Return of the Max

[Cardiovascular]

Second Half

United come out of the traps quite quickly and they have alot of the ball but not much chance creation with it. Despite this, we decided to switch it up to a 4-4-2 with Ferhat Gundak being sacrificed for Rogerio to come onto the left wing.

In all truth, the game continues with not alot going on. Lautaro Martinez and Rashford both have chances but they snatch at them and miss the target.

With ten to go, Giampa picks up a yellow card for simulation and it's the end of his game too as Spasojevic replaces him. A disappointing end to a tremendous first season at Brentford for him. De La Iglesia replaces Sima on the right to eat up a few more seconds five minutes later.

United steuggle to break us down though and the referee blows the whistle for the last time - Brentford & Max Bruz have won the Champion's League!!!!

Brentford 1-0 Manchester United

Brentford win the Champion's League!!!

What an amazing season for Ramon Meyers. His first season as club captain, and he's scored the winner and lifted the Champion's League trophy by the end of it. Unbelievable!

[Cardiovascular]

End of Season

We hit some tremendous form through February, March and the majority of April but May brought some shocking form, perhaps with one eye on the Champion's League we let our domestic focus slip. Disappointing because we essentially threw the league away with the 5-0 loss to Wolves, a team who have had our number all year. In truth, it doesn't matter because the Champion's League is always the priority with this challenge, but a league win would've been nice for Max.

The final table. We drew our last game to finish two points off, but it would've taken a monumental win over Bournemouth to get us top spot. 

Key Players

Giampa was a terrific buy and was mostly consistent throughout the season. 31 goals is a great return. He did have games where he disappeared (the CL final being one of them) but he was great over the course of the season.

Meyers took our armband this season from Sima, and he never looked back. He had his head turned mid-season by a move to Paris but some sweet talking won him round and he lifted the CL trophy at the end of the season having scored the winner. What a man,

Blohm is an outstanding goalkeeper, probably one of the best in the world and kept us in alot of matches. 22 clean sheets equalled a season record set by Grabara and he also won Goalkeeper of the Season for the CL.

Rovella, as always, a composed leader in the centre of the pitch. Missed a few games from injury but he's coming into the prime years of his career and should be with the club long after me.

 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Covered this of course, but it never hurts to look again 

Hertha sneak through two rounds on away goals and eventually lift the Europa League trophy for their first ever European trophy win.

Liverpool bully their way to the Europa Conference League trophy. Expected really, by far the best team in this screenshot.

Easy stuff for PSG but nice to see Rennes runners up. Lyon have a shocker and miss out on Europe.

Dortmund's first league win in just shy of 20 years. Hertha take a bit of a tumble.

What a battle between Madrid and Barcelona! The Catalonian side just win it by two points though. Sevilla and Atletico round out the top four - poor from Getafe who are relegated to the second tier after 15 years in the Spanish top flight.

[Cardiovascular]

Career Overview

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   Brentford    Championship          10th                      -
2021/22   Brentford    Championship          1st                   Champions
2022/23   Brentford    Premier League        10th                      -
2023/24   Brentford    Premier League        5th                       -
2024/25   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2025/26   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2026/27   Brentford    Premier League        3rd                       -
2027/28   Brentford    Premier League       13th                       -
2028/29   Brentford    Premier League        4th               Carabao Cup Winners
2029/30   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          FA Cup Winners, Champion's League Runners Up
2030/31   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          Community Shield & Champion's League Winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

SkyBet Championship - 2021/22 (Brentford)
Carabao Cup - 2028/29 (Brentford)
FA Cup - 2029/30 (Brentford)
Community Shield - 2030/31 (Brentford)
Champion's League - 2030/31 (Brentford)

Max Bruz Champions League Wins - 1

2030/31 - Brentford (England)

AI Champions League Wins - 2

2022/23 - Manchester City (England)
2024/25 - Atletico Madrid (Spain)

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Cardiovascular

[karanhsingh]

Great work, very well deserved

[DaneBramage]

This is one of the threads that made me want to start a game/update in the Championship, so thanks for that, and congrats on the Champs League win.  

I'm now (informally) giving myself an 11 season target to do the same.

What next? Moving on to the next country? Or tempted to try and win the Premier League too before moving on?

[Cardiovascular]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Great work, very well deserved

I feel this is true after last year's heartbreak in the final! Thank you 

59 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

This is one of the threads that made me want to start a game/update in the Championship, so thanks for that, and congrats on the Champs League win.  

