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[FM20] Champagne Football II: Calcio Offensivo


noikeee
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6 hours ago, quee said:

I prefer the screenshots + some written comment where needed. If all written only, I tend not to read everything and just scrolled through them until I saw something interesting or highlighted in bold.

I actually have the same dilemma as you. I wanted to start my own thread and not sure what is the best format. Makoto Nakamura's format seems to be good? (Screenshots then some comments)

I'm also toying with keeping the format I used at the Calcio thread by using the spoiler tag for the screenshots. Thoughts on this?

Yeah I used to do something like that do too, fixtures and league table every month then some comments. Idk about spoiler tags, readers are lazy and don't want to click buttons, at least I know I am. :D 

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May 2026 (1): Inter hand us an open goal
 

Serie A: Bologna 2-1 Udinese (Bordignon 2, Pellegri 64; Maldini 41)

A really, really tough match as the lads are starting to feel the pressure of being in the title mix. You'd think home advantage would make a big difference as usual, but this time Udinese came pressing us really aggressively and equalised before the break, and occasionally threatened us more on the counter. Pellegri eventually solved things for us in a corner though. But the great news? Inter drew with Napoli, handing us 1st place again!
 

Serie A: Roma 1-1 Bologna (Cristante 39; Vuckovic 56)

So before this one we knew Inter had dropped points again, drew with Fiorentina, so it was a golden chance to extend the lead to 3 points. Except we struggled again, I'm starting to get wary of this group of players who clearly don't enjoy pressure. In a tight first half Roma went a goal up, after the break we switched to the 4-4-2 to go chase the goal. And we got it through a wonderful solo run and placed shot by Vuckovic. We failed to get the 2nd goal but it's alright, Lafont saved our arses in injury time with a great save too, we can't complain.
 

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Well well well, it's all in our hands now. The good news is Inter are slipping. The bad news is the entire squad is ******** themselves. In the next 2 weeks we'll face Inter twice for two trophies - will we win either of them?

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Italian Cup final 2025-2026: Inter-Bologna

Welcome to the Italian Cup final that we will be following in extra detail this time. For Bologna we are missing 2 players: centerback Paolo Gozzi who's had a wonderful season is suspended, whilst forward Antonio Bordignon is injured. Inter fields a terrifying team, led by the incredible Alberto Torresi, our former youth player that we sold to them 2 years ago, of course.

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First half

 

 

Minute 10: We're the first to create some danger - a throughball from Jefferson in the hole finds van Mosserveld, but the Dutch forward strikes from too narrow a angle - it goes across over the entire box.

 


Minute 18: We're having all of the ball and all of the shots. Vuckovic wins the byline down the right. Crosses low for Pellegri!!!!! Oh straight at the keeper, what a miss!

 


Minute 21: Corner kick for Bologna for Daniel Bragança to take... Obasi on the near post... falls to Papetti on the back post... GOAL!! 1-0 BOLOGNA! The reserve centerback on loan from Atalanta, with a rare start for the club thanks to Gozzi's suspension, gets us 1-0 up here!

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Minute 35: Sergiño Dest crosses from the right down Inter's attack... Obasi clears it but only as short as Odegaard! Saved by Lafont! Inter starting to show a little more now.

On the immediate counter Vuckovic crosses down our own right flank... finds Pellegri's head! Just wide!


Minute 44: Another corner by Bragança... André Anderson heads it! Cleared off the line by Lekata!

 

 

 

Half time: We've been the better side here, which I'm a little surprised about but it's nice. Let's keep it going this way for another 45 minutes.

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Second half


Minute 48: van Mosselved mugs a Inter defender near the halfway line... runs down the flank... he's tackled... the ball falls for Vuckovic... crosses at the back post....

It finds Pellegri's head!!!


HITS THE BAR!!


Still Pellegri... passes to Wijndal... another cross to the area... Jefferson!!! Ohhh, straight at the keeper...

