Wolfsburg | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 59 | 59 | 0 | 50 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Hamburg | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 58 | 43 | 15 | 49 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Freiburg | 34 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 43 | 46 | -3 | 46 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Nürnberg | 34 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 43 | 48 | -5 | 44 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Borussia M'gladbach | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 41 | 47 | -6 | 43 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Stuttgart | 34 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 34 | 48 | -14 | 36 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Union Berlin | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 38 | 62 | -24 | 35 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Frankfurt | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 31 | 58 | -27 | 35 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Hertha BSC | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 34 | 44 | -10 | 34 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Augsburg | 34 | 6 | 14 | 14 | 39 | 66 | -27 | 32 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | Pl | Hoffenheim | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 33 | 60 | -27 | 32 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | R | Köln | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 30 | 49 | -19 | 30 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Bayer Leverkusen | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 36 | 62 | -26 | 30 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| * * * Leipzig finally didn't bottle it, although it was close for a while with Bayern winning clearly in Stuttgart and the leaders tied 3-3 against Wolfsburg. Thankfully two goals by veterans Daka and Moran in the final minutes sealed the deal for good, and that's two consecutive Bundesliga titles for Leipzig (and two years without winning the Bundesliga for Bayern, which is somehow even more amazing). Wolfsburg's defeat also meant there weren't any other changes in the top seven, and now the only question is whether HSV will win the cup (and qualify for the Europa League) or not (and play the Conference League instead), with Wolfsburg's status also depending on that result. Worth noting that Wolfsburg have managed European qualification despite a goal difference of zero. At the bottom, Köln fell at the last hurdle and couldn't complete what would've been a remarkable great escape, losing in their visit to fellow new 2.Bundesliga members Leverkusen. It wasn't that long ago that both of them were playing in Europe... The fight to avoid the playoff in the end came to a single match, and Eintracht managed a 0-1 win in Hoffenheim which propelled them upwards and the home team into a fight for survival against none other than our affiliates from Dynamo Dresden. In other 2.Bundesliga news, Werder Bremen finally return to the top tier after nine years, together with usual elevator riders Fortuna Düsseldorf.

May 7th 2030 How long has it been? Because I don't remember mentioning the Team of the Week even once since, like, mid March at best. Anyway, Miranda is in it. May 8th 2030 The U19s give the senior team a lesson on how to do things in knockout stages, putting *seven* past Köln's youngsters in the first leg of the league semifinals. Not bad. Hattrick for Katic, of course. May 9th 2030 TSV 1860 München vs. Club Atlético de Madrid (Europa League semifinals, 2nd leg) Match of the season, no competition (so far). Making it to an European final would be a huge and historic achievement for the club, no matter what the result there happens to be. We come into this reinforced by our first league win in forever, while Atleti... Well, they lost 5-0 to their city rivals, so not exactly stellar? We have a real chance here, now we only have to take it. * * * 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Ian Amador (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl) ATLÉTICO (3-3-2-1-1): Nick Shinton (GK); Ibrahima Konaté (DCr), David Martínez (DC), Anselmo García McNulty (DCl); Denzel Dumfries (WBR), Giacomo Faticanti (DM), Rayan Aït-Nouri (WBL); Manuel Ugarte (MCr), Thomas Lemar (MCl); Aguibou Camara (AMC); Matheus Cunha (ST) * * * One big change today: Kretzschmar takes the gloves from Rexhepi after one too many poor performances by the younger keeper. Otherwise, roughly as expected. Meanwhile Simeone pulls a fast one on us with a 3-6-1 formation we hadn't seen since playing Kaiserslautern in the 3.Liga back in 2021! It's obvious from the start they've come to defend their lead, and we dominate possession from the get go as we try and look for a way to get through their defensive wall. We see possession rates near 80% in those early minutes, but somehow we fail to turn it into any kind of danger, and it's actually Cunha who has the first shot on target of the game in the 14th minute with a long-range attempt, well stopped by Kretzschmar. We finally