Einmal Löwe, immer Löwe - a(nother) 1860 story

[Dalbeider]

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.

[Dalbeider]

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...

[Dalbeider]

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.

[Dalbeider]

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.

[Dalbeider]

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.

[Dalbeider]

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.

[Dalbeider]

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.

[Dalbeider]

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.

Edited April 8 by Dalbeider

[Sizeman21]

Great final there, Dalbeider. die Löwen are definitely a force to be reckoned with now. Knocking the Gunners out in a final is no easy task. Good work! 

[Dalbeider]

 @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.

[Dalbeider]

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.

[oche balboa]

Keep this going mate, Good work

[Dalbeider]

@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)

[Dalbeider]

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.

[Dalbeider]

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.

[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...

[Dalbeider]

Aug 20th 2030

Schulze's two goals earn him a place in the Team of the Week.

Aug 21st 2030

Another loan for Leacock, this time in the Eredivisie playing for Groningen, where he's expected to be an important player and keep improving. They pay most of his wages, which is relevant in this case as Leacock's contract is on the high end for a prospect. It's also a long one, until June 2034, so we're not in any hurry to get any immediate value out of him and we can afford to be patient.

Aug 24th 2030

TSV 1860 München vs. Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga, 2/34)

First home match against a team that bordered the relegation zone last season, and we're already feeling a bit of the pressure that comes with having high expectations. Our draw in Freiburg combined with the Dortmund-Bayern combo awaiting us in the coming weeks means anything less than a win today could spell disaster for our campaign this early on. We'll need to be sharper when it comes to finishing if we're to have a comfortable game today.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
EINTRACHT (3-2-2-1-2): André Gomes (GK); Jamil Siebert (DCr), Heinz Mosch (DC), Jackson Porozo (DCl); Shurandy Sambo (WBR), Nico Elvedi (WBL); Guilherme Santos (MCr), Toma Basic (MCl); André Franco (AMC); Datro Fofana (STr); Joe Gelhardt (STl)

* * *

Most of our starters are restored to the lineup today, with Palomeque taking Schulze's place to see if his good form in the cup was a fluke or a new reality for the Colombian. Eintracht keep the same shape and many of the same players from last year, so they probably should've seen us coming, but they didn't: five minutes in Miranda completes a good team play with a great ball into space for Caraballo, and the forward places his shot perfectly to beat Gomes and give us an early lead. That's improvement already, for sure.

Our goal precedes a long period in which Eintracht fail to provide any reaction and we just let time pass until we find another good chance. We finally do so in the 19th minute, with Palomeque sending a pinpoint cross from the right and Rijkhoff heading it narrowly over the bar. A blocked long shot by Palomeque comes next, but it's hard to create danger against an Eintracht side that still wants to defend with basically everything. With lots of patience we keep passing the ball around, and Caraballo eventually spots a way with a good pass towards Javorcic, who runs into the box and shoots into Gomes' save. Nothing else after that, but at least we're ahead and not looking like losing our lead anytime soon.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Just like in the first half we create danger almost from the get go, this time with Javorcic assisting down the right flank and Palomeque shooting from a difficult angle into Gomes' body. In the 48th minute Rodríguez finds Miranda on the left side of the box, and the attacking midfielder crosses unopposed to an equally unmarked Caraballo, who only needs to put his foot in to score the 2-0. We know this is our moment so we keep pushing for another, and only four minutes later Palomeque tries a dangerous cross that the keeper is forced to punch away, but only as far as Rodríguez, who jumps high to intercept and head the ball into the empty net.

After that quickfire double we take the foot off the gas for a while, knowing that Eintracht don't have the will nor the quality to give us any kind of consistent trouble. In the 60th minute we give the game a small burst of speed with a 25 yard effort by Touré that Gomes saves well, and not much later Schulze and Neves replace Miranda and Palomeque, both excellent today, just before Rodríguez sends over the bar a direct free kick from over thirty yards away.

Eintracht finally give Kretzschmar something to do in the 64th minute a set piece that Porozo heads straight at the keeper, and soon after Casas replaces a very solid Ernesto to give him some rest. Rodríguez smashes another free kick into the fence, but otherwise it's a quite calm game in this final stretch, with only a weak header by Schulze in the 86th minute to give the fans something to cheer about. Schulze also creates a chance for Caraballo to grab himself a hattrick in the 89th, but the forward can't finish the low cross properly and Gomes knocks the ball behind. There's no need for more, and the game ends in a comfortable win for us, for a change.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Rodrigo Caraballo 5 48, Jair Rodríguez 52)
Eintracht Frankfurt 0

- - -

No contest today. Eintracht came to defend and did it properly enough, except for the fact that they conceded five minutes in and that blew their game plan into the stratosphere. They couldn't adapt, so all we had to do was keep the ball, lay siege to their goal, and have patience. It paid off, for once. Great game for Caraballo and Miranda, and Palomeque already has more positive contributions than in all of the previous season put together. Might we have another Marcos Paulo-style resurrection in our hands? We'll see... Incidentally, this was Kretzschmar's 300th appearance for 1860, a record that might become hard to match in the future if he stays with us after next week.

[Dalbeider]

Aug 26th 2030

One week left in the transfer window and still no movement in either direction. We may actually get through the whole thing unscathed!

Aug 27th 2030

...Says I, twenty-four hours before PSG come with a €42M offer for Caraballo. Low offer given his value, so rejected, but I expect them to return at some point, or the player to force the issue.

Aug 29th 2030

More offers, this time for Palomeque and from Hamburg, a paltry €13.5M for a player that's not even interested in joining HSV. Nope. We just got more than that for reaching the Champions League groups, no way we're selling him this cheap now that he's starting to play well.

On that topic, the draw for the group stage of the Champions League is held today, and that's an extremely important draw since it'll give us a reliable hint of how likely we are to fulfill expectations in the competition. The good news is that our exploits in the Europa League last season have given us a place among the first seeds, which should guarantee an easier draw on paper. We're drawn into group H, together with Liverpool (ow), Nice (nice), and Villarreal (not easy at all). A pretty rough group given the alternatives, while Leipzig for example got drawn with Inter, Shakhtar, and FC Midtjylland. Oh well, we'll do our best, I'd say we have a shot at least at the second place, and we could aim for the third as a consolation prize if everything else fails.

Aug 30th 2030

International window incoming! Schulze and Kretzschmar remain in the senior German team's roster after the World Cup, and both might have a chance to get their debuts. Otherwise it's the usual, with the big news being Katic's presence in the U19 German side. And apparently the press are calling him "the next Miroslav Klose" now? Huh.

Aug 31st 2030

Borussia Dortmund vs. TSV 1860 München (Bundesliga, 3/34)

And suddenly we're playing title deciders already. Both Dortmund and us have four points to our name so far, and since Emery took over we haven't lost to them, so this is not the nightmare fixture it used to be anymore. It's still a very tough game in which we'll do well to get a positive result, though.

* * *

DORTMUND (4-3-3): Gregor Kobel (GK); Malo Gusto (DR), Mohamed Simakan (DCr), Niklas Süle (DCl), Arthur Theate (DL); Angelo Stiller (DM), Kacper Kozlowski (MCr), Hannibal (MCl); Matteo Cancellieri (AMR), Giovanni Reyna (AML), Luka Jovic (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Ian Amador (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Tomislav Javorcic (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

We try to keep the core of the team that won against Eintracht, with only a few changes in the lineup to keep the minutes shared mostly equally among our starting-worthy players. Few changes in Dortmund's lineup compared to last season, too, with Cancellieri in Chukwueze's place the most notable one. We get off to a great start, with Javorcic setting up a quick attack within the first minute with a long ball towards Özcan, who controls and assists Caraballo only for the false nine to shoot wide when everyone was expecting a goal. 

Possession in the early minutes is mostly Dortmund's, although they keep it in their own half for the most part and we look more dangerous when we do get the chance to attack. Proof of this concept comes in the tenth minute, with Miranda assisting Özcan with a quick through ball only for the striker to mishit his finish and send the ball wide. Dortmund's first approach arrives three minutes later and ends in a beautiful header into the back of the net by Cancellieri, thankfully disallowed due to offside. Things start leveling off play-wise as Dortmund start getting out of their own half more frequently, and the following minutes devolve into a midfield battle with little danger on either end of it.

Kretzschmar has some work to do in the 26th minute when he needs to parry a dangerous direct free kick by Hannibal, then watches as Cancellieri heads a cross by Theate over the bar three minutes later. The game seems to become more yellow-colored with each passing minute, but chances dry out after those two and we reach the end of the first half with the keepers looking a bit bored, and of course without any goals.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Not much happens in the early minutes of the second half, either, even though we seem to be regaining a certain degree of control over the game flow. In the 57th Schulze appears in the game for the first time to send a good pass ahead of Özcan, who tries a long-range finish and sends his shot into the crossbar, immediately waking up the whole stadium. Four minutes later it's Theate who tries luck from very far away, sending a missile Kretzschmar's way for the keeper to block and deflect wide. Neves and Palomeque enter the game then, replacing Rodríguez and Schulze, just in time to see Theate win the jump over Casas in a corner kick and head the ball into the net for the 1-0.

Meunier comes in for Thiago to try and make our midfield a bit more creative, but now Dortmund have a firm grasp on the game and deny us any quick chances, then create one of their own in the 70th with a long pass towards Cancellieri, who gets ahead of Javorcic but is stopped in the end by Kretzschmar. That corner kick almost turns into another goal, but thankfully Amador blocks Süle's finish following a nod by Theate. Cancellieri creates more danger in the 75th with a run into the box, but Javorcic chases him and blocks his finish after the winger had dribbled his way past Kretzschmar's opposition. The play continues with Neves launching a quick counterattack with a long pass towards Özcan, who makes his way into the box but smashes the ball into Kobel's body.

One minute later the goalkeeper saves his team once again, this time following a low cross by Özcan towards Caraballo, who hits it first time with power but little precision. A good recovery in midfield allows us another chance in the 77th, but this time it's Palomeque who miskicks his finish and the ball rolls harmlessly into Kobel's hands. We've managed to turn things around and we enter the final ten minutes looking good, but Dortmund tighten up and stop our flow of chances at the right moment, and despite our best attempts we can't get another one before the game ends. A shame.

* * *

Borussia Dortmund 1 (Arthur Theate 61)
TSV 1860 München 0

- - -

Tough luck. This was a very tightly contested game, with both teams alternating in control and generating chances, but in the end Dortmund got lucky to score in that one corner kick and we couldn't make our chances count. Should've been a draw, really. Kinda worrying that neither Rijkhoff nor Özcan have managed to score even a single goal so far, hm. The Bundesliga reaches its third date with Fortuna as the surprising leaders and zero teams on nine out of nine points, which is rare.

[Dalbeider]

Sep 2nd 2030

It's time. The transfer window shuts down today, and I'm ready to see half of our starters be poached out at the last minute as we're left to scramble to find replacements. Isn't that always fun? Rijkhoff to Benfica seems to be one of the headline rumors coming into the final hours of the window, for example.

The first two offers come in quickly. First is Everton offering a ridiculous part-exchange deal for Caraballo that is rejected outright, but the second one is more serious: Bayern offer €23.5M for Amador, and the player obviously is very keen on the move. With his release clause at €30M we don't have much room to negotiate, but we manage to get the next best thing: €29M, half of them in yearly installments, and a 30% of future profits for a player that's a) likely to improve his value while in Bayern, and b) unlikely to be a starter for them unless Kimmich retires tomorrow. This leaves us with a bit under €30M to find a replacement, although we're not exactly in a rush since, worst case scenario, we can just use Althoff as a first-team backup and move Ball full time to the right as Javorcic's rotation option.

Not happy with taking away our best right back, Bayern return with a very lowball offer of €38M for Caraballo. Strangely enough, while he is of course interested in a move, the forward isn't as gung-ho about making the deal a reality as Amador was, so we're free to reject the offer without fear of unsettling him. Don't expect this to be the last time we have to do this today, though...

Amador's replacement finally arrives from Dortmund in a transfer worth €13.5M plus a 30% of future profits. The name is Lukas Hauptmann, he's 18 years old and an U21 international for Austria, and can play as both a (defensive-minded) right back and a center back. He's a bet for the future alongside Touré and Althoff, but also like them extremely likely to become a reality, as he's already good enough to be a rotation player on either position for us. He doesn't expect much playing time in this first year, so we'll be free to alternate him and Althoff as our backup full backs while giving more starting playing time to Ball, another youngster hungering for minutes. A good deal all in all, since not only does it cover our right back right now, but also the center in case Lang ends up leaving in the end.

Meanwhile the offers keep coming, with Monaco lowballing us for Stjepanovic with a €15.25M offer we reject outright, and Bayern returning for Caraballo with a €45.5M bid, closer to his actual value but still a nope. It'll take something much bigger than that for us to sell one of our best players to our main rivals, and just a couple of weeks before playing them, too.

Well, Bayern are getting serious now: €55M plus 20% of future profits for Caraballo. This is worth negotiating at least, and we ask them to raise it to €70M and a 30% of future profits, plus requiring us to find a replacement before the window ends in order for the deal to go through. Their answer is to withdraw, which is just fine for us.

One hour to go, and it's time to get things done. Arminia want to loan Althoff which, honestly, is probably a better idea from the player's perspective than keeping him with us just for the occasional game off the bench. We accept, and trust Hauptmann to do a good job in that role. We can always recall Althoff come winter if need be. Meanwhile Lazio try a loan offer for Basualdo, offering a decent monthly fee plus most of his wages and a cheeky €7.5M fee to buy him permanently after playing 25 games for them. Not good, because it doesn't give us any money right now to replace him, and we need him to rotate with Caraballo, so nope, sorry.

Then there's Bayern: €67M plus 20% of future profits for Caraballo, non-negotiable. We've been working on a replacement deal all day long, so we accept and hope we can finish the deal before the end of the window.

But it's too late, both for us and for Bayern. Both Caraballo's and his replacement's transfers can't make the cut before the transfer window shuts down, so both stay in their teams for the time being. So in the end we lost Amador and replaced him with a young backup. Not ideal, but it could've been worse.

And it does become worse, as we're suddenly reminded that the German transfer window is one of the few that close at 6 PM, and other windows in Europe are still ongoing: Lazio offer €7.5M for Lang, who had been promised previously that we'd consider any and all offers coming for him, so we can't really reject it outright. What we can do, though, is negotiate to a value noticeably higher than his market value, perfectly justified given the situation we're in, so we ask for €20M instead. They of course withdraw, and while Lang isn't happy at first he quickly realizes our reasoning and drops the issue until the next transfer window. All's well that ends well, for now.

Sep 5th 2030

Caraballo gets an assist in his first international game with Venezuela in a while, although despite it being a decisive one in a 0-1 win against Australia, his overall performance was pretty average. All our youth internationals have pretty good performances, while the best of our seniors is Javorcic with a merely solid defensive show against Ukraine.

Sep 8th 2030

The second round of games start once again with Caraballo, this time grabbing himself a goal in a 1-1 draw against Jamaica. Katic also gets a goal with Germany U19, while others like Beltramone or Rijkhoff have good games without impacting the scoreboard. A relatively uneventful international window all things considered.

Sep 14th 2030

TSV 1860 München (8th) vs. FC Bayern München (2nd) (Bundesliga, 4/34)

Welp, here we go again... Another Münchner Derby, another chance to finally break our horrible streak against our neighbors and finally get one over them. We're in a good place regardless of our loss to Dortmund last time, and Bayern haven't looked as unbeatable in recent years. Except when they play against us, of course... I have a good feeling about this one, though, might be the first time I feel we can try and face Bayern on equal terms. Well, equal-ish.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
BAYERN (4-2-3-1): Aaron Ramsdale (GK); Joshua Kimmich (DR), Dayot Upamecano (DCr), Jonathan Tah (DCl), Ian Amador (DL); Sandro Tonali (MCr), Diogo Henrique (MCl); Deivid (AMR), Kai Havertz (AMC), Ansu Fati (AML); Yousouffa Moukoko (ST)

* * *

Feels weird seeing Amador in a red shirt, but alas. It's also weird seeing him starting on the left back, but hey, Nagelsmann knows what he's doing, probably. Otherwise Bayern look quite similar to our last meeting, with only Tah and Henrique as new faces. We also keep our core from our last outing, with just a couple like-for-like changes. Of course Bayern start attacking, getting an early header by Deivid in a corner kick that goes over the bar, but we soon manage to contain them and start pushing back a bit, giving Ramsdale something to do in the ninth minute thanks to a good Rijkhoff assist and a decent finish by Caraballo.

Things remain quite even for a while, but in the 16th minute Bayern do what they always do: take their chances. Corner kick taken by Kimmich, Havertz jumps over his marker, and it's the 0-1. We don't look discouraged afterwards, though, and soon we're striking back with a beautiful, quick combination through the center by Miranda, Rijkhoff, and Rodríguez, finished by the Mexican and once again stopped by Ramsdale with a good save. Another quick passing play in the 26th brings the ball through Meunier to Rodríguez near the edge of the box, and the young midfielder shows his quality with a beautiful 20-yarder that Ramsdale can't do anything against to restore the balance on the scoreboard.

Now it's Bayern who look a bit taken aback, and we take the chance to steal possession and start dominating (dominating!) the game for real. A good chance comes from this in the 34th minute, when a pass by Schulze eludes Rijkhoff but reaches Miranda inside the box, his finish deflected wide by the keeper. Bayern respond with their first shot after their goal three minutes later, a low, placed effort by Fati that Kretzschmar barely manages to tip wide. Upamecano then sees the keeper grab his finish in the corner kick, denying them a second goal from set pieces, which we follow with a long pass from Touré towards Rijkhoff that the striker finishes with a stylish lob over Ramsdale, who backtracks just in time to swat the ball away from the goal line.

