Málaga Club de Fútbol - Los Albicelestes - "To Where We Belong"

[g1nh0]

Málaga Club de Fútbol - Los Albicelestes "To Where We Belong"

I won’t lie, this year’s game I’ve found highly frustrating across several aspects and very much struggled to get immersed fully into a save this year. Did have one with Setubal, but with everything ticked off the bucket list there, I needed to try and find some inspiration elsewhere.

With the final update now out and the need to spend some time trying to play the football series I love, there only seemed to be one option to play on this year’s game to give a good enough of a long-term challenge to keep me going.

I was actually inspired looking at Warlock’s career with Celta Vigo, having a good battle to try and topple Barca and Real.

And so with the huge disparity of clubs within the Spanish league, I’ve decided to play in La Liga too. To try and bring a club in sharp demise, back up to the top tier and back to competing in the Champions League – and maybe try to bring them a domestic trophy. That would be success to me.

My team for this save is going to be none other than Malaga.

I also will not be using the Overpowered 4231 and 424 formations for this save, but rather play football in the style I like but with a slight modification given I’ll be using a team that won’t ever have top tier players to play a more extravagant style of football.

It will be more workmanlike version to try and grind out results, as we simply won't ever have a team that will be on par or be better than Barca or Real.

--

So Malaga, from competing in the UCL and stuck in the third tier of Spanish football and a financial debt still due to be paid, a quick return to the second tier is a must this first season.

Heavy favourites to do so and a good squad, I’m very optimistic we’ll be able to just do that. The trickiest aspect will be to get back into the top tier whilst ensuring to keep good control of our finances.

If we’re able to achieve this, then building the team to be regularly competing in the Champions League will be my long-term aim for the club, this especially with the wage cap rules that exist in Spain.

And perhaps when all is said and done, try to become one of the legends at the club. So come on and cheers on the Los Albicelestes!

--

One aspect that will be a potential problem for me staying here long-term, is both the board and supporters culture and expectations.

Both want:

-Direct Football (Euw!)

-Defensively Solid Football (Really?!)

-Counter Attacking Football (I can do this at least)

 

I don’t play direct football, nor do I focus on being too defensive either, that said I do like to tinker a lot and adapt to games situationally. But ultimately the results are going to be imperative if I’m to stay here for the long haul.

If things don’t go to plan, I do intend to continue the save in Spain but I will avoid taking control of Real, Barca, and Athletico Madrid.

 

==

Career Progress

Season	Club	League	Position	Domestic Cups	European Cups	Awards
1	Malaga CF	Primera Federación Gr. II (Promoted Champions)	1st	R3 – Copa Del Rey Winners - Primera Federación	-	-
2	Malaga CF	La Liga Hypermotion (Promoted Champions)	1st	R3 – Copa Del Rey	-	-
3	Malaga CF	La Liga EA Sports	3rd	SF – Copa Del Rey	-	La Liga HCOTY
4	Malaga CF	La Liga EA Sports	2nd	Winners – Copa Del Rey	R16 - UCL	La Liga HCOTY
5	Malaga CF	La Liga EA Sports (Champions)	1st	Winners – Copa Del Rey Winners – Supercopa	SF - UCL	La Liga HCOTY
6	Malaga CF	La Liga EA Sports	2nd	SF – Copa Del Rey SF – Supercopa	QF - UCL	-
7	Malaga CF	La Liga EA Sports (Champions)	1st	SF – Copa Del Rey SF – Supercopa	Winners - UCL	La Liga HCOTY
8
9
10

Club Developmental Notes

Malaga CF

Summer 2028  - Club Reputation "Worldwide"

Summer 2028 - New Stadium being Built due for completion in July 2031, increasing stadium capacity from 30,044 to 47,367

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 07:39 by g1nh0

[warlock]

Good luck with this  Malaga was my first save in FM24 but lost it due to a hard drive disaster, but there's a career thread here if you're interested:

27 minutes ago, g1nh0 said:

a quick return to the second tier is a must

Honestly, if you can't win the division in season 1 you're doing something wrong  - you have by far the best team and are favourites for the title. The challenge starts in L2 where you do need to improve the squad a bit but the salary cap doesn't move much.

As for board and supporter ideas of preferred football, I think you can ignore it - as long as you're successful. Win promotion and they'll suddenly decide they love whatever style of football you're playing.

I'll definitely be following.

[g1nh0]

12 minutes ago, warlock said:

Good luck with this  Malaga was my first save in FM24 but lost it due to a hard drive disaster, but there's a career thread here if you're interested:

Honestly, if you can't win the division in season 1 you're doing something wrong  - you have by far the best team and are favourites for the title. The challenge starts in L2 where you do need to improve the squad a bit but the salary cap doesn't move much.

As for board and supporter ideas of preferred football, I think you can ignore it - as long as you're successful. Win promotion and they'll suddenly decide they love whatever style of football you're playing.

I'll definitely be following.

Oh what a bummer! Just when it was about to get interesting for you too...yeah indeed, I would quit management if I don't make it up first season  But then, you can never account for injuries, every year is different I guess.

And sure hope so with the style of football - don't intend to change my ways, they are very set in stone!

[g1nh0]

Season 1 Preview

Board Objectives:

-Gain Automatic Promotion

-Be competitive in Copa Del Rey

-Media Prediction – 1st

Squad / Transfers

Being predicted first and having a good squad I wasn’t interested in changing anything. However our best youth prospect David Larrubia was being chased by a few clubs, and given our financial predicament being 1.7mil in debt, with the offer of 1.6mil in total coming in from Lille, I couldn’t really refuse.

So perhaps a little less depth / quality in the AM-A position,but  given the sale would help us financially I decided to accept. And I was still very confident we would secure promotion this year with the talent at our disposal for this level.

David Larrubia Sale

Season 1 Review – Bouncing Back

League (Primera Federación Grupo II - Winners)

A strong start led the platform for a successful season and seeing Malaga bounce back into the second tier, eventually winning the league by 14 points and also the end of season Primera Federacion Cup vs the other league winners Barcelona Athletic.

Cup (R3)

We got through the first couple of rounds after some easy ties, but ended up drawing Almeria in the 3^rd round who ended up beating us 1-2.

Finances

At this point of the season we now have 950k still due to pay off. Our bank balance has slid to 240k, but with the revenue due to come in next season we’re in a pretty good position overall.

--

So a great start to bringing Malaga up the divisions. I also have ensured we’ve renewed contracts of our players that are considered at least top level ability for the second tier in Spain (La Liga Hypermotion). Notably Roberto Fernandez - brought up at the club and Malaga is listed as a favoured club. He's someone I'll probably want to try and keep here for his whole career.

With the early Larrubia sale, I hope this will leave me hopefully with more room financially to try bring in a couple of Bosmans and quality loans potentially to try and give next season a good push for the playoffs, as I believe a number of players here are able to compete at a good level in the second tier.

[warlock]

4 hours ago, g1nh0 said:

seeing Malaga bounce back into the second tier

Wow, that was quick .

That's Job One ticked off; good luck in season 2 

[g1nh0]

2 hours ago, warlock said:

Wow, that was quick .

