[FM20] Champagne Football II: Calcio Offensivo

[noikeee]

7 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

You need to score more goals...It is shocking to see Bologna in 2nd place!

Obviously you are playing entertaining enough soccer...LOL

The Chairman must be creating a shortlist of replacement managers! 

Tbh it does annoy me to win 1-0, I want to smash teams and get my strikers to score loads.  It's really quite frustrating that the most I got out of a striker in a season was Pellegri last year with 21 goals and that was with penalty kicks!

[noikeee]

October 2028: Starting to lose points, but still undefeated
 

 

October kicked off with 2 draws, shock and horror. We were a bit crap at home against Juventus (shooting a lot but not actually creating chances), and then actually found the trip to Madrid quite difficult in the CL, I think a 1-1 draw was fair and I was happy enough with that.

But then it was business as usual again as we beat Brescia, Udinese and Verona as you'd expect. Inter messed up a few times meanwhile so we opened up a 5 points gap. That's what we want to see - so I can focus nice and easy in Europe later in the season, hopefully.
 

Edited June 25, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

Ok I need to go to bed, but before there's something I must post.

This was fun.  Featured not one not two but THREE long range screamers, 2 of them by Daniel Bragança, one by Cristiano Henrique.

We're qualified for the last 16 now.

[noikeee]

In Serie A news, Cremonese seem to have told a manager to f*ck off yet again. They seem to have been doing this every year since I left without success. My heart weeps for them.

[noikeee]

November 2028: First defeat of the season
 

 

November was of course first marked by the superb match against Atlético, 9 goals did the spectators present witness. This already qualified us for the next round of the CL and not even a disappointing home draw with Leverkusen puts a dent in our spirit so far.

In the Serie A things were going fine with another 2 routines wins against Fiorentina and Frosinone, when something unexpected happened. Away at Empoli, we found ourselves losing 2-0 within the first 10 minutes. We attacked and attacked and got 2 goals but by then they had already gotten another one, always on rare counters. That means our winning run ends much earlier than last season, though it was still nice to have lasted until late November. And what better way to bounce back from the defeat than to put 6 past Roma? Lennart den Otter was particularly outstanding with an hat-trick and 2 assists (!), but I was even happier with Paul Curtis' goal: the young Englishman, who I sometimes play on the wing, but most times upfront, had been on a dismal goal drought that had started all the way from last season.
 

[noikeee]

His face says it all.

[noikeee]

December 2028: Poor results let Inter approach us after we had beat them
 

 

I had to replay the Inter match as I had computer problems, beat them both times so that was great. The rest of the month was poor though. We failed to beat Rangers in the CL, and although we easily cleared Torino, then we lost points to both Atalanta and Sassuolo to let Inter come close to us again. We also had a postponed match, at home to Salernitana, it was snowed out.

We get Arsenal in the CL last 16.
 

[noikeee]

January 2029: I don't remember half of this, but it looks like we won a match 7-0
 

 

We sold a kid. Porto came in with way too much money for a CB with a jumping of 9, and decent-but-not-great potential. He'd never make the first team, so, free money, yay.

 

 

I've been out of FM for a while and half of this month was played a long time ago, so I don't even remember the 7-0 match. We seem to be doing alright, but I'm a bit frustrated that apart from the big Supercup win, we don't seem to be scoring that much. Current top scorers this season are Ouakrim with 11, Pellegri with 10 and then the next guy is on 6 goals. I expect more from our attackers in a squad that's really just a hair below being good enough to totally dominate world football.

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by noikeee

[Northernpilgrim]

Looking good for the title. Good luck for the rest of the season

[noikeee]

1 hour ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Looking good for the title. Good luck for the rest of the season

Thanks, I promise to complete it sometime in the next 6 months in real world time.  

Edited August 24, 2020 by noikeee

[Northernpilgrim]

1 minute ago, noikeee said:

Thanks, I promise to complete it sometime in the next 6 months in real world time.  

[noikeee]

February 2029: Champions League fail as I fiddle with tactics
 

 

Being an idiot I have nothing better to do than to continuously, perpetually invent new tactics, even though I've been winning football matches for seasons and seasons and seasons. So it might just be a coincidence but I decided to **** around with things and try a 4-3-3 and we lost 2 matches in a row for the first time in almost a season and also we got smashed 4-1 in the CL first leg - could've been worse as we got the away goal late on in the match after going 4 down, so there's still a chance of a miracle when Arsenal come over to Bologna, I guess.

In cup news we're into the final to face Juventus, and we're hanging on to the league table lead by just 3 points, uncharacteristically (we should be smashing everyone by lots of points as we did last season, if I remember right). Nevertheless I actually like the tactic? Gonna insist on it - I feel like these fails have come because I've been trying still to optimize the details of it, and have found a few extra bits here and there since.

 

[noikeee]

Youth intake 2029

Totally awful, not sure why my youth products have been this bad in recent seasons.

[noikeee]

March 2029: On good form, but CL glory will have to wait another year
 

 

The miracle against Arsenal never came. We scored, had a couple more chances, but it was an even match, and to get the required 3-0 win would've been rather fanciful.