We've been the better team in the first half so far, which makes what happens in the 42nd minute sting even more: Amador, who else, gathers the ball on the left and crosses towards the far post, where Deivid jumps unopposed to head it in for the 1-2. We keep trying afterwards, but Bayern hold on to their lead until the referee calls for half time.

HALF TIME - 1-2

Nothing much changes in the second half, and soon enough we break through the center once again with Rijkhoff assisting Rodríguez, who this time rushes into his finish and shoots well over the bar. In the 51st we try again with a quick passing play involving our whole attacking unit and finishes by Miranda, once again stopped by the always dependable Ramsdale. Things soon slow down, though, with Bayern managing to plug the holes in their defense for the next ten minutes.

A looping header by Rijkhoff in the 61st minute gives Ramsdale a bit of a scare, and the keeper has to resort to a punch when it looked like an easy grab. That's the striker's last action of the game, though, as Özcan soon takes his place. Then Bayern get a corner kick out of nowhere and almost score a third, although this time Tah's header hits the crossbar and bounces away from danger. Ball and Neves for Touré and Miranda are our last substitutions, as the game enters another lull leading into the final twenty minutes.

Things remain quiet for a while longer, with only a direct free kick that Rodríguez smashes into the fence in the 77th as a small dose of excitement. What happens three minutes later more than makes up for it, though, when Neves intercepts a terrible horizontal pass by Diogo Henrique twenty-five yards away from goal, and the Portuguese doesn't hesitate to shoot straight after controlling, bending an absolute beauty into the top corner to draw the game once again. The following minutes see both teams wanting the winner, but neither willing to overcommit and throw away the point. The next chance doesn't come until injury time, a wide finish by substitute Tunay Can from just inside the area, and that's also the last action on either goal. A different result for a very different derby.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 2 (Jair Rodríguez 26, Joao Neves 80)
FC Bayern München 2 (Kai Havertz 16, Deivid 42)

- - -

Feels weird to say, but we deserved more than a draw today. Losing the first half was an absolute travesty considering how well we played, but we've known for a while that Bayern need very little to rip you apart. For once, though, we didn't crumble in the face of their lethal goalscoring prowess, and we faced them head-on and actually got something out of it. Two scorchers by Rodríguez and impact sub specialist Neves mean we can be proud of our performance while at the same time not feeling too hard done by the result. First time we score two against Bayern, too! This feels like a turning point, really.

[Dalbeider]

Sep 17th 2030

Neves earns himself a place in the Team of the Week thanks to his screamer off the bench against Bayern.

Sep 18th 2030

Villarreal C.F. vs. TSV 1860 München (Champions League group H, 1/6)

And into the Champions League we go, fresh out of a reinvigorating performance and result against our rivals and once again starting our European campaign in Spain. Villarreal are a team I've always had a lot of sympathy with, thanks to becoming a major force in Spanish football despite being based in a relatively small city and with theoretically more powerful teams in the vicinity, they've started their season with four out of four draws in the league. In theory the weakest opposition in our group, they'll still be tough to beat.

* * *

VILLARREAL (4-4-2): Javier Belman (GK); Juan Foyth (DR), Jorge Cuenca (DCr), Pau Torres (DCl), Francisco Ortega (DL); Michael Olise (MR), Edson Álvarez (MCr), Mohammed Kudus (MCl), Ferran Jutglà (ML); André Silva (STr), Gorka Sesma (STl)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

Rexhepi returns to the sticks in Europe after missing the deciding part of our successful Europa League campaign, given another chance to show he can perform at this stage. We otherwise rotate the squad as mandated by the calendar, with a trip to Bremen coming in only three days, and we also give new arrival Hauptmann his first minutes as a starter. We draw first blood with a long range attempt by Ball that sails well over the crossbar of Belman's goal, then it's Neves who tests the keeper for real after a break through the center in the 11th minute, well answered with a block into a corner kick which ends in another high ball from distance, this time by Lang.

Things look good enough for us, but soon Sesma gives us a reason to worry with a quick run past Lang and a dangerous shot that Rexhepi tips over with a good save. The keeper then has to work overtime to block a header by Álvarez in the corner kick, and suddenly we're on the back foot. Torres is next with another corner kick header, this one over the bar, but after this we finally get things back under control, preventing any further scares in the following minutes. Not like we do anything worthwhile in attack in the meantime, though.

That hard work almost goes to waste in the 27th when Ball gives the ball away in midfield and prompts a counterattack that Lang fails to stop, but which Stjepanovic eventually solves with a strong block when Sesma looks like a certainty to score. We finally return to action six minutes later, with Miranda assisting Özcan inside the box only for the striker to smash his finish against Belman's body, but at least it's something. After another good-looking attack in which Miranda ends up crossing into no one at all, Villarreal mount a quick counterattack that ends with the ball on the right wing for Foyth, who passes it low into the box and allos André Silva to score the 1-0 with a placed finish Rexhepi really should've done better with. The rest of the first half brings no further news, and we reach the halfway point deservedly behind.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Not much happens in the first ten minutes of the second half either, eventually broken by a good effort from distance by Basualdo that Belman has to stretch to his limit to block. The forward has a much better chance one minute later after a quick one-two through the center with Palomeque which he wastes with a terribly wide finish when free of any pressure from the defence. He is therefore replaced soon after, together with Ball and Neves, and with Caraballo, Javorcic, and Rodríguez coming in their places.

The substitutions seem to work, and soon enough Miranda puts Belman in trouble with a direct free kick the keeper can't catch, although in the end Özcan's follow-up is deflected over by a defender. Miranda is once again in the spotlight after a great assist from Palomeque in the 68th minute, although his finish isn't good enough to surprise the keeper and all we get from it is a corner kick that Lang heads over. We are doing much better, though, and we're deserving the draw more and more as time passes.

Rodríguez tries luck with another direct free kick in the 75th, this one going quite far from the target, but afterwards it's Villarreal who give us a real scare with a header by Silva after a series of rebounds inside the box, thankfully cleared away before it became a real problem. Our desperate push in the final minutes generates very little worth of mention, and in the end we stumble into defeat as a poor start to our European campaign.

* * *

Villarreal C.F. 1 (André Silva 35)
TSV 1860 München 0

- - -

That was quite bad, yep. Never really got going today, our attack was on-and-off at the best of times and our midfield couldn't really dominate like we're used to. What worries me is our strikers, though, still on zero goals scored after all this time, and Caraballo is the only of our four forwards who's managed to put the ball into the net so far. We need better from both Özcan and Rijkhoff, and quickly. Hauptmann was quite solid, though, nice debut for the kid.

[Dalbeider]

Sep 19th 2030

The kids' start of their European campaign is much better than ours, stealing a 2-2 draw from Villarreal with Katic scoring one of the two.

Sep 21st 2030

SV Werder Bremen (17th) vs. TSV 1860 München (11th) (Bundesliga, 5/34)

Rolling back the years today. This is Werder's first year in the Bundesliga after their relegation back in 2021, which is certainly a far cry from their past success in the competition which even includes a title in 2004 and two second places not much later. It's also our first meeting with them after our brief two-year stay in the 2.Bundesliga, and it's a meeting we should be getting a win from. We can't afford to drop many more points in the league if we're to keep pace with the leaders, and I'm sure the board won't appreciate it if our current position remains so much longer...

* * *

WERDER BREMEN (3-2-2-1-2): Julian Faye Lund (GK); Jacek Winiarczyk (DCr), Eduard Löwen (DC), David Kinsombi (DCl); Francisco Machado (WBR), Moussa Djénépo (WBL); Luis Rojas (MCr), Ángelo Aires (MCl); Parfait Guiagon (AMC); Luc Ihorst (STr); Mateusz Muniak (STl)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Joao Neves (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Werder's attacking 3-5-2 formation has only brought them a single point so far, but it'll still be a pain to deal with. We have a full week of rest after this fixture, so we can afford to go all in today, and we bring back almost the whole eleven that played so well against Bayern with only Miranda resting. This results in an early first shot by Caraballo that Faye Lund holds well, but which bodes even better for our immediate future. Even better is Caraballo's chance in the seventh minute following a steal by Neves and a pass into space by Rijkhoff, but when everyone expected the first of the evening we had to watch the ball bounce off the root of the post instead.

The game slows down by a lot after those two early blows, much to Werder's delight I'm sure. In the 18th minute Neves finally finds a wide corridor to move into a shoot through, but Faye Lund answers with another solid stop. Afterwards, lots of possession and very little in the way of shots at goal until the 31st minute, in which Rijkhoff squanders a quality pass by Touré with a poor finish that makes the keeper's job way too easy. The left back himself tries luck three minutes later, but his shot from distance sails into the stands behind the goal.

Our best chance yet comes in the 38th, when a rare bout of creativity from Javorcic turns into a great pass ahead of Rodríguez, who tries a chip over the keeper only to see the ball hit the crossbar and bounce clear of danger. Then, mere seconds later, Werder mount an almost as rare attack down the right, Machado crosses towards Ihorst, and the striker breaks free from Stjepanovic and shoots placed and powerful to show our forwards how it's done, scoring the 1-0. And it almost becomes even worse when Löwen, still with a perfect name, hits the outside of the post with his direct free kick in the 43rd minute. Somehow, we're behind at half time.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Eight minutes into the second half we finally get a break: Schulze drives into the box and is brought down by Djénépo for a penalty kick. Neves, however, decides to blast it with power through the center and Faye Lund decides to, well, not move, thus saving the penalty and digging our hole just a little bit deeper. It's time for substitutions, then, and Casas, Miranda, and Özcan are brought in to try and salvage something out of this disaster.

The next shot is for Muniak, following a simple nod-it-back-and-run template that still needs Kretzschmar going down to save to prevent any further shenanigans. Miranda answers with a well-placed direct free kick that Faye Lund tips wide, then a second one that goes narrowly over, already in the 67th minute. Ihorst almost makes it two for two then, chasing a pass into space and only denied in the end by Casas's timely block. Caraballo misses another sitter in the 72nd following a nice nod by Özcan, his poor finish straight into the keeper's hands, and now we're starting to get a little bit desperate.

We continue our streak of incredible misses in the 76th, with Özcan once again providing and Schülze being the culprit this time, his shot blocked by Faye Lund when he had almost the whole goal available to him. Ten minutes later it's Miranda who volleys a nod by Schülze and finds both the crossbar and the keeper's fingers in the way. Then, finally, we manage to pass the ball along the edge of the ball from the right to the left until it reaches Touré and the youngster, unmarked, launches it into the top corner to score the 1-1. We keep trying for the winner, but after all those misses we can't really expect anything more from this game. A poor draw.

* * *

SV Werder Bremen 1 (Luc Ihorst 38)
TSV 1860 München 1 (Mahamadou Touré 87)

- - -

This was painful to watch. One of those days in which everything goes wrong and anything positive you get feels both too little and almost a miracle. Our forwards keep making every single opposing keeper look like Lev Yashin's reincarnation, and once again it fell to a defender to get the job done and, at least, prevent what would've been a very worrying defeat. Instead we get a mildly worrying draw, which isn't much better.

[Dalbeider]

Sep 24th 2030

Touré earns himself a spot on the Team of the Week thanks to his goal against Werder.

Sep 28th 2030

TSV 1860 München (9th) vs. Hamburger SV (12th) (Bundesliga, 6/34)

Not the best of starts for Hamburg either, currently tied on points with us in the very middle of the table and quite far from the European positions we're both supposed to occupy. That doesn't make either of us a bad team, though, and we know our history with HSV is spotty at best, so we'll need to show a much better version of ourselves today if we want to be the ones to snap out of this funk and start climbing.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)
HSV (4-2-3-1): Bekir Dereli (GK); Marcel Neigenfink (DR), Erik Trehkopf (DCr), Justin Janitzek (DCl), Idriss Viadère (DL); Burak Ince (MCr), Antonio Entrena (MCl); Xavier Amaechi (AMR), Tin Vrljicak (AMC), Dimitris Paligeorgos (AML); Mazinho (ST)

* * *

Hamburg come to our stadium today sporting a very fresh manager, someone you might've heard about called Thomas Tuchel. He just took over from Frank Schmidt after he decided to grab the vacant role in the German national team, also recently vacated by Klopp's move to Tottenham. Now that's a painful-looking one... Anyway, we need to rotate a bit today because Liverpool are coming to town in three days, which means players like Ball, Basualdo, and Palomeque have a chance to impress today.

Both teams try their best to hold the ball at first, although it's HSV who get the first shot at goal with a high header from Amaechi after a way too comfortable cross by Viadère. From there they build up a strong midfield presence, stealing the ball away from us for a long while with their high pressure, and that eventually yields benefits when Vrljicak steals the ball from Casas near the edge of our own box and quickly places a shot past Kretzschmar to score the 0-1 only eight minutes into the game. Yet our reaction is immediate, and only one minute later Palomeque intercepts a poor clearance and quickly assists Basualdo, who enters the box completely free of any pressure and calmly lobs the ball over Dereli to make things level once again.

The early goalfest continues in the thirteenth, and sadly it once again goes against us: corner kick taken by Amaechi towards Paligeorgos and the forward heads it in almost unopposed to restore HSV's lead. This time there's no immediate reaction, and only a timely challenge by Lang prevents Paligeorgos from scoring another six minutes later, while we keep struggling a lot with keeping possession of the ball. We finally show something in the 25th thanks to a good run by Rodríguez through the center and an even better pass towards Özcan, who tries the near post but sees Dereli's quick reaction sending the ball wide.

After that we finally start chaining some decent passing plays and start pushing HSV back a bit, but time passes without any action on either goal until the 43rd, when Kretzschmar gathers easily a weak header by Paligeorgos. Nothing else happens before the end of the first half.

HALF TIME - 1-2

Ball is an early victim of our bad first half, being immediately replaced by Hauptmann and moving Javorcic to the left. We don't see much immediate improvement, though, and the second half in fact starts with a huge scare when Mazinho sends Amaechi running alone into the box and the winger's chip hits the crossbar before going over. Other than that the game gets mired in midfield for a long while, and only a fantastic pass from deep by Thiago in the 59th minute manages to break the deadlock, finding Miranda's run into the box so the attacking midfielder can blast it in and score the 2-2.

Neves and Rijkhoff replace Rodríguez and Özcan then, and we try to capitalize on our better momentum to try and turn things around. And it works a treat, even if neither of them are involved. Instead it's Miranda who finds himself with space and time to think, then threads the needle through an impossible gap to find Palomeque inside the box so all the midfielder has to do is place it past Dereli to complete our comeback. Rijkhoff even has the chance to put it to sleep in the 71st following a horrible pass by Trehkopf setting up a quick counterattack, but it's still not the time for our strikers to get their first goal and Dereli tips his finish wide.

Tuchel moves to a 3-2-2-2-1 to try and compete with our overloaded center, but we counter that by ordering our midfielders to track back more and keep an eye on any forward runs. Don't try to use our own spells against us, Tuchel... A few minutes pass without any clear chances, going all the way until the 83rd when Casas tries a cheeky shot that Dereli dives into to save and hold without major issue. Rijkhoff then heads a cross by Miranda wide just seconds later, but afterwards the defenses manage to plug all the holes and the match slowly drifts into injury time under our complete control. Great comeback, and finally a win.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Jonatan Basualdo 9, Matías Miranda 59, Juan David Palomeque 64)
Hamburger SV 2 (Tin Vrljicak 8, Dimitris Paligeorgos 13)

- - -

How a single moment can define the result of a game, and maybe a season. If Amaechi had hit the net instead of the woodwork with that early second half chance we might very well have ended with another defeat and in a very difficult position. Instead we got saved by the crossbar, and then we mounted a fantastic comeback after a pretty bad first half to grab our first win in a while and, who knows, maybe finally get us started on our season for real. Palomeque continues with his remarkable turnaround season, Miranda remains fantastic as almost always, and now even Basualdo has grabbed a goal before either Özcan or Rijkhoff. Soon, I hope...

[Dalbeider]

Sep 29th 2030

Well then, looks like Touré is already turning heads nationwide with his performances, and he's in the discussion for a senior international callup with Germany. At nineteen years of age. Looks like we made a good decision splashing the cash on him last year, huh.

Oct 1st 2030

Miranda and Palomeque show up in the Team of the Week this time.

The U19 kids once again show us the way with a 2-0 win over Liverpool's youth, which puts them top of their group. Katic scored once again.

* * *

TSV 1860 München vs. Liverpool (Champions League group H, 2/6)

Time to get serious with the strongest team in our Champions League group. Not just on paper, too, since Guardiola's Liverpool (when did the world go this crazy?) have started the season in fine form, currently fourth and unbeaten in the Premiership and having also won their first group stage game against Nice. Our defeat in Villarreal means we need points against them, though, so that's some unwanted extra pressure for today.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Joao Neves (MCl); Roberto Caraballo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson (GK); Alexis Rojas (DR), Jair Santos (DCr), Filipe Meireles (DCl), Josko Gvardiol (DL); Gavi (DM), Jude Bellingham (MCr), Tomasso Pobega (MCl); Henrique Saldanha (AMR), Curtis Jones (AML), Folarin Balogun (ST)

* * *

Another start for Hauptmann after a good performance off the bench against HSV, with the usual rotation elsewhere. Guardiola surprises absolutely no one with a 4-3-3 formation, featuring some of those up-and-coming players from ten years ago that really made the jump into stardom, like Gvardiol, Gavi, and Bellingham. Scary. We look quite good against them in the initial minutes, though, holding the ball well and prodding at their defense from time to time, although without any immediate results.

