OstDeutscher Sieg | East German Victory

[Deisler26]

Berlin is burning. Burning with passion for Union!

[robilaz]

On 05/09/2023 at 07:40, SixPointer said:

Just catching up! 3 titles in a row!!!!!! Berlin is buzzing!

Haha yeppp Union are massive! The signings we've made are amazing though.. Sepúlveda, Van Dessel, Mitrovic, Rodríguez and Marco are all incredible players

[robilaz]

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 40 | The Most Perfect Hat-Trick

Union Berlin's hopes of a fourth successive Bundesliga title were long-gone as Ruprecht Prusseit's exhausted squad took a winter break heading into 2041. A run of 10 league games without a win had seen Union go into the new year sitting in 7th place and 11 points back from leaders Stuttgart. As a result, they looked likely to have their work cut out to keep their best players in January with the usual suspects circling. But they managed to hold on for now as no clubs met Prusseit's high valuations, while adding a few decent youngsters to the strong under-19 squad.

Looking For An Improvement In Form

Union began 2041 with a trip to relegation-threatened Mainz and won 4-1 with braces by left winger Bruno Rodríguez and midfielder José Marco. They then had consecutive 5-1 wins at Nürnber, in which José Marco scored two more, and at bottom-side Schalke, in which he scored and got two assists, which showed signs that the real Union could be back. In fact, those three wins moved them to within nine points of the top of the league.

But a much tougher test saw 2nd-place Leverkusen come to town and Prusseit was convinced they were well and truly back as Milosevic and attacker Markus Ambrosius earned a 2-1 win. Next up was the Berliner Derby, a draw in which Prusseit believed triggered their earlier poor form. And he was worried the same might happen again as they missed the best chances, including a penalty, and had a late goal disallowed in a 0-0 away draw. A week later, another big game followed at home to fellow OstDeutsch side RB Leipzig. Union dominated another exciting game in which the sides shared 40 shots, but it looked destined for another 0-0 until Sepúlveda struck on 83 minutes. Prusseit then celebrated his 800th match in management with the best performance of the season. The in-form José Marco was superb again, bagging a hat-trick as Union ran riot 6-1 at 5th-place Wolfsburg.

Champions League Progression

Union were looking good to progress in the Champions League, with a top-eight finish also possible. They did those chances the world of good as the campaign resumed with a 3-0 win at home to Red Bull Salzburg. The league phase concluded at home to Stade Brestois and goals by striker Claudio Sépulveda, attacking midfielder Leandro Van Dessel and young striker Nuno Valadão's first for the club earned a 3-1 victory. And that sealed 5th place in the league stage!

The last 16 saw Union drawn against AC Milan, which could have been a lot worse considering the teams that qualified through the knockout round. A trip to Italy was up first and Union had Van Dessel to thank for a brilliant brace to inspire a 3-1 win, before Sepúlveda repeated the feat in a 4-0 home thumping to ease into the quarter-finals. Next up was Man UFC, who won every match in the league phase, but Union seized control by taking their chances in devastating fashion. Sepúlveda scored either side of half-time, Van Dessel scored in first-half injury time and Fágner and Ambrosius both scored in second-half injury time to crown a famous 5-0 victory. That allowed Prusseit to rotate and a 2-1 loss at Old Trafford sent Union into the semis for the second time.

The semis saw an all-German affair as Union faced Leverkusen while Arsenal took on Barcelona. Union were at home again in the first leg and dominated the game by 24 shots to seven but only made one count as winger Miroslav Milosevic drilled home from 20 yards. But the second leg was a different story as Van Dessel scored a brace and created goals for Rodríguez and Sepúlveda to earn a 5-2 aggregate success. So Union were heading to consecutive Champions League Finals!

Fighting For 2nd Place

Union's uptick in form early in 2041 had lifted Union up to 3rd with 10 games remaining. Bayern were well out of reach, but Stuttgart had dropped back to 6 points away, meaning 2nd place was a possibility. The run-in began by dominating Fortuna Düsseldorf by 30 shots to one and winning 4-0 led by a Sepúlveda brace. A 1-1 at home to Frankfurt seemed to have killed their hopes of 2nd, but a week later Sepúlveda's crucial last-minute goal nicked a 2-1 win at Stuttgart.

They backed that up by beating Dortmund 3-1, which moved them four points behind Stuttgart with a game in hand. And they maintained the pressure with consecutive 5-1 wins at Köln and Gladbach both led by Sepúlveda hat-tricks. But Prusseit fully rotated ahead of the Leverkusen semis at home to Werder Bremen and they fell to a 2-0 defeat. But they wrapped up the campaign with a 2-0 win at Freiburg, 2-2 at Hamburg then a final day 2-2 draw at home to new champions Bayern.

That saw Union finish in a respectable 4th place, with a league-high 80 goals and 30 conceded. While 10 German teams, more than half the league, qualified for Europe this season! Sepúlveda was again Bundesliga top scorer with 28 goals in 32 games, Van Dessel had the top average rating of 7.69, topped the assists chart with 17 followed by Milosevic with 14 and got a league-high eight player of the match awards.

Champions League Final

Union's opponent in their second Champions League Final was Arsenal, who defeated Barcelona 3-2 in the semis and Bayern in the quarters. And fans from Germany and England descended on Kyiv's NSC Olimpiyski for the big game. Prusseit lost Ambrosius and full-back Zé Serrão to injury in training, which meant he lined up:

Lee; Wada, Belkacem, Borborema, Poulos; Iida; José Marco; Milosevic, Van Dessel, Rodríguez; Sepúlveda
Subs: Valadão, Reitz, Ayan, Fágner, Ouédraogo, Hernández, Diallo, Czierwinski, Johnston

Having not scored in 120 minutes in last season's Final, Union put that right inside three minutes this time. A brilliant counter-attack ended up with Rodríguez, whose deflected cross looped up for Sepúlveda to head home. Their counter proved devastating again 19 minutes later as Milosevic teed up Sepúlveda for a second, only for VAR to step in. But it didn't take long to double their lead as a free-kick broke down, José Marco passed inside to Rodríguez and the winger smashed it into the bottom corner. Arsenal couldn't handle Union and three minutes later it was 3-0 as a superb flowing move again finished with Rodríguez's deflected cross being headed in by Sepúlveda.