That's Job One ticked off; good luck in season 2 

Cheers, tend to play quite quickly :D Yeah, most of the fun will start if I can get back into the top tier - so trying to accelerate getting to that point.  But will have to get the right signings in for this coming year.  Hopefully I'll have a bit of finances to play with especially after the sale first year. Do have a good core side so hopeful we can put in another strong league campaign and challenge for a promotion spot.

[patrikholm]

I'm supporting Málaga IRL since ~2005 so nice to see someone creating a carreer thread with them I'm living in Sweden so it's not my local team but the team I support in Europe outside Sweden. Needles to say I'll be following your journey with "Los Boquerones"

'

[g1nh0]

1 hour ago, patrikholm said:

I'm supporting Málaga IRL since ~2005 so nice to see someone creating a carreer thread with them I'm living in Sweden so it's not my local team but the team I support in Europe outside Sweden. Needles to say I'll be following your journey with "Los Boquerones"

'

Fantastic  Yes, noticed the club do seem to have a few different nicknames, no idea how all of that came about! Well I hope I can gain an affinity to the club this save as they make for the most enjoyable ones for sure. But I expect a lot of pain with the minimum fee release clauses in Spain as I could well lose some players I take a real liking to.

[g1nh0]

Season 2 Preview

Board Objectives:

-Avoid Relegation

-Be competitive in Copa Del Rey

-Media Prediction – 13th

Squad / Transfers

It was a very good off-season recruitment drive here, what I considered just about good enough to give promotion a real good push even in our first season back in the Second Tier.

Seven players came in, providing good depth and in a few positions were important players in our first XI.

We should be very reliable / consistent scoring goals having 3 good strikers, and we’ve got four good CBs and should be solid defensively. Combative enough in midfield for this level too, I’m full of optimism we can really challenge for a promotion spot.

Season 2 Review – Back to Back Promotions

La Liga Hypermotion Tier 2 – (Winners)

Much like last season, a very strong start to the campaign saw us create an early gap between us and the rest of the pack.

With the quality and depth at our disposal, we were able to keep our good form going throughout the campaign, seeing us complete back to back promotions ending on 109 points and 22 points clear of second placed Cadiz joining us in the top tier next season.

Roberto Fernandez our home club talent performed great again scoring 30 goals for us this year. I'll certainly be looking to rely on him again to be our main man in La Liga next year, and definitely will be renewing his contract imminently as he only has a 5mil release clause at present. Given he's a Malaga man, I'd love to keep him here his whole career - only if I desperately need finances may I consider parting with him.

Roberto Fernandez - Our Home Club Man

Copa Del Rey (R3)

We had some tougher ties to get to the third round, where this time Valencia beat us AET 2-3 at our own place. Real Madrid took home the trophy this year, prizing it away from their neighbours Athletico who won it last year.

Finances

Our remaining debt now lays only at 79k and with 3.3mil GBP in the bank we are now financially quite secure I would say.

Our board have given us a bit over 13mil GBP to invest in preparation for our return to La Liga. I intend to try my best to spend this wisely, bringing in some key players to try help keep us up and ensure we have enough depth to give us the best possible chance of avoiding an immediate relegation.

No intention to spend cash on a player, it will all be Bosman's and loans if I'm struggling to find permanents over the Summer. I just hope we have a sufficient enough wage budget to recruit adequately, as I expect there will be a bit of a jump in quality between the two tiers.

--

The Five Year Plan

So another really good year at the helm. I expect I'll have to spend a bit of extra time this Summer ensuring I bring in the right players to give us the best chance of survival in our first season back in the top flight.

I have a five year plan which at the end of it, I hope will see us be able to clinch European football.  But if we reach this stage quicker, even better!

Year 1: Avoid Relegation

Year 2: Avoid any relegation scrap

Year 3: Achieve a Mid Table/ Top Half Finish

Year 4: Push for European Football / Sneak a Conference League Spot

Year 5: Ensure European Football / Sneak a UCL spot

Edited April 18 by g1nh0

[g1nh0]

Tactical Deep Dive

Now making it to the top flight, I figured it might be worth making a post to briefly describe how I like to play things from a footballing / tactical perspective.

I find it very hard to get immersed in a game if I can’t employ something I enjoy using that incorporates certain elements of what I would like to have in a system I design. Fortunately I am able to play in a style I enjoy, despite me not enjoying this year’s game.

I have gone through phases on what I do like to produce, but I guess I have settled with something which I want to be able to use both with team containing capable players, whilst being able to revert to something similar with sides with less quality and also useable at the lower levels.

It is what I would classify as an Assymetric 4222 Brazilian Box.

Systems / 4222 Brazilian Box Asymmetric

I like my teams to both have a degree of balance and adaptability, whilst being able to play good football with the ball. So for me, having players able to cross dangerous balls into the box is a must, but whilst also being able to have a degree of control of the game and creativity when in possession – and allowing for some individual freedom / brilliance too. We also need to be a threat on the counter, and this includes playing the more direct ball from deep.

A 424 / 442 is too predictable, and a 4222 Box lacks a little bit of width to achieve all of this. So my system instead tries to bring the positives from the two, employing  one inverted winger, and one attacking midfielder (with PIs much of a Trequartista) who will at times drift wide as well and have the freedom to roam from position. However, this of course does come at the expense of pressing effectively on both sides of the pitch.

But I feel this can give me a highly balanced approach, which will ideally have players comfortable / composed on the ball, smart / have good decision making, have individuals that can make the difference, and also have pace especially with both forwards to make the most of quick transitions. I also need hard working players, as it is modified to try and play in a more modern day style.

Offense

Like in the Box 4222, I’ll utilize two offensive wingback / fullbacks to get up the pitch and provide crosses into the box for both our strikers to feed off.

Having an AM rather than an IF as well will help the side better dictate the play in the final third of the pitch, and allowing him the freedom to cause the opponents problems both outside the box, and getting into positions inside it too.

I also want him to at times, help with our play which is focused down both flanks, looking to move into wider positions too which will also help draw out any opposing DMs out of position.

Additionally he will also help with bringing in the wing-back on his side of the pitch into play, and allow us to have some smooth / effective ball retention and positive / offensive play on this side of the pitch to try and open up the more defensive sides.

The IW will also play his part from the other side, getting forward into dangerous positions, whilst also having the individual freedom to run at his opposing full-back. He will also come in narrow to help with the team holding possession of the football, and giving room for the full-back to support the attack and room to run in down the left flank.

I also want one of the two defensive midfielders to be capable of dictating the play / or playing killer balls from deep as well. In both my systems, this is achieved by specific roles and PIs, or in the most defensive style, player traits that balance well with each other.

Our passing style will also vary, as with a deep designated playmaker role (Regista) this guy will play the more direct ball from deep when there’s a chance. Otherwise, in the more defensive system I will let the full-backs take this task to try and hit a direct balls into the channels for our forwards to feed off.

With moving up the pitch, typically I will look to feed the full-backs to try and make progress up the pitch, but in our more defensive system this is a lot more mixed, although we will retain our approach of playing a shorter passing game overall.

And with any good modern day side, we need to be able to play out of the back competently utilizing two ball playing defenders, and cause a counter-attacking threat.

Defence

I’ve gone with utilizing the modern high line / high press, which in our more defensive system will be effective on the side of the pitch I employ the inverted winger.