find a way through thanks to Schulze's vertical pass towards Caraballo, but the false nine is denied by Martínez before he has a chance to get a good finish in. Immediately after, though, Ernesto barges into midfield and passes right to Amador, and the Spaniard sends a perfect cross into the heart of the box so Rijkhoff can nod it past Shinton and score the 1-0. In the 20th minute another passing play ends with the ball in the same place, and Amador once again looks up and crosses into the box, where Rijkhoff gets ahead of his marker and taps it in with his right foot to put us ahead on the tie... for the five seconds it takes VAR to disallow it due to a very narrow offside call. Almost there. Atlético keep defending despite the result and our domination, because they have built to do that and only that, and that ends up being their undoing: in the 27th minute we once again break through the right thanks to Schulze, who barely reaches a pass into space by Amador and crosses first time towards Rijkhoff. The striker doesn't finish, though, and instead nods it back to Miranda so the Argentinian can half-volley it with power into the back of the net, scoring the 2-0 for real this time. Now Atleti have no other option but to go forward, which allows us to start looking dangerous on the counterattack. Through that we get two more chances, but both end with blocked finishes for Caraballo and Rodríguez. In the 32nd Rijkhoff turns provider again dropping towards the left wing and crossing for Schulze, who heads it straight at Shinton. One minute later, though, Atlético catch us unaware for the first time today, Lemar runs and passes to the left for Aït-Nouri, and the left back crosses perfectly into the heart of the box ahead of Cunha for an easy volley. Back to the drawing board then. The rest of the first half passes by quickly, now with both teams taking more precautions to avoid being on the wrong end of a decisive goal just before half time. Miranda has the best chance in injury time, finishing well a great through ball from Caraballo but finding Shinton in the way in the end, and with that the first half ends. Everything still undecided. HALF TIME - 2-1 We make a rare half-time substitution, removing Touré from the picture after a poor first half and a dangerous-looking yellow card and bringing Javorcic in his place. We start well once again, creating a very good chance after a steal from Miranda leads to a quick cross towards Caraballo, but the forward can't shoot past Martínez and the ball is cleared away from danger. In the 52nd Rijkhoff gets another goal disallowed, this time for a clear offside position by Schulze at the play's start. We're once again clearly in command, though, and it feels like the deciding goal should be coming sooner rather than later. We reach the 60th minute before that happens, though, and it's time to replace another underperforming player under card threat. Casas is the chosen one this time, replaced by Stjepanovic. Nine more minutes pass us by before we manage to generate another chance, this time with Javorcic crossing into the box only for Rodríguez to blast his finish over the bar with half the stadium already celebrating. Our final substitution brings our injury time specialist Neves into the game in Schulze's place, as we quickly approach his favorite stage of the game with Atlético still completely focused on defending. In the end, though, it's not Neves who solves the game. In the 81st minute a throw-in on the right side of our attack reaches Rodríguez, and the Mexican looks up, spots Miranda running towards the box, and sends a perfect cross ahead of him so the small Argentinian can produce the best header of his life, the ball flying past Shinton and becoming the long-awaited 3-1. After that we do our best to keep the ball under control and keep Atlético away from Kretzschmar's goal, but a lost possession in the 89th quickly becomes a dangerous counterattack with Camara and Cunha running free, the latter gets the chance to finish the job one-on-one against Kretzschmar, and somehow sends the best chance of the whole match wide. Now it's our turn to defend for all we're worth, and we do exactly just that: Simeone's desperate gambit of switching to a 4-4-2 doesn't pay off and we secure our place in our first European final ever! * * * TSV 1860 München 3 (Julian Rijkhoff 15, Matías Miranda 27 81) Club Atlético de Madrid 1 (Matheus Cunha 33) - - - Matías Miranda, Löwe for life. Fantastic performance by our veteran attacking midfielder, once again proving decisive when the stakes get high, well seconded today by Rijkhoff and a great team performance overall. Simeone's ultra-defensive tactics ended up being his undoing, although they surely did make things difficult for us for a while. Still, a very deserved win considering both legs, and now we'll be facing none other than Arsenal, who needed penalties to get past Manchester United after drawing both games against them. Even better, the final is almost at home, as we'll be playing in Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park. A momentous occasion to bookmark a remarkable season, that's for sure.