Arsenal only managed one shot on target from a free-kick and Union went into half-time 3-0 ahead. It should have been four after 70 minutes as Milosevic somehow missed from two yards out then Arsenal went down the other end and missed a similar sitter. But Union finished the game off as a Rodríguez cross was cleared straight to Sepúlveda who stabbed home for a perfect hat-trick in the Champions League Final. Prusseit rang the changes and one made an immediate impact as homegrown Fágner slammed home a superb volley.

Union Berlin were Champions of Europe! And the first East German team ever to win the Champions League!

Reflecting On European Glory

This was another superb season for Union, despite a very iffy start to their league campaign. Union's unfancied European success saw Prusseit finally enter the German Hall of Fame in 8th place, a long, long way behind leader Julian Nagelsmann.

Sepúlveda was again Union's top scorer with 53 goals and five assists in 48 games, while Van Dessel was exceptional with 27 goals and 20 assists. However, a key man this season was José Marco, who finished with 17 goals and 10 assists in 48 games, having had no assists and five goals after 24 games going into the winter break. Also impressive were Milosevic with 12 goals and a club-high 21 assists and Rodríguez with 11 goals and 16 assists, while Ambrosiys and Czerwinski chipped in with seven assists apiece.

Prusseit's main aim now was to regain Union's Bundesliga crown from Bayern. If he could do that, then that might well bring this adventure to an end. But could he better Bayern to win Bundesliga in 2042?

[SixPointer]

Magnificent stuff. An absolute fairytale in East Germany and no better club to do it with than Union! Many congratulations this is actually one of my favourite saves on all of  fm23! Love it 

[robilaz]

On 12/09/2023 at 15:37, SixPointer said:

Magnificent stuff. An absolute fairytale in East Germany and no better club to do it with than Union! Many congratulations this is actually one of my favourite saves on all of  fm23! Love it 

Thanks a lot!! Appreciate the support and glad you've enjoyed the updates. It's been one of my favourite saves in a while, but we don't have long to go now

[robilaz]

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 41 | First World Club Cup

The supporters of Union Berlin had a summer to remember, leaving the streets of Berlin painted red and white as they celebrated the club becoming East Germany's first European champions. The success had seen Union become the 4th most reputable team in world football only behind Real Madrid, PSG and Man City. But manager Ruprecht Prusseit had a new challenge on his hands, to re-surpass Bayern as champions of Germany and lead his team into their first attempt at becoming World Champions.

Prusseit didn't have much space for improvement in his squad, but he did move on 13 underperforming backups for a profit of £114m. He then strengthened with exciting holding midfielder Dylan Feraud for £40m from Nice, wonderkid winger Giovanni Pasini for £26m from Frankfurt and centre-back Muck Wein for £36.5m from Hamburg.

A Shot At Becoming World Champions

Union had an early start to the 2041/42 campaign as they took part in their first-ever Club World Cup in Belgium. They got a decent group draw alongside Atletico Mineiro and Okayama FC. As is standard for this silly tournament, Union came into it with an exhausted squad and some players still on international duty. But they had far too much quality for their group opponents as they beat Mineiro 3-1 then a rotated side struggled for 77 minutes before star striker Claudio Sepúlveda came on to score four in 17 minutes and inspire a 5-0 thumping of Okayama.

It was lucky Prusseit had rested players as they faced Real Madrid two days later. Union dominated the game and had all the best chances but Real took an early lead and Union eventually found an equaliser after an hour thanks to Milosevic's excellent volley. It went to extra time and Union's rest worked in their favour as goals either side of the half-time break by Leandro Van Dessel and Sepúlveda nicked a 3-1 victory.

Four days later the semi-final served up a repeat of last season's Champions League Final demolition as Union took on Arsenal. This time it was a much tighter affair but Bruno Rodríguez again haunted the Gunners as the winger scored the only goal on 44 minutes to send Union into the World Club Cup Final!

Another English opponent awaited them as 2029 and 2033 winners Liverpool defeated Bayern 2-0. Liverpool started the better and went ahead after 14 minutes. But Union grew into the game and got level as Sepúlveda finished a lovely team move after half an hour. A half-time team talk worked wonders as winger Miroslav Milosevic stabbed them ahead four minutes after the break. Five minutes later, José Marco won a penalty that Milosevic stepped up to take and coolly panenkad the keeper. Prusseit made a few changes and Liverpool got one back but they held on for a 3-2 win.

Union Berlin were World Champions!!

More Silverware Up For Grabs

Union had a chance to make it two more trophies before the season even began as they took part in an all-German European Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt. Union dominated the game and eased to a 3-0 win with goals by Van Dessel, centre-back Abdelkacir Belkacem and Milosevic.

Hoping For Bundesliga Improvement

Union's summer activity saw them finally instilled as favourites to win Bundesliga at 13/8 followed by Bayern (9/4), RB Leipzig (17/2), Leverkusen (16/1), Stuttgart (18/1) and Freiburg (25/1). The season began at home to Leverkusen, against whom Union were unbeaten in 13 games. And that trend continued as a brilliant Sepúlveda hat trick inspired a 5-1 thumping. The Chilean repeated the feat in a 4-1 win at Düsseldorf and remarkably made it three trebles in three games in a 3-0 win at home to Wolfsburg. However, he disappointingly only scored once in a 2-1 win at Freiburg and Van Dessel stole the headlines as he scored twice in a lethal 5-1 pummelling of Leipzig.