 

 

 

 

Minute 54: Scrappy passage of play as we pressure Inter as they play out of the back... it falls to Tejera... André Anderson... Pellegri... passes out wide to Wijndal... the fullback runs into the area... shoots! IT HITS THE POST!!!

 


Minute 57: Tejera steals the ball, passes to Vuckovic... releases van Mosselveld down the right flank... cuts inside... shoots! Wide!

 

 

Minute 59: Freekick for Inter deep in our half down their left flank... Odegaard takes it... Altair heads it! Wide!

 

 


Minute 71: Nice sequence of passes in our midfield... finds Wijndal completely free on the left flank! Crosses! to van Mosselveld! Ooohhh straight at the keeper again....

 

Minute 72: Oh no Amoroso has tackled a Inter forward at the edge of our area! Is it in or out the area... VAR goes to check...


Outside the box! Freekick! Yellow card for our homegrown defender, who had just come in to replace Tejera.


Brekalo takes it... cleared by our defence. 

 

 

Minute 74: Long sequence of passes by Inter... they find space down the right flank... Dest crosses it at the back post....

It finds Brekalo!! It's in!!! What a header!! GOAL!! 1-1 FOR INTER!!!

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Minute 92: It's been a few dead minutes now... Inter playing out of the back... Den Otter steals the ball and passes a quick throughball to van Mosselveld!!! Oh no, the Dutch forward takes too long on it... it fizzles out to a corner...

 

 

 

End of 90 minutes: So frustrating... we were dominating this match, started the 2nd half really well, hit the woodwork twice, yet they get a goal in pretty much the only major chance they got. We'll have to fight for this a bit more...

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Extra time


Minute 91: Van Mosselveld is clear down the right flank... waits a little for targets in the area... crosses it... Oh it's a weak header by Jefferson.

 


Minute 92: Freekick for Bologna... cleared... falls to Bragança... Afonso Sousa heads it down... it frees Pellegri!!!!

HE HITS THE POST!! Third time for Bologna hitting the woodwork today, we just get no break it seems.
 

 

 

Minute 95: Slow buildup down the left flank.. Wijndal finds space to cross low... Afonso Sousa! Hits it at the keeper...

 

 

Minute 98: Corner for Bragança... Obasi heads it.... it's cleared off the line!!!

OH NO IT ISN'T!! THE REF IS SIGNALLING IT IS A GOAL! I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE IN FM, IT LOOKED LIKE IT HAD BEEN CLEARED! 2-1 FOR BOLOGNA!

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Extra time half-time: We got one hand on the cup... can we hold on....?


Minute 114: Nothing's been happening... now Inter find some space on the right after a throw-in... low cross to Torresi! Saved!

 

 


Minute 115: Inter insists after a corner... lots of space for Pradeau down the right... Brekalo free on the back post!!! Saved!! This could've been a very dangerous one.

 

 


Minute 119: It's our time to counter... Pellegri holds the ball... releases Afonso Sousa down the left... cross to Jefferson's head! Dekic takes a step to the right and holds it!

 

 

Minute 120: Another counter... releases Van Mosselveld... oh he's too impatient and blasts it wide!

 

 

 

 

 


Full time: BOLOGNA HAVE WON THE ITALIAN CUP!! At last, a trophy in my career!!!


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Serie A penultimate day - round 37


We play first at home to Sampdoria...

 

Bologna 1-2 Sampdoria (Sousa 34; Hien 15, Pierie 59)

I thought the cup win would've given us a big dose of confidence. But no - it's a disaster, the whole team nervous and stiff again. We attacked much more, but early on, bam, they score in a set piece. We equalised through a inspired Afonso Sousa - the only one on the pitch - but slept again for the 2nd half. And again Sampdoria scored on a set piece again... and we could not recover. What a downer after a trophy.

 

Inter play Cittadella away the next day.... come on Cittadella.


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Well it would've been asking for too much for Inter to slip up again. We're gonna have to win at the San Siro the final day if we want to become champions.