May 4th 2030 Everyone but us (and Nürnberg) play today in the Bundesliga, and everyone was expecting Leipzig to get at least one point at home against a team with nothing to play for like Freiburg. No such luck, and the leaders lost their first league game since January to give Bayern a chance of pulling off the impossible. Our neighbors did their job with an easy 0-3 win in Frankfurt, and now have to win their last game away to Stuttgart (also with nothing to play for) and hope Leipzig lose again in Wolfsburg, who will need the points to guarantee the sixth place and have a chance at the fifth. As for what matters to us, Dortmund drew in Augsburg and catch up to us in points, but are still behind in goal difference by a meager four goals. At the bottom, Köln draw at home against Union, Hoffenheim lose in Mainz, and Hertha are defeated at home by the already relegated Leverkusen. The result is that there's no result: Köln are two points deep in the red but still can escape with a win in Leverkusen, assuming at least one of Augsburg, Hoffenheim, and Eintracht lose their games. Considering the latter two play each other there's a good chance for that, actually. Hertha could still be dragged down into trouble if they lose in Dortmund (likely), but it'd have to be an extremely unlikely combination of results. Union are now officially safe despite being only two points above the playoff position, since it's guaranteed that one of Hoffenheim and Eintracht won't win their last game, so they won't be needing the points when they play us. May 5th 2030 TSV 1860 München (3rd) vs. 1.FC Nürnberg (8th) (Bundesliga, 33/34) With all that taken into account, today's game could mean we guarantee the third place almost for good if we win against Nürnberg, a team that has had a pretty good season but that will most likely not qualify for Europe, given they'd need both a win today and another next week against Mainz, plus a defeat for Hamburg in Mönchengladbach. Still, they've solidified themselves as regular top half residents and frequent challengers for Europe in the last couple of years, which is quite remarkable. Tough game but, once again, we should win. Too bad we almost never do as of late... * * * 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Ernesto (DM); Aymeric Meunier (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl) NÜRNBERG (4-4-2): Steven Benda (GK); Leonhard Pfeil (DR), Maksim Paskotsi (DCr), Armel Bella-Kotchap (DCl), Lee Han-Bum (DL); Bénie Traoré (MR), Mads Bidstrup (MCr), Niklas Dorsch (MCl), Ján Hros (ML); Miguel de la Fuente (STr), Manuel Wintzheimer (STl) * * * Javorcic returns to the lineup after his injury, with Ernesto taking the anchor today to help us rotate our midfield as best as we can for the midweek game against Atlético. Nürnberg are without Farías today, which should help us at least a bit, and we start the game in an almost traditional way by now: direct free kick by Miranda that Benda saves. It's a good sign, though, and within one minute we're already striking again through a low cross by Meunier and a finish by Neves that the keeper has to tip around the post to prevent an early goal. Nürnberg answer with a cross by Traoré towards Hros, whose weak header is an easy catch for Kretzschmar, but we hit them back immediately with another great pass from Meunier towards Neves, who once again sees Benda saving his shot. The Portuguese keepes trying, bending a beautiful shot in the sixth minute that the keeper flies to tip wide, a corner kick that Stjepanovic then heads over the bar. Many chances in such a short time, but still no goals. We take a short break until the 13th then, and once again it's Neves on the run through the center, but once again Benda is there to save his finish, and once again Stjepanovic can't get his header on target in the resulting corner. Things finally slow down then, much to our dismay as we see yet another game start escaping from our grasp despite our absolute early domination. Sometimes all it takes is a striker, though: in the 29th minute, after a long period without danger, Ball gathers the ball on the left side of the box, switches it to his better right foot, and crosses towards Özcan for a perfectly placed header into the net. Six minutes later Nürnberg try to get back at us in a corner kick that Bella-Kotchap heads over, but in the 36th we run forward again, with all our attacking players combining until Neves sends a spot pass towards Miranda inside the box and the Argentinian sees a gap between Benda and the near post through which to send his finish, making it 2-0. Stjepanovic does well to deny Bidstrup a chance to finish in Nürnberg's only chance of what remains of the first half and, for once, we find ourselves comfortably and deservedly ahead at half time. HALF TIME - 2-0 We know we can't fall asleep too early, though, and