Otherwise we've been pretty good though, with 4 clean sheets and a pleasing 5-0 away win at Verona. Against Fiorentina it was one of those classic FM days though, 30 shots, 17 of them on target, 1 goal - Fiorentina gets 1 single shot all match long, which is a penalty, which goes in. Doesn't matter too much as we've opened 5 points over Inter though.

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

On this alternate Universe, Arteta's a tiny little bit less ambitious.

[noikeee]

April 2029: Clinching domestic glory

 

Although this season was disappointing on what matters the most for me, as again we were unable to improve our continental competition results, domestically it's been the extension of the dominance we've consolidated the last few seasons, and April has just been the peak point of it. We smashed Empoli 7-0 as a warmup for the cup final, to again smash Juventus 4-0 in it - reclaiming the cup trophy, that we had won in 26 and 27 but Roma had taken from us last year. 

And then there was the big title deciding match, against our closest challengers Inter, who came into this match 5 points behind us, needing a win to keep their title run again. We were great again, smashing them 4-1, and pretty much sealing our 3rd consecutive Serie A, albeit we still need another point to make it official mathematically.

 

[noikeee]

May 2020: Pellegri confirms the title

We needed a draw against Torino to clinch our 3rd consecutive Serie A title, we got more than that as Pietro Pellegri came onto the pitch possessed. 5-1 win, 4 of our goals by Pellegri, and that's job done then. Another year, another comfortable Bologna title, although we finished with 4 points fewer than last season - but still a total I'm pretty happy with, given how inconsistent we were earlier in the season.

The question remains how to take the next step in Europe. I think serious decisions need to be made soon in the transfer market, as we need to find extra funding for this side. Several big players contracts are running out in the next 2 years and we need to pay them extra to convince them to stay; meanwhile the likes of Wijndal, Bragança, Afonso Sousa are 29 years old and will need replacing sooner or later, would be ideal to sell them before their market value tanks. I would even be willing to listen to offers for the 28 year old Pietro Pellegri - Valencia are interested - although he just had a wonderful season and seems to fit our new system surprisingly well as inside forward on the left, which I didn't expect at all.

And it turns out I finished the season in just a day, I got excited about this again and am on holidays so I guess these things happen. 

Edited August 24, 2020 by noikeee

[Northernpilgrim]

Congratulations on the title

[noikeee]

Season review - Bologna - 2028/2029

Competitions

• Serie A: Champions
• Coppa Italia: Winners
• Coca-Cola Supercup: Winners
• UEFA Champions League: Lost in the 1st knockout round to Arsenal

Club vision

 

Seems fine.

Finances

 

92M€ in the bank - still largely holding on to the cash we got from selling Jefferson at the beginning of the season - but the board isn't enthusiastic to let me spend much of it. This is because a) our wage bill has absolutely skyrocketed in recent years; b) we're paying for the new stadium expansion, which should be finished just in time for the new season.
 

Squad statistics

Top 5 players of the season

5. Paolo Gozzi (DC)

 

Continues to make part of a truly excellent duo of CBs. Bagged 6 goals in set pieces too.
 

4. Daniel Bragança (DM)

 

For the first time in quite a few years, I will not name the Portuguese defensive midfielder as my player of the year. He was nevertheless marvelous in the Champions League, with an incredible 7.72 ratings and weirdly, 4 goals. But his Serie A performances were  just okay, and the assists which he used to contribute with by the bucketloads, went down considerably. An injury late in the season also hurt his development and makes me slightly nervous he may be starting to decline.
 

3. Pietro Pellegri (ST, AML)

 

Pietro the... left winger? Eh? He wasn't having a particularly remarkable season until my system switch in around February. With a lack of players capable of playing AML, Pellegri was shifted there and... suited the IF role just absolutely perfectly - capable of the odd mazy run cutting inside that creates all sorts of problem, and also being super clinical at finishing at the back post, with his feet or head. At the end he was our top scorer and got 20 goals, just 1 fewer than last year, and would've been a strong contender for player of the year had he not been largely irrelevant in the Champions League.
 

2. Rayan Ouakrim (ST)

 

The Moroccan forward made a pretty big impact on his first season for the club, with 18 goals and the highest ratings in the side at 7.42. Much like Pellegri I would've liked to have seen a better contribution in the CL, but this bloke is seriously good and well placed to be our most important attacking player for the coming years.
 

1. Samuel Obasi (DC)

 

Although just marginally below Ouakrim in ratings, I have to give the award to the Nigerian centerback, because I was certain from the beginning to the end of the season he was number 1 in my team choices, which can't quite be said for most other players named here - albeit everyone rotated a lot. 23 years now, Obasi is at his peak and the 8.75M€ we paid PSG for him 4 and a half years ago look ever more laughable, every season.

Other honourable mentions

Paul Curtis (ST, MC, MR, AMR)

 

If the tactic change did wonders to the likes of Pellegri, it put Curtis in an awkward position as I played him mostly as 2nd striker and now the position disappeared. He can do a bit of all, has world class potential, but doesn't seem super brilliant at anything? Not good enough a finisher at forward (albeit very nice in the air), not special enough as a speedster to be a winger (although I'm leaning that way), good but not world class at being a midfielder. There's a Ballon d'Or level player in here, just how best to use him? Had a pretty poor season, too.
 