Twenty minutes pass with Liverpool looking surprisingly inoffensive, so we turn it up a notch and finally test Alisson for the first time with a first-time shot by Rijkhoff after a cross from Touré, well saved by the veteran keeper. The visitors finally get something going seven minutes later with a good run and cross by Pobega that Balogun finishes straight at Rexhepi's hands, but both attacks remain relatively inactive still. The next chance doesn't come until the 41st, following a good through ball by Neves and a not-so-good finish by Rijkhoff that sends the ball wide to the right. Livepool respond with another cross by Pobega towards Bellingham, whose header is a relatively easy catch for Rexhepi, and that's it for a pretty tame first half.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Things look a bit more lively after the break, and soon Rijkhoff heads a cross by Schulze to give Alisson the chance to show his reflexes and swat the ball away from the top corner. The striker follows it up with a free run into the box from the left flank, but once again can't beat the Brazilian keeper with his finish, too centered to be a worry. Alisson goes down again in the 55th to save and hold a weak shot by Schulze, but we seem to be taking hold of the game for good now, bad finishing be damned.

Basualdo replaces a pretty invisible Caraballo with fifteen minutes of the second half gone, and a bit later it's Miranda and Özcan coming in for a very solid-looking Neves and Rijkhoff. Those are quiet minutes with little action on either goal, though, and Guardiola's team looks happy to hold the draw now, uncharacteristic as that is. Only a cross by Saldanha towards replacement striker Mourelo gives Rexhepi something to do, which in this case is just gathering the weak header and get the ball moving quickly once again. The game looks deadlocked for good, but there's a cure for that: set pieces. Rodríguez takes a corner kick towards the near post in the 78th minute, and up goes Stjepanovic to nod the ball into the back of the net to finally give us the lead.

Liverpool don't seem to mind terribly much, and they keep playing their game without rushing forward desperately or anything like that. They do try to push the pressing lines higher up the field, though that just gives us more space to exploit. Özcan profits from that space in the 88th, although he shoots too early and without enough precision to surprise Alisson. Meanwhile all the visitors can create is another weak header by Mourelo that Rexhepi saves without issue, while Rodríguez gets denied a decisive second goal in injury time by another great save by Alisson. Soon after the referee signals the end of the match, and we can go home happy with a job well done.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 1 (Mateja Stjepanovic 78)
Liverpool 0

- - -

When you play against a Guardiola team and their best player ends up being their goalkeeper you know you've done well. Yes, finishing still sucks, but that'll fix itself eventually. What matters is that we dominated Liverpool, kept them safely away from our goal for the whole game, and actually took our chance to win against an European giant this time, unlike what happened in the Super Cup. Great midfield and defensive display, and with Nice's win against Villarreal the whole group is now completely level on points, with only minor differences in goals deciding the ranking. Our first ever win in the Champions League comes with €2.8M attached, too, which is a nice bonus.

[Dalbeider]

Oct 2nd 2030

International callups! We start with the obvious ones, that being Rodríguez, Javorcic, and Caraballo. Then one a bit more surprising: Palomeque gets his first senior callup for Colombia. Finally, the rest, with Schulze and Kretzschmar remaining in the Germany setup but Touré staying in the U21 side for the time being as the highlight.

Oct 5th 2030

SG Dynamo Dresden (17th) vs. TSV 1860 München (8th) (Bundesliga, 7/34)

Dynamo, like Werder, are having it tough in their long awaited return to the top level of German football. Also winless, and only ahead of the Bremen side due to a slightly less terrible goal difference, the fact that our ex-prospect Martin Karlsen is their best goalscorer so far with two should speak volumes. Yet it hasn't been that long since we dropped two points in the Weserstadion, so let's not get too confident here.

* * *

DYNAMO (4-3-3): Niclas Thiede (GK); Simon Asta (DR), Benjamin Dibrani (DCr), Francisco Cárdenas (DCl), Marco John (DL); Kevin Ehlers (DM), Fabrice Ndeh Nsoh (MCr), Mario Nemeth (MCl); Matteo Grimaudo (AMR), Martin Karlsen (AML), Juan Camilo Romaña (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); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

A perfect chance (on paper) to give Beltramone some much needed first time minutes with a start today, while the rest of the team rotates as per usual. As expected Karlsen starts on the left of Dynamo's attack, and he's witness to our quickfire start of the game with a cross by Miranda and a high header by Özcan within the first thirty seconds. One minute later Ball breaks in through the left wing and crosses low towards Özcan, who places his finish well but is denied by Thiede's fingertip save. Third time isn't the charm either, as Özcan's header to Palomeque's cross come the ninth minute also ends up wide.

Our early domination continues, although now with less attacking punch, and it isn't until the 21st minute that we get another chance, this one coming from a curler by Basualdo that bounces off the top corner of the frame, while Miranda isn't quick enough to get to the rebound before the defense clears it away. Meanwhile Dresden finally get near Kretzschmar's goal for the first time in the 25th with a decent header by Nsoh that Kretzschmar catches without any trouble. Palomeque then creates danger again with a through ball towards Miranda, who finishes under pressure and can't get it past Thiede.

The following minutes see both attacks failing to break through in any significant way, with only a game-ending injury to Dibrani as a noteworthy highlight. We finally create something in the 42nd with a long ball that Özcan nods towards Basualdo, only for the forward to once again see his finish deflected wide by Thiede. One minute later Özcan runs into space on the left and crosses towards Neves, who smashes his rebound on a defender but sees it bounce back straight into Basualdo's head, allowing an easy nod into the back of the net to finally give us the lead. And in the 45th we switch sides and attack through our right flank, Palomeque finding space for a run into the box and a low cross towards Basualdo, who hits it left-footed into the root of the post and in for the 0-2. Great end to a very one-sided first half.

HALF TIME - 0-2

We keep the pressure up after the break, and soon enough Basualdo follows up his decisive contribution in the first half with a perfect little through ball towards Özcan, who this time doesn't hesitate and blasts it in right next to the post to score the 0-3, and his first of the season. Finally. The Basualdo festival continues with a cross towards Özcan that the striker heads into Thiede's hands, then it's Miranda who shoots into the keeper's save following a nice combination through the center with Basualdo once again providing the final pass. Karlsen tries to hit back with a weak header that Kretzschmar holds easily, but we quickly hit them back with a long ball from Özcan to Palomeque, his finish well held by Thiede.

Another combination between striker and midfielder come the 61st minute ends in a narrowly wide finish by Palomeque, just before both him and Miranda are awarded a rest and replaced by Schulze and Meunier. Schulze starts his game with a pinpoint cross towards, who else, Özcan, who this time sends his header very narrowly wide. That's also his last chance of the game, as we decide to bring Rijkhoff in hoping that he'll break his goalscoring duck today, too. Schulze provides again in the 68th with a great pass forward, only for Neves to blast it over the stands. Then, out of nowhere, Asta runs past a very passive Ball and crosses into the small box so Romaña can tap it in for the 1-3.

We take it easy for the next few minutes, with only a high ball from distance by Schulze to keep things a bit interesting. On the other goal Kretzschmar has to work hard to keep a dangerous shot by Wölfel from becoming a very dangerous 2-3, but with only two minutes in the clock we should be safe from any further shenanigans. Another blast over the bar by Meunier comes next, and that ends up becoming the final chance of an easy win that probably should've been even more comprehensive.

* * *

SG Dynamo Dresden 1 (Juan Camilo Romaña 72)
TSV 1860 München 3 (Jonatan Basualdo 43 45, Vedat Özcan 49)

- - -

Well then, looks like Basualdo is really taking that step forward we were hoping to see from him. Between him and a very good if inaccurate Özcan they generated most of our good chances today, and that was enough to see off a very lackluster Dresden side, who nonetheless got a goal thanks to overconfidence and the fact that Ball is having a very rough start to the season so far. Still, solid win, nice to see Özcan finally get one into the net, and up the table we go. We might still fix this season after all.

[EvilDave]

Freiburg and Werder results aside, is there a whole lot that needs fixing? Once Rijkhoff starts firing again you'll be fine, I'm sure of it. This continues to be a great read, really enjoying seeing you grow the club. Keep up the good work! 

[Dalbeider]

@EvilDave: thanks! And mostly our league position, really. True, it was mostly due to having the nightmare one-two punch of playing Dortmund and Bayern back to back within the first four weeks, but when the board expects you to qualify for the Champions League it's usually a bad idea to be midtable for too long. The quicker we get up there the better.

Also it wouldn't hurt if Rijkhoff remembered he's supposed to be a striker one of these days, really...

* * *

Oct 8th 2030

Basualdo earns himself a place in the Team of the Week, just as he receives a callup to join Argentina U23 for a friendly against Nigeria. Not a bad day for the kid.

Oct 9th 2030

Hamstring injury for Casas, just the usual pull. He'll miss a week and a half-ish of training, but thankfully this happens bang in the middle of an international break so at worst he'll be back for our next Champions League game against Nice.

Oct 10th 2030

Caraballo grabs himself a goal with Venezuela, but the highlight of the first batch of international matches is Palomeque's debut off the bench with Colombia, although sadly it came in a 0-1 loss to Australia and he didn't really play all that well. Rijkhoff also shows he's not forgotten how to score goals bagging one in the world champions' 2-2 draw with Denmark in an otherwise unremarkable series of performances by our internationals.

Oct 13th 2030

The second round of international matches brings one more goal for both Caraballo and Rodríguez, full-game stinkers for both Özcan and Rijkhoff, and U21 assists for both Ball and Touré, with Althoff also playing some minutes for his third U21 cap. He's had a pretty good start to his loan in Bielefeld, too, already with three assists to his name and with the team pushing for promotion.

Oct 18th 2030

Welp, here comes trouble. Caraballo feels like he's not playing enough (despite starting at least every other match and then some, and being outperformed by Basualdo lately) and hands in a transfer request. I get the feeling it would've been better if we'd just sold him to Bayern last summer... Oh well, we'll still be expecting a good payday for him come January, and we have a replacement lined up for when he does leave that probably improves on him both quality and potential-wise, so it's not all bad.

When it rains it pours, and the next piece of bad news comes from the usual place: the infirmary. This time it's Neves who'll be out of contention for a bit over a month with abdominal strain. We have a strong midfield rotation now, so as long as everyone else stays healthy we should be fine. Probably.

Oct 19th 2030

TSV 1860 München (5th) vs. 1.FC Union Berlin (7th) (Bundesliga, 8/34)

One of the early positive surprises of the season together with Fortuna and Augsburg, Union have been living among the Europe chasers from the get go and only dropped off the green zone of the table last week precisely after a loss to Augsburg. Their good form is remarkable, but we still should have more than enough to beat them, even while saving a couple starters for the midweek fixture.

* * *

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), Juan David Palomeque (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
UNION BERLIN (4-4-2 diamond narrow): Florian Kastenmeier (GK); Daniel Murillo (DR), Reece Oxford (DCr), Nathan Phillips (DCl), Jarrad Branthwaite (DL); Rani Khedira (DM), Kristoffer Askildsen (MCr), Mirko Koch (MCl), Aymen Barkok (AMC); Iker Bravo (STr), Borja Mayoral (STl)

* * *

Still with Baumgart's favorite narrow diamond formation to make our life difficult, I see. We keep a few usual starters like Miranda, Thiago, and Ernesto on reserve today, and hope that Rijkhoff can finally grab his first today, while also trying to ride Basualdo's current high. It's a bit of a slow start today, with possession on our side but the first chance falling to Askildsen after a long pass from deep to the center, very much in our style, that the midfielder turns into a dangerous finish that Kretzschmar has to block and deflect over. The keeper also saves a header by Bravo seconds later, then Koch tries a low shot from outside the box come the 16th minute and sends it very narrowly wide. We're gonna need more than possession to win this, it seems.

We finally find that something two minutes later in a counterattack launched by Rodríguez, ran by Rijkhoff, and finish by Basualdo with a placed finish that Kastenmeier gathers without trouble. It takes us until the 27th to find that spark again, but when we do we hit gold: pass into the box along the right side by Javorcic, Basualdo gathers it, and the forward calmly runs at the keeper and wins the one-on-one with a perfectly placed shot to score the 1-0. We're playing with much more confidence now, and soon Palomeque has a chance to double our lead after a neat through ball from Rodríguez, but he sends his finish licking the outside of the post and nothing of value comes out of it.

It's our best moment of the game, so of course it's the perfect time for Union to completely tear apart our pressing line with patient passing, then for Mayoral to spot Barkok's run into space and set him up for an easy one-on-one against Kretzschmar that the keeper has no hope of winning: 1-1 and back to the drawing board. We need a short while to regain our bearings, but by the 36th minute we're back in a good place, with Basualdo finding Palomeque inside the box but the midfielder once again failing to produce a credible finish and making it easy for Kastenmeier. Basualdo blasts another one over the bar three minutes later, and after a couple more blocked shots that go nowhere we go into halftime with everything still undecided.

HALF TIME - 1-1

The second half also starts slowly, and it takes us eleven minutes to find Rodríguez in a good shooting position, only for Kastenmeier to fly and deflect the ball wide. That's not gonna be good enough, so we decide to shake things around thoroughly and bring Ernesto, Miranda, and Özcan into the game replacing Stjepanovic, Schulze, and Rijkhoff, all of them pretty pedestrian today. That does the trick: interception in midfield by Javorcic, the ball makes its way to Miranda, and the Argentinian sends a pinpoint through ball towards Rodríguez that the Mexican turns into the 2-1 with a nice touch. Back in the driving seat.

A weak header by Bravo to a cross by Murillo is Union's first response, and Kretzschmar holds it just as he does with Barkok's much more dangerous direct free kick a couple of minutes later. The real chance comes in the 69th minute, though, when Miranda takes a corner kick, Ernesto heads it into the crossbar, Meunier half-volleys the rebound into a spectacular save by Kastenmeier, and Özcan is denied on the third try by a timely block from Oxford. After that we regain control of the game, looking to grab ourselves some peace of mind with a third goal, and in the 77th we finally get it: Miranda crosses first time into the box, Basualdo breaks the offside line by inches, and his tap in turns into the 3-1.

Now we can finally relax and start having fun, and soon Rodríguez sends over a decent chance for a fourth following good pressure and recovery by Palomeque and Özcan. In the 82nd he gets another with a punt shot from the edge of the box that goes wide by the width of a hair, and we keep piling up the dangerous approaches on a defeated-looking Union defense. The best chance comes in the 90th minute, with Rodríguez assisting this time only for Palomeque to smash his finish into the root of the post. Then one minute later the Colombian hits wood again, this time finishing a fantastic assist by Miranda. A final high ball by Rodríguez from outside the box signals the end of the game with the result still 3-1, which is more than sufficient.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Jonatan Basualdo 27 77, Jair Rodríguez 64)
1.FC Union Berlin 1 (Aymen Barkok 30)

- - -

Good turnaround today, there were some moments in which this game looked like it was going to be another grindfest. Of course, when you have a gamechanger like Miranda waiting in the bench everything looks much easier, and the Argentinian basically won the game on his own today, with some help from Rodríguez and the most in-form player in the squad right now, Basualdo. If he keeps this up we might end up not missing Caraballo terribly much when he leaves, heh. The flip side is that we just can't seem to keep clean sheets this year, we've got all but one in all competitions so far, against Liverpool in the Champions League of all matches...

Today's win comes with an added bonus, as Bayern's 1-1 draw in Frankfurt means we catch up to them in points and actually pull ahead on goal difference. Let's see if we can keep it up for longer this time...

[Dalbeider]

Oct 22nd 2030

Three slots in the Team of the Week for us: Miranda, Rodríguez, and Basualdo.

Another win for the U19 kids, this time destroying Villarreal 5-1 and taking command of the group, still unbeaten. Midfielder Felix Donner took the spotlight this time with two goals, but Katic still contributed another, and he's on eleven and five assists in all competitions already despite a somewhat lackluster start to the league so far.

* * *

TSV 1860 München vs. OGC Nice (Champions League group H, 3/6)

Halfway point of the group stage with the nice fellows from Nice coming to town. Another team so far unbeaten in the league and surprisingly pushing PSG for all they're worth, they sport a short but very high-quality squad, including a handful of players that have been in my shortlist for years now, and who probably will never arrive at Munich at this stage. Tough, but then again what else can you expect from this competition?

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Matías Miranda (MC), Juan David Palomeque (MCl); Roberto Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)
NICE (4-4-2): Cezary Miszta (GK); Rubén Pulido (DR), Jean-Clair Todibo (DCr), Malick Thiaw (DCl), Mateo Rossi (DL); Calvin Stengs (MR), Cristian Medina (MCr), Marc Roca (MCl), Arnaut Danjuma (ML); Amine Gouiri (STr), Arthur Cabral (STl)

* * *

Last time we played against a flat 4-4-2 we lost to Villarreal, so while in theory we should have the upper hand in midfield presence, it's been shown that's not always the case. We do look good in the initial moments, though, and good pressing by Özcan leads to a dangerous steal and a not-so-dangerous finish for the first chance of the game, easily saved by Miszta. Immediately after, though, Thiago spots a large opening in Nice's defensive lines and sends the ball forward towards Schulze, who calmly gathers it and places it past the keeper to score the 1-0 with a little over two minutes played. No complaints so far.

We keep tearing Nice apart through the center in the following minutes, and soon Miszta has to tip a good finish by Caraballo over the bar to keep his team alive in the game. Ernesto heads that corner kick over the bar to keep the pressure up, and after a short rest we go right back at it with Miranda breaking into the box but having to finish with his right foot, which ends with the ball going a few miles wide off target. Caraballo tries again in the 21st, curling it from the edge of the box but sending it a bit too high and wide, while all Nice can produce in all this time is a single blocked shot by Cabral.