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Serie A final day - round 38


Only one match matters.

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Inter-Bologna. Winner takes the title. However, Inter have 2 advantages: they play at home and a draw is enough for them.

We continue to have Bordignon injured but throughout the season he's lost the place in the squad to van Mosselveld anyway - he's the only player we're missing. Inter fields a similar side to the one we faced in the cup final.

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First half

 

Minute 1: We cross from the left. van Mosselveld heads it down to André Anderson!! What a save by Areola!!


Minute 3: Intricate passing move by Inter through the center. Pradeau hits it from long! Parried by Lafont.


Minute 10: Corner for Inter, Torresi takes it. Aldair heads it!! Brilliant save from Lafont out for another corner!


Minute 12: Another intricate move through the middle by Inter... Pradeau.. Lekata! Shoots it long! GOAL! TO THE TOP CORNER! 1-0 INTER! We're even further away from the title now...

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Minute 13: Inter are confident now. Pradeau runs down the right... and runs... and runs... hits it from a very tight angle... saved!


Minute 19: Quick move for us... Vuckovic is released, crosses for von Mosselveld... hits it first time! Easy save by Areola. At least we're fighting back.


Minute 22: What a throughball by Torresi!!! Corsi is free!! Saved by Lafont for a corner. Inter still look stronger here.


Minute 25: We dally on the ball... they release a counter... Pradeau completely free!! Lafont saves it!! 

 

 

Minute 28: Torresi runs down the right... crosses for Corsi's head... saved by Lafont. Lafont alone is keeping us alive... I switch tactics to not-a-Diamond.

 

Minute 29: Great throughball by Vuckovic to van Mosselveld!!! Saved by Areola! That was our chance...

 

 

 

 

Minute 39: Dest founds space down Inter's right flank.. crossed towards Corsi's head... wide!

 

 

 

Half time: We're struggling and I don't really see a way out to turn this match around. We've looked better after switching tactics but I've switched to the most conservative one, and we need goals... I'm gonna switch to the 4-4-2 for the 2nd half.

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Second half

Minute 46: Great run by Jefferson down the left... feeds van Mosselveld... turns and shoots! Wide!

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 62: Freekick by Bragança... shoots it direct!! Just wide! The minutes are passing, and the chances for us aren't arriving...

 

 

 

Minute 64: Vuckovic mugs the ball, runs down the right... and runs... he has van Mosselveld free in the middle! No you idiot! He shoots from a tight angle, easy for the keeper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 82: Counter by Inter, we stop it... falls to Odegaard, strikes from outside the area! Wide!

 

 

Minute 85: Intricate passing move down Inter's left flank... to Lekata.. he's free and shoots! Lafont tips it over!


Inter take the corner... flicked at the far post... back to the other post, big chance for Skriniar!!! HITS THE BAR!! Oh but he's offside!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full time: Inter are champions. They've deserved it - outplayed us this match, and could cope with the pressure far better the last few weeks. It's okay. We got a trophy and pushed them hard this year. I think I need players with more of a winning mentality, though...

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On 13/05/2020 at 00:43, PaulRachubka said:

Unlucky my man. As with another career, I've read this throughout during lockdown. Great read and I hope it continues. 

 

On 13/05/2020 at 01:06, Deisler26 said:

Oyyyy. Unlucky dude. You'll get 'em next season.

 

On 13/05/2020 at 02:02, quee said:

Great play by play update there. Really thought you would get the double as well.

Unlucky, Bologna!

 

On 13/05/2020 at 20:28, cerud said:

Tough beat. At least the Coppa Italia is some nice silverware.

 

Thanks everyone. I'm not sure we're just "unlucky". I think I need even better players and more importantly, players with personalities to face big matches without fear!

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Season review - Bologna - 2025/2026


Competitions

  • Serie A: 2nd
  • Coppa Italia: Winners
  • UEFA Champions League: Lost in the quarter-finals to Bayern


Club vision

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The board enjoyed this season but the drop from 1st to 2nd right at the end of the season - albeit 1st place was only held briefly - made my grade drop from a A+ to a A-.