Traian Fulea (MC, ST)

 

A very similar kind of player to Curtis as in, was born a forward, I'm wondering whether wing or midfield might be best. I adapted him to mezzala for this season - his first for the club - and he could certainly add some nice goals from midfield, but his performances were unconvincing and looking at his attributes he does seem more an attacker than a midfielder. An incredible dribbler, I'm now wondering whether I should adapt him to AML - the Pellegri inside forward position - and do the same with Paul Curtis. Oh and I have Cristiano Henrique too, a very similar player to these two...
 

Nikola Vuckovic (MR, AMR)

 

13 assists deserve a mention - joint most assists with Lennart den Otter, his prime competitor for the right wing position, albeit Curtis has often also played there recently. The Serbian seems just a touch below being world class, and despite lots of interest the bids never fly in, neither does he totally dominate a season consistently. I'd be open to cash in on his market value.
 

Marco Lorusso (GK)

 

Ready to join the first team or would he benefit from another loan? This young keeper is Italy's future but Gasparini still seems just ahead of him.
 

Riccardo Franco YP26A (DC)

 

If I'm divided about whether it's time for Lorusso to join the first team or not, I'm more convinced about this homegrown, "wonderkid" CB I also loaned out to Salernitana. Developing dramatically, he seems now just a hair below the first team choices - and given Ethan Ampadu requested a transfer, there might just be a slot on the squad for him.
 

Individual competition stats

Serie A:

A distinct lack of goalscorers and assisters in here, a consequence of both our low goalscoring nature earlier in the season (the tactic switch seems to have helped this!) and my tendency to rotate dramatically to keep the first XI fresh for the CL. Ouakrim's quality still creeped to the top 3 rated players, and our defensive excellence is shown in Gasparini's clean sheets record.
 

Career tracker

Season  Club                 League           Cups                    Continental                  Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19/20   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie B - 2nd    Coppa Italia 4th Q rnd                               Promoted
20/21   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie A - 10th   Coppa Italia 4th Q rnd
21/22   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie A - 4th    Coppa Italia 4th Q rnd
22/23   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie A - 15th   Coppa Italia 1st rnd    Champions League 1st KO rnd  Sacked midseason
        Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 13th                                                        Hired midseason
23/24   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 7th    Coppa Italia 1/2 final   
24/25   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 2nd    Coppa Italia 1st rnd    Conference League final    
25/26   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 2nd    Coppa Italia winners    Champions League 1/4 final
26/27   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 1st    Coppa Italia winners    Champions League 1st KO rnd  Supercup winners
27/28   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 1st    Coppa Italia 1/2 final  Champions League 1/4 final   Supercup winners
28/29   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 1st    Coppa Italia winners    Champions League 1st KO rnd  Supercup winners

 

Edited August 25, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2029-2030: Slowly refreshing the squad
 

A few select changes as I attempt to make small squad increments. There's several different goals at play here: a) improve the ability levels in the squad, both first and second XIs; b) move the average squad age down; c) cash in on slightly overated players before their market value tanks as they age; and d) raise money to be able to retain quality players as they ask for bigger and bigger wages.

The biggest sale was of Nikola Vuckovic to PSG for 89M€, I was delighted they came in with that fee and even splashed a 20% of profit of next sale on top of it. He was a good player and a starter but not consistently amazing and I felt I could improve on him as I was eyeing a truly ridiculously good Real Sociedad winger. Sadly I was unable to attract him to the club so ended up replacing Vuckovic with a more like-for-like player (maybe even a tiny downgrade), which cost me about half of what PSG paid so I'm not too unhappy with the deal anyway. Ethan Ampadu was moved on thanks to his transfer request, so we bagged 54M€ for him (could reach 66M€) to open up a free slot for De Franco YP26A on the squad... all profit, and remember Ampadu came for free a few years back. I also got a fairly decent 33.5M€ for Rafael who I would've preferred to keep due to being relatively young, but he was a fairly average LB; I sold youth product Giuseppe Amoroso for 15M€ to make way for another RB (sorry to see a homegrown player go but he was never good enough to be a proper attacking RB for our standards); and shifted temporarily the now 29 years old Afonso Sousa on loan, so Leicester can pay his wages whilst a better midfielder came in to fight for the advanced playmaker role. Backup goalkeeper Alessandro Russo was also sold to make way for prospect Marco Lorusso to get promoted to the main squad.