 

That clearly infuriated Sepúlveda as the striker went and thumped four past Köln in another 5-1 hammering. But he picked up a knock ahead of a home game against Dortmund, which showed as they dropped points for the first time this season in a 0-0 draw. And more dropped points followed with a first defeat, 2-1 at Bayern in which Pasini scored his first goal for the club.

They got back to winning ways, albeit pretty unconvincingly, as Sepúlveda and Pasini edged a 2-1 win over bottom side Nürnberg. But were much improved as Sepúlveda scored twice in the first 11 minutes and Van Dessel returned from injury to seal a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen. And they had the same deadly duo to thank again as Van Dessel bagged a brace and Sepúlveda scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 hammering of Gladbach.

Sepúlveda continued banging the goals in, scoring twice in a 3-0 win at Osnabrück that took Union top then the only goal at home to Frankfurt and another in a 4-0 win at Sandhausen. Union wrapped up 2041 with two big games against fellow title challengers. First up, they entertained 3rd-place Stuttgart and eased to a 3-1 win with goals from Milosevic, Fágner and Markus Ambrosius. They then went to rivals Hertha, who'd led the league early on but fallen away a little, but stepped up to thump a poor Union team 3-0.

That left Union top by two points from Leverkusen and three clear of Leipzig, with champions Bayern down in 5th. Union led the way with 49 goals of which Sepúlveda had scored an impressive 26, which was more than double any other player in the league.

Champions League Defence Begins

The media made Union second favourites to defend their Champions League title, with odds of 6/1 only bettered by Man City's 9/2 with Bayern third favourites at 15/2. But they got a tough set of fixtures including Barcelona, Atlético, Liverpool and Spurs.

The league phase began with a narrow 1-0 defeat at Barca before a fully rotated 11, which was much needed due to tiredness and injuries, earned a 2-2 with Atlético. A first win arrived as a heavily rotated side won 4-1 at Rosenborg in which Feraud scored his first goal for the club then Supúlveda bagged a hat-trick in a 6-0 thumping of Celtic. A late equaliser saw Liverpool nick a 1-1 draw before Van Dessel's brace inspired a 4-1 win at Spurs, which left Union one point off the top eight with two home games remaining.

Off the field, Union topped the Bundesliga player development list for the first time, with 26 homegrown players now at top-flight clubs. While Prusseit's continued excellence saw the Union board hand him a new five-year contract worth £50,000 per week.

More exciting news saw Sepúlveda become the first Union Berlin player to win the FIFA Best Men's Player and FIFPro Player of the Year awards, after scoring an incredible 73 goals in 55 games in 2041. Van Dessel came second in both and Rodríguez joined them in the World Team of the Year.

Heading into the winter break, Sepúlveda had already scored a ridiculous 48 goals in 30 appearances in all competitions. While Van Dessel had 18 goals and 12 assists in 27 games and Milosevic had 11 goals and 16 assists in 24 games.

Could Prusseit maintain Union's form and lead World Champions Union Berlin to regain the Bundesliga title?

Edited September 15, 2023 by robilaz

[Hootieleece]

Wow, this is great work making Union Berlin the Pride of Germany.

Tough Champions League group.

[SixPointer]

World champions 

[robilaz]

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 42 | 80 Goals Sepúlveda

World Champions Union Berlin headed into 2042 with a narrow lead at the top of Bundesliga as they looked to regain the title they'd previously won three times in a row. Ruprecht Prusseit didn't see too much need to add to his strong squad but he did add a couple of promising talents in striker Danilo Luna, who needs to work on his finishing, for £3m from Nacional and holding midfielder Félix Costa for £4m from Real Madrid.

Maintaining Bundesliga Push

The new year began with a tricky game at 2nd-place Leverkusen. But a brace by Claudio Sepúlveda, which outrageously took him to 50 goals for the season in January, earned a 2-2 draw. It also started with three league games in a week, which saw Union win 3-0 at Wolfsburg led by a brace from attacking midfielder Leandro Van Dessel then a Miroslav Milosevic penalty and Sepúlveda strike earned a 2-1 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf. A big test of Union's chances came with a trip to fellow OstDeutscher side RB Leipzig, who took the lead after half an hour. But Union rallied after the break and goals from Milosevic and Sepúlveda earned a vital victory that moved them nine points clear of Leipzig.

Sepúlveda scored twice in a 4-2 win over Hamburg, which tied his club record of 62 goals in a season in 2040 and took him to 199 league goals for the club. And he became the first Union player to score 200 league goals and broke his club goalscoring record with the final strike in a 3-0 win at Dortmund that moved them seven points clear with 10 games remaining.

Champions League Progression

Union came into two home Champions League league phase games with a chance of making the top eight. A Van Dessel hat-trick and Sepúlveda brace inspired a 5-0 thumping of Maccabi Tel-Aviv before Sepúlveda ran riot with a five-goal haul and midfielder José Marco got four assists as they annihilated Benfica 8-1. And that was enough to wrap up 6th place with a league-high 30 goals in eight games.

The round of 16 paired Union with Milan, who they'd beaten in four of their five meetings. They maintained that record as Sepúlveda scored both in a 2-0 away win and scored in a 4-1 home victory. A tougher test followed against Barcelona, who dominated the first leg in Germany but Union held on for a 1-1 draw. And their hopes of defending the Champions League ended with a 3-0 loss in Spain.

Chasing A 4th Bundesliga Title

Union kicked off the run-in with a big game at home to champions Bayern, who were struggling in 5th. And Union showed their dominance as Milosevic, Sepúlveda and Van Dessel sealed an easy 3-1 win that moved them 18 points clear of Bayern.