The second should have arrived in the 24th following a long pass along the right wing by Javorcic towards Schulze and a perfect cross into the box for Özcan's tap-in, but somehow the striker manages to send the ball wide with the whole goal at his disposal. Instead it arrives one minute later and in a more prosaic way: free kick whipped into the box by Miranda, Casas jumps high on the far post, and one header later the 2-0 is a reality. We take a longer break then, controlling possession for ten minutes and not giving the visitors a chance to dream of a comeback, but in the 34th a throw-in on the left side of our attack ends with the ball under Ball's control just inside the box, and the full back surprises everyone with a perfectly executed banana shot into the top far corner to score the 3-0. Not a bad way to grab his first goal as a Löwe.

We're not done yet, and one minute later Miszta has more work to do to block a well-placed finish by Palomeque after yet another break-in through the center of Nice's defense. The Colombian then starts another quick attack that Miranda and Özcan continue by trading short passes before the striker decides to upstage Ball with a wonderful 30-yarder that the keeper fails to reach and becomes the 4-0. Third assist of the game for Miranda, too. Rexhepi's first save of the game comes already in injury time, easily holding a cushioned header by Gouiri just mere seconds before the end of an absolutely perfect first half. For us, at least.

HALF TIME - 4-0

Some relaxation is to be expected after such a comprehensive performance, and it's no surprise then that Nice start the second half with a wide finish by Gouiri following a good cross by Danjuma. Things remain largely under control, though, and we take the chance to rest some tired legs early, and bring Hauptmann and Meunier to replace Javorcic and Palomeque, who both played the full game against Union. We return to the attack in the 59th with a great pass into the box by Schulze that Özcan wastes with a terribly high finish, and soon after the midfielder takes a seat, too, with Stjepanovic coming in his place and pushing both Ernesto and Thiago towards more advanced roles.

The game slows down considerably, which is just fine for us. A direct free kick that Miranda sends narrowly over in the 67th minute comes next, and four minutes later Caraballo sends wide a much clearer chance following a quick counterattack, with Thiago providing the final pass. Nice never give us anything to worry about, so we calmly dominate the game until the 81st minute, when Thiago sends a long ball into the box towards the rampaging Meunier for a half-volley that Miszta parries, but the rebound falls to Caraballo and it's an easy finish from there to make it 5-0. The game dies right there, and the remaining minutes are nothing but confirmation of our absolute domination today.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 5 (Maximilian Schulze 3, Arnau Casas 25, Alex Ball 34, Vedat Özcan 37, Rodrigo Caraballo 81)
OGC Nice 0

- - -

Simply perfection. Reminder that Nice are currently tied on points with PSG on the Ligue 1 and had lost just that one game against Liverpool so far in the whole season, yet here we are. Most one-sided European game we've had so far, in all competitions. Villarreal's 3-0 win against Liverpool keeps them top of the group thanks to their win against us, but we're in a perfect position to push for qualification. The Champions League is no longer too big for us, it seems.

[Dalbeider]

Oct 26th 2030

VfB Stuttgart (6th) vs. TSV 1860 München (3rd) (Bundesliga, 9/34)

One fourth of the season gone and it's not getting any easier in the Bundesliga. Stuttgart are one of the in-form teams in the competition, turning a very solid defensive outlook into a serious challenge for the European places, currently sitting only two points behind us. They're also a team we have very mixed results against, so we'll have to rely on our current burst of good form to get past them and establish ourselves in the top four for good.

* * *

STUTTGART (3-2-2-1-2): Finn Dahmen (GK); Ronny Klotke (DCr), Chris Richards (DC), Hrvoje Smolcic (DCl); Bali Mumba (WBR), Diego Rocha (WBL); Williot Swedberg (MCr), Vampeta (MCl); Ismaël Gharbi (AMC); Isaac Tshibangu (STr); Nedeljko Pavisic (STl)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Podolski remains faithful to his 3-5-2 variant, and for good reason given their recent results, although there are lots of personnel changes in their lineup compared to our last meeting. We restore our eleven from last week's win against Union Berlin with Miranda in Schulze's place as the only new face, and we get off to a pretty uneventful start, with neither team managing to break through the opposing lines for the first fifteen minutes, with possession almost equally split. A direct free kick that Rodríguez smashes into the fence is the closest thing to a goalscoring chance to happen in the early game, and that's being very generous.

This can only change if the defenses make a mistake, and Richards soon obliges when he tries a short pass back towards Klotke but instead gifts the ball to Rijkhoff, who profits from being in the right place at the right time to shoot with power and, finally, score his first goal of the season in the 18th minute. Five minutes later we show Stuttgart how to play from the back with a long passing play in which almost every player touches the ball before Basualdo gives Rijkhoff the final assist, only to be denied by Dahmen's excellent parry. Meanwhile the home team can only put some pressure on us through set pieces and long shots, none of which make their way to Kretzschmar. Gharbi gets the closest with a direct free kick that he sends over the bar in the 28th.

After that come fifteen more minutes in which the attacks fail to make any progress into the opposition's territory, and we go all the way into injury time for Dahmen to have more work to do, this time stopping and keeping hold a 20-yarder by Palomeque, powerful but centered. With that and little else, the first half ends.

HALF TIME - 0-1

The second half starts with another direct free kick for Rodríguez, this one coming from quite a distance away but still forcing Dahmen into a difficult fingertip save. In the 55th Miranda profits from a loose ball in midfield to send a quick pass forward towards Basualdo, who finds the keeper in the way of his finish, probably our best chance since Rijkhoff's goal. Stuttgart seem unable to generate anything during this stretch, and soon it's time for some substitutions, with young Hauptmann taking Touré's place after a pretty poor game and pushing Javorcic to the left side of our defense, while Schulze gives Miranda some rest.

Javorcic's side change proves fruitful in the 66th when he steals the ball from Mumba and quickly launches it forward for Rijkhoff, who goes all the way into the box but lacks the precision to get it past Dahmen. Three minutes later it's Schulze who tests the keeper following a good run down the right while combining with Hauptmann and Basualdo, and soon after Rodríguez also gets some resting time as we bring Thiago in his place. That pushes Meunier into a more attacking role, and soon the Belgian shows up to finish a cross by Schulze, although his volley ends up going well over.

Stuttgart still haven't done anything in attack during the whole second half, and that only changes in the 80th minute when Tshibangu shoots wide after a bit of a defensive mishap in a set piece routine leaves him unmarked just inside the box. After that, not much else, on either side of the pitch. Just a couple of shots by Basualdo and Palomeque that hit a defender and bubble their way harmlessly into Dahmen's hands and a couple corner kicks for Stuttgart that Lang clears with ease. The big scare comes in injury time, though, when a pass from deep finds Gharbi right on the edge of our box and his volley is only stopped from becoming the 1-1 by an excellent flipping save by Kretzschmar, showing he's still very much in the game despite having zero work all evening. That's enough to secure an important result that keeps us where we want to be in the Bundesliga table for the time being.

* * *

VfB Stuttgart 0
TSV 1860 München 1 (Julian Rijkhoff 18)

- - -

Deserved result, even if we needed a bit of a gift to actually get it. The game was very even both possession-wise and positionally, but Stuttgart never looked like scoring a goal today other than that one isolated chance for Gharbi near the end, while we enjoyed many opportunities to improve our lead that we couldn't put past Dahmen. Regardless, great result against very difficult opposition, and we're now very much in the correct pace.

* * *

| Pos  | Team                | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | GD    | Pts   | Form  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st  | Borussia Dortmund   | 9     | 7     | 1     | 1     | 20    | 7     | 13    | 22    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd  | RB Leipzig          | 9     | 6     | 2     | 1     | 26    | 8     | 18    | 20    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd  | 1860 München        | 9     | 5     | 3     | 1     | 18    | 10    | 8     | 18    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th  | FC Bayern           | 9     | 5     | 3     | 1     | 15    | 9     | 6     | 18    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th  | Fortuna Düsseldorf  | 9     | 4     | 4     | 1     | 25    | 12    | 13    | 16    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th  | Nürnberg            | 9     | 5     | 1     | 3     | 9     | 7     | 2     | 16    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th  | Union Berlin        | 9     | 4     | 2     | 3     | 11    | 10    | 1     | 14    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th  | Stuttgart           | 9     | 3     | 4     | 2     | 13    | 12    | 1     | 13    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th  | Augsburg            | 9     | 3     | 3     | 3     | 10    | 10    | 0     | 12    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th | Wolfsburg           | 9     | 3     | 3     | 3     | 13    | 17    | -4    | 12    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th | Borussia M'gladbach | 9     | 3     | 2     | 4     | 11    | 15    | -4    | 11    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th | Hertha BSC          | 9     | 3     | 1     | 5     | 7     | 11    | -4    | 10    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th | Mainz               | 9     | 3     | 1     | 5     | 8     | 15    | -7    | 10    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th | Werder Bremen       | 9     | 2     | 3     | 4     | 10    | 18    | -8    | 9     |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th | Freiburg            | 9     | 2     | 1     | 6     | 6     | 11    | -5    | 7     |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th | Hamburg             | 9     | 2     | 1     | 6     | 10    | 20    | -10   | 7     |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th | Dynamo Dresden      | 9     | 1     | 2     | 6     | 6     | 16    | -10   | 5     |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th | Frankfurt           | 9     | 1     | 1     | 7     | 5     | 15    | -10   | 4     |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Looking fine so far, which is something considering how hesitant our first few games in the season were. We seem to have picked up the pace now, and both our League and Champions League results have seen a marked improvement in October. We're keeping pace with the big teams now, which is reassuring, but the distance between us and the teams behind is still small, so we need to keep it going for a while longer. Once we're secure in the top four we'll be able to start thinking about bigger goals.

Those goals are very much within reach, though, particularly after Dortmund just lost their first match of the year in der Klassiker and are now only four points ahead of us. Leipzig and Bayern are with us in the chase group as expected, but there are some surprises even there, with our neighbors having one of their worst starts in recent memory with lots of narrow results and not looking as dominant as in the past. The surprises don't end there, though, as Fortuna are just behind the top four coming straight from the 2.Bundesliga, and actually have the second best goal difference in the league right now. They're filling the space left by the surprising downfall of both Freiburg and Hamburg, both tied on points in the bottom half and with HSV having the worst defensive numbers in the whole Bundesliga right now. Weird. No unbeaten teams, no winless teams, and short distances all over: looks like another fun season ahead of us!

* * *

PLAYER STATS
============

Average rating (min. 3 games played):

Jonatan Basualdo            7.83 (7(1) apps)
Juan David Palomeque        7.42 (8(3) apps)
Matías Miranda              7.40 (10(3) apps)
Ernesto                     7.33 (7(2) apps)
Maximilian Schulze          7.30 (7(4) apps)

Goals:

Jonatan Basualdo            5 goals
Maximilian Schulze          4
Jair Rodríguez              3
Rodrigo Caraballo           3
Juan David Palomeque        3

Assists:

Matías Miranda              9 assists
Thiago                      3
Juan David Palomeque        3
9 players                   1

 

[Dalbeider]

Oct 29th 2030

SSV Jahn Regensburg vs. TSV 1860 München (DFB Pokal 2nd round)

Back to the cup with the always treacherous second round tie. 2.Bundesliga sides are supposed to be inferior to us regardless of their form, but they're close enough to be able to give us trouble if we don't take it seriously. That said, Regensburg's twelfth place in the second tier isn't exactly awe-inspiring, and neither is their form. We should get through this.

* * *

REGENSBURG (4-2-3-1): Marco Hiller (GK); Angelo Brückner (DR), Eldin Dzogovic (DCr), Sven Sonnenberg (DCl), Filip Brekalo (DL); Majeed Ashimeru (MCr), Max Besuschkow (MCl); Donat Rrudhani (AMR), Anssi Suhonen (AMC), Gabrijel Rukavina (AML); Dennis Borkowski (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Ezequiel Beltramone (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Matías Miranda (MC), Thiago (MCl); Roberto Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

Rotation as expected, with only Lang repeating from Saturday and Hauptmann and Beltramone getting the starts they've been hungering for. Regensburg still start our former goalkeeper Marco Hiller, who hasn't changed teams since he left 1860 after losing the fight for the starting position with Kretzschmar in the 3.Liga. That brings back memories... We soon give Hiller our warmest greetings with a passing play right out of kick off which Schulze finishes with narrowly wide shot, but afterwards we seem to lose control of the ball and struggle for a while to regain it. When we finally do it's Schulze again to finish our next attack, this time finding the target but also Hiller's gloves.

Third time isn't the charm for the midfielder either, as his 15th-minute header to a cross from the left by Thiago bounces on the upside of the bar before going over. Seconds later, though, he intercepts Hiller's goal kick and kickstarts a counterattack that ends with Miranda crossing and Caraballo being pulled down by Sonnenberg to prevent his header: stonewall penalty kick, and Miranda buries it confidently from the spot to grab the first lead. Regensburg won't take this sitting, though, and in the 18th a cross from the right turns into danger when Rukavina gets to it ahead of a half-asleep Lang, although thankfully his finish goes wide.

Just to prevent further scares, Miranda performs one of his trademark runs into space and catches a long pass from deep by Ball, facing Hiller and calmly passing the ball into the net for the 0-2 in the 21st minute. Once again Regensburg answer, this time with a cross from the left and a good finish by Suhonen that Rexhepi blocks and deflects wide, for a corner kick that ends in a wide shot by Rukavina. A bad clearance by Ball in the 30th gives the home team another chance to strike back, once again sent wide by Borkowski, and once again with Lang looking slow and out of position. Miranda then brings us back into attacking positions with a great through ball towards Caraballo, who tries a lob over Hiller but overhits it and lodges it on top of the net.

Next up is a corner kick that the omnipresent Miranda sends into the box so Casas can head it narrowly over, but after a short while without any progress Regensburg hit back with *another* pass into space behind Lang that Borkowski mishits and also sends over the target. We hit back through Schulze's nod and Özcan's well-placed header in the 43rd, denied by Hiller's good diving save, but in the end the result doesn't move in either direction before time runs out on the first half.

HALF TIME - 0-2

We remain in control in the early second half, taking our chances to run forward and give Hiller something to think about from time to time. There are no real chances until the 59th, though, when a shot by Caraballo makes its way towards the target but is held by the keeper with little effort. We then decide to experiment a bit, replacing Lang with Touré and moving Hauptmann to the center of the defense, to see how he performs in his other natural position. Rodríguez and Meunier also replace Miranda and Schulze, both excellent today.

With our three defensive midfielders on the pitch at the same time our grasp on the ball tightens even further, and Regensburg can't seem to find those free crosses behind our defense anymore. Of course our creativity also suffers, and we spend a while struggling to create danger from anywhere other than long shots that don't even make it past the defense. In the 69th, though, Thiago finds the way with a pass ahead of Caraballo inside the box which the forward collects and calmly turns into the 0-3 with a perfectly placed finish. Game over.

Regensburg still have enough guts to try and look for at least one goal, and Rukavina gets really close with a powerful header after cross from the left in the 79th minute, but sadly (for them) the ball hits the crossbar and flies over into the stands. Two minutes later it's Özcan's turn to miss with his header, this time sending it wide after a pinpoint cross by Beltramone, and in the 86th Rodríguez also hits wood with a long-range direct free kick into the outside of the post. Borkowski has another chance for the home team in injury time after breaking through the center, but Rexhepi does well to cover the near post and deflect his finish wide, for a corner kick that Sonnenberg heads well over. Another run into the box by Borkowski ends in another excellent save by Rexhepi, and seconds later the referee calls for time. Good win, onto the next one.

* * *

SSV Jahn Regensburg 0
TSV 1860 München 3 (Matías Miranda 16p 21, Rodrigo Caraballo 69)

- - -

Somewhat deceptive result, honestly. If it weren't for that early penalty I could easily see this game grinding into a slugfest, as Regensburg gave us more than enough trouble to deserve at least a goal today. Thankfully that didn't happen, though, and with Miranda and Caraballo doing their usual magic we ran away clear winners today. Deserved result, don't get me wrong, but we could've had a much tougher time to get it than we did.

Big news of this round is Leipzig's extremely early exit after a very tough home tie against Union, who stole the game on penalties after a 2-2 draw. That leads to a bit of a dressing room bust out, too, as a few players including sure starters like Marko Cumic and Rayan Cherki publicly request a transfer out of the club, citing broken promises by the manager. Welp. Might be worth keeping an eye on this situation, could even fish something interesting out of these troubled waters... Bayern manage to survive a criminal tie away to Fortuna with a 1-3 win, but other big names like Hertha, Nürnberg, and Wolfsburg are also out of the competition already.

[Dalbeider]

Nov 1st 2030

Happy birthday to me. My present is a home tie against mini-rivals Augsburg in the DFB Pokal third round for the second year in a row. Yay! Not like it'll be easy, considering how comfortable they're looking in mid-table of the Bundesliga so far, but still, always fun to play them in do-or-die settings like the cup. Worth noting that there's six 2.Bundesliga teams still alive in the competition at this stage, and at least one of them will be in the quarterfinals since Arminia and Leverkusen are playing each other.