Finances

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Our Champions League campaign was lucrative and now we've got a 37.5M€ warchest for transfers next season. That's before any sales... I sense a big one is coming.
 

Squad statistics

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Top 5 players of the season

5. Eric van Mosselveld (ST)

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In FM20 it appears wild scoring forwards are rare, and this was seen this season with the highest scorer being this new signing who only managed to hit the back of the net 14 times. That being said - goals were quite evenly shared about my forwards with Bordignon getting 13 and Pellegri 11. Eric van Mosselveld was a revelation midseason when he hit form, relegating Bordignon to the bench and performing great both in the AF and in the DLF role. However, he ended the season in terrible form with a long goalless streak.


4. Samuel Obasi (DC) 

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Another good season from the Nigerian centerback with a pretty positive 7.22 average rating, also 5 goals and 4 assists. Crucially one of the goals and one of the assists both came in the cup final which gave us our first trophy.


3. Nikola Vuckovic (MR)

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The Serbian winger started the season better than he finished, as he struggled to replicate the earlier form after a few injuries, but still deserves high praise. If last season it was unclear whether he should hold the place on the right wing, or Dutch man Leonard den Otter, this year the Serb had clearly an advantage. With 11 goals scored he was rivalling the forwards for top scorer, and 6 assists was decent too. His market value has skyrocketed to 58M€ - 


2. Paolo Gozzi (DC) 

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A surprisingly excellent season from the centerback who started the season as 3rd choice behind Obasi and the now sold Gnagnon. I wanted to fast-track him into the side due to his pace, knowing he still had a bit to develop, and he delivered. Average rating of 7.27 and 5 goals scored.


1. Daniel Bragança (DM)

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I'm afraid we'll finally lose Bragança as Chelsea have had enough of having him out for 3 years on loan to us, and want to recall him to the main squad. I had already named him as player of the year last season, but this year he went up another level, acheiving 13 assists and an average rating of 7.45, far above all other regular starters. Lots of these assists come from taking corner kicks and indirect freekicks, but an interesting quirk is despite playing deep as DM, he also gets them from open play - I've seen him put in brilliant long throughballs from deep, or even pinpoint crosses after drifting wide, specially after throw-ins. It will be hard to replace him.


Other honourable mentions

Jefferson (AMC, ML)

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The headline act from our team, now valued at a ridiculous 63M€ and clearly immensely talented, still struggles a bit to actually show this talent on the pitch, although this was a much better season. With tweaks to the main tactic he can now occasionally (if still a bit rarely) do something from the AMC position, whilst I've also managed to get him a few goals in the new 4-4-2 as ML after adapting him to this position. Still, a 7.00 average rating and 8 goals and 6 assists is too little from someone who's effectively a world class attacking player. With a 80M€ release clause and Inter hovering around him, I think he will move soon. The danger is what if he finally starts putting his talent on the pitch... for Inter of all teams who we are fighting for titles.


Noah Cousin (DC)

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If Jefferson struggled to adapt himself to Bologna, at the other end of the pitch this more recent signing hasn't struggled at all. The French youngster, just turned 18, has been a superb centerback in the few occasions I let him play, scoring twice in 6 matches. With maxed potential he might well be the biggest prospect in my whole side, and the 11.5M€ I paid feels cheap.


Alessio Marconi YP19A (DC)

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I'm eyeing a 4th centerback to sign for next season to complete the first team squad next to Gozzi, Obasi and Cousin; however our biggest homegrown prospect in the making (besides Giuseppe Amoroso who is now a settled rightback for the first team) also plays in the same position and has quietly been becoming a pretty neat player in our U20s. A loan for next year might be the best for Alessio, provided he gets regular playing time.


Individual competition stats

Serie A:

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Bragança made the average rating top 3. Please note the incredible stats of Torresi - this year he topped average rating, player of the match awards, assists and goals. Playing as a winger!! Absolutely incredible and it really hurts that we had to sell him 2 years ago.