we start the second half looking for a third and almost getting it instantly, but Miranda's finish after a nice pass back by Özcan is miraculously deflected over by Paskotsi, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. As expected, though, Nürnberg try to be a bit more aggressive now, and soon we need to start moving the bench to rest our likely starters come Thursday, like Miranda, who is replaced by Schulze. Touré also replaces a very solid Ball, who is nonetheless struggling with a stubbed toe. Time passes quickly with little action on either goal, something that we're for once quite happy to see. In the 66th Hros gets another header in after a cross by Mickelson, but once again Kretzschmar doesn't have much trouble to save and hold it. Thiago replaces Ernesto soon after as our final substitution, and in the 72nd Schulze finally returns us to the attacking zone with a shot from the edge of the box that Benda has to push behind. Hros tries again next, but his third header of the night is even worse than the other two and sails high and wide. In the 78th Özcan has another chance to seal our win for good after a beautiful assist from Neves, still excellent, but the striker can't get his finish past Benda, also still excellent and ready to save Lang's header in the corner kick that follows. Nürnberg seem to have given up by now, not even pressing our defenders when we play from the back, and we comfortably cruise until the 86th minute, when a corner kick taken by Thiago is nodded along by Lang and smashed into the net by Schulze, making it three and confirming our win for real this time. And good thing he does, because in injury time Lang compensates for his assist by missing an apparently easy header after a goal kick by Benda, and thus allows Wintzheimer an unopposed run into the box to score the 3-1. Irrelevant by this point, but still annoying. There's still time for another save by Benda to a weak finish by Schulze before the game reaches its end. Finally, a league win. * * * TSV 1860 München 3 (Vedat Özcan 29, Matías Miranda 36, Maximilian Schulze 86) 1.FC Nürnberg 1 (Manuel Wintzheimer 90+2) - - - A good performance with a good result to match? Surely a dream, there's no way this could happen in reality. Sarcasm aside, exactly the kind of game I wanted out of this fixture: a mostly comfortable win to restore our morale before the really important fixture coming up in four days. And hey, if we can almost-secure the third place in the process all the better. Three points and six goals should be enough, although strangest things have happened in this world. Ball's stubbed toe means he's likely to miss the Atlético game, as he's expected to be out for at least six days. Not the end of the world, but still a problem we'll have to deal with.

Apr 28th 2030 Well, Bayern didn't lose, but their goalless draw against Mainz isn't gonna win them any titles. Now they're six points behind Leipzig with two games left, so if the leaders get a single point in their remaining fixtures they'll be the champions. In today's other fixture Köln win in Nürnberg and keep their hopes for survival alive for another week. Now they're two points behind the playoff position, currently occupied by Augsburg, and with four other teams within reach ahead of them. May 2nd 2030 Club Atlético de Madrid vs. TSV 1860 München (Europa League semifinals, 1st leg) As bad as we've been lately, Atlético's season is still much worse. Simeone's lads are currently twelfth in LaLiga, out of the Copa del Rey after losing in penalties against Cultural Leonesa in the third round, and with only their surprisingly good European run to save an absolute disaster of a year. I don't know how long even a club legend like Simeone can sustain this, but I doubt it'll be long. That also means they'll cling to their one chance at both a title and European qualification for next season with all they have, so expect a tough match regardless. * * * ATLÉTICO (4-2-3-1 deep): Nick Shinton (GK); Juan Díaz (DR), Ibrahima Konaté (DCr), Anselmo García McNulty (DCl), Rayan Aït-Nouri (DL); Giacomo Faticanti (DMCr), Manuel Ugarte (DMCl); Edon Zhegrova (AMR), Aguibou Camara (AMC), Thomas Lemar (AML); Matheus Cunha (ST) 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Ian Amador (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl) * * * Javorcic finally makes the bench today, which is good news because Ball is suspended and we'd have to rely on Althoff as our only other backup full back otherwise. Simeone sticks to his deep variation of the 4-2-3-1, with some aging but still quality players in his lineup, one former Leverkusen player under his reign (Faticanti) and at least another ex-Bundesliga (Zhegrova, formerly in Freiburg). Atleti start strong and pushing for an early goal, although their first attempt from distance through Faticanti