I'm now (informally) giving myself an 11 season target to do the same.

What next? Moving on to the next country? Or tempted to try and win the Premier League too before moving on?

Glad to hear that! I hope you manage to reach the targets, believe me it is a struggle..  Since this challenge is only about winning the Champions League, I will be moving onto the next available job that appeals, currently the market is very slim. Will stick with Brentford until something appears though, but ideally it will be early next season.

[Cardiovascular]

End of Pre Season

So with no jobs on the market, we stick with what we have here at Brentford for the time being, though with one eye always on the market.

Transfers Out

Couple of young players left for fees who I didn't think had a future, the big sales were Riquelmo - who I felt sorry for as 6 months after his arrival, Blohm joined and immediately took his spot - and Hadji Hadji, who we made a slight loss on but he wanted to leave and never really truly impressed. Spare a thought for Serdar Altinok, who agreed a pre-contract with Getafe only for them to be relegated. He should tear up the Spanish Second Division though.

Transfers In

Joachim Laurent arrives on a free with great potential to be back up to Blohm. Excited by the look of him.

Vari was on my radar when we signed Espinosa, and with his contract expiring, it seemed a no brainer to sign him and try and develop him. No work permit though, so he left on loan.

I thought Tsvetanov was going to leave so Aeschlimann joined for his relegation release clause. He's going to be a great player.

Jesus was the main reason I was okay with Hadji leaving - I tried to sign him 4 years ago on a free but he went to PSG.  He was available for a cut price fee, and we snapped him up.

Europe

Should be a straightforward group.

 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

We faced Europa League winners Hertha in our first ever Super Cup game, and we'd come out on top thanks largely in part to a goal and assist from Valentin Manjarrez. And a red card for the Hertha, which allowed us to push on more and take home the trophy!

[Cardiovascular]

Mid November

Was enjoying those games a little too much and forgot to take screenshots until mid November but here we are...

We're currently on some really good form. Beating City at their place was a huge result for us, followed by some good performances and a run of wins to end the month. Historically, we are bad at away games against mid table (see: West Ham and Arsenal early on) so 3/3 at the end of the month is a great result for us.

We squeaked by West Ham on penalties before defeating Championship mid-table side Brighton.

Not bad so far, just three off the top.

Job Watch

Nothing appealing so far... Lazio currently have their manager very insecure though. Would be an interesting choice I think, but they don't look good on paper. Neither did Brentford though...

[PaulHartman71]

Just caught up with this, nice little narrative there with back to back finals against United, glad you’ve won the big one! 
 

The new players you got in for big money look very good, even if you leave before a title I’m sure Brentford will be in a solid position to get one sooner rather than later!

[Cardiovascular]

On 01/07/2021 at 20:55, PaulHartman71 said:

Just caught up with this, nice little narrative there with back to back finals against United, glad you’ve won the big one! 
 

The new players you got in for big money look very good, even if you leave before a title I’m sure Brentford will be in a solid position to get one sooner rather than later!

It was quite fitting wasn't it? Just glad we eeked out a victory this time, I think two in a row losses would've hurt alot.

Glad you agree with my signings! Hopefully when I leave, Brentford can stick around the top four, if not challenge for the title.

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Started off with a questionable away draw against Feyenoord, but thankfully the remainder of our games were fairly comfortable. A second XI comfortably beat Sevilla at their stadium which was extremely pleasing.

Comfortable group winners. We've drawn Monaco in the next round.

[Cardiovascular]

End of January

A great run of form came to an end at Old Trafford as United handed us our first defeat since August. We bounced back with a terrific 4-0 over league leaders Liverpool though, good recovery from us. January brought two more defeats as Leicester and Arsenal both defeated us, but we also won three including a last minute win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to keep us in a good position come the end of the month.

We beat Man City on penalties before the red half of Manchester dumped us out fairly comfortably.

We defeated Leeds and Chelsea in a couple of tough games with a second string which was pleasing to see. We face Wolves in the next round.

2nd. United have a game in hand on us though. As do Liverpool, who could go eight points clear of us with a win. Ten points clear of dropping out of the top four though.

Transfers

Couple of young lads out on loan, couple of young lads left for fees. The big sale was Luiz Fernando, who decided the European champions weren't good enough for him and left for Lyon who aren't even in Europe. Good riddance if you're going to be like that.