Career tracker

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

 

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Who will you get to replace Braganca?

7 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Career tracker

How did you do this, mate? I've been seeing this white-background a few times now, but not sure how to replicate it. Copying the texts from another app?

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Just now, quee said:

Who will you get to replace Braganca?

How did you do this, mate? I've been seeing this white-background a few times now, but not sure how to replicate it. Copying the texts from another app?

I was eyeing Camavinga on a free, which would've been absolutely perfect, but the little arsehole decided to join Schalke instead. So now I don't know, I might just recall Jakobsen from loan and use him and Foschi (regen I hired a couple of years ago), on rotation.

To do the career tracker I use the code tag, it's the button right before the emoji button. It's made for posting source code on programming boards, but you can use it for this type of thing too. I suspect copy-pasting from a text editor with a fixed size font would work just the same, too.

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1 minute ago, noikeee said:

To do the career tracker I use the code tag, it's the button right before the emoji button. It's made for posting source code on programming boards, but you can use it for this type of thing too. I suspect copy-pasting from a text editor with a fixed size font would work just the same, too.

Just leave it as HTML? Can I just copy yours in the future? (If I can't figure it out :lol:)

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1 minute ago, quee said:

Just leave it as HTML? Can I just copy yours in the future? (If I can't figure it out :lol:)

Shouldn't make a difference but I use "no syntax" so it doesn't start highlighting text by accident.

Yeah no problem copy it. :) 

Just now, quee said:

Where is he coming from, btw? Surprised to see him available for free.

Man City.

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I'm pissed off, he'd have been the perfect replacement, specially for free.

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1 minute ago, noikeee said:

Shouldn't make a difference but I use "no syntax" so it doesn't start highlighting text by accident.

Yeah no problem copy it.

Thanks! Will give it a try and see how it goes.

2 minutes ago, noikeee said:

I'm pissed off, he'd have been the perfect replacement, specially for free.

How much did he requested wage-wise from you? And what will he be on for Schalke?

That would have been a great signing and someone who could be the fulcrum of your team for years as well.

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5 minutes ago, quee said:

How much did he requested wage-wise from you? And what will he be on for Schalke?

That would have been a great signing and someone who could be the fulcrum of your team for years as well.

I don't remember, it was a few months ago in gameplay.

Interestingly, I've just noticed the centerback I'm now trying to sign, is actually a pretty great fit for this role as well... and Schalke's interested too. :D Let's see if the transfer happens.

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6 minutes ago, PaulRachubka said:

Out of interest, why do you have wages ''per month'' rather than ''per week''

A common complaint in my careers. :D 

I'm Portuguese and over here our salaries get paid monthly rather than weekly like in the UK, also obviously in euros rather than pounds. So my brain is used to thinking this way. I've always got used to using monthly wages in euros, so I can very quickly get a mental idea of just how much cash these filthy rich footballers get paid, and feel poor as **** by comparison.

I've just converted it in-game to see what it works out to, and our highest paid player Jefferson is at 140K£/week. In pounds he's valued at 54M£.

Here is some exclusive footage of Jefferson at home digesting what happened in the final day of the season:

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Some good news, the club is growing with the Champions League money.

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It's time for a stadium, ours is kinda tiny for the level we're reaching now, 31K spectators.

I've also got a job offer from Valencia, interesting but I've got a lot of work to do here still.

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Well this was unexpected:

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He might still go, Monaco and Sevilla remain interested. I don't even know if I want him to go or stay. On one hand, he's underperformed all the time relative to his talent and is far too expensive. On the other hand, he's not easy to replace.

 

Also, since we're talking about unexpected things:

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:lol:

(yes that's a 36 year old Jordan Henderson scoring on the World Cup final).