isn't particularly dangerous and sails well wide. We recover quickly, though, and in the fourth minute Miranda runs alongside the edge of the box and passes towards Amador, who shoots into Shinton's fingertip save. Both teams continue trading blows for a while, including a clearly offside goal by Caraballo in a set piece taken by Rodríguez. Amador tries luck again in the 14th minute, once again with the same result: Shinton save and corner kick. We seem to be taking control of the game slowly, though, and Atlético's early attacking flair is nowhere to be seen now. The match goes into a calm period then, with the home team holding the ball more but well away from our box for the most part. In the 30th minute we finally create something after an interception by Miranda, with Rodríguez once again assisting and Schulze shooting low and without any power, making it very easy for the keeper to save. On the other goal Atlético get a corner kick that Konaté manages to head with danger, but Rexhepi does well and swats the ball away before it crosses the line. After that it's lots of midfield play with very few spaces to run into, and as a result the first half peters out without any goals to report. HALF TIME - 0-0 Things remain very even and not particularly eventful in the early minutes of the second half, and only a wide shot from outside the box by Schulze breaks the monotony eleven minutes after the restart. A while later it's time for subsitutions, with Neves and Rijkhoff coming in for Miranda and Özcan. In the 66th Atlético finally manage to generate some danger after a bad through in by Amador, but the combination between Lemar and Matheus Cunha ends with Rexhepi parrying the later's finish, in what's probably the best chance in the game so far. Stjepanovic then replaces a surprisingly poor Ernesto, and we enter the final twenty minutes with a positive result within reach. That soon changes, though, when Aït-Nouri floats a cross into the box, both Stjepanovic and Lemar fail to reach it, and substitute forward Ezekiel just happens to be passing by as the ball falls to his feet for an easy finish, scoring the 1-0 out of nowhere. After that we "enjoy" a long period of impotence as we try and fail to generate chances to get the draw back, while Atleti seem content to wait and run on the counter when allowed, like Díaz does in the 83rd only to send his finish into the side net. In the 86th we finally break through, with Caraballo providing his first key pass of the evening and Rijkhoff receiving it, then blasting the ball over the ball instead of doing the right thing. Konaté blocks another shot by the striker in the 90th minute, and injury time brings no further events worth discussing. A short defeat in a very even game. * * * Club Atlético de Madrid 1 (Dickson Ezekiel 73) TSV 1860 München 0 - - - Not that bad of a game, really, in fact the match was very even and a draw would've been a fairer result. It's just, this keeps happening. We play decently well, generate danger, don't score, and then we mess up at the back in some key moment and end up losing. Oh well, at least this is fixable in the return leg, but this trend needs to die a quick death.

Apr 26th 2030 Training injury for Javorcic, a pulled abdominal muscle that will keep him away from the training grounds for at least a week. He's almost certainly out of the first leg of the Europa League semis, which is far from ideal. Apr 27th 2030 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (15th) vs. TSV 1860 München (3rd) (Bundesliga, 32/34) After the painful stretch of high-stakes games, finally some relaxation. In theory, at least. Hoffenheim sure won't feel too relaxed today, considering they lost to Köln last week and are currently tied with Eintracht and only ahead of the playoff position thanks to having scored two more goals than them. Before that defeat they'd chained two wins in a row, though, which already makes their league form much better than ours. We don't have much to play for other than keeping the third place, but a win would surely help our momentum before flying to Madrid. * * * HOFFENHEIM (4-2-3-1): Lukas Schneller (GK); José Hurtado (DR), Abnor Aliu (DCr), Lee Jae-won (DCl), Hannes Lippold (DL); Martín Baturina (MCr), Roméo Lavia (MCl); Armindo Sieb (AMR), Ayman Benarous (AMC), Lars Kehl (AML); Jorgen Strand Larsen (ST) 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Alex Ball (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Aymeric Meunier (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Joao Neves (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl) * * * To increase the uncertainty a bit further, Hoffenheim have just hired Stefan Leitl as their new manager, so our scouting department didn't have much to go off before the match. We know they play 4-2-3-1, but little else. Meanwhile we are