Arrivals

Alejo Esteves arrived from Liverpool as Luiz Fernando's replacement in the centre of the park, a world class midfielder signed for a relatively low fee of £29.5m. Pleased with this signing.

Luiz Fernando also covered the left wing, and his departure left us short there so Samuel Justiana arrived initially on loan from Chelsea, with an optional future fee of £21.5m. Another shrewd signing I think. 

Job Watch

Nothing still! I debated Torino but I think we could get better. Lazio, Fiorentina and Leipzig have all had their managers very insecure at stages so maybe one of those will come free soon. The Euros are at the end of the summer so we might get some manager departures for national teams then.

 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Monaco took a 1-0 lead into the half-time break and I let rip on the team and they came out like a different side. But it wasn't until the introduction of Faghir for the misfiring Giampa that we kicked into gear, and the Dane - who has been relegated a bit to the bench this year - fired home twice to remind us all he's still one of the top dogs round here.

[Cardiovascular]

February 2032 - A New Adventure

We finally find a new, exciting role as we move to Italy, a league which was loaded at the beginning of the season. Lazio are toiling in 13th place of Serie A with an old and aging squad. Two 37 year olds (Sergei Milenkovic-Savic and Joaquin Correa) on a combined £300k p/w is a bit of a shocker. It will essentially be a case of finish the season as strongly as possible and start to rebuild from the summer.

One small thing is that I probably should've resigned from Brentford before taking this job as that £6.5m compensation has put us in the red financially  

This league rule is a bit surprising  but means we have to keep our summer shopping inside the EU, and be careful not to make players unhappy by signing them and being unable to register them.

Key Players

Calegari is a very well rounded player, can cover a wide variety of positions and is into the prime of his career. Really like the look of him, hope to keep him around for a few more seasons.

I'm sure Ndrecka will be another great player for us in defence on the opposite flank of Calegari. Some tidy attributes.

On the other end of the spectrum, a young striker in Matteo Milo should provide some firepower up front. Good youngster with potential to improve.

 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Head first into the European scene with Lazio as we're still in the Europa Conference League - actually Max's first time playing in this competition. We took the lead through Portuguese right winger Joao Campos before Nantes equalised. Frenchman Raymond Dobelle scored his first goal in 22 matches to give us the win though.

[Cardiovascular]

Lazio Squad Update

So I figured that I should probably give people a look at the squad we've inherited since it's brand new. You could relate to my Brentford signed because I signed and provided screenshots for all of them, but you'd struggle to relate here. So here is the squad in the next few posts.
Goalkeepers

Spoiler

 

I've been utilising Audero as number one since I arrived, only because Montipo's leaving and I don't want to get used to him in the sticks.  Russo is an adequate backup, but at 36, 35 and 30, goalkeeper is a bit of a problem area needing to be addressed in the summer.

Full Backs

Spoiler

Calegari and Ndrecka are obviously the stars of the team and are very good at the full back areas & indeed other positions of the pitch. Bressanelli and Fazzini are both good back up options as well - pretty pleased with the players we have at our disposal here.

Centre Backs

Spoiler

Ferigra and Milenkovic are our first choice pairing but at 33 and 34 will have to be replaced come the summertime. Deana and Galuppi aren't amazing backups either, some very poor squad building here. This area of the squad needs a massive revamp.

[Cardiovascular]

Lazio Squad Update

Wingers

Spoiler

Joao Campos is a tidy player, pacy but lacks a touch technically. Viera is pretty good technically but probably more suited centrally, also the wrong side of 30 which may need looking at eventually. Huisman is okay but I'd be looking to upgrade on him eventually, Miccio is fine for a back up and can cover a nice range of positions on the left and centrally.

Central/Attacking Midfielders

Spoiler

This is a huge problem area for us, not due to the quality of players but due to the age and wage of them. Correa, Mangala and SMS all over 33 and earning a combined (deep breath) £420k p/w. This needs urgent looking at and is a number one priority in the summer. Correa is retiring I believe which saves us a hassle but the other two have to go. Ferrara and Mijnins are fine for backups but given the wages of the other three, they could be VNL players and I'd be happy.  

[Cardiovascular]

Lazio Squad Update

Strikers

Spoiler

Milo is obviously the standout here, Bell and Dobelle (sounds like an evolution of names) are backup but I'm not impressed by either of them. Would probably have our youth products Zanchi and Taurone in before them, maybe try utilising Bell and Dobelle as wingers first and strikers as a last priority. 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Second leg against Nantes, same scoreline. 2 goals from Milo on his return for injury make it a comfortable aggregate victory for us. We face Gladbach in the next round.