These are the new faces, I hired 4 new first team players and a kid on a long shot gamble for the future as he was cheap:

Perhaps a slightly overrated player by the game due to being two-footed which I don't see as massively important in a fullback, I also had to pay big wages for him, but at a 14.5M€ price this was a steal, particularly due to the complete utter lack of proper attacking fullbacks in the current game universe. I think with this deal I have probably sorted the LB position for the next decade, now time to try to increase his crossing/dribbling abilities just a little higher, which is the problem with newgen fullbacks in FM20 (that and flair, which sadly can't really be raised much if at all)
 

At 46M€ he becomes just barely our most expensive player ever, we have a lot of attacking minded AMCs/2nd striker types now, but what I find special about Welch is he seems the perfect fit for what I want for the advanced playmaker role, the passing/vision/flair combo is not quite world class but near, but he adds really nice dribbling/agility/acceleration to barge past players, plus very nice finishing/long shots which I really want for my MCs as they get into finishing positions often. And on top of that superb technique and first touch which makes everything better; AND amazing set piece ability; AND top class off the ball/determination/anticipation which makes him a doubly excellent runner; AND passable defensive abilities which are also fairly important in a MC. The perfect mould of player for what I want, really - and although the game rates Hebibovic just a little higher for this position (and Hebibovic has better passing/vision, and comes from a really nice season) I am throwing him straight into the first XI and dropping the Bosnian midfielder.
 

The direct replacement for Vuckovic as a pure right winger, might be just slightly below Vuckovic's level (the game rates him half a star lower) but I don't see a major difference in attributes, is even a slightly better finisher which may be important. I'm sad I couldn't get the monster Spanish winger I wanted though, that would've been a sweet sweet deal, Sociedad was selling him for an excellent price too but the bloke just wouldn't talk to us. Either way Amirkamdar was already wonderful on his Serie A debut, brilliant exhibition and a goal.
 

I'm now at the level I'm willing to pay 37.5M€ for a backup rightback, and give him pretty steep wages. The position should still be Sebastian Castro's (I should post his screenshot soon, he has become absolutely amazing) but Paniagua is one hell of a replacement whenever Castro is unavailable, as a near a world class RB. Major improvement over Amoroso, that's for sure, the only question mark is bad aerial ability.
 

Can't see him quite make the first team squad in the future, as we're now reaching the point only unquestionably world class or near world class players can play for us, doubly so in attacking positions, but Leverkusen was selling him for 2M€ and that's a steal.

Current squad and starting 11:

Those wages are frightening and I'm about to pay even more for all the people I'm renewing contracts with (everyone on 2 year deals running out in 2031). But I'm very happy with this summer of transfers, things have been slightly consolidated here and there in various positions, we have a lot of young talent now. 

Is this the year we finally fight for the Champions League? Very much feels like we're the 2029 equivalent of Juve now, dominating Serie A consistently without drama but failing to make major impact in Europe.

The Empoli result lies, we totally dominated, they are flattered by a 2-1 score.

A rare easy-on-paper CL group for this season, can't see Young Boys and Dynamo challenging us and Utd.

[noikeee]

New stadium is here!
 

 

I'm still pissed off the board didn't go for a bigger capacity stadium (this is an upgrade from a 31K to a 42K) but we should make a bit more money from here on.

First match on it is at home against Sampdoria, 3rd round of the Serie A. Not sure why it wasn't ready for the season opener but I'll take it!

[noikeee]

Looks good, but it's a disappointing inauguration for Giacomo Bulgarelli Arena as we draw 0-0 with Samp...

[noikeee]

September 2029: Inconsistent flashes of brilliance
 

 

This month kicked off great with a 6-0 drubbing, and there were other highs such as centerback Samuel Obasi getting an unlikely hattrick against Cagliari as we swamped them with set pieces. However, there were also two 0-0 draws - including in the new stadium inauguration - and the team isn't quite gelled yet, plus there's a couple players unhappy that I declined to sell them (namely Hebibovic who now seems to be alright, and Ouakrim who is still complaining - and that's bad news as he's our main striker).
 

[Deisler26]

I'm betting on CL glory this season

[noikeee]

1 hour ago, Deisler26 said:

I'm betting on CL glory this season

Nah we'll come across some truly terrifying team - like *reigning European champions Arsenal* - and lose.

[noikeee]

October 2029: Traumatizing Man Utd
 

 

October 2029 will be remembered for a truly remarkable match away at Old Trafford in which we smashed Man Utd 5-0, and this being a fairly strong Utd side including the likes of Greenwood, João Felix, Tielemans, Thiago Almada, Van de Beek, Palacios. They did miss our former star Jefferson to injury, though. And they were not the only ones that we smashed in Europe as we did something similar to Young Boys.

In the league, we recorded our first defeat since 8 months ago when we lost to Cremonese, this time to Juventus. We recovered with a late surge to punish Milan similarly to what we did to Utd and Young Boys, but it's a bit telling that we're relying so much on set pieces, that centerback Samuel Obasi is running away as top scorer on 7 goals already. Shouldn't really be happening? This weird shakiness about our playing style, despite the fact in half the matches it is fantastic and we blitz the opposition, has put us in an uncharacteristic 3rd place so far, just behind Inter and Udinese.
 

[noikeee]

November 2029: Steadily moving forward

Not a super exciting month, we dropped points again, now to Salernitana, and then won the remaining matches in this month without really hitting the heights of those big goal gluts we had last month. We're through in Europe, as was expected tbh, and in Serie A we reduced the gap to Inter to 1 point.