Nov 2nd 2030

TSV 1860 München (3rd) vs. VfL Wolfsburg (10th) (Bundesliga, 10/34)

Not a bad season for Wolfsburg so far, although certainly it doesn't measure up to their final sixth place from last year. Still, being comfy in midtable is a good starting point to mount another European challenge in the final third of the season if the opportunity presents itself. They've won their last two league games, so their form is on the rise. We should be careful.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
WOLFSBURG (4-2-3-1): Vladislav Torop (GK); Felix Passlack (DR), Moritz Jenz (DCr), Daan Bosz (DCl), José Manuel Hernández (DL); Yangel Herrera (MCr), Anton Stach (MCl); Jovane Cabral (AMR), Rodrigo Quiroz (AMC), Talles Magno (AML), Elias Havel (ST)

* * *

Ernesto for Lang is our only change in the lineup following our win in Stuttgart last week, while Wolfsburg look quite different from what I remember coming across last season, at least names-wise. The early game has no clear dominator, as the visitors have more of the ball but we keep them in their own half for the most part, while at the same time not really doing much in attack ourselves. The first real chance comes in the 13th following a nod into the box by Magno and a dangerous finish by Havel that Kretzschmar has to tip over. Ours comes in the 16th, with a direct free kick by Miranda that Torop barely manages to block, only for Palomeque to gather the loose ball and pass it back to Miranda, who can't get his shot past the defense. Looks like things are finally heating up.

Even clearer is our next chance, a finish from point-blank range by Rijkhoff after a low cross by Basualdo that Torop manages to stop with his leg when he looked completely beaten. Next up is Basualdo, gathering a loose ball after Miranda's pass towards Rijkhoff is intercepted and curling a shot that the keeper pushes behind. A terribly wide shot from far away by Rodríguez follows, but the initiative is completely ours now, and it looks like the opener is just a matter of time and patience at this point, even more when Rodríguez smashes a direct free kick into the woodwork in the 35th minute.

One minute later our insistence finally bears fruit in a quick attack started by Meunier, continued by Miranda and Palomeque and finished by Rodríguez with a great run into space and and even better placed finish past Torop, grabbing the 1-0. Wolfsburg test Kretzschmar for the first time in a long while immediately after with a header by Jovane that the keeper catches with ease, but we soon restore control and Ernesto has another chance for us with a high header in a corner kick come the 40th minute. A beautiful but ultimately illegal goal by Rijkhoff two minutes later is rightfully disallowed due to offside, and we end the first half with the lead and looking good.

HALF TIME - 1-0

We start the second half in the same vein, with Palomeque and Basualdo soon combining for a dangerous chance that a timely defensive block turns into a corner kick and a high header by Stjepanovic. Palomeque has another, even better chance in the 49th when he's left all alone inside the box to volley in a great cross by Rijkhoff, but only manages to hit the outside of the sidenetting. Miranda comes next, collecting a good pass from Basualdo inside the box but seeing his left-footed finish palmed wide by Torop, who also gathers Ernesto's header in the corner kick that follows. Looks like the second should be coming any minute now.

Torop denies us once again in the 53rd, tipping wide a bending free kick by Rodríguez, then Ernesto wins the jump in the corner kick once again but sends the ball narrowly over this time. Miranda tries again in the 57th hitting it first time after a pass back from inside the box by Rijkhoff, but once again the keeper is there to deflect the ball over. Rodríguez then blasts it over after another great pass by Palomeque, while we start moving things around and resting Miranda for the key trip to Nice midweek, bringing Schulze in his place. Not much later it's Thiago for Rodríguez and Özcan for Rijkhoff, as we get closer to the final twenty minutes with the result still undecided, somehow.

Things slow down a bit after our substitutions and our continuous attack takes a bit of a break, although Wolfsburg don't take the chance to push us back in any significant way. Our next chance comes in the 77th and from an unlikely source, as Schulze finds Javorcic inside the box and the full back shoots narrowly wide from a tight angle. Basualdo then tries luck with a low effort from twenty yards away, but Torop once again goes down to block. We take a slightly more conservative stance in the final ten minutes to prevent any shenanigans, but still waste another chance in injury time when Palomeque mishits his finish after a great pass from Özcan and makes it easy for the keeper to save. A richly deserved win in the end, even if the result was much shorter than it should have been.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 1 (Jair Rodríguez 36)
VfL Wolfsburg 0

- - -

See, if the cup result against Regensburg was much clearer than it should've been, today we saw the opposite. This game should've been at the very least a three-nil given how many chances we had and how good they were. Not our finest day in the finishing department, that's for sure, but our attacking play in general was gorgeous and everyone got involved in generating danger. If we keep playing like this I'm sure we won't have any trouble getting results, either long or short. Today's shock result is Leipzig's 2-1 loss in Mainz, which highlights their current state of turmoil and allows us to climb onto the second place.

[Dalbeider]

Nov 3rd 2030

Here comes another player unhappy with his playing time, and in Thiago's case he's not happy with the squad player role he's effectively been playing for a while now. Wouldn't be surprised to see him gone in the winter window, honestly, he's already peaked and Fulham and Sevilla are interested, plus we have more than enough to replace him already in the squad with Meunier and Beltramone. He's playing well this season, but he's one of the most replaceable members of the squad, so as long as he doesn't go around spreading his unhappiness among his colleagues we should be fine.

Nov 6th 2030

Last international window of the year coming in a few weeks, and besides the usual host of youth and senior internationals we have one important item: Lukas Hauptmann makes the senior Austrian side for the first time. Schulze also gets yet another chance for a senior debut with Germany, let's see if this is the right one.

* * *

OGC Nice vs. TSV 1860 München (Champions League group H, 4/6)

A potentially decisive fixture for our future in the competition. A win in France would mean Nice are no longer a threat to us, and depending on how the other match of the group goes we could end the day with six points plus goal difference over the third place, basically guaranteeing our progression. Of course that requires a win, and while we absolutely obliterated Nice last time in Munich, I'm sure it won't be that easy today.

* * *

NICE (4-4-2): Cezary Miszta (GK); Rubén Pulido (DR), Jean-Clair Todibo (DCr), Pascual Piera (DCl), Mateo Rossi (DL); Calvin Stengs (MR), Cristian Medina (MCr), Viktor Tsygankov (MCl), Arnaut Danjuma (ML); Amine Gouiri (STr), Arthur Cabral (STl)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Matías Miranda (MC), Juan David Palomeque (MCl); Roberto Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

The usual rotation today, almost repeating the same squad that won 5-0 against Nice a few weeks ago with Lang and Beltramone as the only two new faces. Nice's big change is Tsygankov's presence in midfield, and although the veteran Ukrainian isn't quite the same player Real Madrid bought for €90M some years ago he's still quality. The home team show they're up to it quite quickly, with Danjuma testing Rexhepi from afar within the first minute, then setting up a good cross from the left in a counterattack that Gouiri heads into the goalkeeper's comfortable save. We strike back in the eighth minute with our traditional run through the center, well set up by Miranda and smashed into Piera's legs by Caraballo.

We keep the pressure up with a shot from the edge of the box by Schulze that Miszta slaps away into a corner kick, but Nice hit us back with a dangerous counter led by Gouiri and finished by Danjuma with a miskick that sends the ball very narrowly wide. Both teams then decide to take a short break after such a high-tension start, but Ball restarts the hostilities with a bad pass that leads to a good chance for Cabral that Rexhepi denies with a good-looking block. Another chance for Cabral after a cross from Danjuma goes wide in the 18th, and by now it's obvious we need to do something more if we want to get anything out of this game.

At the very least we manage to tighten our defense well enough, thus denying Nice any chances in the following minutes but also failing to show up anywhere near their goal in the meantime. We finally get something going in the 30th with a long kick by Rexhepi towards Caraballo, who can't get a shot in before Piera knocks the ball away from him. Much better is Schulze's chance two minutes later after a quick short pass combo with Miranda and Caraballo, but his shot is not good enough and goes clearly wide. We're clearly improving, though, and even Beltramone joins in with a 30-yarder that Miszta struggles to deflect behind, prompting a corner kick that Casas heads narrowly over the bar. In the 42nd, however, Rossi finds himself with space on the left and whips a cross into the box, where Gouiri breaks free from Casas' mark and heads it past Rexhepi to give Nice the lead, a lead they keep without issue until half time.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Not much moves in either direction during the first minutes of the second half, so we make two early changes to try and quickstart things again: Rijkhoff and Rodríguez in, Özcan and Palomeque out. We quickly see some effect with Caraballo getting a shot in and forcing Miszta into a difficult deflection, but there's no continuity and soon enough Rossi gives us another scare with a great cross towards Cabral, who heads it into the crossbar and over. Meunier soon replaces Beltramone as our last substitution, but once again to little apparent effect.

Time passes with Nice happy to keep the ball whenever they can and deny us any opportunities to attack, while we seem unable to create anything at all. In the 75th we finally find a way through thanks to Rodríguez's great pass into space towards Schulze, but the midfielder once again misses the target with his finish and we're nowhere closer to a decent result than we were. Schulze does much better with a steal and assist towards Rijkhoff two minutes later, but this time it's Todibo who manages to block the striker's finish after he'd already sidestepped Miszta. 

Another one comes in the 83rd, with Schulze crossing low and Caraballo shooting with little to no space, easily blocked by the keeper. We go into full desperation mode then, and we reach injury time still behind. Then, two minutes after the 90th, Rijkhoff gathers a long ball on the left flank, then crosses low towards Miranda, who just taps it forward slightly and straight into Rodríguez's path so the Mexican can do his thing and hit the back of the net with a dramatic draw. But we're not done yet: two minutes later Lang intercepts a clearance and heads it towards Rodríguez, who then assists the rampaging Caraballo as he runs into the box. Sadly, though, his finish is blocked by Miszta in a miraculous intervention, and after Casas heads the corner kick over once again the result doesn't change any further.

* * *

OGC Nice 1 (Amine Gouiri 42)
TSV 1860 München 1 (Jair Rodríguez 90+2)

- - -

A point in one of our worse performances of the year so far? I'll take it happily, even if we could've stolen the win at the end there. The first half in particular was quite bad for us, and even then we were very close to keeping things tied until the break and also enjoyed a couple of decent chances to score ourselves. Nice were much better than last time, but still not enough to beat us. Fair result in the end, I'd say.

Liverpool destroyed Villarreal 4-0 in the other fixture of the group, and now things have become even more complicated with us at 7 points and both Liverpool and Villarreal at 6, but with the scousers ahead on goal difference. Nice aren't out quite yet either, and might become the deciding factor in the end. Anything can happen here.

[Dalbeider]

Nov 9th 2030

Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895 (6th) vs. TSV 1860 München (2nd) (Bundesliga, 11/34)

Ten games in and Fortuna's start of the season hasn't got any less remarkable yet. Sitting sixth on the table right after promoting and currently holding the third best goal difference in the whole league with +13, they're one of the most dangerous teams in the Bundesliga as of now. Their form seems to be taking a bit of a dip lately, though, so it might be the right moment to face them.

* * *

DÜSSELDORF (4-4-2): Aleksa Todorovic (GK); Florian Kaiser (DR), Christoph Klarer (DCr), Mark Harrington (DCl), Yacine Chaib (DL); Tim Pohl (MR), Ilay Elmkies (MCr), Ignacio Tapia (MCl), Marcos Paulo (ML); Björn Marinov (STr), Leon Annicchero (STl)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Aymeric Meunier (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Two key players like Javorcic and Miranda need a rest today, which means starts for young Hauptmann and disgruntled Thiago. Fortuna start one very familiar face in Marcos Paulo, who's having a remarkable season with seven goals and seven assists to his name already, and it's he himself who gives us our first scare of the evening with a high header in a corner kick only two minutes into the match. Another one falls to Marcos Paulo in the 11th minute, and this time he runs into the box and blasts it over, but the start of the game is otherwise not too eventful, with the home team controlling the flow for now.

Soon enough Harrington makes Kretzschmar work with a dangerous header in a set piece, then Harrington himself heads the resulting corner kick narrowly over. Little by little this is starting to look a lot like our game in Nice three days ago... Come the 17th we finally test Todorovic with a 25-yard direct free kick by Rodríguez that the keeper tips wide with a good-looking flight. The Mexican takes the corner kick and aims it perfectl towards Ernesto's head, but the keeper blocks the header and the ball ends up rolling all over the upside of the net. Ernesto's second try also goes over, although this time without Todorovic's intervention.

After both teams have had their turn, no one seems to want to create any more chances for a good while. It isn't until another corner kick in the 29th minute that things get rolling again, with Thiago crossing and Stjepanovic nodding it so the ball bounces on top of the crossbar and over. Six minutes later, though, our defense seems to fall asleep for an instant, thus allowing Marcos Paulo an easy cross from the right side of the box and Marinov an even easier tap-in for the 1-0. Neither team shows up in attack after that, and the result holds until the break.

HALF TIME - 1-0

The second half starts with more corner kicks, this time for Fortuna and once again headed over by Harrington. We respond through the center, as usual, with Palomeque passing forward to Rodríguez and the Mexican placing his shot well, but meeting Todorovic's block. Another great chance created by Palomeque follows, this time with the ball falling to an unmarked Rijkhoff inside the box, but once again the keeper is there to deflect it wide. But we still need more, and Miranda and Özcan come into the game to provide it, replacing Meunier and Rijkhoff.

A knock to Hauptmann brings Javorcic into the game in his place, thus exhausting our options off the bench. And things don't get any better: a cross from the left reaches Pohl near the edge of the box, and the winger just nods it forward unopposed towards Marinov, who also has all the time and space in the world to turn around and score the 2-0 while the defense watches. We don't have any options other than going full tilt now, and in the 71st we pass the ball all around the box before it reaches Javorcic in the center twenty yards away from the target, and the full back surprises with a screamer that Todorovic can't even see coming: 2-1 and still alive.

We pour forward now, while Fortuna seem to reel from the hit despite still having the advantage. We don't get anything out of these few minutes of uncertainty, though, and soon the home team recover and hit us back with a fantastic cross by Elmkies from the right wing towards, who else, Marcos Paulo, who heads it downwards with power to make it impossible to stop for Kretzschmar. We keep trying, and Miranda gets a volley blocked by Todorovic in a deep set piece taken by Rodríguez come the 79th minute. Two minutes later a double chance appears when a shot by Miranda is blocked by the defense and the deflection falls to Palomeque, who can only smash it into the post from a very tight angle.

A high ball from distance by Annicchero keeps our defense on their toes, then Basualdo tries luck but also finds Todorovic on the way of his finish, already in injury time. The keeper also deals with a good chance for Özcan one minute later, but can't do anything to stop Özcan himself from blasting it in after a great low cross from the right by Palomeque. By now we're way past the injury time given by the referee, though, and there's no time for last-second shenanigans.

* * *

Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895 3 (Björn Marinov 35 67, Marcos Paulo 78)
TSV 1860 München 2 (Tomislav Javorcic 71, Vedat Özcan 90+5)

- - -

Bad game, bad result. Very reminiscent of the Nice game, particularly in the first half, with the difference being that we didn't fix our issues come the second this time. Most of the blame goes to the defense today, Stjepanovic in particular was horrid on the mark and allowed Marinov way too much space to score in both of his goals. We still could've got something out of this game if Todorovic had been a bit less excellent, but alas. We probably didn't deserve anything better anyways. Leipzig retake the second place from us, finally breaking out of their funk with a 6-1 win over Augsburg just before facing us in two weeks.

[Dalbeider]

Nov 14th 2030

Good performance with assist included for Ball with England U21 in our first appearance of the window. Most of our other internationals have a bit of an off day, with the exception of Özcan, who gets a goal and an assist in a nice 3-0 win over Slovenia.

Nov 18th 2030

Schulze finally gets his debut appearance with the senior Germany side, doing well and playing the whole game in an easy 4-1 win over Greece. Equally excellent is Hauptmann's first senior appearance for Austria, looking solid and defeating North Macedonia 3-1. Caraballo scores for Venezuela, while Rodríguez adds another assist to his ever growing tally with Mexico.

Nov 23rd 2030

TSV 1860 München (4th) vs. RasenBallsport Leipzig (3rd) (Bundesliga, 12/34)

Into one of the most nightmarish weeks of the season, starting with two-time Bundesliga champions Leipzig coming to town and continuing with an absolutely key trip to Liverpool in three days. We can't afford to take either game lightly, as a defeat here would see us dropping way too far from the title fight, which is where we want to be. That said, Leipzig have looked somewhat frail following their early cup exit, and despite their resounding win over Augsburg last time it's still probably a more winnable game than usual. Which isn't saying much, if I'm being honest here...

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Alex Ball (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)
RB LEIPZIG (4-2-3-1): Alexander Nübel (GK); Wilfried Singo (DR), Ali Reynah (DCr), Felix Uduokhai (DCl), Luca Netz (DL); Marco Polenta (MCr), Paulo Bernardo (MCl); Rayan Cherki (AMR), Aarao (AMC), Alan Velasco (AML); Patson Daka (ST)

* * *

To make such an intense week even worse, some of our internationals are still somewhat tired after playing with their national teams. Hopefully the likes of Rodríguez and Özcan will have enough in the tank today. We recover Neves, who sits on the bench ready to do his thing in the second half should the need arise. Meanwhile Leipzig start their summer acquisition Aarao ahead of Bajrami and leave the likes of Conceiçao, Busio, Moran, and Cumic in the bench, too. Showoffs... Their most in-form player, however, is still veteran striker Daka, who's on sixteen goals from seventeen appearances already. Scary.

The game starts with possession split almost equally and a couple of blocked shots for us, while Leipzig take their time to get close to Kretzschmar's goal. The midfield battle goes back and forth with neither team managing to impose their quality and create danger consistently, and time flies with the keepers still having nothing to do other than the occasional clearance. That finally changes in the 22nd minute, when Miranda steals the ball and Özcan and Caraballo quickly combine to create a good chance for the Turk, denied in the end by Nübel with a timely dive to block. There's no continuity, though, and we go back to our regularly scheduled midfield slog afterwards.