But in both systems, we will generally look to place more pressure on the opponents and win the ball higher up on this IW side, whereas on the other side with the AM, the structure isn’t good for pressing as effectively with the method to rather try to halt the opponents from playing dangerous / early balls on the transition.

On this side of the pitch, it’s therefore important to have the more defensive minded DM to play on this side too, to help combat sides that do exploit / focus the play down this area, especially as this is also the side of the wing-back who will be frequently in advanced positions up the pitch.

The positive, is providing we are able to get players back into a defensive line quickly, we will then look to allow sides to cross the ball into the box which will give us opportunities to try and hit teams on the transition quickly and from deep. This either from the fullbacks, or from the regista in the more offensive system.

To achieve this, it will be very important to have good aerial defenders able to cope with the opponents’ aerial threat. If we can’t, we’ll simply end up conceding goals from crosses and be of detriment to ourselves by inviting crosses into the box.

Inspiration

My Inspiration from this style comes from Spain in itself, back in the early 2000s from Real’s Galacticos.

These are my two base systems that I’ve created this year to reflect how I want to play:

Superior Teams

Inferior Teams - Malaga Tactic

--

As a manager, I also do like to adapt in-game and react / change things depending on the profile of the game or the match situation. So I won’t always stick to a Plan A, and a Plan B also being Plan A.

But I always like to maintain the formation I use, as I want players highly familiar in that formation, but roles will change when need be based on how I am adapting / tinkering in games.

Although this system will be weak vs certain formations, the durability / balanced approach I hope will still cause opponents problems, whilst playing our players in their best roles / positions and what they will be used to playing, and hoping their individual abilities can make a difference.

--

So this is how I like to play. Not the most effective on this year’s engine as it won't press effectively, but I feel it can work well if you know how to tweak / tinker during games.

And so now I’m just looking forward to seeing how my side will fare in our first year back in the top flight!

[g1nh0]

Season 3 Preview – Tough Year Awaits

Board Objectives:

-Avoid Relegation

-Be competitive in Copa Del Rey

-Media Prediction: 19^th

-Salary Cap: GBP 475k

Squad / Transfers

This was a really challenging Summer. Some of my early signings made was exactly the quality I wanted to try and help keep the club up this year. Key signings will be Plizzari in goal, and the two English CBs Hause and Harwood-Bellis. I’m also very happy with our full-back recruitment too.

However, after those early deals were in place I was left with gaping holes in the central defensive midfield slots and an attacking midfielder – and we were also over our wage budget for the year. (Although our league wage cap we were fine with this at 475k GBP)

This meant 90% of players felt we didn’t have the finances to interest them in negotiation with us. So I scouted the player list desperately trying to find a few loans.

I eventually was able to bring a couple of loans in, but they aren’t of the desired quality and will need time to adapt to the level of this league league, but I hope they will develop as the season goes on.

So I feel although we’ve strengthened well defensively and okay ish in the offensive part of the pitch, the midfield area could be a potential problem. We also don’t have much depth in there at all, and may need to at times rely on a 19 year old kid who despite star rating wise shows potential, his current attributes spread will mean he’ll never make it at the La Liga level.

I’ll be delighted just to maintain our status in La Liga, and we’ll need to finish above the bottom three places to achieve that.

Season 3 Review - A Fairytale Season

La Liga (3^rd – UCL qualification)

First Half

Well the first half of the season was amazing. Typical FM style I guess, a bit more lenient where team’s initially won’t know much about you and your team.

We had a really difficult set of starting fixtures, which included Barca, Athletico Madrid, Bilbao, Betis, Sociedad, Sevilla and Real Madrid in the first 9 games.

So immediately I was concerned given firstly our team has had many changes to the first XI with no time to really get used to each other, and if we start off badly, poor morale could really set in even at this early stage – which isn’t great when you have important games vs the sides you’re expected to battle with to stay up.

But the complete opposite happened! After a 0-1 away defeat to Celta Vigo in our opening league game, we then went 12 games unbeaten – including games against all those sides listed above.

The two highlights were a 3-2 home win vs Real Madrid, and somehow stealing a 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou vs Barca.

We ended up after 19 games laying in 3^rd spot, although that was only 2 points ahead of fifth placed Sevilla so we could drop extremely quickly if our form was to slide.

 

Second Half

With no additional funds provided there was no changes to our squad here. Very difficult to gauge what our objectives should now be, but I guess for a team in our position, it’s just do our best to finish as high as we can – expecting teams will now adapt / set up very differently against us, so I’m expecting a sharp drop off, and we just have to do our best to keep positive results coming in.

We did start off shakily, not playing to the high standards we set and were dropping some points. This led to us at one point dropping to sixth in the table, and my aim was to just steady the ship and try to stay in the top 7 spots which would have secured us Conference League football.

But the teams around us Sevilla and Celta Vigo were also starting to drop points. Coming into the latter part of the fixtures, we had a kinder run in compared to the rest – and this proved to be crucial.

A good patch during this later end saw us return to the top 4, but Villarreal who had been clear in 3^rd spot dropped off too – with us stealing this spot via head to heads on the final day, where after being 2 nil down to Albacete, a great comeback to draw 2-2 gave us the point we needed to clinch third.

 

Copa Del Rey (Semi Finals)

A really good run this year in this competition, which happened to host us our best performance of the year. After beating Real 3-2 in the league, we also ended up beating them again but this time 3-0 at home in the cup.

Sadly, we went out in the semi’s vs Athletico Madrid. Probably a team setup better to counter how we play, and their quality / clinical finishing despite us playing well in both games, was enough to see them through – only to lose to Granada on penalties in the final!

Usually I don’t take domestic cup competitions with any seriousness – but with Malaga, this will probably be the best chance of ever winning a trophy bar the Conference League.

So I will definitely be looking to do well in this tournament from the Quarter Final stages and onwards each and every season.

Finances

Well despite being over our wage budget, during the later part of the year I asked for an increase to this, and the board agreed. This enabled me to tie up a couple of important contracts.

And with achieving UCL football, it’s safe to say financially the club is now in a really good place. Although we may be limited in our ability to have a high wage budget, we are at least in the position to take the next step of the club’s journey – this being improving our overall infrastructure.

I’ll be looking to improve our staff, training and youth facilities whilst investing in promising young players for our first team. I will also be asking the board to increase our stadium capacity, as at the moment the 30,000 we have isn’t enough for the club to have long-term, if looking to be able to afford better talent and allow for a greater salary cap.

But this year was a red herring of a performance – we will definitely not perform as well next year, although it will be an important one for the club’s overall development.

So next year will be primarily aiming for the above, and a good UCL performance so that we can attract better players, improve the club rep, and make the most of the finances available so that in the next few years, we can start to focus on bring better quality players in and improve our depth to bring the squad to a level where we can be seen as regularly contending for a top 4 spot year in year out.

That is my aim anyway in managing Malaga, as for me top 4 will be like a trophy. At this very moment, we lack quality in a few areas and are definitely light on decent depth.

In terms of accolades I received the Spanish League Head Coach of the year ahead of the two Spanish / Italian Kings in Rafa Benitez and Carlo Ancelotti.

A New Plan

Well I had a five year plan initially to try and compete for a UCL spot. I guess now I’ve revise this a little, moving up the time frame to achieve a top 4 spot again.