Bit of a weird vibe I have right now, I have a funny feeling this pattern is gonna continue, we're gonna do well in the CL but the league is gonna be harder than previous seasons. In this tactic we don't really have major off days (so far at least) and we are sometimes brilliant, but also lose points to drab 0-0 matches more often than under the systems I was using previously (the 4-4-2 and the assymetrical system with 2 up top, a right winger and a LWB, no left winger). This makes it harder to attain a big points lead in the league, but also harder to get smashed in a bad day in a knockout match that we can't then turn around in a 2nd leg, like it happened to us last year against Arsenal. If we can figure out how to break past those 0-0 days... (and I'm experimenting with lowering the tempo just a bit then, with promising results so far), then it's perfect.

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

December 2029: More of the same as we claim the Serie A lead

The pattern continues as again we have been very consistent, occasionally great - smashing Man Utd again for a full clean sweep of the CL group, and also a very satisfying 5-1 away win over my former club Cremonese - but also sometimes a bit pedestrian and that resulted in a 0-0 against Sassuolo.

Nevertheless we have overtaken Inter at the top of Serie A, and have been given a tough draw against Man City in the CL last 16.

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by noikeee

[Deisler26]

[Northernpilgrim]

Fabulous start to the season.  Good going!

[noikeee]

Goodbye, legend
 

 

A controversial move as we lose a key player, midway through a season in which we have a good chance at going deep into the Champions League for the first time. And not just a key player, one that was for years and years the first name on the team sheet, with sensational performances at his best. Indeed, he is our captain.

He's 30 though, and I believe this may be the last chance to cash in. I'm running a business here. It's ruthless and makes us weaker on the short term but has to be done in my opinion. I'm moving on the transfer market to try to get some kind of replacement, although players in this exact mould (very high passing+vision+good defensive skills) are rare, so it'll be a downgrade of sorts on some of these skills and an upgrade in something else.
 

[noikeee]

24 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

 

5 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Fabulous start to the season.  Good going!

 

This is why I sell key players, to add some challenge. 

[noikeee]

January 2030: Replacing Bragança and carrying on
 

 

After six and a half years of Daniel Bragança at the base of our midfield it was time to move on, and we refreshed things by bringing in a player that's 10 years younger.

 

This German wonderkid is not as good as Bragança at passing, but is considerably better in the physical game and adds incredible aerial ability - as if we needed even more aerial ability as we score so many in corners and indirect FKs. Got him for 42.5M€.

 

 

Two 0-0s but one of them I was perfectly happy with, away to Inter who are our closest challengers in Serie A. The rest was business as usual and SPAL was this month's victim.

We collected yet another Supercoppa whilst stumbling past the first 2 rounds of the cup, rather unconvincingly, but we're through to the semi-final to face Juventus.

 

[kidthekid]

Buser is a really good signing. Great find!!

[noikeee]

54 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

Buser is a really good signing. Great find!!

All credit to our huge army of scouts. They collect more information than the Stasi.

[noikeee]

February 2030: Promising first leg in Manchester

In the Serie A it's all good. I've been toying with a 4-2-3-1 in these league matches to ramp up the risk a little bit and try to have fewer 0-0 draws and so far the signs are looking good. We also managed to get a decent first leg advantage over Juve in the cup semi-final, although their away goal makes me slightly aprehensive.

But the big match was of course the trip to Manchester to face City. It went well. It was a really even match, they scored first and took a 1-0 lead to half-time but then we turned it around. At the very end on injury time they'd tie things again, but a 2-2 draw with 2 away goals is quite a nice result to take back home to Bologna.

[noikeee]

Youth intake 2030
 

 

Eh, looks okay but not sure I buy this is a "golden generation".

[noikeee]

March 2030: Out of the cup, looking good in the rest
 

 

5 months later we lost another match, and again it was Juventus, the only team to beat us this season. They tied the result of the first leg in the cup semi-final, 2-1 after 90 minutes, and added a 3rd in extra time to qualify for the final instead of us. This angered us and we smashed them 5-0 3 days later in the league.

In the Serie A it's all going great now and we have built a 9 points lead that I doubt Inter can do anything about. The really good news though is that this year we've broken past the CL last 16 into the quarter-finals again. It was a tense match against City, holding on to the away goals lead... for 45 minutes. After the break we came onto the pitch inspired and scored 3. In the quarters we will face Atlético, for the chance of reaching the CL semi-finals for the first time under my reign (or in the club's history). If we were to beat Atlético we'd face Arsenal or Inter.
 

 

[noikeee]

April 2030: On the brink of the Champions League final

This year the story isn't the Serie A. It hasn't been for a few seasons, but it did felt briefly this year we'd have a challenge. We don't. With 4 matches to go, we have a 11 points lead, meaning another win and we're champions.

No, the story is the Champions League. We were again in the quarterfinals, but this has been our ceiling for a while, for a few years we've always been knocked out in the last 16 or the quarters. Not this year. Home to Atlético, we put in a thoroughly professional job to beat them 2-0 fair and square, Pellegri first with a penalty then Oakrim - in happier mood, now he's given up asking for a new contract - with a long shot scoring the 2nd. Crucially, we gave away no away goals which could help us in the Wanda Metropolitano.