Leipzig finally show up inside our box in the 34th, but it takes a set piece taken by Velasco and headed wide by Daka to get there. Three minutes later it's our turn, with Rodríguez breaking into the box through the center then passing back to Özcan, who can't hit the ball clearly and ends up smashing it against Reynah's legs. The visitors try to go for it in the final minutes of the half but our defense deals with all the threats efficiently, and all they can really manage in the end are a couple of blocked finishes and a high header by Paulo Bernardo in a corner kick. Unsurprisingly, no goals at half time.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Rodríguez shows signs of discomfort in his knee during half time, and is quickly replaced by Neves to prevent anything serious from happening. It doesn't take long for the Portuguese midfielder to start getting involved, trading passes with Caraballo to set up a good chance for the forward that nonetheless he can't get past Nübel's hands. There's still not much going on, though, and we decide to make another substitution, bringing Javorcic in Touré's place and using him as an inverted wing back on the left to reinforce our midfield even further, allowing us to push forward a little bit more. Palomeque also replaces Schulze for some extra creativity in the final third.

Leipzig also move pieces around, bringing Bajrami and Conceiçao into the game, but the slog continues unabated until the 72nd, when a long clearance by Casas is somehow misread by Reynah, who lets it fly over his head and allows Özcan to gather it, run at Nübel, and calmly dribble his way around the keeper before practically walking into the net with the ball, scoring the 1-0. Now Leipzig have to go forward, and that opens up more chances for us to run on the break, which we use in the 77th to create a great chance through Özcan's run, Neves's continuation, and Caraballo's finish into Nübel's deflection over the bar. Ernesto heads that corner kick wide, too.

Leipzig's first shot on target of the game (imagine that) doesn't come until the 86th, following a deflected attempt by Conceiçao that falls to Uduokhai outside the box, although the midfielder's 20-yard attempt is low, bouncy, and an easy catch for Kretzschmar. Two minutes later the keeper also holds a weak header by Velasco without any issues, and despite throwing caution to the wind in injury time, that's the best they can produce. Huge win for us.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 1 (Vedat Özcan 72)
RasenBallsport Leipzig 0

- - -

Great result in a game that prooobably should've ended without goals all things considered. Leipzig were slightly better all game long, at least when it comes to getting close to the opposing goal, but their finishing was atrocious all day long, to the point that most of their approaches didn't even register as chances. Either that or our defenders covered every single gap and blocked every single shock, one of the two. Regardless, we stole it in our best chance of the game thanks to a terrible defensive mistake, and now we're back in the race. Now if Dortmund drops some points one of these days...

We did well replacing Rodríguez at half time, because after a more thorough examination it turned out he had pulled his knee ligaments. He'll miss the customary two weeks, which is a bit of a problem considering our decisive Champions League fixtures incoming.

[Dalbeider]

Nov 26th 2030

Kretzschmar makes the Team of the Week thanks to two easy saves and a clean sheet he had almost no part in. Huh.

* * *

Liverpool vs. TSV 1860 München (Champions League group H, 5/6)

What a game, this one. We're not only playing one of the best teams in Europe (historically at least) managed by one of the best coaches in the sport, but also there's a lot at stake today. A win means we qualify for the knockout stages, a draw keeps us ahead of Liverpool but doesn't solve anything, and a defeat makes a win against Villarreal in the last fixture of the group mandatory in order to progress. Fun.

* * *

LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson (GK); Trent Alexander-Arnold (DR), Omar Peláez (DCr), Alexis Rojas (DCl), Josko Gvardiol (DL); Jair Santos (DM), Henrique Saldanha (MCr), Gavi (MCl); Morango (AMR), Curtis Jones (AML), Folarin Balogun (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Juan David Palomeque (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Regardless of the importance of the game we are still forced to rotate at least a bit, particularly in midfield and attack. Guardiola also moves things around in his squad, pushing Gavi forwards, Saldanha back into midfield, and removing Bellingham from the picture altogether. The early game is very reminiscent of our recent meeting with Leipzig: lots of midfield play, split possession, and no chances on either side of the pitch. We have to go all the way until the 22nd minute for something to happen attacking-wise, and it's just a high ball from distance by Morango after sneaking his way past Stjepanovic.

Things take a turn for the worse in the 28th minute when Balogun controls the ball inside the box and immediately goes down as he tries to dribble past Ernesto. VAR sees a trip and it's a penalty kick for the home team, converted by Alexander-Arnold with a shot that hits the post then rolls all over the goal line before finally tipping a few inches inside. We try to push forward then but to little effect, and the next attempt is once again for Liverpool thanks to a powerful shot from outside the box by Saldanha that Rexhepi pushes behind with some difficulty. 

Jones heads that corner kick well over the bar, and our first approach arrives in the 41st with a good nod from Rijkhoff to Basualdo, who sees his shot blocked and deflected away by Rojas. One minute later the Argentinian has a better one after a great assist by Schulze, but this time it's Allison who denies him. Then, in injury time, Neves spots a good-looking run into space by Rijkhoff and threads a beautiful pass through the center so the striker can run into the box and beat Allison with a great finish. Too bad he was offside, and thus we remain behind come half time.

HALF TIME - 1-0

We pick it back up after the break, showing some sharp attacking moves but with our forwards always moving a second too early and falling into offside positions. Liverpool now seem to prefer counterattacking, and four minutes into the second half Jones tests Rexhepi with a half-volley after a cross by Morango, well held by the keeper. Miranda soon replaces a disappointing Schulze to give us an extra bit of creativity in midfield, and in the 60th we once again break through, this time with Rijkhoff receiving from Palomeque in a legal position, and the striker runs all the way into the box only to send his finish wide, thwarting our best chance of the game so far.

Caraballo and Thiago are our last two options off the bench, replacing Basualdo and an exhausted Palomeque. And then it clicks, following a few minutes without chances: quick midfield play in our usual forward-looking style, Neves sees Rijkhoff's move through the center once again, and this time he times the pass perfectly to break the offside trap and allow the striker another run into the box which, for a change, he doesn't waste. 1-1, and now we're the ones making things happen.

Ten more minutes pass while Liverpool try and fail to recover, and come the 79th a corner kick taken by Thiago gives Ernesto a chance for redemption from his penalty, but his powerful header crashes against the crossbar and bounces clear. Thiago soon sends a cheeky 20-yarder straight at Alisson's hands to keep the pressure up, then loses a dangerous ball in midfield only for Stjepanovic to fix his mistake with a timely block to Balogun's dangerous finish. Lots of imprecisions in build-up for both teams eventually lead to a triple chance for Liverpool that ends in two blocked shots and a piledriver by Bard that hits the crossbar, bounces inches away from the goal line, then is cleared away. Afterwards things seem to finally calm down, both teams looking satisfied with the result and willing to sign an armistice. One point for each side in the end, which could be enough for both.

* * *

Liverpool 1 (Trent Alexander-Arnold 28p)
TSV 1860 München 1 (Julian Rijkhoff 70)

- - -

Fair result, with each team being better in one half and using that to score their goals. It's a result with consequences, though, as Guardiola is immediately sacked by the Liverpool board following the match (and the press call me to ask if I'd be interested in the position, heh). To be fair Liverpool are 8th in the Premier League, that might have something to do with it... 

Regardless, Villarreal beat Nice 2-0 and now top the group with 9 points, we're second with 8, and Liverpool are third with 7, with Nice last with 4 and out of the running. We only need to match Liverpool's result in Nice to qualify, but a win would also guarantee the first place and (hopefully) a better draw come the knockouts. A good position to be in, really. Let's make it count.

Meanwhile, the U19s easily confirm their qualification for the next round in the Youth League with a 2-3 win in Liverpool, securing not just that but the first place in the group. First game in the competition in which Katic doesn't score at least one, too.

[Dalbeider]

Dec 1st 2030

We're getting closer to what's sure to be a pretty eventful winter transfer window, so the board decide to give us an early Christmas gift and add €3M to our transfer budget, raising it to almost €33M. Nothing too big, but every little bit helps.

* * *

1.FSV Mainz 08 (12th) vs. TSV 1860 München (3rd) (Bundesliga, 13/34)

Entering the final month of the year with a game against a team we seem to love drawing against. Four of our last five meetings have ended tied, which shows how much trouble they usually give us. Doesn't help that they have two ex-Lions in their squad with Da Silva and Maldini, although the latter will miss out today due to injury. On the other hand we haven't lost against them in eight games, so there's that too. A toughie, but one we should win regardless if we're to keep pace with Bayern and Dortmund.

* * *

MAINZ (4-2-3-1): Senne Lammens (GK); Joe Scally (DR), Alejandro Valle (DCr), Mathias Farnes Gabrielsen (DCl), Joao Conceiçao (DL); Bledian Krasniqi (MCr), Florent Da Silva (MCl); Tanguy Coulibaly (AMR), Joni Zakashvili (AMC), Noel López (AML); Alessio Besio (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Juan David Palomeque (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

The players look really up to it today, and within seconds Caraballo is already trying to get a shoot in from close following a great low cross by Schulze, only to see it blocked and cleared away by Valle. Another play down the right flank ends in a header by unlikely target Miranda and a good flight by Lammens to claim the ball, and in the 8th minute we change sides so Ball can cross towards Schulze's head, prompting another save by the keeper. We're looking really good going forward today, though, and our high pressing is helping us recover possession very quickly.

Nine minutes in we generate danger again, this time with a through ball by Caraballo that Özcan wastes with a wide finish. One minute later another rush through the center ends with Özcan shooting straight into Lammens' hands, and then a low cross by Palomeque leads to a narrowly wide finish by Schulze. It's a miracle we haven't scored yet, but that ends in the 16th minute: forward pass by Özcan towards Caraballo, the false nine drops to the right side of the box, then crosses low so Palomeque can tap it in easily and finally give us the lead. Two minutes later Hauptmann finds Caraballo again in a very similar position and although his cross is deflected away by Lammens this time it doesn't go too far, since Palomeque gathers it and passes it into the net to complete a quickfire brace.

We don't stop there, though, and in the 20th Valle has to rush to clear the ball off the line after Schulze lobs it over the keeper in a one-on-one situation. We do slow down things a tad afterwards, though, keeping control of the game but being a bit more cautious going forward now. Mainz don't seem to have an answer to us today, and time passes as we keep hold of the ball and wait for another chance to open up. It finally comes in the 37th, with Miranda finding Palomeque's run through the center and only Lammens' timely save preventing a hattrick for the midfielder. 

The keeper has more work to do four minutes later, first blocking a powerful header by Schulze, then stretching his body to stop Özcan's finish on the bounce, and finally tipping over Casas' header in the corner kick that follows. Fourth time's the charm, though, and with the defense trying to get out of the cave Miranda recovers the ball and crosses towards the far post so Özcan can head it in unopposed and score the third. But one minute later Kretzschmar makes an uncharacteristic mistake when starting play, passing it to an unaware Lang and allowing Noel López to steal it, combine with Besio, and easily finish to make it 1-3 in Mainz's first chance of the game. Then, in injury time, Ball goes two-footed on Scully to try and win the ball back and the referee doesn't hesitate to show him the red card. Javorcic quickly replaces Caraballo, and what had been complete domination and a result to match suddenly looks very different.

HALF TIME - 1-3

And it gets worse: two minutes into the second half Coulibaly goes down inside the box while chasing what looks like an inconsequential cross, and VAR cuts in to point out a push by Javorcic: penalty kick, and Coulibaly himself buries it from the spot. Now things do look quite worrying indeed. We still create sparks whenever we're allowed to go on the attack, though, and in the 54th it's Javorcic who finds Schulze completely unmarked with a cross from the left, although the midfielder can't find a way past Lammens in the end. Neither does Miranda with a direct free kick two minutes later, but at least we're now controlling possession and keeping the ball away from our goal, which is the objective.

Meunier and Neves give us some oxygen in midfield after replacing Schulze and Miranda, both tired and likely to start again in three days against Augsburg. We keep the ball and let the clock tick the minutes away for a while, with Mainz showing little to no intention of contesting our ten-men domination. Their next chance doesn't arrive until the 78th, a good passing play that ends with Krasniqi breaking into the box but failing to produce a credible finish, making it easy for Kretzschmar. The keeper also does well to block a more dangerous finish by Noel López three minutes later, then Casas blocks a dangerous attempt inside the box by Coulibaly. We're finally being put under real pressure, but thankfully it ends there: the final ten minutes plus injury time bring no further scares, and we manage to stumble our way past the finish line with our lead still alive.

* * *

1.FSV Mainz 08 2 (Noel López 43, Tanguy Coulibaly 47p)
TSV 1860 München 3 (Juan David Palomeque 16 18, Vedat Özcan 42, Alex Ball sent off 45+1)

- - -

Man, we sure love making things interesting, huh. A game that seemed to be headed towards an easy 0-4 or 0-5 demolition after forty minutes suddenly turned into a grindfest due to three almost consecutive brain malfunctions by our defense. We responded well in the second half and kept Mainz mostly out of the game despite being down a player, but seriously, let's not do this again. Ever.

[Dalbeider]

Dec 2nd 2030

It's time to prepare for the next season, contracts-wise. Three first-teamers are on expiring deals, one of which has already decided to leave (Lang) so there's not much to do there unless he changes his mind. The other two are Miranda, who is having yet another fantastic year and has already dished out eleven assists, and Stjepanovic, who remains a very solid member of the defensive line. I'd love to extend both deals, but Miranda's agent's demands are unrealistic for a 30-year-old, expecting to double his wages and a lot of very ridiculously overstated clauses. We put it in the backburner for now, although it's likely we'll eventually cave in. He's Miranda after all. In Stjepanovic's case things go much more smoothly, and soon we agree a four-year extension worth €43k a week with a regular starter status.

Dec 3rd 2030

Team of the Week slots for both Caraballo and Palomeque.

Dortmund finally drop some points in their midweek fixture with a 0-0 home draw against Stuttgart. Leipzig and Bayern keep winning, though, so all the more reason to get another win ourselves.

Dec 4th 2030

Huh, looks like I've made myself famous in England all of a sudden. First Liverpool and now Newcastle are (reportedly) interested in signing me as their manager. That's some big names right there.

* * *

TSV 1860 München (3rd) vs. FC Augsburg (11th) (Bundesliga, 14/34)

Mini-derby time! Two months before meeting Augsburg in the cup once again we get to host them in the league, as a practice match of sorts. Not that it'll be worth much with a transfer window in between, but hey. Augsburg have been doing nicely, once again playing above expectations and looking quite safe from the relegation scuffle right now, so I expect another tough match, like almost always.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Ernesto (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
AUGSBURG (4-2-3-1): Adam Stejskal (GK); Edier Ocampo (DR), Yerson Mosquera (DCr), Ron Schallenberg (DCl), Marat Gadjiev (DL); Sandro Tettamanti (MCr), Diyar Yilmaz (MCl); Finn Ole Becker (AMR), Marco Richter (AMC), Darko Churlinov (AML); Alex Caldwell (ST)

* * *

Rotation, but not as much as usual today since we have to start thinking ahead, saving some starters for the next league match but also keeping a competitive eleven fresh for the do-or-die Champions League game against Villarreal in seven days. Once again we start really motivated, and it's only a bit over two minutes before Rijkhoff sets up a free run through the heart of Augsburg's defense for Neves, who nonetheless ends up shooting wide. Another great pass by Rijkhoff allows Schulze another good chance to score, but this time Stejskal dives in time to push it away and his defenders do the rest. Still, not a bad way to start a derby.

Augsburg manage to plug the holes in their defensive setup after those early chances, though, and things slow down dramatically as we clearly dominate the game but can't find another way through. The few times we manage to get the ball into the box there's always a defender to block our finish, and thus minutes pass with the score still tied. Our best look in a long while comes in the 27th thanks to a long pass from Touré that surprises Augsburg's defense, allowing Neves another run that the midfielder once again turns into a wide finish. Guess it's not the second half just yet...

The Portuguese midfielder turns provider six minutes later, sending the ball to Caraballo inside the box and forcing a great foot save by Stejskal. The keeper has it even harder with a 25-yard direct free kick by Miranda that flies straight towards the top corner, only to be swatted away in the very last second. Finally, in the 36th, another of our traditional waves through the center ends with Neves assisting Schulze on the run, and this time the midfielder finds the perfect gap to shoot through, scoring the 1-0 off the inside of the post. After that, a few minutes of possession control and little else.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Things looks exactly the same after the break, and after six minutes we turn our domination into another chance, once again with Neves assisting Caraballo for a good save by Stejskal. Casas heads a corner kick well over afterwards, while Augsburg remain suspiciously quiet when it comes to attacking. So of course we decide to give them a hand: Churlinov dribbles his way into the box, Ernesto sticks out his leg, and there goes another penalty kick, the third in three consecutive matches and Ernesto's second in the same stretch. Churlinov scores from the penalty spot, and we're back where we started.

Palomeque and Özcan replace a tired Miranda and a mediocre Rijkhoff almost immediately, and the midfielder quickly starts making his presence known with a good cross from the left that Schulze heads into Stejskal's hands. Neves comes next, gathering another great pass by Touré and shooting quickly and placed, but it's not his time just yet and the ball hits the root of the post and goes behind. Augsburg try their first shot from open play in the 68th with a wide long distance attempt by Yilmaz, seconds before Basualdo comes in Caraballo's place as our last bet of the day.