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Down 1-0 at half time, we didn't look like creating much but a bit of hairdryer treatment saw us run out 3-1 winners thanks to a goal from Milo and a brace from substitute Joao Campos.

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

An absolutely disgraceful second half performance here sees us go from 5-2 up on aggregate to 6-5 losers in the last minute. As soon as they pulled a goal back, it felt inevitable. Absolutely shocking.

[Cardiovascular]

End of Season

A really tough start to life at Lazio saw us draw to Spezia, lose to Bologna and draw with Sampdoria. We managed to salvage a 2-2 draw with Inter before we finally kickstarted some form with good wins over Torino, Atalanta and Crotone. Sadly, we threw away a two goal lead in the last minutes of the game against Verona (I was frustratingly distracted in RL here and didn't change things up!) May was up and down, defeating Lecce, losing to Sassuolo before a huge win over Roma thanks to a masterclass from Campos. However he went from hero to zero very quickly as an early red card against Genoa saw us absolutely thumped and as a result, they leapfrogged us in the table.

12th place, one better than when Max took over. Could have been 11th, how frustrating.

Key Players

Campos, despite his late red, was very good and a solid source of goals on the right wing.

Calegari started off as my right back but we moved him up the park late on in the season and he was very impressive. Earned himself a call up to the Italy squad for the Euros as well.

Matteo Milo was good, but not amazing. There's alot more to come from him I think if we can get some consistency out of him.

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

The CL returns to London again but this time it's Chelsea with their first Champions League win in 20 years.

Man City bash their way to the final and eventually defeat surprise finalists Rennes who took off some big names during their run.

Man Utd sneak a 1-0 over Gladback to ensure all three European trophies return to England.

A final update on England just to show how Brentford got on. 3rd place, where we left them. They waited until the end of the season before appointing Man Utd's manager  last update from England though, left it view only but since we completed it, no need to update.

PSG win again.

Bayern reclaim their crown from Dortmund who run them very close. Leipzig have an absolute shocker and finish way down in tenth, and perhaps would've been an interesting option had we waited before the Lazio job.

Barcelona win again, three in a row for them. Pretty comfortable over Real Madrid in the end,

 

[Cardiovascular]

Career Overview

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   Brentford    Championship          10th                      -
2021/22   Brentford    Championship          1st                   Champions
2022/23   Brentford    Premier League        10th                      -
2023/24   Brentford    Premier League        5th                       -
2024/25   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2025/26   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2026/27   Brentford    Premier League        3rd                       -
2027/28   Brentford    Premier League       13th                       -
2028/29   Brentford    Premier League        4th               Carabao Cup Winners
2029/30   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          FA Cup Winners, Champion's League Runners Up
2030/31   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          Community Shield & Champion's League Winners
2031/32   Brentford    Premier League         -             European Super Cup Winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031/32     Lazio        Serie A             12th                      -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

SkyBet Championship - 2021/22 (Brentford)
Carabao Cup - 2028/29 (Brentford)
FA Cup - 2029/30 (Brentford)
Community Shield - 2030/31 (Brentford)
Champions League - 2030/31 (Brentford)
European Super Cup - 2031/32 (Brentford)

Max Bruz Champions League Wins - 1

2030/31 - Brentford (England)

AI Champions League Wins - 2

2022/23 - Manchester City (England)
2024/25 - Atletico Madrid (Spain)

 

[PaulHartman71]

Forza Lazio!

[Cardiovascular]

End of Preseason

A big rebuild at Lazio was required with high wages and an aging squad never a good combination. SMS (£165k p/w), Correa (£125k) and Milenkovic (£75k) all - thankfully - took the hint when they were transfer listed and opted to retire by the end of June. That, paired with offloading Mangala (£120k) and releasing Onyeru (£70k) and Reabciuk (£67k) saved us nearly half a million per week before the window had even opened.

There are no huge shocks in the outgoings really - Mark Bell wanted out and I didn't rate him too highly so was more than happy to let him go back to England. Mijnans again was someone I didn't rate even as a backup so off he went. Nardelli and Fere were loans with future fees so I had no say in the matter. Pellegri was not part of the squad this year and I had no intention of making him part of it this year. Galuppi, Bianco and Iannuci were youngster I didn't see having much of a future.