And indeed it helped us. The difference between home and away has been very striking in Europe at times, and the match in Madrid was so much tougher. They scored early, minute 16, in a wide FK headed in, and we had to spend the rest of the match keeping them at bay. It was not easy but we did it, although we missed the odd chance or two in the counter as well. We were into the semi-finals for the first time.

This put us against Pep Guardiola's Arsenal, reigning European champions. Last year they smashed us 4-0 in London in the round of 16, ruining our chances for the 2nd leg. This year.. things went rather dramatically the other way around. We used the same 4-3-3 formation and general tactic, but slightly tweaked to be more vertical, less patient, on purpose for this match's circumstances. It worked beautifully. Paniagua's throughball released Oakrim for the first. Welch's deep FK found Pellegri's head for the 2nd. Den Otter barged a long shot for a 3rd, and although Daniel Daniels reduced for Arsenal in injury time, there was still time for van Mosselveld to score our 4th, after a cross by Den Otter. 4-1 win away, and now only a disaster in Bologna could keep us away from our first Champions League final.

Edited August 28, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

May 2030 (1): First Italian side to reach the Champions League final in 13 years

First, we clinched our 4th consecutive Serie A title against Sassuolo. Little fuss, penalty goal, done.

Then we had to just survive Arsenal without any horrible collapse, to make it the first Italian team to reach the Champions League final, since Juventus played Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid back in 2017. And we did it. To be honest I didn't really play to win, pretty much went low risk for this one. We still got 2 goals - Obasi's 10th of the season which is insane for a centerback and also marked Santiago Welch's 15th assist of the season, a joint club record; then Paul Curtis bagged a penalty. We were much superior without accelerating a lot.

In the final we will face Frank Lampard's Chelsea (still Frank Lampard!), a side who are currently 3rd in the Premier League, but have won the 2027 and 2028 Champions League editions before taking a break last year. Marcus Rashford and Amine Gouiri are their most well known players, but they've got some crazy good newgens as well. The final will be played in Greece.

Edited August 28, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

UEFA Champions League final 2029-2030: Chelsea - Bologna

Welcome to the stadium "OAKA Spyros Louis" in Athens, where 87022 spectators have gathered to watch our Bologna against Frank Lampard's Chelsea.

We arrive without Andrei-Razvan Cibilica, injured, and replaced by young talent Peter Büser at the base of midfield, in our more cautious 4-3-3 shape (contrary to the 4-2-3-1 we have been playing in the Serie A). Apart from that it's business as usual, although the team's confidence has been a little dent by a surprise defeat to Inter in the final day of the season.

First half

Minute 6: We attempt the first shot, a late run from Buser and he shoots from just outside the area, veteran Kepa saving it for a corner.

Minute 6: Welch takes the corner... Pellegri!!! Over the bar.

 

 

 

 

Minute 19: We insist down the left... Luciano Franco has won the byline within the area! Tries to shoot from an angle!! Kepa parries it to his front! Rayan Ouakrim!!

GOAL FOR BOLOGNA!! 1-0!! The Moroccan forward taps the loose ball into the back of the net!

 

Minute 20: Chelsea's time to attack... Juarez on the back post!!! Just wide of Gasparini's right post.

 

 

 

Minute 26: Quick flank variation to our left wing.. back to the center... Buser to Welch to Ouakrim!! Straight into Kepa's hands.

 

 

 

Minute 32: Paniagua's on the box, on the right flank... crosses low to Welch! Deflected wide.

Minute 32: Welch takes the corner, a free Curtis passes to a free Den Otter!! Saved by Kepa for a corner!!

Minute 33: Welch on the corner again, Gozzi on the back post!! Over the bar, that was a good chance there.

 

 

 

Minute 36: Chelsea attack, we steal the ball, Welch launches it long forward to Ouakrim. Oukarim carries the ball... onto the area... penalty!! Jack Jones has clattered him!

The ref checks the VAR... given!!

Pellegri will take the spot kick...

IT'S IN!! 2-0 BOLOGNA!!

 

 

Minute 38: Juarez's cross for Chelsea.... Rashford header on the back post!! Gasparini holds it!

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 43: Yellow card for Chelsea's Verhest. Den Otter takes the deep freekick... Obasi heads it! Easy for Kepa!

Kepa launches it looooong for Rashford.... passes it back for William Barrett... the midfielder shoots....

OH IT'S A CURLER TO THE TOP CORNER OFF THE CROSSBAR!! CHELSEA GET A GOAL BACK OUT OF NOWHERE, 2-1!!

 

 

 

 

 

Half-time: Well this has been quite an eventful first half. We have been better, clearly better even, but Chelsea do have some magnificent talents and Barrett just showed us what he can do just before halftime. It's looking good, but ain't over yet, far from it.

[noikeee]

Second half

 

 

 

Minute 50: Yellow card for Santiago Welch, our first....

 

 

 

 

Minute 54: Chelsea win the ball in their half... Barrett launches a long ball for Gouiri.... outpaces Gozzi!!!! He's free!!!

Just wide!!! What a huge chance, so close to Chelsea's 2nd there.