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Hugely flattering. I'm gonna say no, though. I feel like this is kind of random and unrealistic and national team management is boring in FM. Also it doesn't really fit the Italy theme I'm doing here for this thread - I might have considered it if it was the Italian national team.

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uhEA6Az.jpg

Thought I'd never see you back buddy.

Chelsea let him go on loan to us for a 4th consecutive season. Now no longer having to pay a loan fee. In fact we don't even have to pay half his wages. And we get an optional release clause they insisted on (though I think it's a bit on the expensive side). Well, thanks guys, I guess. :lol: 

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Pre-season 2026-2027: Investing the Champions League money on the future


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A more normal Summer transfer window, after last year's unusually quiet one, as quite a few moves happened - and nearly a few extra truly shocking ones happened as well. Jefferson and Samuel Obasi could've both left for Inter and Real Madrid, respectively, for very big fees, and I missed out on two wonderful young Italian players who were very close to joining the club. It's a shame but we hired a hell of a lot of potential anyway.

First, let's talk about the exits. We say goodbye to a few excellent performers for the club over the last few years. Striker/winger Riccardo Orsolini, who was our top scorer just 2 seasons ago but was 29 years old and had become 4th/5th choice upfront - sold for 6.5M€. 31 year old midfielder Bernard Mensah, another of the club's key players when I joined a few years ago, sold for 3.3M€. Leftback Youssouf Koné, who had been here for just 2 years and recently celebrated his 30th birthday, went for a surprisingly high 15M€. 

But we also sold 2 outright starters for us last year - goalkeeper Alban Lafont (13.5M€) and rightback Mauricio Tejera (a perhaps low 32.5M€, nevertheless our biggest sale). The reason for these 2 sales? To free up space for direct replacements who I believe have a bigger future.
 

Let's go through the new signings:
 

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The first new signing is a player at the top of his game, hired for free - what's there not to like? Ampadu fills in as our 4th top class centerback, we're now blessed in this position as we also have Obasi, Gozzi and teenage sensation Cousin. But he can also do a proper job as DLP in the DM position, albeit there he's up against a couple of players with sublime vision and technical ability of which he's just slightly short.
 

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This is a player I spent 9.75M€ on, but I'm not entirely sure on. My scouts warned me he was near his potential already, despite being 20 years old. Nevertheless, he's a wonderkid. The reasoning for this move? There's a massive shortage everywhere of proper attacking leftbacks and a player in this mould is key to our system. With Koné reaching the age of 30, it was time to move him on and look for a kid to replace him.
 

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Quite possibly the best "value for money" signing of the Summer at just 5M€ from Romania, Cibilicã's potential looks good and he is already a truly excellent player at the age of 20. As of now it's unclear whether he's gunning for the mezzala role as MC, or the DLP role as DM. I want him to fight Bragança for the latter, but he might need to get rid of the "gets into opposition area" trait, to be able to act as the holder in our midfield.
 

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I've been keeping an eye on this Irish-Nigerian goalkeeper for quite a while now, and took the opportunity to grab him for just 3.3M€. He might not be quite the world class goalkeeper I want, but I feel he's a slight upgrade on Lafont for the position, is 3 years younger, and still has a tiny bit of potential to improve.
 

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A long term punt as he's not ready to fight for first time duties. An extremely rare excellent player from Estonia, I grabbed this midfielder for 2.9M€. He looks to have what it takes to develop into a neat player, but I dislike one thing about him: "fickle" personality. I've loaned him out to learn.
 

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If Bazunu is the short-term answer to our problems in goal, I'm hoping Lorusso can become the long-term holder of the position. Unusually from the Serbian club Vojvodina's academy despite being an Italian, his potential seems immense. I paid 3.4M€ for him and now sent him to Ternana to get first team football.
 

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Another player I don't intend to use on the first team any time soon. Slovakian centerback Martin Grman was available for just 500K€, it'd be negligent not to take it. Loaned out to Empoli.
 