Next Year: Invest in Young Players with good potential, Build the club’s reputation with a good UCL Performance, and focus on Improving Staff, Facilities, and Stadium

Year 2: Achieve any European Football, Continue to Squad Build

Year 3: Have a good solid team with depth to compete in all Competitions, Achieve Top 4.

 

Edited April 20 by g1nh0

[g1nh0]

Season 4 Preview – Building Foundations

Board Objectives:

-Mid Table

-Be competitive in Copa Del Rey

-Media Prediction: 10^th

-Salary Cap: GBP 500k

Squad / Transfers

Our salary cap had increased slightly, but isn’t yet impacting us when it comes to our overall wages spent. Our problem still lays in not having an adequate wage budget to recruit effectively.

So again, although we’ve had some very good dealings that will be good for the long-term of the club, for our performance this year and extra competitions we’re competing in, we really are struggling for depth in the final third of the pitch.

We also haven’t been able to bring in a real quality AML amongst our ranks, and I found a cheap option to try and get us through this year in Soares – but it is a weak area of our side. We also only have 3 decent strikers available too, which for a 2 striker system isn’t enough.

With teams undoubtedly going to pay us more respect, we’ll do very well to push for a European spot this year. I will need to prioritize competitions, and will need to sacrifice our domestic cup performance this year if we’re to give us the best chance of keeping our squad fit for the league and UCL games.

That said, I have my fingers crossed for a couple of signings, who I think can be at least squad players long term for the club, and maybe first XI standard.

Filip Rejczyk – a Pole that although lacks composure on the ball, is pretty solid with the ability to produce something special. At only 2.3mil, I’m hoping he’ll be a good long-term cheap squad player.

Hugo Barrachina – At 198cm tall and 18 Jumping reach, he has the potential to be a first XI starter for this club. He perhaps lacks with his first touch, dribbling and technique to be a good ball playing defender, but if he can improve this aspect to his game he will I’m sure of it, be a fantastic defender for this club and I think at a leading league level. An absolute steal at 3.1mil GBP from Zaragoza.

Tobias Slotsager – Another CB that’s 191cm tall with 16 Jumping reach. He probably doesn’t have as much potential, but for 6mil from Danish side OB, for me he can be another good cheap long-term squad player backup.

David Martinez – Cost 5.5mil GBP from Independiente in Argentina, he’s got some really good attributes to play the more defensive role of our two DMs. Great concentration, decision making, positioning, marking, anticipation, vision with a bit of aggression he will be a stalwart in our midfield. If he can improve his composure he’s someone I will trust long-term. But his only negative is his lack of determination. This may see him being more effective as a squad player. But for now, he’ll be an integral part of our midfield. If I can pair him with someone with a good attitude and leadership skills hopefully this would rub off on him.

Winter Window

Fortunately I was able to find a solution for a decent fourth striker. One of my targets in the Summer Delap from Man City wasn’t interested in speaking to us. But after a few months and still not being approached by any clubs, he was finally willing to discuss terms.

So we were able to snap him up and I was very happy with it. For our club profile he could be a decent squad player for at least the medium term, and be a real boost for the second half of the season.

Big Hugo at the Back - 'our danger man from set pieces'

Season 4 Review – History Makers

La Liga (Runners Up)

First Half

We had just like last year, a surprisingly good first half of the season. I say that, because I was half expecting that following our huge overachievement in finishing 3^rd, teams would be more problematic to break down giving us a bit more respect. And well with our league position, I’m pretty sure they must have done. I think we did better vs the teams we should fare well against, but we didn't perform so well against the better sides this year being the main difference.

But I did feel like we recruited well in some key areas of the team – such as a good striker, a solid midfielder, and a decent centre back provided a good team spine to work from. This, with some youngsters eager to prove themselves, is what I can only think of how we were able to have such a good first 19 games. So it made sense with a bit more quality amongst our ranks we had improved as a squad, but the smarter managers at the big clubs now knew what to expect from us and we had a tough time against them.

So after the first 19 games we were comfortably in 4^th position at this point, with a nice 8 points cushion between us and 5^th placed Villarreal.

Second Half

With the introduction of Delap into our squad, he was immediately making a positive impact in our front line. Suiting the pressing forward role, his pace and work-rate was a good asset along with being capable with both feet, he was grabbing some goals for us too.

Despite the large number of games we had during this second half of the season, we ended up exceeding our 41 points we achieved in the first half of the season with 47, seeing us end on 88 points and taking an excellent second place in the table, and much to my huge surprise.

Champions League (Last 16)

Our first season back with the big boys, and I think we did as well as we could have done with the tools at our disposal.

I aimed to try and boost our reputation, which to me would have been reaching the knockout stages. In the groups we ended up needing to play in the playoffs before reaching the final knockouts where we came up against Aston Villa. After comfortably dispatching them we came up against Man City.

We held our own at our own place and I would say if any team deserved to win that game it was us. But of course at theirs they fully showed their superiority and comfortably won 4-1.

Bayern were the team to take home the spoils in the end, beating City in the final on penalties.

Copa Del Rey (Winners)

After a good run in last year’s competition, with this being a competition I have targeted as our best chance for success, I was hoping the draws would be kind enough.

And they generally were, having several home ties and avoiding all the big guns. Taking each side out, we eventually won in the semi’s vs Sociedad in a tightly contest 3-2 agg win – our reward was a Cup Final vs the mighty Real Madrid.

Our record vs them had been pretty good, especially when they play the diamond it seemed. And well they set themselves up in this same fashion for this game.

Despite them fielding the talents of Bellingham, Vini Junior, Endrick and Tchouameni we were able to combat them very well, and although they were getting shots off as you would expect, they did not hit the target one single time!

The game on the possession front was an even one, but we were the team that took more shots hitting 7 of our 12 on target, and had a vastly superior xG to them.

There was only one team deserving to win the final – and fortunately we were clinical in front of goal, not just comfortably winning, but I would say we somewhat embarrassed Real Madrid winning this game 4-0.

It was a marvellous performance from the lads. I did fear we would fall at this last hurdle, especially with such a young side out playing in such a big game. But they proved that on our day, we certainly can give any side a run for their money.

This was also the first major trophy in the club’s history. Something for the lads to be extra proud of.

Finances / Infrastructure

After our good UCL run things are really going in a positive direction for the club currently with GBP 45mil in the bank.

I am also really enjoying working for this board at Malaga, and from my many managerial reigns in FM, this is the best I’ve experienced.

Willing to negotiate a lot of the time, and a willingness to improve the club, we’ve been able to agree 2 sets of improvements to our training and youth facilities, with a 3^rd accept on both accounts already too.

They were also willing to continually increase our staff numbers. So we pretty much now across the board, have the best staff in La Liga (with the exception of set pieces).

The only downside, was after also asking to increase the stadium capacity which they accepted, although reaching the planning stage this eventually got pushed back. If it went through it would have increased by around 10,000 seats. Considering we are maxing our currency capacity, it really was needed.

So I’m not sure what our prospects are in increasing our stadium capacity. I may when the option comes around again see whether investing in a new stadium is a possibility. But this may have to be delayed a little further, as I do want to improve the first team in a couple of key areas to that we have good quality in the majority of positions on the pitch.

I feel this would take us up a level, and those immediate areas is a better keeper, a better AML and we definitely need more depth in the AM Position.