 

 

 

Minute 58: We press Chelsea's build-up from the back, Franco wins the ball, it's straight for Den Otter to run into... launches it to Ouakrim!!!

IT HITS THE BASE OF THE POST AND GOES WIDE!! Could've been our 3rd, too.

 

 

 

Minute 59: Chelsea from flank to flank, frees up rightback Rodrigo Pinheiro into the byline, he's into the area, crosses low........

Deflected off the striker and off Gasparini and cleared!! Big chance for Chelsea again!!

 

 

 

 

Minute 66: Chelsea playing it slowly... Barrett suddenly launches a long ball to Gouiri AND HE'S COMPLETELY FREE!!

Parried by Gasparini! They're getting more and more dangerous... I bring in Hebibovic for the yellow carded, nervous Welch, and tell him to keep an eye on the inspired Barrett.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 76: Chelsea playing from the back more and more rushed, pass it to our own Paul Curtis... has time to shoot!! Kepa has to flick it over the bar!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 81: van Mosselveld in for Pellegri. Ouakrim moves to the left flank, the Dutch forward goes central.

 

 

Minute 82: It's a wide freekick for Lennart den Otter to take, near the sideline. Crossed to the backpost... Obasi!!!

 

GOAL FOR BOLOGNA!! 3-1!! THE NIGERIAN CENTERBACK MIGHT'VE GIVEN US THE EUROPEAN CUP HERE!!!

 

 

 

BUT OH NO!! HE'S OFFSIDE!! THE GOAL DOESN'T STAND!! IT'S STILL 2-1!

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 86: We cut Chelsea's passing lanes again, Den Otter launches Paniagua down the right flank, the Spanish RB is free from an angle and shoots!! Kepa parries it for a corner!!

Den Otter takes the corner, Büser in the keepers box!! Easy for Kepa.

 

 

Minute 89: Our final switch, Fulea for Curtis in midfield. It's injury time now, just hold on for a few more minutes.........

 

 

 

Minute 92: Playing from the back from a goalkick, Hebibovic launches it long for van Mosselveld, the Dutch striker is free! Kepa saves it for a corner again!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 93: Pinheiro takes the throw-in for Chelsea, Esposito crosses...

RASHFORD ON THE BACK POST COMPLETELY FREE, HE SCORES!!!!! 2-2 FOR CHELSEA ON THE FINAL INJURY TIME MINUTE, THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUT IT'S CALLED OFF FOR OFFSIDE! CLEAR OFFSIDE AND CHELSEA'S PLAYERS ARE GUTTED, THIS WILL GIVE BOLOGNA THE CUP!

 

 

 

 

Minute 94: Bologna are keeping the ball nice and steady... progress to attack... oh no we lose the ball!

Jones launches Mas... Mas launches Umoh... UMOH IS FACE TO FACE WITH GASPARINI WITH JUST SECONDS TO GO!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAVED!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Chelsea throw everyone up for this corner.... it's the final chance... we're already into minute 95 when the ref gave 4 minutes of injury time...

 

 

 

Fulea clears, falls to Esposito still within the area....

 

 

 

 

 

Büser puts his foot in, falls back to Umoh....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He turns around.... starts facing goal....

 

 

 

THE REF BLOWS THE FINAL WHISTLE!! BOLOGNA HAVE WON THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[noikeee]

May 2030 (2): European champions

Holy crap, that was one hell of a match, what a way to do it with such dramatics in injury time. I got very excited writing the play-by-play "as live" match report there.

It's done then, the main goal that we have been searching for a good few seasons. We've had the talent to pull it off for a while, but kept adding more and more little bits over the seasons, just slightly better players, just slightly better tactics here and there... it all finally paid off.

I don't think I'm over with Bologna. There's other goals yet to achieve here: retaining the Champions League; winning all competitions in a year (we missed the cup this season); becoming the most reputable club in the world; winning the Club World Cup (much harder now it's a once-every-4-years thing, annoyingly the next one is in 2033, 3 years from now)... let's see how much patience I have to go get all those achievements.

But for now I'm gonna sleep, spent far too much time on FM today...

[rodesire]

what a way to finish the final, huge drama in there!

[noikeee]

Season review - Bologna - 2029/2030

Competitions

• Serie A: Champions
• Coppa Italia: Lost in the semi-finals to Juventus
• Coca-Cola Supercup: Winners
• UEFA Champions League: Winners

Club vision

 

They'd better bloody be happy. Gave me a A- for the cup semi-finals exit, though.

Finances

 

Winning the Champions League obviously helps, but it's not as if we can splash 100M€ on a player just yet. Nice to see the wage budget has been expanded - we're gonna need it, it's crazy how much players ask for these days.
 

Squad statistics

 

Top 5 players of the season

5. Luciano Franco (DL, DR)

 

Fullbacks is probably the area of the squad we now have more strength in depth, as we now have 3 of them that are world class, in Franco, Paniagua and Castro. On the left Franco was probably just about the most impressive of them all, and on his first season for the club! Bagged 8 assists and got an average rating of 7.30.