Blocked attempts by Özcan and Basualdo follow, the first of them quite dangerous-looking but ultimately inconsequential, and in the 77th a header by Palomeque goes straight at Stejskal after yet another shot by Özcan that can't get past Mosquera's legs. Time passes and we reach the final stretch still looking for a way to fix our one mistake, and Schulze almost gets there with a powerful effort from distance that Stejskal deflects just enough for it to roll behind, inches past the post. Stjepanovic also can't find the target with his header in the corner kick, and then injury time brings... well, an injury. To Touré, more precisely, forcing us to end the game with ten men on the pitch and Stjepanovic as an emergency left back. There are no more chances on either side, and we're left to wonder how the hell did we manage to not win this game today.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 1 (Maximilian Schulze 36)
FC Augsburg 1 (Darko Churlinov 59p)

- - -

Twenty-three shots to three, ten to two on target, 3.23 xG versus 0.98 and about 0.90 of those are from the penalty kick. See, this is why we won't win the Bundesliga: we waste way too many points against inferior teams we should be beating any day of the week, and Bayern and company don't. Simple as that. Also, the next idiot who gives away a stupid penalty kick is getting benched for one month. It's getting quite silly already.

Touré's last minute injury turns out to be less serious than expected: pulled ankle ligaments, around ten days out of action for the kid. Enough to miss the Villarreal game, though, which is annoying considering Ball will have to play on the weekend for sure.

[Dalbeider]

Dec 5th 2030

Welp, Liverpool offer an interview. First time I've been seriously tempted to jump ships, honestly, Liverpool are among my favorite teams worldwide and one of just a handful that could make me abandon 1860. Still, I remain committed at least until I manage to win a Bundesliga or (metaphorically, I hope) die trying.

A/N: I did make a split save at this point, just in case. 

Dec 8th 2030

TSV 1860 München (4th) vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach (8th) (Bundesliga, 15/34)

Three games left before the winter break and we still can't catch a break. Gladbach are deep in the battle for the European places like almost always, yet they're another team we've had very good results again as of late. As long as we don't go around gifting penalties we should be fine, but we'll also have to keep some players fresh for the really important match three days in the future.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Juan David Palomeque (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
GLADBACH (4-2-3-1): Henry George (GK); Alexander Menke (DR), Nicola Bartolini (DCr), Marco Katinic (DCl), César Magaña (DL); Cheick Doucouré (MCr), Mike Kleijn (MCl); Edgar Santacruz (AMR), Antoni Milambo (AMC), Reinaldo Junio (AML), Boris Malpon (ST)

* * *

Rodríguez is back in training after his last injury but sits this one out, we want him ready for the Villarreal game. Magaña starts for Gladbach, who start the game contesting our theoretical midfield superiority and actually generating some early danger in a long ball from Reinaldo Junio to Milambo that leads to a one-on-one, well solved by Kretzschmar. We reply with a similar play, this time with Palomeque assisting Basualdo, but with the exact same result: George blocking the finish and winning the head-to-head battle. A wide volley by Neves follows in the 11th minute, and two minutes later Lang's header in a corner kick clips the crossbar before going over. Looks like we're back in control.

Neves sets up another run through the center come the 20th minute, this time Rijkhoff being the one who fails to get his shot past George. Three minutes later Gladbach return to the attack with some help from a bad clearance by Ball, although Milambo can't beat Kretzschmar with his finish either. Schulze shoots wide after a neat passing play between him, Neves, and Basualdo, and then Santacruz forces Kretzschmar into a fingertip save with a good curving shot after a long ball from Kleijn.

Both teams keep trading blows, neither quite connecting on the opponent's jaw, until in the 39th Gladbach catch us on the break, Milambo passes it forward into space towards Malpon, the striker breaks the offside trap with a great burst of speed, and this time Kretzschmar can't do anything to prevent the 0-1. We have no chance to react in what little remains of the first half, and find ourselves trailing at the halfway point of the match.

HALF TIME - 0-1

We keep trying in the early second half, soon creating a chance for Neves that Bartolini denies with a timely slide to block the finish. On the other end of the pitch, though, a corner kick almost turns into the 0-2 thanks to Katinic's great header, but thankfully Hauptmann is well positioned to clear the ball away before it crosses over the line. In the 56th Basualdo sends a weak finish straight at George after a good run by Rijkhoff, who nonetheless is soon replaced by Özcan after yet another mediocre showing, just before Gladbach create another dangerous counterattack that Santacruz wastes with a terribly high finish on the run. Meunier also replaces a tired and not too effective Schulze, and a bit later Miranda comes in for Palomeque.

The following minutes are surprisingly quiet, despite us trying all we can to go forward and create more chances. Gladbach manage to shut us down completely, and there are no more chances until the 84th minute, when Neves says enough is enough and runs alone through the center before shooting into George's deflection straight at the left post. Two minutes later Thiago sends wide a good-looking shot from the edge of the box, and in the 87th Kretzschmar saves without issue a centered attempt by Reinaldo Junio. Finally comes the 90th minute, in which Hauptmann surprises charging forward down the right flank and assisting Meunier, and the midfielder does what no forward in this team seems capable of doing and places his finish into the net for a dramatic draw. There's no chance to make it one better, though, and we'll have to do with yet another draw.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 1 (Aymeric Meunier 90)
Borussia Mönchengladbach 1 (Boris Malpon 39)

- - -

And once again, a game in which we should've scored at least a couple but instead had to struggle just to get one point. Sigh. I don't know what's happened to our forwards this season, but other than that streak by Basualdo a while ago they've been extremely poor when it comes to their main job. Rijkhoff in particular seems to have forgotten completely about his twenty-goal and almost-World Cup Golden Boot 29/30 season. More points dropped, Dortmund are now nine points ahead, and we're gonna need lots of improvement if we're to seriously challenge for this Bundesliga.

[Dalbeider]

Dec 10th 2030

Meunier's goal off the bench earns him a place in the Team of the Week.

Dec 11th 2030

TSV 1860 München vs. Villarreal (Champions League group H, 6/6)

Last train for the knockout stages! We know what we need to do to qualify: win and we're first no matter what, draw and we need Liverpool to not win if we want to finish second, lose and Liverpool have to lose, too. Of course the ideal result is the first one, but we'll need to get past a team that's already beaten us this season. Let's show we're not too small for the Champions League anymore.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Rodrigo Caraballo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)
VILLARREAL (4-4-2): Javier Belman (GK); Juan Foyth (DR), Jorge Cuenca (DCr), Pau Torres (DCl), Francisco Ortega (DL); Michael Olise (MR), Mohammed Kudus (MCr), Juanma (MCl), Ferran Jutglà (ML); André Silva (STr), Uidemar (STl)

* * *

No punches pulled today, we go out with the best eleven we can possibly play currently. Ball might not be able to finish the game today after playing the whole match against Gladbach, though, so Hauptmann is ready to come in at any time. Meanwhile Villarreal repeat almost the same team that beat us at their stadium, with Juanma and Uidemar as the only different faces. We look good in the early game, controlling the ball and probing the Yellow Submarine's defense looking for our first chances. We find one gap in the seventh minute with a long pass from Meunier to Miranda, who shoots over the bar from a good position just inside the box. After that, though, Villarreal plug the holes and start contesting possession seriously, and the game enters a much less one-sided phase.

Jutglà has the first opportunity for the visitors after catching a great ball from Foyth and facing Rexhepi, who reads his shot well and turns it around the post for a corner kick. Miranda then creates a good chance for Özcan but the defense block his finish and clear the ball away, then Javorcic surprises with a placed shot from outside the box that hits the crossbar straight on. Belman catches a weak header by Özcan in the 25th, as we seem to be taking control for good this time. One minute later it's Ernesto who heads narrowly over a corner kick, and in the 31st it's Miranda who finishes a great-looking counterattack but sees his finish deflected away by an excellent Belman.

Another ten-minute pause in our attack gives Villarreal a chance to catch their breath, but in the 41st we return with a good low cross by Schulze towards Rodríguez, who sees his shot hit Torres's foot and deflect over the bar. That becomes the last action of a quite one-sided first half that ends without goals, somehow. Same result in Nice so far.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Pau Torres blocks another shot six minutes into the second half, this time Schulze's, as we keep pushing looking for the goal we've been deserving for a while now. Casas can't find it in the corner kick either, his header flying over the bar. Soon it's time to start moving some pieces, and we take out Schulze and Ball, both exhausted, and replace them with Palomeque and Hauptmann, moving Javorcic to the left. Soon Palomeque is making runs into space and catching a great assist from Rodríguez, although once again the finish is not good enough and Belman turns it into a corner kick, one more, which means another chance for Casas that the keeper punches over. That's another corner kick, though, and this time Rodríguez looks for Ernesto, who towers high and heads it low and placed, far beyond Belman's reach and into the net. Finally.

With that weight off our collective shoulders we start playing with more freedom now, and soon it's Rodríguez's turn to waste a great chance generated by Hauptmann by blasting the ball over the bar. Right back and attacking midfielder connect again in the 63rd, and this time Rodríguez keeps his cool and dribbles his way into the box only for Belman to do his job once again and deflect the ball wide. Two minutes later Javorcic moves to the right to take a throw in, and after the ball moves inside the box and out for a while it goes back to the right wing so the full back can cross low, somehow dodging a forest of legs and finding Rodríguez at the heart of the box for an easy tap-in that becomes the 2-0.

Neves gives Miranda some rest then, and we keep playing as we've done so far without taking any steps back, soon generating another chance from Caraballo's measured cross and Özcan's high header. Neves also has a chance to grab a third denied by Belman in the 72nd minute, while Villarreal look lost but not terribly worried about the result, considering Liverpool are losing 2-1 in Nice right now. Caraballo even scores a third, although from a clearly offside position, while the visitors can only generate a wide shot from distance by Sesma come the 84th minute. Much clearer is Sesma's chance two minutes later, a point-blank finish after a cross by Gérson that Ernesto blocks miraculously. The substitute forward then tries his luck with a direct free kick that can't quite find the target, but after that we manage to calm things down and ride possession until the end of the match. Good performance in a key fixture, and a great result to match.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 2 (Ernesto 57, Jair Rodríguez 64)
Villarreal 0

- - -

That was good. Took a while, though, and we had to be really patient to tear Villarreal's wall down, but in the end Ernesto and Rodríguez, both quite used to shining on the main stage by now, finally pulled us through. First place of the group achieved, and now we patiently wait to see what we come across in the knockouts. Villarreal finished second in the end, as Liverpool could only draw 2-2 in Nice. The only bad news today is that Ernesto picked up his third yellow and will miss the first leg of the knockouts in February. Oh well.

[Dalbeider]

Dec 14th 2030

And Newcastle come offering a job interview, too. This one's easier to reject, though.

* * *

Hertha BSC (11th) vs. TSV 1860 München (4th) (Bundesliga, 16/34)

Hertha are having a very... Hertha-like season so far. That is, mediocrity in midtable with no real aspirations of moving upwards, and actually not that far away points-wise from the relegation scuffle. We're not in our best run of results in the Bundesliga either, but even then we should have enough to get a win once and for all, tired legs or not.

* * *

HERTHA (3-2-2-2-1): Zhijian Zhang (GK); Alejandro Francés (DCr), Long Li (DC), Omar Alderete (DCl); Erik Warner (WBR), Tim Behlau (WBL); Laureano Laconi (MCr), Eyüp Aydin (MCl); Miguel Carvalho (AMR), Charles De Ketelaere (AML); Delyan Atanasov (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonathan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Rare league start for Rexhepi, who has been doing quite well in the Champions League this season so far. The usual rotation otherwise, and we come across a new formation for Hertha, this 5-2-3 that we've found in other teams occasionally, and rarely to good effect. Hertha do start looking forward at least, with Laconi sending over the bar a 25-yarder with only twenty seconds on the clock. We need six minutes to reply, but when we do we strike gold: forward pass from Basualdo to Palomeque, the midfielder enters the box, then shoots with power past a flabbergasted Zhang to score the 0-1.

We're now free to exploit our obvious midfield superiority, and we do so with impunity for a few minutes before Basualdo tests the Chinese keeper from distance, finding a good response and a corner kick. Hertha then find a way through when Aydin finds Carvalho unmarked inside the box, but the winger's curling shot sails wide. A counterattack gives them another go, but once again they fail to find the target with the finish, this time thanks to De Ketelaere's rushed and high shot. 

Then comes the 17th minute, a foul near the edge of the box, and a perfect execution by specialist Miranda to put the ball into the top corner as is tradition, making it 0-2. And he almost does it again five minutes later, this time from a less centered position, but Zhang reacts better now and manages to save and hold the ball. Hertha return to the attack in the 30th minute with a cross from Werner and a header by De Ketelaere that Rexhepi saves with confidence, and our next turn comes eight minutes later in a counterattack started by Basualdo with a long ball forward and finished by Rijkhoff with a half-volley under pressure that doesn't go anywhere close to the net. The rest of the second half is uneventful, and we march to the dressing room with a healthy and well-deserved lead.

HALF TIME - 0-2

The second half starts with a pass behind our defensive line towards Atanasov, although Rexhepi solves it with a solid save. It's still a warning shot to keep us on our toes, though, and soon we're back in control and generating another chance for Rijkhoff, his header to finish Palomeque's pinpoint cross finding Zhang well positioned to save. The pace is much slower now, though, and nothing else happens until the 60th minute when Rijkhoff steals the ball from Francés, trades passes with Basualdo, and runs into the box only to be brought down by Francés himself for a stonewall penalty. Miranda scores the penalty, and the game seems as good as finished.

We take the chance to give some rest to Miranda, excellent today, and Ball, with Rodríguez and Javorcic coming in their places. A few minutes later Palomeque also heads to the bench and Schulze enters the game, while Hertha don't give us much to think about until the 75th, when a great cross by Behlau finds Meyer on the far post, and the substitute's header ends up bouncing clear off the crossbar while Rexhepi watches. Since we aren't having any trouble today, though, we of course decide to create some when Javorcic earns himself a red after a two-footed challenge on Warner. 

Thiago becomes our emergency left back for the last ten minutes of the game, yet somehow it's us who have the next chance with a corner kick headed by Stjepanovic and tipped wide by Zhang. We play hide-and-seek with the ball and let minutes pass, only going forward when we have a clear look. One of those in the 90th minute ends with Basualdo smashing a shot from the edge of the box into the crossbar, while Hertha wait until injury time to finally profit from their superiority, sending a perfect cross from the left into an even more perfect header by Meyer, impossible for Rexhepi. It's too late to be meaningful now, though, even more when we launch a picture perfect counterattack in the very last minute of the game, with Schulze setting up an easy one-on-one that not even Rijkhoff can miss. Very comfortable win in the end.

* * *

Hertha BSC 1 (Phillip Meyer 90+3)
TSV 1860 München 4 (Juan David Palomeque 6, Matías Miranda 17 61p, Julian Rijkhoff 90+5)

- - -

Easy. Even with Javorcic's red (not the first time he does something this stupid, by the way) we never were under any serious pressure today, and we dealt with Hertha's scattered attacks without much issue otherwise while remaining surprisingly effective going forward. Great game for Basualdo and Miranda, and even Rijkhoff scored today! What more can we ask? Well, a loss for Dortmund would be nice, but alas, they beat Fortuna and while we can't get any closer to the top, at least that gives us some breathing space in the Champions League places.

Well well, look who's here wanting a new deal. Palomeque's agent seems to want to cash in on his client's good form so far this season and comes asking for an improved contract. And by improved I mean improved, almost doubling his current €32k weekly wages. An impatient fellow, the agent only listens to two offers before calling the negotiations off while claiming that Villarreal would be more than willing to pay what he's asking for. Well, they can pay me what I'm asking for first, I guess.

[Dalbeider]

Dec 15th 2030

Two weeks plus some change before the transfer window opens and the teams are itching to get started. Caraballo is the big outstanding issue from the previous window, and both Bayern and Leverkusen (still in the 2.Bundesliga, remember) come back with identical offers: €64M, about half of them in two yearly installments, and a 20% of future profits. Given he's requested to leave, I'm more than happy to accept and get started with the signing of his replacement.

Dec 16th 2030

The draw for the first knockout round of the Champions League is held today, and... well, let's just say we'll be playing a well-known foe. No more and no less than the current champions Real Madrid, and who are sure to take this much more seriously than the European Super Cup we almost stole from them. This will be a serious test of our actual level, but it's likely to end in pain.

Dec 17th 2030

Miranda adds another Team of the Week selection to his long resume.

Dec 21st 2030

TSV 1860 München (4th) vs. 1.FC Nürnberg (8th) (Bundesliga, 17/34)

Half the season gone, and so far it's been another quite good year for Nürnberg, still in the middle of the scuffle for the European places. That said, they've dropped off a bit after losing at home against Augsburg last week, so they'll need to pick themselves up quickly if they don't want to fall into midtable obscurity. As for us, silly draws aside, we're on a long unbeaten run in the league and we plan to keep it that way going into the new year.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
NÜRNBERG (4-4-2): Steven Benda (GK); Leonhard Pfeil (DR), Maksim Paskotsi (DCr), Armel Bella-Kotchap (DCl), Omar Campos (DL); Bénie Traoré (MR), Tom Krauss (MCr), Niklas Dorsch (MCl), Maurice Malone (ML); Facundo Farías (STr), Miguel de la Fuente (STl)

* * *

Having a full week of rest does wonders to squad selection. Touré is back after his injury while Javorcic misses out due to the red card he earned last week, and other than Caraballo sitting it out due to being in the middle of a transfer out to Bayern we play our most in-form eleven. Nürnberg stick to what works for them and give their usual 4-4-2 another go, with a collection of well-known names for the most part. And well, there's good starts and then there's what we do today: kick off, the ball quickly goes to Touré on the left, the full back sends it immediately forward into space for Rijkhoff's run, and the striker beats Benda with a well-placed finish to score the 1-0 after exactly sixteen seconds. Not bad.