[g1nh0]

Malaga 4 - 0 Real Madrid (Malaga's first ever Copa Del Rey Trophy) - Season 4

Here were the goals in Malaga's first ever Copa Del Triumph against the eventual La Liga Winners mighty Real Madrid, held at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla with a full 57,000 people in attendance.

[g1nh0]

Season 5 Preview – Aiming to Maintain

Board Objectives:

-Top Half Finish

-Be competitive in UCL

-Reach Later Stage of Copa Del Rey

-Media Prediction: 7^th

-Salary Cap: GBP 850k

Squad / Transfers

With the high standards we’ve set ourselves the past two years, I feel it’s all about trying our best to maintain what we have achieved. That being heavily contesting a top 4 UCL spot, and doing well in all cup competitions we are contesting in.

Not really having any talent available to sell to generate funds and wanting to keep most of the team together anyway, I generally invested in some replacement for those players leaving us on Bosmans – but with a couple of more expensive additions to try and improve a couple of positions in our first team that I hope will take us up a level.

Gavin Banzu was the man I decided to invest in between the sticks. Plizzari has done a good job, but I feel maybe we need someone a little bit better to try and get closer to the top sides. He cost 26.5mil GBP from Southampton, very well suited to the SK-D role, and has 40 Irish Caps to his name.

What I liked about him was his attributes in 3 key areas that for me is a must for any keeper who can also be a match winner – one on ones, reflexes, and handling.

But he also commands his box extremely well, has excellent distribution and doesn’t have any particularly bad negative parts to his game on the mental and physical side. Only negative really is that he doesn’t enjoy big matches – that’s not to say he’ll perform badly in them, but I guess I’ll find out in due course.

He’s someone I’ve gambled on to be our long-term keeper at this club, so I hope it will be money well spent in the end.

The other is Brazilian Newertton. I badly needed a quality winger, and although Soares who I brought in for 1mil GBP last year actually did a very good job, I did need an upgrade.

He’s 22 now, and I hope maybe a bit more room for development which ultimately was why I decided to invest in him, along with not of talent available in this position. He cost us 12.5mil GBP from Shakhtar.

But even if he doesn’t his willingness to work hard for the team and his pace / acceleration will make him an asset to pressing effectively on our left side of the pitch. So he’ll always be able to positively contribute providing he applies himself.

I hope he can adjust well to the league and provide us with a greater impact from the left hand side.

One signing I was really excited about was the Czech Adam Karabec brought in on a Bosman. I needed depth at AM, but his attributes and where he best plays whilst being left footed too I felt really suited our system.

With this in mind, he felt like a free upgrade on our first XI and has the ability to be a real game changer in being able to compete at that higher level.

High in flair, good pace and acceleration, great technique / first touch with the ability to run at his man he could be a handful for many opponents. He’s not exactly bad when it comes to passing and having the vision too.

At only 24 and a Czech International, he most definitely could be a long-term investment for the club at an absolute bargain.

Season 5 Review – Malaga Club Legends Born

La Liga (Winners)

First Half

We had an excellent first half of the season, amassing 49 points which had us well on course to mount a serious title challenge.

Our first game of the season was at home to Barca. That was a hard game and they had the better of us at our own place, but we grinded out a close 1-0 win and I feel this really set the team up for a good start.

Likewise for them, they never got started for their own title aspirations with them 13 points behind us at this stage. Real Madrid were clearly going to be the team to compete with, and well they battered us 1-4 at their place so they would still be strong favourites to take home the league crown.

Second Half

It was after 24 games where I started to think, could the impossible, become possible? But then during this part of the season the alarm bells were ringing. Our main striker with the required quality needed to get us over the line Semedo suffered an injury keeping him out 7 weeks, and even upon his return he soon suffered another.

This also came at a point where we had some easier fixtures, notably against Elche and Osasuna – both of which we dropped points. We had a 10 point lead, but Real had closed this down to 5. With no immediate return it felt like things were going to fall flat…

But speaking to the lads and trying to keep their morale up, we achieved some brilliant result like the away wins at Bilbao and Sociedad and more so, a 4-0 home thumping of Real Madrid – all without our star striker.

It was a crucial game, because if we lost the gap would have been down to 2 points. This steadied the ship, and gave us an 8 point gap with 4 games left to play, which I felt at this point of the season would be enough - four good performances that's all we needed. Please let us not bottle it....

But luckily it proved enough, with us getting over the line during the 5-1 home win and mauling of Valencia - and so the La Liga was ours! And it is the club’s first ever league title in the top tier.

To me, the players that formed the squad this year are all now club legends. It was an amazing effort. Everyone really dug in, and performed far beyond their capabilities.

Yes we did need a bit of luck on the way, being the poorer performances of the big two sides. But it's hard to perform strongly every year, and from the perspective of continuing to develop well, we surpassed last year's points total in the league, with us achieving 94 this time around - a total that is certainly competitive when challenging for a La Liga crown.

Our 5-1 Mauling of Valencia, before lifting the trophy at home in front of our own fans

Champions League (Semi Finals)

We had a really good campaign this year here, and it took the mighty Liverpool to knock us out.

After the league phase we ended up coming in 3^rd spot here, so there was no need to play a playoff to reach the knockouts.

We faced Sassuolo and then a tough game against Arsenal in the quarters both which we managed to get through. But Liverpool at Anfield were a step too far, and we also failed to win our home game vs them.

It was not just a great performance in the competition, but importantly it gave us an indicator or where we currently are at, and what additional tools we may need to give them a tougher game and better chance to compete vs the elite European teams.

This to me, is a top quality CB, better quality wing-backs both sides, a top quality midfielder and a deadly striker.

Well it was Pool who won it, so two year’s running the eventual winners have knocked us out both times.

Copa Del Rey (Winners )

We were still in the UCL at this point after just knocking out Arsenal and again, our opponents – Real Madrid!

But they went out the UCL in the last 16 against Feyenoord of all teams. So they were fresh coming into this game and I wasn’t optimistic for this reason.

Despite fielding a really strong line up, I decided to freshen things up hoping that energy brought into the final would give us a chance – and they never quite settled.

Making it awkward for them, in a tightly contested game where we took the lead and they equalized on the hour, I feared the game might fall out of our grasp.

But it was none other than home grown club legend Roberto Fernandez who stepped up to score in the 76^th minute which proved to be the winning goal.

Another great cup run for us this year, retaining the Copa Del Rey and at this point we just needed to clinch La Liga for a domestic treble.

Supercopa (Winners)

Like the Copa Del Rey last year, I took this competition seriously with it being a trophy the club has never got its hands on.

It wasn’t an easy path, being drawn against Barca in the Semi’s. But a superb performance saw us trounce them 3-0 before again, coming up against Real Madrid in a final.

We lost 1-4 away earlier in the league this season, so it was hard to be optimistic as they clearly now set themselves up differently against us. And well, they outplayed us heavily this time statistics wise, being the side that would appear to deserve to take home the trophy.

But though they had double the number of shots, we had about the same xG as them – and those higher quality chances we were able to create, we took, and saw us win the Supercopa for the first time winning 3-1.

Finances / Infrastructure

With the heavy investments on Bazunu and Newertton it was important we had a good UCL run, which we did.