4. Paul Curtis (MC, AMC, AML)

 

The English youngster settled himself deeper as a mezzala this season, although he'd occasionally play in all 3 AM strata positions as well, and this suited him better than the 2 previous seasons for the club, in which he was playing as a 2nd striker. Playing deeper he might use his aerial ability less, but he was imperious showing up with goals from deep - scored a magnificent 14 goals, and also added 5 assists.

3. Pietro Pellegri (AML, AMC)

 

Now persistently played as an inside forward on the wing, rather than upfront, the experienced forward could not quite reach the 20 goal mark as in previous years but was still our top scorer on 18. If that seems low for a big club like us, notice just how many different players we have that scored 7, 8, 10... Pellegri might soon be moved on as he is now 29 years old and is therefore on the last few years we could cash in on him, but has now completed a highly successful 5 and a half years for the club that culminated with a goal in the Champions League final.

2. Santiago Welch (MC, AMC)

 

The club's most expensive signing in history totally justified his 46M€ fee with a series of sumptuous performances in the first few months of the season, most impressively with a hat-trick in the 5-0 win at Old Trafford. Later on he'd diminish his influence slightly from open play, but still recorded a satisfying 7 goals plus a total of 15 assists (largely thanks to taking corners and wide freekicks), equalling Daniel Bragança's club assist record from a couple of seasons ago.

1. Samuel Obasi (DC)

 

Obasi's performances this season have been extraordinary, with an average rating of 7.58 that is considerably ahead of any other player in this squad. This reflects our impressive defensive solidity as we conceded just 11 goals in the Serie A, but also his sensational contributions upfront - scored an unbelievable 10 goals from the centerback position, which shows just how good we are in set pieces.

Other honourable mentions

Héctor Paniagua (DR, DL, AMR)

 

If I was expecting Luciano Franco to claim the DL position and make a big impact, I didn't quite think Paniagua would do the same on the other flank as he had the competition of the supersolid Sebastián Castro, a settled name in this squad. However Paniagua was a big hit in his first season for the club, claiming 8 assists just like Franco and occasionally even covering for the AMR position on the front trio, thanks to his amazing dribbling abilities.
 

Sebastián Castro (DR)

 

The losing man with the arrival of Paniagua, he is a truly sensational football player but perhaps could not quite reach the same heights in performance as the new Spanish arrival, although still very good.
 

Riccardo Franco YP26A (DC)

 

I had some doubts about him but now I am very glad I promoted him to the first team, the first youth product of mine to really break through. Whilst I am still sticking with Obasi and Gozzi as the starting centerback pairing, Riccardo's performances in the league were excellent and he's starting to put some pressure on them for the position.
 

Individual competition stats

Serie A:

Obasi and Welch played to an excellent standard in the league, whilst Gasparini's truly ridiculous 27 clean sheets speaks volumes of how good we were defensively.
 

Champions League:

Pellegri's league performances were fairly mediocre but in our CL run he was beyond outstanding, with a truly ridiculous 7 goals and 6 assists, giving him the highest average rating in the whole competition ahead of so many world class players.

Career tracker

Season  Club                 League           Cups                    Continental                  Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19/20   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie B - 2nd    Coppa Italia 4th Q rnd                               Promoted
20/21   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie A - 10th   Coppa Italia 4th Q rnd
21/22   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie A - 4th    Coppa Italia 4th Q rnd
22/23   Cremonese (Italy)    Serie A - 15th   Coppa Italia 1st rnd    Champions League 1st KO rnd  Sacked midseason
        Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 13th                                                        Hired midseason
23/24   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 7th    Coppa Italia 1/2 final   
24/25   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 2nd    Coppa Italia 1st rnd    Conference League final    
25/26   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 2nd    Coppa Italia winners    Champions League 1/4 final
26/27   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 1st    Coppa Italia winners    Champions League 1st KO rnd  Supercup winners
27/28   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 1st    Coppa Italia 1/2 final  Champions League 1/4 final   Supercup winners
28/29   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 1st    Coppa Italia winners    Champions League 1st KO rnd  Supercup winners
29/30   Bologna (Italy)      Serie A - 1st    Coppa Italia 1/2 final  Champions League winners     Supercup winners

 

[noikeee]

[Northernpilgrim]

Congrats, great season

[Deisler26]

Always had faith that they would win!! Congrats man!

[noikeee]

Before the pre-season update, a little break for having a look at how the World Cup went. Bologna players were quite busy in the final - Pellegri scored (his first international goal, on the World Cup final!!), Gozzi got sent off, on the other side Paniagua started for Spain and so did Alonso upfront who is our new player for next season that I'll show off in a few minutes. 

Italy became world champions on penalties, but not before our former star winger Torresi had gotten himself sent off too - in fact Italy were down to 9 men vs 11 at some stage here when Pellegri got the goal in extra time! On the Italian side, beyond Pellegri and Gozzi, another 2 Bologna players also became world champions: centerback Luca Giacomini and goalkeeper Manuel Gasparini. And a little word also for Sebastiano Esposito upfront who briefly starred for my Cremonese side years ago, on loan from Inter.

Gozzi and Paniagua made it to the World Cup dream team which is nice.