We keep pushing after the goal, because why change when it's obviously working, and soon enough Rijkhoff gets another chance, this time with his head after a good cross by Hauptmann, but this time Benda manages a comfortable save. Nürnberg finally react in the ninth minute in a set piece that Malone heads over the bar, but then we hit them back with a quick combination through the center finished by Palomeque with a good-looking shot that Benda deflects wide. Meunier keeps it going with a 30-yard land-to-land missile that he smashes into the crossbar, and in the 12th minute Hauptmann crosses into space and Rijkhoff hits it first time, sending the ball into the post for our second wood impact within seconds. This one comes with an extra award, though: Rijkhoff goes down while going for the rebound due to a challenge by Paskotsi and it's a penalty kick. Miranda takes it well, but Benda dives even better and saves it in two times.

After that miss we slow down the pace a bit, holding the ball and playing a more patient game while Nürnberg try to keep themselves alive. It doesn't last, though, and in the 25th Rijkhoff assists Miranda on the run, the attacking midfielder enters the box and, instead of shooting, passes it horizontally so Basualdo can hit it on the run and bend Benda's hands to finally make it 2-0. Nürnberg then try again with a set piece, but with the same result: high header by Malone. Afterwards we start holding the ball again, letting the minutes pass until the 45th, when Rijkhoff and Miranda combine again to create another chance for the midfielder, who this time shoots wide. Then comes injury time, just enough for Palomeque to send a beautiful through ball towards Rijkhoff so the striker can calmly score his second and our third to bookend an almost perfect first half.

HALF TIME - 3-0

The second half starts looking like a mirror image of the first: corner kick for Nürnberg three minutes in, Krauss heads it into Kretzschmar's miracle save, but Malone reaches the loose ball first and pushes it over the line for the 3-1. Thankfully it doesn't go beyond that, and soon we start playing our game again and setting up more chances, like the one Rijkhoff wastes in the 57th following a great pass by Rodríguez. The Mexican is precisely our first substituted player today, with Neves coming in his place soon afterwards.

The game seems to be under control once again, and we take the chance to give young Beltramone some much needed minutes in Meunier's place, while Ball replaces an excellent but very tired Hauptmann. Other than that there's very little happening now, which works wonderfully well for us. No more chances appear until the 82nd, when Miranda volleys over the bar a hasty clearance by Nürnberg's defense following a blocked shot by Palomeque. A cheeky shot by Neves in injury time misses the target by inches and hits the sidenetting instead, in what becomes the last dose of excitement for the fans today. Clear and easy win.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Julian Rijkhoff 1 45+2, Jonatan Basualdo 25)
1.FC Nürnberg 1 (Maurice Malone 48)

- - -

Dominant performance, and a result to match but which could've been even clearer if we'd buried all the chances we had in the first half hour or so. Regardless, nice to see Rijkhoff finally get some good goalscoring form going, Miranda and Basualdo were once again excellent, missed penalties aside (and the latter finally scored again, it'd been a while), and even young Hauptmann had a very remarkable game in defense today. Not a bad way to end the year, that's for sure.

* * *

| Pos | Team                | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | GD    | Pts   | Form  | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st | Borussia Dortmund   | 17    | 13    | 3     | 1     | 37    | 11    | 26    | 42    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd | FC Bayern           | 17    | 12    | 4     | 1     | 40    | 16    | 24    | 40    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd | 1860 München        | 17    | 10    | 5     | 2     | 34    | 19    | 15    | 35    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th | RB Leipzig          | 17    | 10    | 4     | 3     | 42    | 17    | 25    | 34    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th | Borussia M'gladbach | 17    | 9     | 3     | 5     | 27    | 23    | 4     | 30    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th | Stuttgart           | 17    | 7     | 7     | 3     | 23    | 19    | 4     | 28    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th | Fortuna Düsseldorf  | 17    | 7     | 6     | 4     | 36    | 26    | 10    | 27    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th | Nürnberg            | 17    | 7     | 3     | 7     | 19    | 19    | 0     | 24    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th | Freiburg            | 17    | 6     | 3     | 8     | 21    | 19    | 2     | 21    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th| Union Berlin        | 17    | 6     | 3     | 8     | 20    | 22    | -2    | 21    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th| Augsburg            | 17    | 5     | 6     | 6     | 17    | 23    | -6    | 21    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th| Mainz               | 17    | 5     | 4     | 8     | 22    | 30    | -8    | 19    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th| Hertha BSC          | 17    | 5     | 2     | 10    | 14    | 23    | -9    | 17    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th| Wolfsburg           | 17    | 4     | 5     | 8     | 24    | 35    | -11   | 17    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th| Hamburg             | 17    | 4     | 4     | 9     | 22    | 34    | -12   | 16    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th| Werder Bremen       | 17    | 3     | 5     | 9     | 16    | 37    | -21   | 14    |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th| Frankfurt           | 17    | 2     | 3     | 12    | 14    | 31    | -17   | 9     |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th| Dynamo Dresden      | 17    | 2     | 2     | 13    | 10    | 34    | -24   | 8     |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Leipzig and Dortmund drew on the last fixture of the year, which allows us to leapfrog the current champions into the third place and to get back within seven points of the leaders. That said, Bayern are looking really strong right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they retake the top spot sooner rather than later. We'll try to follow them, but we'll need positive results against all three if we're to seriously challenge for the title, starting with our meeting with Dortmund in late January. That plus the Bayern-Leipzig first thing in 2031 and the Münchner derby in early February should give us a better idea of where we stand exactly.

Behind us there's four teams fighting for the two guaranteed European places, with Nürnberg and Fortuna starting to lose some steam but feeling no real pressure from behind. The midtable bunch seem more worried about the relegation fight than anything else, really, with a handful of teams within short distance of each other and some big names like Hamburg and Hertha still worryingly low on the standings, particularly the former. Meanwhile, Dynamo and Eintracht will need to improve dramatically in the second half of the season if they're to have any chance of survival.

* * *

PLAYER STATS
============

Average rating (min. 6 games played):

Jonatan Basualdo            7.51 (13(2) apps)
Matías Miranda              7.42 (19(6) apps)
Ernesto                     7.34 (14(2) apps)
Juan David Palomeque        7.31 (16(6) apps)
Roberto Caraballo           7.31 (13(2) apps)

Goals:

Jonatan Basualdo            6 goals
Juan David Palomeque        6
Jair Rodríguez              6
4 players                   5

Assists:

Matías Miranda             12 assists
Juan David Palomeque        6
Thiago                      5
Joao Neves                  3
5 players                   2

* * *

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD

 

• Premier League: looks like we're set for a fun title race this year. Champions Manchester United are leading the table right now, but with just one point more than their sky blue city rivals while having played one more game. What's interesting is what's behind them, though. In order: Spurs, Leeds, Stoke, Leicester, Liverpool. Arsenal are next and might catch up to the European train just yet, but Chelsea on the other hand are 13th and closer to the relegation places than to Liverpool in seventh. Currently Wolves, Southampton, and Fulham occupy the last three places, but neither of them is too far away from the likes of Brentford, Crystal Palace, and West Ham. And yes, Chelsea.
• LaLiga: another fun race between rivals, with current champions Real Madrid slightly ahead of Barcelona, because change is overrated. Atlético have improved a lot from last year's disaster of a league season and are currently fourth behind Valencia, still under Simeone. The most surprising sights are Levante and Sporting on seventh and eight, knocking on Europe's door. Deportivo have finally returned to the top tier afte a long absence, but find themselves deep in the relegation zone together with equally poor Valladolid and Mallorca, who might still get out of trouble by dragging down one of Cadiz, Alavés, or Espanyol.
• Serie A: in contrast, Serie A has a predictable leader in Juventus, who've won seventeen out of nineteen games already and have a healthy six-point lead over Napoli, followed by Inter, Roma, and Milan. So, no surprises at the top, and at the bottom on Fiorentina's presence in the drop zone (and Benevento's absence, perhaps) can be qualified as eyebrow raising. Pisa are dead last and looking dead in the water with only seven points, but everything else is still wide open. Except the title, I guess.
• Ligue 1: on the topic of one-sided leagues, here's Ligue 1! Of course PSG are leading, and of course they've already put quite a bit of space between them and their closest followers, Monaco and Nice. Rennes are somewhat surprising in fourth place ahead of classics like OL and OM, and at the bottom seven teams will duke it out to avoid relegation, with Strasbourg as the worst and Saint-Étienne as the best of the bunch so far. Worth noting Nantes' presence in the top tier after a long six-year absence.

Edited Monday at 06:54 by Dalbeider

[Dalbeider]

Dec 22nd 2030

And there goes Caraballo, who of course chooses Bayern over Leverkusen, because why would anyone go to the 2.Bundesliga when they can join Bayern, right? Oh well, I'm not looking forward to meeting him again in a red shirt in a bit over a month, but at the very least we get a big payday out of him with €64M coming our way (eventually), thus completely obliterating our received transfer fee all-time record. He joined four years ago for €12M, so that's a big profit made on a player who had a couple of rough years, but then absolutely exploded last season and kept it going this year. Never a prolific goalscorer, he's nonetheless a quality young player and I hope it goes well for him in the future. Now, to spend all that money, or rather, the €34M that make it to our transfer budget for this season...

Dec 25th 2030

Here he comes, just in time for Christmas. Joining from Manchester City in a deal worth a club record fee of €32.5M upfront, €7.5M after 50 league appearances, and a further 40% of future profits, here comes our new wonderkid: 19-year-old Argentinian forward Gino Granero. Already capped three times with Argentina's senior side (and with one goal to his name), this wonderful little player found himself ostracized in a stacked squad like City's and couldn't get a single first team minute, having to spend his time in the U23 squad. He requested a transfer, and now he's got it. An agile and nimble player, full of technique and flair and with fantastic off-the-ball movement, but also a hard worker with a team-first mentality, this kid has it all to become an absolute superstar. He comes with a humble €39k weekly contract (set to rise steadily after a certain number of league games) as a squad player, but I expect him to play much more than that if he settles in quickly. His contract also has a release clause worth €98M, but that's alright, if anyone's willing to pay that much I won't stop them. I expect great things from this kid. And he's cheaper than Caraballo!

This deal is very unlikely to be our last movement of the upcoming window, though. We have a couple of issues to deal with (Lang and Thiago, mostly) plus a bunch of players attracting interest from teams with deep pockets. Neves is also expecting a new contract, but after a friendly talk I manage to convince him to wait until the end of the season. I'd rather not tie myself down with big raises before knowing how much I'll need to spend this January...

Dec 31st 2030

The end of the year brings the usual string of seasonal awards, and among a bunch of shortlisted players there's also one very familiar face: Jair Rodríguez wins the CONCACAF Player of the Year award, a major milestone for the kid. He's grown a lot since his arrival at Munich, and I hope he'll stay with us for at least a few more years.

Jan 1st 2031

Happy new year, and let the fun begin once again. The headline rumor for the winter transfer season features none other than Thiago, who is reportedly being targetted by HSV and Leverkusen in a deal worth around €31.5M. Wouldn't mind that in the slightest, to be honest, he's having a good season so far, possibly his best since his arrival, but his unhappiness with his playing time could prove problematic in the long term. We don't expect him to progress any further than this either, so it's probably a good moment to sell and look elsewhere, even more considering we have Meunier and Beltramone already in the squad, plus Ernesto in a pinch.

And sure enough, minutes later the bids for Thiago start coming in. Palmeiras offer €25M and a player we're not interested in, so that one's out. Leverkusen, on the other hand, offer €24M upfront, €23M more in three yearly installments, and a 20% of future profits, which is quite nice. Problem is the player isn't interested in dropping to the 2.Bundesliga, even if temporarily. We still accept the offer, if only to tempt other interested teams to join in. Thiago himself seems to be expecting a bid from Porto, for example.

Jan 3rd 2031

Then there's the unwanted bids, of course. Basualdo is the first target of the month, with Aston Villa and West Ham offering around half of his estimated market value, just for kicks. The player is happy to stay, so to the bin they go.

Jan 4th 2031

Feyenoord Rotterdam vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

Our winter friendly takes us from chilly Bavaria to the slightly less cold Rotterdam to play a classic of the Dutch leagues like Feyenoord. Granero puts on a 1860 shirt for the first time in the first half, pairing up with Özcan upfront, and with his help we go on to dominate the early game clearly, although with little in the way of danger generated. It takes us until the 36th to turn our possession into a clear-cut chance thanks to Miranda's perfect ball towards Palomeque, and the midfielder doesn't miss. The first half ends with little else, and absolutely nothing near our box. Feyenoord's first shot comes from the penalty spot after a reckless tackle by Schulze three minutes into the second half, because that's apparently our new tradition now. Yilmaz scores to make things level again, we continue to fail to generate danger with any kind of consistency afterwards, and the result doesn't change any further in the end. Waste of a trip, really.

Feyenoord Rotterdam 1 (Hakki Yilmaz 49p)
TSV 1860 München 1 (Juan David Palomeque 36)

[Dalbeider]

Jan 9th 2031

Surprisingly calm week so far, with little to no noise around our players. We've been actively looking for a replacement for Lang, but the fees we're being asked are just out of reach for us right now, despite having quite a bit of cash available. Also, as expected, Thiago says no to Leverkusen's offer, but at the same time no one else has made a bid for him, so there's a good chance he'll have to stay in the end, too. Getting mentally ready for another stressful January 31st...

Jan 11th 2031

TSV 1860 München (3rd) vs. Sport-Club Freiburg (9th) (Bundesliga, 18/34)

Back into action, and considering how tough our first meeting with Freiburg back in August was we're in for a doozy of a return. Then again their season so far has been pretty... mid, as the kids say today. Midtable, but with more losses than wins and with the feeling that they should be more worried about the relegation candidates catching up than about Europe. We can't afford to give away any more points to inferior teams, and currently Freiburg certainly qualify, so I'll be expecting a win here.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
FREIBURG (4-2-3-1): Florian Müller (GK); Hugo Siquet (DR), Laurin Moser (DCr), Jan Boller (DCl), Julio Ayala (DL); Maximilian Eggstein (MCr), Marco Kana (MCl); Jan Thielmann (AMR), Dominique Forel (AMC), Miguel Cantor (AML), Nicolai Skoglund (ST)

* * *

Same eleven we used against Nürnberg to good effect, only with Javorcic back and with Granero's debut. Freiburg keep the same core from our last meeting with a few tweaks in the attacking unit, hoping to once again give us one hell of a battle. They sure start strong, with a dangerous header by Skoglund forcing Kretzschmar into his first notable save of the game only three minutes in and hiding the ball away from us. We still have enough of it to generate danger from time to time, though, and in the ninth minute Rodríguez runs into the box using his personal highway through the center to gather a good pass by Javorcic and tries, unsuccessfully, to bend the ball around Müller.

The game continues with Freiburg having possession but doing little of profit with it, other than keeping us away from their goal. Our next chance takes ten minutes as a result, and it has to come from a direct free kick taken wonderfully by Rodríguez, and saved even more wonderfully by Müller. Slowly but surely we start regaining control of the ball, and in the 24th Rodríguez has his third of the day, gathering another pass through the center by Palomeque and once again finding the keeper in the way of his finish. Ernesto heads the resulting corner kick wide, and the game seems to be headed in the right direction at least.

Thirty-four minutes into the game Touré sends a diagonal pass forward looking for Palomeque, giving the midfielder the chance to run into the box and place his shot juuust a couple of inches wide off the far post. By now possession is almost equalized and the only chance Freiburg have had since that initial one is a point-blank finish by Eggstein that Casas denies with a timely block. Still, the result remains unchanged by the time the first half ends.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Freiburg seem to want to push a bit farther in the second half, soon sending a cross towards Skoglund that the striker heads well over the bar. A couple of minutes later Miranda goes down after a blow in his upper body, and we decide to bring Neves in his place just in case, since he wasn't exactly having the best match of his life anyway. Time passes and we don't improve any, so we bring in two more changes: Özcan and Beltramone replacing Rijkhoff and Meunier, both quite poor today.

Neves soon makes his presence felt with a good run down the left and into the box, then he tries to surprise Müller with a place finish towards the near post but the keeper reacts in time to push it wide. Next up is Özcan, profiting from a counterattack initiated by Beltramone's steal to test the keeper once again, a test Müller passes with flying colors. We're looking better once again, but Freiburg remind us that they're still there with a corner kick come the 76th minute, headed by an unmarked Moser and wonderfully saved by Kretzschmar.

In the 79th minute Palomeque sends another perfect ball through the usual gap towards Özcan's run, leaving the striker alone against Müller so the keeper can save his team once again. Another header by Ernesto in a corner kick goes very close, but still wide, and afterwards our attack just stops working, not creating anything vaguely threatening until time runs out on us. Another waste of two points.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 0
Sport-Club Freiburg 0

- - -

Poor. None of our attacking midfielders nor forwards did anything worth mentioning today, other than missing chance after chance in front of an excellent Müller. Defensively we looked good at least, particularly Touré who also provided some help for the attacking unit down the flank, but it wasn't enough. We won't go anywhere worthwhile with home draws against midtable teams, that's for sure. Granero wasn't particularly bright on his debut, but then again he wasn't alone on that...

Pulled back muscle for Miranda, who'll miss a couple of weeks of traning and at least one league game in the process. He'll be a close call for the Dortmund game, but at least he should be fine for the Münchner Derby.

Leipzig beat Bayern 2-0 in today's most notable fixture, which makes me even more angry about not having won. We still take one point back from Bayern, but it should've been three. And the next day Dortmund draws 1-1 in Mainz, and by now I'm banging my head against the wall in frustration. Such a missed chance. There won't be many like this one.

Edited 23 hours ago by Dalbeider