forced to replay some tired legs given injuries and suspensions (Schulze, again), but still should have more than enough to win today. That's the theory, at least. In practice what happens is that the early minutes are quite even with both teams fighting for possession, and in Hoffenheim's first serious attack Hurtado sends a defective cross straight at a surprised Kretzschmar, who can only push it away, then watch as Lang and Stjepanovic fail to clear and Sieb gathers the loose ball to score the 1-0. In the 11th minute Kretzschmar almost gifts another goal after blocking a header by Kehl, but thankfully Ball manages to head it back for the keeper to hold before it becomes a real problem. The thing is, we are defending against Hoffenheim, and we seem completely unable to turn the game around. We need twenty-five minutes to get our first shot at goal, but at least we make it count: counterattack initiated with a long ball towards Rijkhoff, the striker holds it until reinforcements come from midfield, and after some passing around he runs behind the defense to gather the traditional pass into space by Rodríguez and then rounds the keeper for an easy finish, drawing the game and finally breaking his dud in front of goal. We don't deserve the result by any means, but at least we manage to hold onto it for a while, with Kretzschmar only having to work to deflect over the bar a direct free kick by Baturina in the 32nd minute. Seven minutes later Lang covers well a dangerous-looking movement by Kehl, and in the final minutes we even dare to approach Schneller's goal again with a long shot by Thiago, easy for the keeper. Half time finds us level, but after one of our worst performances of the season. HALF TIME - 1-1 Some mild screaming ensues in the dressing room, and the players seem to wake up in the second half, with Basualdo nodding a clearance by Kretzschmar into the box so Rijkhoff can shoot into Schneller's legs only two minutes in. Lang then heads the corner kick wide, but at least we're trying now. Of course that's exactly when Hoffenheim send a cross towards the right side of the box, Sieb nods it back towards the center, Kretzschmar tries to go for it but is half an hour late, and Strand Larsen just nods the ball into the net for the 2-1. Because of course. We keep trying at least, and in the 58th a good challenge by Ball recovers a ball in a dangerous position, Meunier crosses, and Rijkhoff's point-blank header is miraculously blocked by Schneller. Hoffenheim hit back with a run and cross by Lippold and another header by Strand Larsen, this one narrowly over. Time for substitutions, and today the difficult task was to decide who of the many deserving players would get to play the whole match despite their stinker. In the end Stjepanovic, Touré, and Neves leave the field replaced by Casas, Amador, and Miranda. Casas soon makes his presence felt when he heads a corner kick into the top of the crossbar and over, then Rijkhoff follows up with a 20-yard powerful effort after controlling a long clearance by Kretzschmar that forces Schneller into an acrobatic save. That's another corner kick and another high header, this time by Lang. We seem to finally be hitting our stride, but our lack of finishing is also returning, and now we really need goals. After a while even our attacks seem to dry off again, and we're back to desperately banging our head against their defense with little to show for it. We even have to be thankful that Hoffenheim don't take the chance to kill the game for good, because Kehl has a fantastic chance to do so in the 86th after a nice pass from Benarous that he somehow manages to send wide with Kretzschmar already thinking about picking the ball up from the back of the net. After that, a whole load of nothing. Deserved defeat, and a lot of questions unanswered. * * * TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 2 (Armindo Sieb 7, Jorgen Strand Larsen 51) TSV 1860 München 1 (Julian Rijkhoff 25) - - - I have no words, really. That first half was simply horrendous, and the second half was only a little better, and only for about twenty minutes. If we play like this in Madrid we'll get destroyed, plain and simple. The only good news today is that Rijkhoff finally scored, but that's only the end of a very long string of bad news. I don't know what happened to this team as soon as spring started, but I want it to end now. Please. At least our defeat is not the headliner for today's Bundesliga news: Leverkusen's draw against Augsburg and Eintracht's and Hoffenheim's wins mean they're officially a 2.Bundesliga team. How the mighty have fallen... In matters closer to home, we manage to somehow still retain the third place after Dortmund's 0-1 defeat against leaders Leipzig, and if Bayern lose against Mainz tomorrow the current champions will also be the new champions.