Their lead stretched to 10 points as José Marco's penalty earned a 1-0 win over Köln then Sepúlveda bagged yet another hat-trick in a 4-0 win at Nürnberg, which took him past 70 goals for the season! The lead stretched to 14 points with six games remaining with a 3-0 success at home to Werder Bremen then an easy 2-0 win at home to Osnabrück made the title virtually done. And the next day, Stuttgart lost at Leipzig, so Union were Champions again!

Union put their Champions League disappointment behind them with a 4-2 win led by a Sepúlveda brace. Sandhausen were relegated with a dominant 3-0 victory led a Milosevic brace then a Van Dessel hat-trick led a 4-0 hammering of Stuttgart away. Sepúlveda shockingly didn't score in either of those games... but... made up for it in style in the season-concluding Berliner Derby by scoring a new Bundesliga record SIX to down 10-man Hertha 7-0!

That saw Hertha win the title by a huge 16 points from Leipzig with Bayern 20 points behind the champions in 4th. They came within one point of Bayern's all-time record of 91 points and just two goals behind Bayern's record of 101 goals.

Speaking of records, Sepúlveda smashed his own Bundesliga record of 42 goals, scoring an incredible 48 in 32. He also broke his own records for highest average rating with an amazing 8.26 (beating his 7.92) and most player of the match awards with 14 (beating his 11). While Milosevic broke Joshua Kimmich's record of 17 assists set in 2024 by creating 18 goals.

Celebrating A Famous Treble

Union enjoyed another stellar season in which they regained their Bundesliga title and became World Champions as well as winning the European Super Cup.

The star of the show was undoubtedly Sepúlveda, who scored 80 goals in 52 games in all competitions including the Club World Cup. Van Dessel scored 32 with 20 assists in 43 games and Milosevic got a club-high 31 assists and 23 goals in 45 games. Bruno Rodríguez got 22 assists but only five goals and José Marco assisted 18 but only scored four goals. Sepúlveda's ridiculous exploits also saw him become the first Union player ever to win the Best Player In Europe award.

Away from the first team, Union's Under 19s won the UEFA Youth League for the first time, led 19 goals in 12 games by exciting striker Jonathan Mascias, and won their league for the third time in a row. They also finally delivered a good youth prospect in Spanish left-back/winger Lars Bergmann.

OstDeutscher Sieg Next Steps

An exciting development saw Union's feeder club and fellow OstDeutscher side Magdeburg gain promotion to Bundesliga for the first time in their history. While another East German side Chemnitzer were promoted from 3. Liga. That means three OstDeutscher sides are now in Bundesliga and four are in 2. Bundesliga.

Prusseit had been thinking about calling it a day after regaining the German title. However, he was keen to have another stab at the Champions League after last season's disappointment and aim to defend the Bundesliga success. And he was keen to see how Magdeburg got on in their first season in Bundesliga. Could Prusseit achieve European and domestic success in 2042/43? 

[robilaz]

On 17/09/2023 at 06:48, SixPointer said:

World champions 

Yeaaa, this team's too good!

[robilaz]

On 15/09/2023 at 19:29, Hootieleece said:

Wow, this is great work making Union Berlin the Pride of Germany.

Tough Champions League group.

Cheers! Yeah not easy, but we got through then fell short against Barca

[robilaz]

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 43 | Union's First Ballon d'Or Winner

World Champions Union Berlin regained their Bundesliga title in 2042 and Ruprecht Prusseit was now targeting domestic and continental success in his 20th and potentially final season as a Football Manager. The previous season's success saw Prusseit and attacking midfielder Leandro Van Dessel instilled as Union Berlin legends. Record-breaking striker Claudio Sepúlveda became the only player during this era to be considered an icon while winger Bruno Rodríguez and midfielder José Marco joined former winger Grga Picak as fans' favourites. Furthermore, Union was now the third most reputable club in the world, only behind Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Prusseit used the summer transfer window to move on some of his underperforming backups, including selling Markus Ambrosius, Mohamed Ouédraogo, Ignacio Ludueña, Nuno Valadão and Hüsamettin Ayan for a total of £127m. That boosted the club balance to £628m and the transfer kitty to £308m. Prusseit invested some of that by signing two 18-year-olds in left-back Henrique Duarte for £27m from Moreirense and midfielder Lucas Bastholt for £3.1m from OB. Prusseit saw no need to change up his tried and tested tactic and stuck with the familiar first-choice 11. That said, Giovanni Pasini is showing great progress and pushing Rodríguez for his left-wing berth and Dylan Feraud is close to replacing Satoru Iida in the anchor role.

Bundesliga Defence Begins

Union were huge favourites to defend their title at 6/5 followed by Bayern, who appointed journeyman Mikel Arteta after spells with Arsenal, Spain, Hertha, Roma, Leipzig, Freiburg, Napoli, Dortmund and Juventus over the summer, at 3/1, Leipzig at 7/1, Leverkusen at 16/1 and Stuttgart at 20/1.

The title defence began at Hamburg and a Sepúlveda brace led an easy 3-1 victory. But the season started with a mini-injury crisis that saw Rodríguez, Pasini, Iida, centre-back Abdelkarim Belkacem and right-back Zé Serrão all ruled out for several weeks. But they still thumped Freiburg 5-1 in their first home game of the campaign with Sepúlveda and Rodriguez braces then a Sepúlveda hat-trick and Rodríguez and Van Dessel doubles inspired a 7-3 away thrashing of Hoffenheim.

A first OstDeutscher clash of the season looked to be ending 2-2 until full-back Rogério Poulos scored his first Union goal in his 171st league game to nick a late winner. The winning start ended with a 2-2 at Frankfurt but they bounced back by defeating Leverkusen 2-1 then a Sepúlveda hat-trick earned a 3-1 victory at a poor Dortmund side to go top of the league. They consolidated that position with a 7-1 win at Werder Bremen, with seven different scorers and José Marco bagging three assists, then Sepúlveda's hat-trick led a 6-1 hammering of Gladbach.