Buongiorno & Webb were both pre-arranged by the previous manager who seemed to have a vendetta on the club before he left. Buongiorno is good but 33 and on a high wage sooo thank you for that. Webb is not good at all, haven't even screenshotted him  Lolo as well not pictured, didn't want to clog up the thread but he's a goalkeeper with some potential but nothing huge - I signed him to meet board criteria.

Buongiorno is pretty good tbf but a one year deal might've been ample. He replaces Milenkovic at the back.

In the middle to replace SMS, we picked up Mexican world-class midfielder Yoshtin Bello for nothing from Liverpool. A steal.

Milo was our only real striker with a couple of youngsters flanking him, so we made a fruitful signing in loaning Mango in for the season from Porto. He looks very good.

Audero was our first choice but at 35 doesn't have long left in the career. Kadlec is a tidy goalkeeper to provide competition, and relatively cheap too.

Wasn't sure on Kristensen but we lacked numbers in the centre of midfield so he joined us for nothing. He might be good, might not.

Maisto was available somewhat cheaply given he's got good potential, but his signing was more to meet board criteria again. He's quick though, hopefully a season on loan will give us an idea of his ability.

Zeybek was our big money signing, and the second non-EU signing following Bello. He looks like he'll be worth every penny though. Immediately valued at £34m which shows he must be some kind of good, right?

[Cardiovascular]

End of October

Some really good performances in here, we had a tough start in August but we navigated it superbly. But Genoa came from two goals down to cost us our first points of the season, and I was a bit worried based off that performance that the following three fixtures would be very difficult. But we beat Inter, then Juventus before drawing with Napoli and we could be proud of our performances in September in all honesty. The win over Zebre was amazing really, they bested us the entire match but still we were victorious. October was much easier on paper, and good wins against Spezia and Parma saw us start well. We came from behind to beat Cagliari but sadly, we gave Sassuolo only their second point of the season in a disappointing performance where we could've played til the end of the year and not scored. Still, can't be too upset with the results here.

The Italian Cup kicked off our season and we managed to batter Salernitana to progress into the Fourth Qualifying Round - we'll face Serie B side Pescara next.

Good looking table. 5 points clear of 3rd place Napoi and just three behind Juventus up top. Hopefully we can maintain this form!

[Cardiovascular]

End of January

We opened and closed this update period with our only defeats but the form inbetween those two results was sensational. Huge win over Milan was the highlight of November and December brought another unbeaten month, though the result against SPAL was pretty appalling given they were down to ten men and we had 30 shots or so against them. January saw us beat Roma convincingly at their ground, but a loss against Inter starts a tricky run of games for us, hopefully we can stay on top of the results still.

Some tricky fixtures stood before us in the Italian Cup after we beat Pescara but thanks to Murat Zeybek and a great performance in the shootout from Kadlec, we've reached the semi-final where we'll face Fiorentina.

2nd. Some way clear of Inter in third, despite their victory over us. Some way behind Juventus in first, but we face them at home next so a good chance to cut that points lead.

Transfers

The only outgoing from the first team was Fabio Vieira, whose contract expires in the summer so I was happy to sell him for cash now. 

Fernando Blanco arrived on loan from Milan to bolster our midfield, we've also got an optional future fee of £8.75m if he impresses. His Spanish second nationality also means he doesn't count towards our non-EU player limit.

[Cardiovascular]

End of Season

Started this period with another 1-0 over Juventus meaning we completed a domestic double over them this season. But followed that with a loss to Napoli and a really frustrating loss to Spezia - we were 2-0 up there and lost a man to injury in the 80th minute and they completed an astonishing comeback in injury time to win. Bit dirty from them. A stalemate with Parma rounded off February, and in all truth that was probably our title challenge done.

March was marginally better, if there was any hope for the title then Sassuolo killed it off but we dusted ourselves down to try and grab second place. Aside from a shocker of a loss at home to Torino, we ended the season strongly with 6 wins out of 8 and in the end, we'd managed to finish as runners up of the Serie A!

Pretty good going for the first full season! Gave Juventus their only two losses of the season but we'll need other teams around us to start pulling their weight if we want to topple them.

Of course we also had an Italian Cup run to deal with...

We thrashed Fiorentina over two legs to reach the final, but Inter had the better of us once we reached it. We were 4-1 down at half time and I unleashed a rocket on them and Milo did his best to get us back into the game, but we can't rely on one man and our lack of team performance showed in the end. 