Apr 24th 2030 Hamburger SV vs. TSV 1860 München (DFB Pokal semifinals) And now for something completely different, and potentially much more important: cup semifinals! HSV are tough opposition just like they were last year, when they pushed us all the way to the penalty shootout, but there's one difference: we've had our best season to date, while they are struggling to even secure the seventh place in the league. Their form isn't all that brilliant either, so that factor is a tie from the start. Let's see what we can do. * * * HSV (4-2-3-1): Bekir Dereli (GK); Erik Trehkopf (DR), Jamie Lawrence (DCr), Justin Janitzek (DCl), Andrii Buleza (DL); Ludovic Reis (MCr), Burak Ince (MCl); Mazinho (AMR), Tin Vrljicak (AMC), Faride Alidou (AML); Dimitris Paligeorgos (ST) 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Ian Amador (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Joao Neves (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl) * * * Now, this is a game that requires our best efforts, and as such our most in-form players take the field, with some leeway given for the forced rotation in midfield (Neves in Schulze's place) and defense (Ball for Touré). HSV have had one more day of rest than us and thus can afford to basically run their usual starting eleven without issue, with only Trehkopf as a new face from our last meeting in the Bundesliga. We start really well, threading a perfect attacking play in the first twenty seconds that ends with Rodríguez assisting Miranda and the Argentinian trying a lob over Dereli that goes off target, then quickly recover the ball and do it again, this time with Neves crossing and Özcan heading it wide. HSV soon start pushing back, though, and things quickly even out as we keep possession but find it more difficult to do something useful with it. Our next shot takes until the 19th minute to arrive, and it's a wide direct free kick by Miranda. Meanwhile HSV try to press us high, but other than a couple of corner kicks without any real consequence they don't generate much in attack either. In the 22nd Miranda goes at it again, hitting first time a ball badly cleared by Trehkopf and finding Dereli's fingertips in the way. Ernesto then nods the corner kick wide as we try and increase our attacking pressure once again. It doesn't last, though, and the game enters a period of constant midfield struggles for both sides. Hamburg finally get something going in the 34th with a steal on Rodríguez, a cross by Vrljicak, and a wide header by Paligeorgos, but it's just another isolated chance that leads to nothing more. Another direct free kick by Miranda follows, this one narrowly high over the bar, and in the 43rd minute it's Özcan who cuts into the box from the left wing and tries to curl a shot around Dereli, who shows good reflexes to push it away from his goal. Not long after the referee calls for the end of the first half, with everything still up in the air. HALF TIME - 0-0 HSV start the second half giving us a great scare through Ince, who barges into the box almost unopposed but is closed down by Ernesto before he has the chance to finish the job. We soon get back in control, though, and Thiago has our first try from far away, a 30-yarder that sails well over the bar. The game is slower now, though, and we don't generate anything else until the 57th, when a great through ball by Neves reaches Miranda inside the box, but once again Dereli is there to tip his finish over the bar, which is also where Casas' header in the corner kick goes. After fifteen minutes Touré comes in Ball's place, with the English youngster having had a pretty terrible game overall. Another player with a pretty poor performance so far is Caraballo, but he redeems himself with a great assist towards Özcan in the 64th minute which sadly goes to waste as the striker blasts it into the third stand behind the goal. One minute later Özcan tries again, this time crossing towards Neves, who smashes his finish into a defender only for Caraballo to get the rebound and bicycle kick it into the post and wide. We're getting closer. And that's precisely the moment when HSV decide to attack again, Reis sends a long pass into the right side of the box, and Alidou escapes Touré's attention long enough to volley the cross into the back of the net. VAR validates his position after a few tense seconds, and now we are in trouble. Schulze has to replace an exhausted Rodríguez, too, which should hurt our creativity, but we still have Miranda, who in the 70th steals the ball from Trehkopf and quicly assists Özcan, who once again can't get past Dereli. Casas once again gets his head to the corner kick, but once again sends it over, although this time it's so close that it actually licks the upside of the crossbar on its way. Meunier for Neves is our last substitution, once again forced due to tiredness, and now time really starts running away from us as we try and fail to generate more chances. We go all in in the final minutes, but come the 90th we're still waiting for our chance to come, and instead what we find is a corner kick for HSV that Beyaz takes, Janitzek nods, and Paligeorgos smashes into the back of the net to score the 2-0 and officially kick us out of the DFB Pokal. * * * Hamburger SV 2 (Faride Alidou 66, Dimitris Paligeorgos 90) TSV 1860 München 0 - - - And there goes the cup, too. And once again, in a game where we should've won comfortably given how many chances we had and how good most of them where. Miranda was fantastic throughout except when it came to finishing, and Özcan wasted all the good feels his hattrick in Napoli had generated. HSV meanwhile had three shots on target and two of them went in, and that was that. A shame, but at least we won't have to endure another final against Bayern, I guess...