That teed up a big clash as unbeaten leaders Union travelled to 2nd-place Bayern with an eight-point lead. But Union again tasted defeat in Munich with a disappointing 3-1 loss. However, they got back on track with late Rodríguez and Sepúlveda strikes earning a 2-0 win at home to Wolfsburg then a Sepúlveda double leading a 3-1 victory at Jahn Regensburg. 2042 concluded with two tasty local clashes. First, Union travelled to Hertha for the first Berliner Derby of the campaign and a Sepúlveda brace and a Van Dessel assist hat-trick led a dominant 4-0 victory. They then entertained fellow OstDeutscher side Magdeburg for the first time in Bundesliga and eased to a 2-0 win.

That left Union with a healthy seven-point lead over Leverkusen at the halfway mark of the campaign with Bayern 13 points back in 4th. Sepúlveda again leads the way with 25 goals while Van Dessel has a league-high 12 assists plus 10 goals.

Champions League League Phase

Union got a relatively easy set of fixtures in the league phase, with the big challenge being a final-day trip to PSG. They began with a draw at home to Arsenal before dominating Juventus 4-0, winning 3-0 at Espanyol then Milosevic's late winner nicked a 2-1 at Porto. Van Dessel scored twice to defeat Red Star 4-0 then again in a 4-2 victory at home to Leeds, which left Union 5th going into two away games.

Significant Union Award Recognition

Sepúlveda's form over the last year saw the Chilean deservedly become Union Berlin's first-ever winner of the FIFA Ballon d'Or. And he was followed in second place by Van Dessel. He then became the first Union player to win the Goal 50 award, in which Van Dessel again came second, Rodríguez came 13th and Serrão was 40th. Sepúlveda also defended his FIFA FIFPro Player of the Year award but Van Dessel beat him to FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year.

• 

Could Union maintain their league form to defend their Bundesliga title? And could they push towards a 2nd Champions League success?

[Hootieleece]

Impressive Stuff! Top Two for the Ballon d'Or!

 

Looking for the Double then retire the save?

[robilaz]

On 23/09/2023 at 00:06, Hootieleece said:

Impressive Stuff! Top Two for the Ballon d'Or!

 

Looking for the Double then retire the save?

Yep - pretty much... and that's what we did next!

[robilaz]

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 44 | Going Out On A High

Union Berlin had made a flying start to their Bundesliga title defence, taking a seven-point lead into 2043. The onus was now on Ruprecht Prusseit to maintain his side's good form to win their fifth title and target a second Champions League success.

They had a very quiet January transfer window as Prusseit had tied all his key players down to new five-year deals in October and wasn't willing to move on any of his squad players. But he did bring in one new addition as another Uruguayan striker, which takes the club to three, arrived in 18-year-old Pablo Bermudez for £3.5m from Peñarol.

Bundesliga Defence Continues

2043 began with a home game against Hamburg and Bermudez, who started in place of the injured Claudio Sepúlveda, impressed his new supporters immediately by scoring twice on his debut in a 3-0 victory. Prusseit then celebrated his 900th game as a Football Manager with a 2-2 draw at Freiburg.

Union kicked back into form as a hat-trick from the best player in the world Sepúlveda inspired a 6-0 hammering of Hoffenheim. But an injury-hit side dropped more points in a wild 3-3 draw at Leipzig, in which left-back Henrique Duarte's first goal for the club rescued a late point, then critically a second defeat of the season 2-1 at 2nd-place Leverkusen, who moved to within four points of Union.

Champions League Progression

Union's final two league phase games were potentially tricky trips to Roma and PSG. But they confirmed a top-eight place as Sepúlveda and José Marco strikes earned a 2-1 win in Italy, which allowed Prusseit to rotate for PSG and they unsurprisingly lost 5-0. But Union still finished 5th.

The round of 16 served up an all-OstDeutscher clash as Union took on Leipzig. The away leg was up first and Leipzig had a player sent off after just six minutes for a shocking challenge, which allowed Union to dominate and win 3-1 with goals from Leandro Van Dessel, Sepúlveda and substitute Dylan Feraud. And a 1-0 win at home eased them through.

That teed up a huge quarter-final clash with PSG. The home leg was up first and the visitors started the better only to gift Sepúlveda the opener just before half-time thanks to a goalkeeping howler. And a minute later, winger Miroslav Milosevic sent the striker through to double his tally. PSG further tipped the tie in Union's favour with a shocking own goal before Sepúlveda turned creator, sending Van Dessel through to slam home a fourth. And a 2-0 win in France earned an easy 6-0 aggregate victory.

Union's semi-final opponents were the 2041 and 2042 runners-up Arsenal. The first leg was in England and Union made a flying start as Bruno Rodríguez played in his opposite winger Milosevic for the opener and Sepúlveda headed home Van Dessel's corner to make it 2-0 inside half an hour. Arsenal fought back with two goals through two identical back post headers in three minutes, but Union had the last laugh as José Marco drilled home for a narrow angle late on.

Arsenal had to play a league game between the two legs while Union had a weekend off but lost Sepúlveda for two weeks with a damaged heel. Union again made a bright start thanks to some shocking defending as the Arsenal centre-back passed the ball straight to Rodríguez, who played Milosevic through for the opener after six minutes. Arsenal were back in it a few minutes later but immediately shot themselves in the foot again with an own goal before a superb Milosevic through-ball repaid the favour to Rodríguez, who coolly tucked the ball into the bottom corner on 17 minutes. On the verge of half-time, Rodríguez crossed the ball to Milosevic, who controlled it on his chest and brilliantly volleyed into the top corner to make it 4-1 on the night. And that proved to be all they needed to reach a third final in four years with a 7-3 aggregate win.