Key Players

When Buongiorno arrived, I scoffed at the previous manager signing a 33 year old. But I soon ate my words, he was excellent and our best player by far. 

Calegari was also great, spent most of the season utilized at right back and he contributed a decent amount of goals and a good amount of assists. Wrong side of 30 but should get a year or two out of him still.

Top scorer for us this year with 24, another really good season for Milo. He's a great player.

Murat was outstanding for us in his debut season, returning with 17 goals from attacking midfield. Five assists could be better but I won't complain too much.

 

 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Real Madrid squeeze by our Italian rivals on penalties after a 1-1 draw to win the Champions League

Lyon bring the Europa League trophy to France as they win their first ever European competition.

Tottenham batter their way to the final before thrashing Monaco to win the Conference League.

The French league saw PSG win again but Rennes are doing good work and 91 points is a solid effort. Monaco have a horror.

Bayern, after a ropey few years, are beginning to reassert themselves as the top dogs in German football.

Barcelona win again, pretty comfortably too. 4 in a row for them and 7 of the last 8 as well.

[Cardiovascular]

Career Overview

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   Brentford    Championship          10th                      -
2021/22   Brentford    Championship          1st                   Champions
2022/23   Brentford    Premier League        10th                      -
2023/24   Brentford    Premier League        5th                       -
2024/25   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2025/26   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2026/27   Brentford    Premier League        3rd                       -
2027/28   Brentford    Premier League       13th                       -
2028/29   Brentford    Premier League        4th               Carabao Cup Winners
2029/30   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          FA Cup Winners, Champion's League Runners Up
2030/31   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          Community Shield & Champion's League Winners
2031/32   Brentford    Premier League         -             European Super Cup Winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031/32     Lazio        Serie A             12th                      -
2032/33     Lazio        Serie A             2nd                       -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

SkyBet Championship - 2021/22 (Brentford)
Carabao Cup - 2028/29 (Brentford)
FA Cup - 2029/30 (Brentford)
Community Shield - 2030/31 (Brentford)
Champions League - 2030/31 (Brentford)
European Super Cup - 2031/32 (Brentford)

Max Bruz Champions League Wins - 1

2030/31 - Brentford (England)

AI Champions League Wins - 2

2022/23 - Manchester City (England)
2024/25 - Atletico Madrid (Spain)

 

[Cardiovascular]

End of Pre-Season

We didn't lose any first teamers this summer, let a whole host of youngsters go out on loan and picked up fees for players who weren't going to make the cut. Only 34 year old centre back Erick Ferigra left at the end of his contract, and goalkeeper Audero retired at 37.

Didn't need a huge amount, Ferigra would need replaced at the back and competition would be required for Kadlec following Audero's retirement. Blanco arrived first following his successful loan spell, we activated the £8.5m fee to make him ours.

Gogniev was our one and only non-EU arrival this summer, he arrives as a pretty good looking goalkeeper and might push Kadlec to the bench,

Salazar is a tidy youngster to probably take the left wing spot in the team, he actually turned down permanent switches to Valencia and Milan to join us on loan, which hopefully we can turn into a permanent signing at some stage. Providing he's good of course.

Potocnik is a really good youngster, will be around the first team this season and hopefully continues to develop.

Janota was the final signing but he didn't come without his troubles, for one he demanded to play as a Segundo Volante which I had no idea about. Rejigged the formation a little and he scored twice on his debut  

European Update

We were 4th seeds in the draw and we suffered for it, pretty brutal draw. We'll do well to get third.

 

[Cardiovascular]

End of October

We started off with a dismantling of Crotone before losing to Sassuolo who are quickly becoming a bit of a bogey team for us. September brought an unbeaten month but our away form was costing us points as we failed to beat Cagliara then Inter - top of the league at the time - but we battered Verona and Roma at home to make things a little better.

October was superb, three clean sheets and ten goals scored sees us playing some good football, despite the toil of midweek football some weeks. Salazar in particular has found some really good form.

Top of the table! Juve have had a shocking start and have already lost the same amount of games as they did in the entire last season. And one draw away from equalling last season's record too. Milan are top with us, but our fantastic goal difference sees them below us.

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Our group was tough on paper but we opened with two strong wins at home to give ourselves a cracking shot at progression. Bayern, as suspected, were a step ahead of us in the away tie but we gave them a good game at home and a 90th minute equaliser saw us pick up a valuable point. Facing City in England was always going to be difficult but Marseille did us a huge favour by holding Bayern to a draw, then on the final group day City would also draw with Bayern while we defeated Marseille meaning...