And also because we continued to invest heavily in our training and youth facilities. The board did not disappoint, and were willing to improve these further. Both are now considered State of the Art facilities.

Staff wise we now our ranked 1^st in every category, and I’d like to think the investments here was one reason why we were able to have a fantastic campaign this season, seeing us outperform Barca and Real in every way possible.

And with all of the above, we have just under 85mil GBP in the bank. So it was a great year of further progress on this front.

The only negative is there hasn’t been any option available to task for a stadium expansion. So I expect I will look to try and invest in the squad a little further.

As mentioned above, our performances in the UCL suggest that if we are able to have a chance to compete with those sides highly talented, I’m going to need a top class CB, a top class midfielder, a top class striker and top class Full-Backs very important in the modern game.

Of course our profile of club and location in Spain, we aren’t going to have the available budget to spend huge. But I’ll certainly be looking to try and find young talent with great potential who can possibly fill these roles.

I’d like to think after this year, we are now a strong top 4 contender for each season but will always not have the riches of the big two. So I’ll need to manage things going forward with this in mind.

[g1nh0]

Malaga Legends of Season 5

A brief post to keep a record of our key players for this year memorable season. Another important aspect to our year was how well I feel we defended at set plays, especially corners.

We were impenetrable here, and it certainly gave us an edge, undoubtedly helping us achieve the points total that we did that saw us home to La Liga.

So here are the players that formed our 25 man squad for the year which brought the club's historical success:

 

 

[g1nh0]

Summer 2028 Update (Season 5 End)

BIG NEWS - New Stadium In Development!

I'm delighted to finally confirm our board have taken matters into their own hands, recognising the desperate need for work on our stadium - which eventually rather than a capacity extension, has resulted in a brand new stadium being developed.

Due to be named "Duda Park", it is expected to cost just under 200mil GBP in all. The club have had to finances this by taking out a 144mil GBP loan. This will be repayable over monthly instalments going all the way up until 16th May 2053.

The stadium is due for completion middle of July 2031 being a few years from now. Our new capacity will be 47,367, in comparison to our existing stadium of 30,044 so that's over 17,000 extra seats available to be filled.

It's a real positive step for the club, because we are pretty much maximising the capacity of our current stadium. I've no idea how much potential this club has to grow when it comes to it's fanbase, but it was always an objective to try and get us on par, or close enough to Athletico Madrid - whom are obviously located in the Spanish Capital.

Malaga appears to have the sixth largest population in Spain. A lot of the major clubs would seem to have a capacity of around 60,000. I think for a club of our stature and location, if we're able to get close to 55,000 - 60,000 as a max capacity and be able to reach this most weeks that would indeed be fantastic additional income for the club. 

So yes, I'm very chuffed as this was perhaps the last piece of the main jigsaw for major development of the club. I also do plan a big Summer spending spree but on good value players, so we can get a football squad that should without any doubts look to regularly compete in European competition, certainly no lower than Europa League standard. Building a squad a bit under / closer to Athletico Madrid in quality remains my realistic aim.

I will also then look to try and keep what I aim to be a younger squad together, so we can keep a good control of these debts and have room to manoeuvre / stay under the Salary Cap we are given, with the flexibility to renew contracts of our better players whilst ensuring we still are able to stay within this salary cap.

Generally I'll be looking to recruit players under the age of 24 this Summer Window.

Below is where we currently stand compared to other clubs in our division with average attendance and % of capacity of the club's stadium being filled:

[AlfieLucas]

You've done amazing work with Malaga in such a short space of time. From the 3rd division to champions of Spain in five years. Next target, Champions League?

[g1nh0]

Season 6 Preview – Spending Big!

A lot has happened in the offseason here at Malaga. There was some excellent news, where the board has arranged for a brand new stadium to be built! It will be just over 47,000 in capacity (around a 17k increase), and our training / youth facilities have both reached State of the Art status.

I’ve also continued to improve our staff, where we are ranked one in every aspect, and continuing to try and improve our scouting range further.

But the downside is we’ve had to take a loan of 144mil for the construction of our new home.

That however has made me decide that with our Salary Cap increasing to 1.1mil and money available in our transfer budget to invest, I am going to recruit players all under the age of 24 whom I hope will stay at the club long term, whilst all being at a reasonable cost.

A number of positions are needed, but the idea is to try and have a squad where we can now continue to compete with the top 4, having extra quality accounting for sides becoming even more cautious against us, and try to recover these huge costs over the next five or so years.

Our new stadium is due to be completed within 2-3 years time, so I’m hoping if we continue to make the UCL, that and the increased gate receipts will hopefully bring us back to a better financial position.

Board Objectives:

-Qualify UCL

-Be competitive in UCL

-Reach Later Stage of Copa Del Rey

-Be competitive in Supercopa

-Media Prediction: 4^th

-Salary Cap: GBP 1.1mil

Squad / Transfers

So who did I ended up investing in? All of the areas that needed strengthening I was able to recruit in. Perhaps I’m lacking in a real top class midfielder, but I do have a unit there who I believe can function well together, and in different profile of games – so we might be able to get away with it.

Our depth in general now has improved, perhaps with the exception of the Keeper position. Sadly Plizzari wanted to leave, and on his last year I had to sell. I decided to bring someone who would simply be content to be a backup, and to be fair he’s young and has some decent attributes – but perhaps not quite at that level Plizzari was getting to.

I was also able to recruit some young Spanish full-backs too aged 23 and under, and I’m confident they will be an upgrade to last year’s regulars, and with the potential to grow.

Otherwise a few other real key / notable signings I have high expectations for:

Rodrigo CB – A 19 year old wonderkid from Sevilla that cost us 30mil GBP. I’m placing a lot of faith in this guy, he plays at CB and not the typical beast I would invest in with strength and height, but his adaptability, high bravery, concentration and balance with a good ability to tackle and possessing great determination I feel will make him work well with any player he plays with.

My only concern is starting him immediately with our other young Spanish CB the beast Barrachina – simply due to their ages. But I may well do so this year, because they’re going to have to both play to develop – it may well be at the expensive of consistency for a couple of seasons though.

Demir Ege Tıknaz DMS – 23 year old Turkish International from Besiktas. He’s a more natural playmaker, a great first touch, vision and technique, but also great physically, passes well has good composure on the ball and also covers the ground. He’s also got a great determined personality, someone who I hope can rub off well on David Martinez.

I can imagine them two working well together though, and I’m looking forward to seeing them both in action.

Karim Konate SC – And then I was able to bring in Ivory Coast International Konate for 17.5mil GBL from Salzburg. Not showing to have as much potential in this particular save, but his attributes still look great and he’s got the physicals to play both the AF and PF roles I use up front.

His pace, finishing ability and bravery / dribbling ability whilst being both footed are all great attributes to have and he will being in that additional quality to lead our front line.

Youssoufa Moukoko SC - I decided to splash the cash on Moukoko, but he hadn't played any football the last few years. So he'll probably never reach his potential now being 23 years of age, but I figured he can still become a good striker with regular game time with the potential to try and offload him at some point down the line. So for 18.5million GBP I figured it could still be a good deal for us.

--

All in all, I think it’s been as good as a window as it could be with the players we could attract vs how much we spent. I’ve also remained well under our 1.1mil GBP salary cap, so for any contract renewals we should have the capabilities to offer the higher wages I expect several players will demand.