Bundesliga Title Race Hots Up

Union came into the final 10 league games with a four-point lead over Leverkusen and a five-point lead over Bayern, who'd suddenly climbed back into the title race. They began the run-in well as Sepúlveda bagged a hat-trick to defeat Osnabrück 4-0 then a brace and an assist for Van Dessel downed Werder Bremen 3-0. A role reversal saw Van Dessel score twice and lay on the third for Sepúlveda in a 3-1 win at Wolfsburg but the Chilean retook centre stage with both goals in a 2-0 win at Gladbach, which took him to 40 league goals for the season.

Bayern also kept winning, which meant the clubs were separated by five points with six games remaining when Bayern made the trip to Berlin after the March international break. Bayern started the better but Union took the lead after half an hour as Van Dessel's free-kick was headed home by José Marco. They again had Van Dessel to thank 10 minutes after the break as he dug out a ridiculous cross from the corner flag for Sepúlveda to rise highest at the back post and head home from two yards out. And that proved enough for a probable title-winning victory.

They built on that with a rotated side winning 3-1 at Wolfsburg led by a brace from young midfielder Moise Vlad Paul and a Milosevic assist hat-trick. Sepúlveda and Van Dessel goals earned a 2-0 win at home to Jahn Regensburg the day before Bayern only drew at Stuttgart, which saw Union defend their Bundesliga crown and win a fifth title in six years!

Prusseit fully rotated his team and they drew 1-1 at Köln and 2-2 at home to rivals Hertha. They then went to fellow OstDeutscher side Magdeburg, who needed at least a point to avoid automatic relegation, and showed no mercy with a 5-2 victory led by Milosevic and Sepúlveda and braces. That final day win saw Union break Bayern's league record of 101 goals that had stood since 1972.

That saw Union win the league by 10 points from Leverkusen, after Bayern had a poor end to the season. They finished on 86 points, scoring 103 goals and conceding 32. Sepúlveda again led the way with a ridiculous 45 goals in 31 games, which was three short of last season's record tally, with Van Dessel in third with 19 goals. Sepúlveda also topped the average rating chart with 8.26, followed by Van Dessel (8.09) and Milosevic (7.67), and the player of the match awards with 11. While Van Dessel was the top assister with 23, which smashed Milosevic's record of 18 set in 2041, followed by Milosevic (17) and Rodríguez (12).

As a result, Van Dessel won German Footballer of the Year for the first time since 2039, Sepúlveda won Players' Player of the Year and Best Player in Europe, and Prusseit won Manager of the Year for the fifth time in six years and seventh time overall.

Third Champions League Final

Union were back in Europe's biggest club game for the third time in four seasons. After defeat to Real Madrid in 2040 and a crushing win over Arsenal in 2041, the one-time European champions were up against Eddie Howe's four-time winners and Premier League champions Manchester City, who beat Barcelona 2-1 on aggregate in the semis. 78,000 fans from England and Germany descended on Rome for what was a bit of an unknown as the two teams went head-to-head for the first time in this save (and probably ever) at Stadio Olimpico.

Neither side had any injury or suspension concerns, and Prusseit went with his first XI of:

Lee; Zé Serrão, Belkacem, Borborema, Poulos; Feraud; José Marcos; Milosevic, Van Dessel, Rodríguez, Sepúlveda
Subs: Bermúdez, Mihok, Wein, Bastholt, Pasini, Iida, Teviotdale, Pacheco, Paul, Duarte, Bergmann, Mascia

Union again got a flyer as a superb team move saw Van Dessel drift wide and play through Rodríguez, whose low cross was met by Feraud's superb drilled finish after nine minutes. City did nothing until they scored their first shot on target after 32 minutes and undeservedly went into half-time at 1-1.

Very little happened after the break so Prusseit made a few little tactical tweaks to play a little wider and work ball into the box. But the breakthrough came with a delicious lofted pass by José Marco falling at the feet of Milosevic, who got in behind his man and finished cutely from a narrow angle on 77 minutes. Sepúlveda had a glorious chance to finish it off five minutes later but attempted a ridiculous chip when clean through on goal, which landed cleanly in the goalkeeper's hands. But City offered nothing and Union safely held onto their lead.

Union Berlin were Champions of Europe for the second time!!

Reflecting On More Union Success

Prusseit had another superb season in Germany, leading his Union side to back-to-back German titles and becoming Champions of Europe for the second time in three years.

Sepúlveda once again led the goalscoring charts with 59 in 46, which was well short of last season's phenomenal tally of 80 in 52. But the player of the season was arguably Van Dessel, who scored 28 and got 25 assists, followed by Milosevic with 15 goals and a club-high 27 assists. Rodríguez also impressed with 21 assists and 7 goals as did the excellent José Marco with 11 goals and 9 assists, while right-back Zé Serrão got a career-high 13 assists.

Away from the first team, Union's U19s defended their UEFA Youth League and won their league for the fifth time in six years led by 36 goals in 46 games from striker Julian Fleischhauer.

The End Of OstDeutscher Sieg

This feels like the right time to bring this OstDeutscher Sieg to a close. We've successfully achieved our aim of winnig a first title for an East German club and established Union as the best team in Germany and arguably Europe. Also, the Union board repeatedly refuses to build a new stadium, despite the stadium being strangely limited to just 9,000 fans for European games. So it seems a bit pointless to take it any further.

That said, this series has been massive amounts of fun to play, and the Prusseit journey has been one of my favourites during my time creating Football Manager Stories on this website. I hope you enjoyed it and I'd firmly recommend taking on your own OstDeutscher Sieg. We'll finish the series off with a final wrap-up post on Friday.