We went through as group winners! Marseille taking four points off Bayern was really the key to us qualifying.

Sevilla is probably the second kindest draw we could've received behind Porto.

[Cardiovascular]

End of January

Looks good with just one loss but when you dig deeper and notice where we dropped points, it's frustrating. Beaten Juventus & Napoli only to lose at home to Brescia and draw with Crotone and Sassuolo, it's annoying to say the least. It's allowed our rivals to catch up on us at the top of the league, and our run of form currently is terrible with just one win in five in the league.

The Italian Cup sees us start at a later round due to our European involvement, and we beat Atalanta just about and then squeezed by Torino on penalties in a game which saw us down to ten men for the majority of it. So good result. Juventus would then go on to smack us about a bit, but we do have a second leg to try and rectify that result.

Still top, but we're being surrounded by sharks. We need to steady the ship immediately on we could go as low as fifth very quickly.

Transfers

A young goalkeeper left, and Cedric Mayombo was out of favour and moved to Levante for a sizable fee.

We agreed a pre-contract for Fausto Ghirardi to join us from Inter Milan in the summer, and a lack of goals from our attackers saw us move to make the switch permanent now for £3.1m. He's a very nice looking player and hopefully he can assist us to the league title! Or, more importantly, European glory!

Also agreed pre-contracts with Dionisio Salazar who is already on loan to us and a wonderkid from France! Wanted to sign him now but his club want alot of money for someone we're getting for free in six months.

 

S

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

This was dreadful. Less said about it, the better.

[Cardiovascular]

Our form may currently be poor, but at least we're not Roma

 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

Pathetic. Glad that's over. We've a long way to go before becoming competitive at this stage, clearly.

[deltablue]

Wow, that was a thumping for Roma!

[Cardiovascular]

On 22/07/2021 at 09:44, deltablue said:

Wow, that was a thumping for Roma!

Quite! mind you our Champions League result wasn't much better so maybe I should keep my mouth shut  

[Cardiovascular]

Spoiler alert for the end of season update, but 

[thefmveteran86]

2 hours ago, Cardiovascular said:

Spoiler alert for the end of season update, but 

What is the logos you use and skin? and congrats on the title win

[Cardiovascular]

1 hour ago, thefmveteran86 said:

What is the logos you use and skin? and congrats on the title win

 

Thank you! The skin is just the default dark with the only change being attribute colours. I think the logos are the Metallic logos pack from sortitoutsi

[thefmveteran86]

3 minutes ago, Cardiovascular said:

 

Thank you! The skin is just the default dark with the only change being attribute colours. I think the logos are the Metallic logos pack from sortitoutsi

Thanks man

[Cardiovascular]

End of Season

We hit a massive rough patch in late February and early March and I was really shocked to find we were still in the race come the end of that month. A change in formation and dropping Milo - who hadn't found the net in a ridiculous amount of games - resulted in the turnaround beginning at SPAL. Milo would regain his place in the team and do a fair bit of damage in April, more goals than almost the rest of the season combined. But in the end, with good victories over Milan, Juve and a title decider v Napoli, we probably deserved to be champions in the end. The last game vs Bologna was merely a formality, we had to match Napoli's result to win. In the end, we won and they lost vs Juventus and Serie A was ours for the first time in 34 years.

We won at home versus Juventus but they turfed us out on aggregate score as they'd go on to lift the Italian Cup.

Juventus had an awful season after hitting 100 points last year - we potentially owe a lot to them for that.

Key Players

Salazar was my personal favourite this year (our GK won fans player of the year) as he was excellent down the left or the right and chipped in with 16 goals (joint top with Milo) and 11 assists, one behind Murat. Great season, delighted we're getting him for buttons in July too.

Yosthin Bello was shifted from central midfield to centre back this year in a bold move that ultimately paid off - he was a rock at the back. Even got himself a couple of goals towards the end of the season too. His versatility is so handy as well.

Murat was terrific again this year, with fourteen goals and twelve assists to his name. Moved about from AMC to MC, he took either position in his stride and even popped up with a hattrick in a crucial game against Brescia in the run in. Very good player. 

[Cardiovascular]

European Update

In an almost romantic storyline, while I was winning the Italian top flight, Brentford went and won the Premier League! Pleased to see they haven't crumbled after we left.