Apr 20th 2030 Leverkusen are one step away from relegation after losing 4-1 in Leipzig today. Meanwhile Köln might still escape the drop after beating direct relegation rivals Hoffenheim while Augsburg and Union share the points in a 2-2 draw and both step just a tiiiny bit farther away from the danger zone. Eintracht's loss in Mainz keeps them in the playoff position, and now Köln's rise should be worrying them quite a bit. At the top, obviously Leipzig's win brings them very close to winning their second title in a row, and if we happen to take any points from Bayern tomorrow they'll be just one win away. Dortmund draw in Hamburg, giving us some breathing room in the third place and complicating HSV's European prospects even more. Apr 21st 2030 TSV 1860 München (3rd) vs. FC Bayern München (2nd) (Bundesliga, 31/34) It says something that the most difficult to predict Münchner Derby in recent memory is probably the least important game in this decisive week. Sure, we could have a shot at catching up to the second place if we manage to win, not to mention denying Bayern the chance to push for the title and put Leipzig under pressure until the end, but that's minor compared to what came before and will come after. It's still an important match, though, don't get me wrong, and we'll treat it as such. Because hey, when was the last time we actually had a chance at beating Bayern? * * * 1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl) BAYERN (4-2-3-1): Aaron Ramsdale (GK); Joshua Kimmich (DR), Dayot Upamecano (DCr), Brendan De Decker (DCl), Alphonso Davies (DL); Sandro Tonali (MCr), Herlan Gomes (MCl); Deivid (AMR), Kai Havertz (AMC), Ansu Fati (AML); Yousouffa Moukoko (ST) * * * The first derby in our stadium sees us bringing out a very competitive eleven, although probably not the best we could produce if we were in a less difficult week fixtures-wise. Bayern have a very similar lineup to the one we drew against in the Allianz-Arena, with only Gomes and Fati as new faces, while we give Meunier a more defensive role than usual to better keep track of Havertz. As expected Bayern come roaring out of the gates, looking to dominate from the get go and pushing for an early goal, and soon Deivid is getting a header in after a cross from the left, easy for Kretzschmar nonetheless. Nine minutes in they got what they were looking for, and in the simplest of ways: Davies breaks into the midfield down the left flank, then sends a pass forward towards Moukoko, who outspeeds Lang and places his finish past Kretzschmar to score the 0-1. Deja-vu. It almost becomes worse five minutes later, too, when Kretzschmar fails to properly hit a dangerous pass and hands it to Deivid instead, although thankfully the winger shoots wide when a goal looked almost certain. Our first approach comes in the 15th in a corner kick taken by Miranda and headed over by Lang, but four minutes later our nerves show again in the worst way when Javorcic tries to dribble his way past Havertz inside his own box, loses the ball, then trips the attacking midfielder for a penalty kick. Moukoko doesn't miss, and it's 0-2 for Bayern. After a short break they go back at it, this time with Tonali assisting Moukoko through the center and the striker somehow sending his finish wide, thankfully. Next up is Kimmich, entering the box through the right and shooting low into Kretzschmar's good diving save. After that, though, they seem happy to just hold the ball and let the minutes pass until the end of a very one-sided first half. HALF TIME - 0-2 Ernesto comes in Lang's place at half time, hopefully to give us a better way to get the ball out of our defense. It seems to work, and in the early second half we get closer to Ramsdale's goal than we've ever been so far, even having a moderately dangerous shot by Schulze blocked by the defense. More dangerous is Rodríguez's run into space in the 55th, although his shot ends up being worse and sailing over the bar. After fifteen minutes without any clear chances, though, we start thinking about the upcoming cup game against HSV and replaced both Rodríguez and Miranda with Neves and Thiago, to keep them as fresh as possible. That doesn't stop us from trying, though, and in the 64th a ball from deep by Meunier towards Neves finds the Portuguese inside the box, but he takes too long to shoot and Davies gets there in time to block. After twenty surprisingly quiet minutes, though, Bayern return to the attack with a run and cross by Davies towards Deivid, who loops a surprising header over an out of position Kretzschmar to score the 0-3, silencing the still hopeful fans in the stands. Said fans get revived immediately after following a great pass by Schulze towards the rampaging Meunier, but then the midfielder blasts his finish well over the bar with a way too rushed shot and it's all for nothing. After that the game dies a slow death, with lots of possession play by both sides but little attacking intent, and in the end the keepers don't have any extra work to do. Another win for Bayern, as almost always. * * * TSV 1860 München 0 FC Bayern München 3 (Youssoufa Moukoko 9 19p, Deivid 67) - - - I still don't know what to do against Bayern, really. If you try to outplay them they just overrun you, and if you try to contain them, well, they overrun you all the same. I don't think the difference between both teams was that big today, though: we did get thoroughly trounced in the first half, but in the second we were at the very least their equals and had good chances to score at least once. They just can't miss, though, and Kretzschmar's subpar performance today certainly didn't help. Oh well, no second place for us, Leipzig will need to work a bit harder for their second silver plate, and now Dortmund are breathing down our necks.