[robilaz]

It's the end of OstDeutscher Sieg and our final blog post of FM23! OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 45 | The End of OstDeutscher Sieg

Ruprecht Prusseit - the first man ever to win a Bundesliga title with a team from East Germany - led Union Berlin to a fifth Bundesliga title in six years and a second Champions League crown in three years in 2043. And that marks the moment where we brought this particular FM Story to an end.

It's been quite the journey from the very bottom of German football in tier six with SV Dessau 05 through to the very top with Union Berlin. In the process, Prusseit managed 924 games, of which he won 563, drew 159 and lost 202 with a 60% win percentage, with his teams scoring 1,941 goals and conceding 998.

Prusseit won nine league titles, including five Bundesliga successes with Union, and won 11 cup competitions, achieving five promotions and suffering one relegation. He signed 131 players for a total outlay of £710m but sold 163 for an incoming of £835m. That included a record signing of £43m for failed full-back Amadou Diallo (who he was struggling to remember) and a record fee of £65m when striker Michael Storskov moved to Newcastle. And Prusseit's career saw him become the fourth-best German manager of all time but missed out on the all-time Hall of Fame by 300 points to Jock Stein.

Ruprecht Prusseit Career Overview

Prusseit began his career with SV Dessau 05 back in 2021, leading the sixth-tier side to promotion in his first season before suffering his only career relegation after two seasons in tier five. His efforts with Dessau earned him a move to Lok Stendal before moving up to fourth-tier side Hansa Rostock II, where he won his first trophy by lifting Regionalliga Nordost. He immediately jumped ship but down a division to Energie Cottbus, where he again won the league before going on to win 3. Liga the following season.

That took Prusseit into the second tier of German football for the first time. However, his success at Cottbus attracted the attention of fellow second-tier club Union Berlin, who'd just been relegated from Bundesliga. He jumped at the opportunity and won the title at a canter with his new club to reach Bundesliga for the first time. A 13th-place finish followed before two 7th-place finishes then challenging Bayern for the title and finishing 2nd two years in a row.

But Prusseit became the first manager ever to win Bundesliga with an East German club in 2038 then went on to win four more in the next five years. He also won a European Conference League in 2036, DFB-Pokal in 2039, two Champions Leagues in 2041 and 2043 and won the World Club Cup as Union Berlin came World Champions.

Prusseit's All-Conquering Union Berlin Side

There are many players who contributed great things through Prusseit's journey, including free-scoring American striker Branden Stelmak at his first club Dessau, Stendal's record-breaking striker Gisbert Zokpa, Rostock II's surprise talent Alexander Schumacher, and Cottbus striker Eric Hottmann, who'd later go on to become one of his coaches at Union.

But I thought it'd be interesting to have a look at just how good the superb Union Berlin side of 2043 had become:

GK - Lee Kwang-Sun: Lee signed from South Korea in 2035 for just £2.4m and quickly established himself as arguably the best goalkeeper in the world. He conceded 198 in 250 league games over eight seasons at Union.

RB - Zé Serrão: A much larger fee brought Portuguese right-back Zé Serrão to the club as he joined for £38.5m from Braga in 2037. He started his career at the club slowly and went five seasons without a league goal, but finally did score in his sixth and final campaign, which was also his best with 13 assists and a 7.30 average rating.

CB - Abdelkarim Belkacem: Dutchman Belkacem was originally signed as a holding midfielder but soon found his way back to the more natural centre-back. He's not much of a goalscorer, with just 13 in 279 league games over nine seasons since arriving for £13m from Feyenoord in 2035. But he is very much a rock at the heart of the Union defence.

CB - Cláudio Borborema: His partner in defence is brilliant Brazilian Borborema, who arrived a year later for £13.5m from Palemeiras. Borborema is absolutely wonderful, patrolling the back four with style and grace and only dipping below a 7.00 average rating in his first season. At 6 foot he's not the biggest, but his 17 pace and acceleration helps him deal with any potential threats.

LB - Rogério Poulos: Left-back has been a slight issue throughout Prusseit's time at the club, as proven by Poulos having to be converted from a right-back to get him into the team. Poulos signed for £13.5m from Flamengo in 2034 and, like Serrão, only scored his first league goal for the club in the most recent season. But these two full-backs provide the defensive qualities needed to support the ridiculous attacking talents in front of them.

DM - Dylan Feraud: Also providing defensive structure is Frenchman Feraud, who became the first-choice holding midfielder in the final season. He arrived for a massive £75m from Nice in 2041 but soon proved his worth, including scoring a rare goal in the Champions League Final victory over Man City.

CM - José Marco: Arguably the lynchpin to this Union team is the sole central midfielder José Marco. The Brazilian playmaker arrived from Paranaense for just £13.75m in 2039 and had a brilliant goalscoring campaign with 15 league goals in 2041. But he generally sits in midfield to dictate the tempo and adds the occasional goal and assist.

RW - Miroslav Milosevic: A relatively unsung hero of this save, Milosevic is an assist machine who also chips in with goals. The Serbian arrived for just £6.25m from Red Star in 2035 and scored 33 league goals in his first two seasons. But from there he turned creator, never dropping below 10 assists in a season and creating 86 league assists and 131 in all competitions over the next six campaigns.

AM - Leandro Van Dessel: The polar opposite of an unsung hero is the legendary Leandro Van Dessel. The Belgian is an absolute monster of a shadow striker, who scored 28 and assisted 25 in the most recent season. He's scored 72 and assisted 74 in 152 league games and scored 121 and assisted 97 in 232 games in all competitions since signing for £26.5m from Anderlecht in 2035. And his talents have been crowned with all sorts of personal honours, including being the reigning FIFA Best Men's Player.

LW - Bruno Rodríguez: Rodríguez is consistently considered the best player at Union despite the personal honours and more eye-catching numbers of some of his more colleagues. He arrived at the club for just £4.6m in 2035 from Peñarol, scoring 46 goals and getting 84 assists in 224 league games. But his average rating is consistently outstanding and he usually delivers in the biggest of matches.