I wanted us to get this club to a level that is around Athletico Madrid’s level. We also reached Worldwide reputation as a club, and I believe we’re probably in between Athleti and the clubs behind us like Sevilla / Villareal etc. The main difference between us and Athleti is probably their stadium, and having a real world class player amongst our ranks, which we don’t have at this moment.

But perhaps in time a couple of our players could reach better heights – that is what I’m hoping for anyway.

Season 6 Review – Back to a Harsh Reality

After our successes last year, despite the huge investments made over the Summer, it was always going to be tough to re-create our performance of last year.

And unfortunately, what made things 100% worse was Real Madrid hiring Klopp. So with the most effective manager on the game, and the strongest squad in the game, Real Madrid walked this season and won EVERYTHING. We also had a lot more injuries this year, which didn't help matters much either, with our backup goalkeeper playing many games after a serious injury to Bazunu between our sticks.

So Real won the League with 103 points, the UCL, the Spanish Cup and Super Cup. It was honestly quite demoralizing to see, because just when I thought we could start to become competitive in this league regularly, their players, manager and performances just blew everyone away.

So there isn’t really much to report on this year. With all our spending made and an attempt to cover the costs of our new stadium which we’re still waiting on, it’s going to be a case of keep rolling through each year, in the hope Klopp gets an International Job and Real suffer several serious injuries.

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Achieved Board Targets

On the positive side, we did reach all of our board targets. We also maintained our points tally in the league of last year, being 94 points. So with us predicted 4th and teams I expect now having fully adapted, we did well in that respect. Financial management is decent as well, and I decided to sell Delap to Valencia for 16.25mil GBP. 

Real Madrid KO'd us in both the domestic cups and both at the Semi Final stages.

We gave them a good game at home in the Spanish cup, but they really just had too much quality for us this year. They also beat us 2-5 at our home place. We also disappointingly went out to Man Utd in the UCL quarters, but it was an injury hit period and with both our strikers not really fit for such an important game, that lack of quality saw us not score against them in either leg.

Please Klopp, Bugger off! 

Going forwards, we really need Klopp to leave Real Madrid to stand any chance of competing with them. With the overpowered gegenpress system and the players at his disposal, for as long as he remains in Spain I can't see any clubs getting close.

The mighty Barca also continue to struggle, not really getting anywhere near title contenders at this moment in time. Simone Inzaghi is currently their manager playing his 352 formation.

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With next year, I'll be praying Real Madrid suffer some long term injuries to give all of the clubs some hope in Spain. And with our club, I'll try to maybe sell a player or two and I'll certainly need to re-evaluate my stance of not investing much in the way of players, because after last year it is clear to see we do need better quality if we're going to move up a level longer term.

 

[g1nh0]

1 hour ago, AlfieLucas said:

You've done amazing work with Malaga in such a short space of time. From the 3rd division to champions of Spain in five years. Next target, Champions League?

Heh cheers, yeah was very unexpected winning a domestic treble - and I hope so, but my last season was very underwhelming (as you'll see above).

I'm at the point now where as we're expected to do quite well all teams have adapted, and I now really do need quality players to achieve consistently, which at the moment I don't quite have. Expect it will be a long road before I can achieve such a feat, but even domestically with Klopp now at Real and having just won the lot, it could be a very painful time in Spain until he leaves lol.

[g1nh0]

Season 7 Preview – Board Backing

Board Objectives:

-UCL Qualification

-Be competitive in UCL

-Reach Later Stage of Copa Del Rey

-Be competitive in Supercopa

-Media Prediction: 4^th

-Salary Cap: GBP 1.1mil

Squad / Transfers

After Real’s dominance last season winning everything domestically and in Europe, well my plan of having a measured approach to recruiting, well didn’t go completely out the window, but I became much more willing to splash the cash in places I felt that was really needed. I didn’t want to watch Real win all 4 trophies again – and fortunately, neither did my board.

They backed me through both the Summer and January windows, in which they would offer me the option in where I would like to invest further in the club.

I also decided to facilitate this spending I really had to sell players that, although legends at the club, Malaga are competing in a new time, and so they just weren’t going to quite cut it any longer.

So with a few home grown players finally leaving us including Enriquez, Fernandez, Lorenzo, and other players that never really made an impact like Van Den Berg, Perrone,, to valuable first XI / squad players in Martins and Harwoord-Bellis, I decided to condense my squad to a 25 man size with a bit more of a quality feel and depth to it.

Granted, there are still areas for improvement, but this window was a significant step / march to bringing us very much on par with a prime Athletico Madrid team, and I would say one that with everyone available, had sufficient quality to compete.

Baidoo – a giant Austrian CB coming from Newcastle for 30mil GBP, effectively the Harwood-Bellis replacement.

Bernal – a Barcelona reject costing 37.5mil GBP, but the potential to be a solid first XI starter. Not real top quality, but for value, he’s going to be a slight upgrade and should be very capable providing he’s paired with someone extremely good next to him (which we have in Pelayo. Bernal was our one signing in January.

Pelayo – was my big signing I’ve gambled on and only at 20 years of age. Costing 65mil GBP from Arsenal, he has qualities where with improving experience, he can really hone and be that key DM in our team. He also is a great leader, something this squad perhaps hasn’t had. Having a player with this characteristic can certainly help in the games vs those bigger sides.

Mastantuono – A really good value player brought from River Plate in Argentina. He has the potential to be a leading player in the division and at 16mil GBP was a steal. He is the improvement over Karabec.

 

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So a better CB, x DM upgrades, and someone in the final third to unlock the opposition were good strides made over the course of Summer and January. And with that, optimistic we could maintain / improve ourselves slightly in the league, and be able to try and compete well in all competitions.

Still, we won’t ever get close to Real Madrid’s riches, but if they miss a key player or two amongst their ranks, I think we can certainly then give them a good one off game.

Champions League is  never normally is a priority of mine (I’ve always preferred to perform best in the league), but with it being the missing major trophy at Malaga, this tournament will be the priority until I’ve been able to bring it to Malaga at least just the once.

Season 7 Review – A “Real” Epic Battle

Supercopa (Semi Finals)

Well this was the first, and happened to be the only trophy Real Madrid won this year (which I'm okay with!) – and it came after knocking us out of this tournament in the Semi’s, in what seemed like another tightly contested game between us where they won 2-1. But game wise, we really didn't turn up today and I've no idea why. One of our poorest performances we've had against a Real side, with the exception of the 2-5 massacre in Klopp's quadruple season.

Copa Del Rey (Semi Finals)

I was actually taking this cup quite seriously, because during the course of this season it probably was realistically our best chance for a trophy.

But after reaching the Semi;s, we again came up against Klopp’s Real Madrid – who beat us twice 2-1 in both legs.

Surprisingly in the final they ended up losing against neighbours Athletico again 2-1 AET – so it seems they really caused Real some problems this year.

La Liga (Winners)

First Half

Well I initially tried to continue playing my more stylish 4222 Brazilian Assymetric box. But after playing the first half of the season, I figured that if I’m going to be able to compete with cheat code Klopp, I’m going to have to try and play a formation that’s a little bit more effective on the pressing front, and with an ability to at times, play more direct when needed.