This was a nightmare final for us as either winner were going to be first timers - in the end, PSG just about trumped somewhat surprising finalists Sevilla who had a really terrific run.

Another somewhat surprising winner as Rennes of France defeated Liverpool in the final to take home the Europa League trophy for the first time. They've become a solid side in the French top flight and followed up from their runners up prize in this competition two years ago with the win this time round.

Arsenal are the team you'd pick to win the competition from looking at the pot for the second knockout round, and they did as they bulldozed their way past Beroe and Hearts, eeked by Genoa before thumping Brest in the final. Second time they've won this trophy after bringing it home ten years ago.

France brought possibly the biggest shock across Europe as PSG suffer their first league loss in 17 years - worth it for the Champions League? Probably. Great season from Lyon.

It was Dortmund who'd win the leagued in Germany by six points from Bayern who had looked to be back on top for the past three years. 

Barcelona win again in Spain but good work from Sevilla, perhaps buoyed by their European run, to break 90 points too. They could find themselves in contention sooner rather than later.

[Cardiovascular]

Career Overview

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club        League             Position            Achievements/Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   Brentford    Championship          10th                      -
2021/22   Brentford    Championship          1st                   Champions
2022/23   Brentford    Premier League        10th                      -
2023/24   Brentford    Premier League        5th                       -
2024/25   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2025/26   Brentford    Premier League        4th                       -
2026/27   Brentford    Premier League        3rd                       -
2027/28   Brentford    Premier League       13th                       -
2028/29   Brentford    Premier League        4th               Carabao Cup Winners
2029/30   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          FA Cup Winners, Champion's League Runners Up
2030/31   Brentford    Premier League        2nd          Community Shield & Champion's League Winners
2031/32   Brentford    Premier League         -             European Super Cup Winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031/32     Lazio        Serie A             12th                      -
2032/33     Lazio        Serie A             2nd                       -
2033/34     Lazio        Serie A             1st                 Serie A winners
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

SkyBet Championship - 2021/22 (Brentford)
Carabao Cup - 2028/29 (Brentford)
FA Cup - 2029/30 (Brentford)
Community Shield - 2030/31 (Brentford)
Champions League - 2030/31 (Brentford)
European Super Cup - 2031/32 (Brentford)

Serie A - 2033/34 (Lazio)

Max Bruz Champions League Wins - 1

2030/31 - Brentford (England)

AI Champions League Wins - 3

2022/23 - Manchester City (England)
2024/25 - Atletico Madrid (Spain)
2033/34 - Paris St Germain (France)

The AI restore their two trophy lead...

[Cardiovascular]

2034/35 Pre-Season

Main outgoings were all backups, Miccio, Dobelle and Deana were all squad members who fetched us just shy of £26m in total. A few young players left for transfers and some left on loans to lower Serie A sides and Serie B sides. Ndrecka, Buongiorno and Kristensen all left from the first team when their contracts expired.

A few shrewd signings here in humble opinion on free transfers. Missed out on a couple of big money targets, a left back who went to Man Utd and an 18 year old central midfielder who chose Brentford over us heartbreakingly. Haven't screenshotted Salazar as we know what he looks like from the end of season update.

Soumahoro joins us on a free as a highly talented youngster from Red Star in France where he's had a solid career so far. Hopefully he carries on that form here.

Medranda is another highly talented young player who joins on a free, he's moved to lower top flight side SPAL for the season though.

Another highly rated youngster as the wonderfully named Fox Andersson joins us for just shy of £5m. Finally we have some good competition between Milo, Soumahoro and the Fox up front.

We needed depth at centre back and Sabbioni represented a cheap, talented homegrown option who fits our style of play.

With Ndrecka leaving, we required competition for Fazzini at left back and we got it in the shape of Lars Buchmann. A solid enough player who can fight for a starting spot.

Our big money signing was Lennert Vanneste. I spent alot of time looking for a right winger to upgrade on Campos on the right, but Vanneste was available meaning we could utilise Salazar on the right instead. Vanneste also capable of playing there, so he's a versatile player too. Excited to see him play here,

Andries is someone I tried to sign when he was 17, then 18 and finally we got our man. He's another youngster who hopefully will develop well with the U20's this season.

European Update

CL draw sees us pair up with Sevilla which will be a tough one. Porto and Celtic make up the group, I think our chances of progression are pretty high.