ST - Claudio Sepúlveda: We've very much saved the best to last with the monstrous goal machine that is Chilean striker Sepúlveda. He's absolutely smashed Union's all-time goals records, including scoring 80 (EIGHTY!) in all competitions in the 2041/42 campaign. He arrived for just £7.5m from Colo-Colo in 2035 and only scored four in 17 league games in his first season. However, that changed very quickly as he went on to score 259 in 241 league games and 372 in 344 in all competitions, only getting 44 assists in that time! And he's scored 50 or more goals in four of the last five seasons. He's won a mass of awards in the process, being the reigning Ballon d'Or and double FIFPro Player of the Year winner. He is very much the best striker I've ever managed on Football Manager, with Bolton's Onur Kocaaslan a close second.

 

That starting 11 is ably assisted by some stellar backups:

ST - Pablo Bermudez: Given Sepúlveda's talents, recent recruit Bermudez doesn't get much of a look-in, but he absolutely has the potential to be as good as the Chilean. He only scored twice in 15 games in his first season but, had we stayed, he would likely have been converted into a top-class midfielder.

GK - Adam Mihok: Very much a backup to Lee, Mihok has only started 10 league games in eight years. But he's generally reliable when needed.

CB - Muck Wein: One for the future, Wein has impressed when called upon since signing for £36.5m from Hamburg in 2041. And he's already earned two caps for Germany aged 19.

CM - Lucas Bastholt: Danish midfielder Bastholt is solid yet unspectacular, contributing no goals and 3 assists in his debut season since joining for £3.1m from OB. However, he has plenty of potential to become a quality midfielder.

LW - Giovanni Pasini: This exciting Italian attacker would undoubtedly go on to become the star of this team and probably the best player in the world in the next few seasons. He's shown ridiculous progress since signing for £26m from Frankfurt in 2041 and, if it weren't for the supreme talents of the attacking quadruple ahead of him, he'd already be a first-choice starter. However, he hasn't started anywhere enough games as yet and only scored 11 goals as a result, but when he does become first choice he'll become incredible. And he's already got 8 caps for Italy.

DM - Satoru Iida: Iida was a critical part of this team until the most recent season when he got surpassed by Feraud as a result of a few injuries. The Japanese midfielder played 323 league games for Union, which is just 12 short of the all-time record held by Andreas Schäfer, and 429 in all competitions since signing for just £1m from Niigata Unicorn in 2032. He was a solid holding midfielder, who provided protection to the back four as well as chipping in with the occasional goal. That said, he would have been sold in the coming summer before his contract expired.

RB - Joey Teviotdale: This is pretty much Teviotdale's first mention in this story, but the Scotsman arrived for £11.5m from Hearts to provide backup to Serrão. But he's played 46 league games in two seasons, and got four assists and a 7.01 average rating in the final season.

CB - Roberto Pacheco: Very much a backup with limited potential, Pacheco hasn't quite lived up to his promise has only played 21 league games in four seasons.

AM - Moise Vlad Paul: The Romanian backup has plenty of promise and plays well when given an opportunity, with a 7.18 average rating from 31 games and just 7 starts in his first league season at the club. But he definitely has the flair, passing and technique to be a strong attacking midfielder.

LB - Henrique Duarte: The Portuguese signed for £27m in the most recent summer to provide backup to both full-back roles. And he proved solid and dependable when called upon, including two Bundesliga goals.

LB - Lars Bergmann: The rarity of a Union youth product is the potentially exciting left-back Bergmann. He's still only 16 and only made four appearances in all competitions as a result, but has the potential to go on and become a real star.

ST - Jonathan Mascia: Mascia was considered the best support act to Sepúlveda until his countryman Bermudez came along. As a result, his progress stalled a little this season, but he still scored 5 goals in 10 games and just 5 starts and certainly has the attributes to become a top-class striker.

ST - Danilo Luna: Yet another Uruguayan striker, Luna went on loan to Magdeburg and helped the East German side avoid relegation from Bundesliga. He's certainly a player with the talent to go on and become one of the best in the world.

DM - Félix Costa: Given a couple more seasons, Costa would absolutely be part of this Union team. Signed for £4m from Real Madrid this season, Costa didn't play for the first team but was exceptional in a successful U19 team and would have been promoted in the summer to replace Iida.

CM - Roberto Custódio: Generally considered a midfielder, Custódio looks to have more potential as a right-back. He's been on loan in Mexico for 2 years and shown massive improvement, so would have been promoted to the first team in the summer. And he's definitely someone that would have become a top-class player in this team.

This has been a fantastic journey, navigating the lower reaches of German football and making our way to the very top and conquering Europe with an East German club. I hope you enjoyed reading this FM Story and stay tuned for much more to come from both FM23 and looking ahead to FM24 very shortly!

[robilaz]

One final update to this series!

I just transformed the entire series into the 10th book in my Football Manager Stories series. So if you enjoyed reading the series, or if you want to access the entire Ruprecht Prusseit story in one place, you can pick it up now!

The book is available on Amazon Kindle, and costs £2 or free through Kindle Unlimited.

Here's a link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CK4W2SV8

An innocuous injury picked up in a Sunday League game in Dresden sparked Ruprecht Prusseit's dreams of launching a career as a Football Manager. Prusseit dusted himself off and led his Sunday League team to the local title and the next day headed to the German FA website to sign up for his first coaching course. That puts the wheels in motion to enter the managerial world in the sixth tier of German football. And Prusseit has one objective in mind - to become the first Football Manager to lead a club from the former East Germany to the Bundesliga title.

 

You can also check out the entire Football Manager Stories series here: https://footballmanageraddict.com/fmbooks/

[TelcontarTargaryen]

Well that was a very fun ride. Inspiring.