So after being several points adrift of Real, I changed to a 424 system of mine, which pretty much is the same as my 4222 but instead moves the AM to an IF role on the right, with some PI / TI changes to better suit that formation and highly intense pressing style I was implementing. So yes, I’ve decided to fight fire with fire.

And well it worked, as by the end of the first 19 games we got into a position of being just 1 point behind Real. They weren’t having as strong a year as last which certainly helped with them on 45 points and us on 44. And soon after the formation change, we actually took home a 4-1 home victory vs Real Madrid – so I felt this was the way forward, and with that result, hoping Real Madrid may have a lower point total this year compared to the 103 points they had last season.

Second Half

But honestly, despite our great results vs Real at home it seemed like Real had us again for the title. We dropped some points cheaply at home to teams we should have beaten, and they were able to create a 4 point gap. It would need a bit of luck and a miraculous performance at the Bernabau if we were going to stop them retaining the La Liga Crown.

But with games coming thick and fast, they eventually dropped points away to Sevilla after a tough Euro game vs Klopp’s old team in the UCL. This then gave us a small opportunity going into our meeting at their place.

And with the point difference now down to two, it finally came to the time when we had to play them at the Bernabau – and in a game Real dominated from start to finish, it ended up being an Arda Guler own goal which gave us Malaga an unlikely victory of being FM’d proportions! Our keeper of course, Bazunu got MOTM with a 7.7 rating, and it saw us take a hugely unexpected lead at the top of the table.

We won our remaining 6 games, and Real suffered another defeat but away to their neighbours Athletico 0-3, which saw us regain our La Liga title away from the might of Real with the 0-1 win away at Espanyol the moment we lifted the trophy.

Champions League (Winners)

The tournament I wanted to really do well in this year. Things didn’t go to plan early on in the group stages, but following my tactical change to the 424 and with the team cohesion and January window improving us as a squad, after finishing in the playoff spots we were able to get through the initial knockout stage, and then having quite a nice route to the Semi’s – where we drew Man City.

They still had a Haaland at 29 years old, Foden, Gvardiol, Diaz, Pino, Rodrygo, Sesko all amongst their ranks so it was a strong side. Perhaps the manager leading them in Marco Rose perhaps not quite of Pep Guardiola quality.

Well the first leg was extremely tight. They had their chances but didn’t take them. We had a few as well, and were able to take one. It gave us a very slim lead going to The Etihad. So in all honesty I wasn’t optimistic going into this one.

However in the away leg we took an early lead, and then ended up getting into a 0-3 away leading position after 53 minutes! I thought the game was over, all we needed to do was defend.

And then in 3 minutes, Man City scored from two set pieces, and then 11 minutes later they added a 3^rd and the game in the space of 13 minutes went from 0-3 to 3-3, and I was now in panic mode...

This meant we only had the one goal advantage from the home leg and I was just praying we would somehow hold on!

Fortunately, we were able to somehow keep them out till the final whistle blew and it saw Malaga reach their first ever UCL final in history winning 4-3 on agg. Really tight games, but the away leg saw us achieve a considerably higher xG per shot, so I think over the two games we were just about deserved finalists despite their valiant comeback in the home tie.

Malaga 1 (p) – 1 Real Madrid AET

Olympic Athletic Center of Athens, Greece / 69,618 attendance

And so for the very final game of the season, after preventing Real retaining La Liga – we were tasked in trying to repeat the same feat here, and stop them retaining the UCL.

What really gave me no hope going into this game, was both of our strikers Konate and Moukoko were injured, and both not recommended to be picked in the squad.

On the other side, Real Madrid were without Bellingham who could only make the bench. So we would lack the fire power, but they would lack that dominance in midfield – which made for an interesting game.

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That lack of control of Bellingham not starting for Real is probably what allowed us to effectively take more shots than Real whilst having a good enough amount of possession to not be placed under too much heavy pressure.

But despite us being the better side, they took the lead in the 24^th minute from Camavinga after he pounced on a mistake we made in our own third. We kept battling and were taking shots at their goal, but we were just not able to take the chances we were creating – and the lack of a fit striker was telling. Even Semedo who started wasn’t fully match fit as he only very recently came back after being out over 2 months.

So I had no choice and gambled when I brought Moukoko off the bench. He was on rehab phase still, but I felt he might be able to offer something if we were really struggling. I felt I could give him at least 30 minutes, and that’s what I did – and it proved to be such an important substitution. Bellingham also came on the exact same time as well for Real on the hour.

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With time running out, with only a few minutes of normal play left after Real failed to clear a free kick delivered into the box, it was indeed Moukoko who was positioned to pounce once the ball came back into the danger area to make it one a piece. I was ecstatic because to be honest the whole scenario of this game, I thought we were done.

When it came to extra time I decided to make the extra / last sub to reinforce some energy in midfield. This proved to be a good decision, as Real weren’t seemingly able to control proceedings, and if any team was going to win it, it was going to be us.

But we weren’t able to create enough quality chances and they also had a higher xG average per shot despite us taking more, and so the game eventually ended up going to Pens. Moukoko probably also wasn't really fit enough to put in a good ET shift as well given his level of fitness and still being injured.

I spent quite a while picking my takers, the orders and each of the words I would say to them. And perhaps I did something right here, or not, but either way Real Madrid missed two early penalties in Bellingham and Tapsoba with Bazunu making two great saves. But then Baidoo missed one for us mid-way through, which gave Real the chance of making a comeback.

But I left Moukoko to be our fifth penalty spot taker, thinking we may need someone capable of putting away such an important penalty away in that particular position…

and stepping up to the plate, that’s exactly what he did. Sending the keeper to the left and placing it calmly in the centre of the goal, he notched up the winning penalty which gave Malaga their historical UCL triumph!

I couldn’t believe how dramatic the season had ended, and it did feel like what I initially set out to achieve for the club upon my appointment, now had been reached.

The Winning Penalty

 

Finances / Infrastructure

After reaching Worldwide reputation and our performance over the last few years, we finally have a star rating of 5 maximum in reputation, training facilities, youth facilities and now youth recruitment.

Listed at number 6 in the club list, this has moved us ahead of Barca who are down at 8^th at a 4.5 star rating.

With my efforts the past seven years, it was finally recognized and I’ve now become listed as a Club Legend.

The club did also arrange an additional loan to add to our debts, leaving us now with a net debt of a bit under 250mil GBP.

So I guess for the medium / longer term, the club will need to just be smart with the dealings that do take place. I feel the squad is now in a good enough place to consistently get top 4 with a couple of players with the potential to become top quality players.

My Future

With my goals now achieved for Malaga, I'll take a little time to contemplate my next managerial steps to try and maximise my motivation for the next stages of my career.

I have never really done a build a nation, so whether I could add a few more leagues and go in this direction is an option. If anyone has any suggestions on this front for some inspiration do say

I did also have a check of the other major European leagues loaded, but there doesn't appear to be any giants needing a rebuild with the expected dominant teams still the major forces in their respective nations. I have considered trying to compete in other continents aiming to win the UCL equivalents there too.

I could simply remain here at Malaga and continue to try and be a nuisance to Klopp, or remain at the club till I've spent at least a decade at the club and re evaluate things then.

Edited Sunday at 07:36 by g1nh0