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The first of 2 major mid-August signings. I sold Tejera at quite frankly a discount rate just so I could get him, because I truly believe this Colombian kid could easily become the best rightback in the world in a few years time. I've paid 10.25M€ for him.
 

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Our most expensive signing at 19.5M€ but tbh I'm not entirely sure what to do with him. Average finishing makes him a bit of a misfit for striker, and I was eyeing more as a B plan option in case someone snapped up Jefferson. I think I will rotate him with Jefferson for AMC and adapt him to ML for the 4-4-2, making him effectively Jefferson's backup within the squad. Another alternative is he becomes the starting AMC/ML, whilst Jefferson is moved upfront to a striker role. He could also play as mezzala but there's so many other options now for that. Whichever way I figure out how to use him - he is a player of excellent potential.
 

We have also recalled from loan midfielder Adel Hebibovic (who has developed superbly at Cagliari) and homegrown winger Gianmarco Cangiano.


Current squad and starting 11:

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As you can see this is now a super young squad, the oldest man being loanee Bragança aged 27...

I'm gonna have to start goalkeeper Bazunu and maybe rightback Castro from the start, other top players like Ampadu, Cibilicã and Cristiano Henrique will be eased in throughout the season as they gel, at least that's the plan. I think this is a step forward, at least in the long term it absolutely is with all the potential, however I think for this squad to truly break into the world class levels necessary to challenge for all trophies, we are badly lacking a true world class striker. Which is why I'm a bit pissed off we just about missed out on one, he chose Napoli over us... 

Nevertheless, I think we have a good platform here to try to win Serie A for the first time.

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August 2026: Good start to Serie A


Serie A: Sampdoria 0-3 Bologna (von Mosseveld 25, Vuckovic 87, Gozzi 92)

A good start with a deserved away win, it was particularly pleasing to see van Mosselveld on form after he had ended last season on a goalless run. He got a goal and a assist. Bad news is Jeffereson picked up a 3 to 4 weeks injury.
 

Serie A: Bologna 3-1 Fiorentina (Afonso Sousa 3, 9, Pellegri 66; Martial 87)

Another competent, professional job settled early on with 2 goals from Afonso Sousa pouncing on 2 corners. I've been very conservative on squad selection these early matches, using few of the new signings to make sure everyone is well used to playing with each other - I want to prevent what happened last season when we lost too many points right at the beginning of the season.


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Well this was a nice way to kick off the season. Now, when it comes to the Champions League group....

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:lol:

We just can't catch a break on these UEFA draws, can we.

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September 2026: Capable both of brilliance and of clownish incompetence


Serie A: Napoli 1-2 Bologna (Ricardo 67; Pellegri 20, 35)

I'm delighted with this one because Napoli are building a scary good side. 2 crosses from Vukovic to Pellegri in the 1st half solved this. It's simple football but it works. We played well, too, and deserved this win.

 

Champions League group stage: Real Madrid 7-2 Bologna (Fábio Silva 1, 10, 33, 42, Zaniolo 66, Ruben Neves 72, Palermo 83; van Mosselveld 21, Bordignon 80)

Well this was more than a little embarrassing. Time and time again Real broke past our high line and Fábio Silva kept scoring and scoring. An evening to forget and I'm looking at our new keeper Gavin Bazunu's bravery attribute of 9 with suspicion - is he lacking what it takes to throw himself at the feet of the forwards? I've never seen so many one-on-ones scored in FM20!

 

Serie A: Bologna 1-1 Cremonese (Bordignon 8; Boadu 82)

I hate this game sometimes. We completely dominated from beginning to end, spent pretty much the entire match on a winning position, then they randomly get one in a corner after doing nothing all match. Against Cremonese, of all teams.

 

Serie A: Atalanta 0-1 Bologna (Pellegri 7)

True hero to zero performance from Pietro Pellegri as he scores the early opener then sees 2 yellow cards before the half hour mark. Luckily, that one early goal was enough and we resisted with 10 men.

 

Serie A: Bologna 2-1 Cagliari (Bordignon pen 45, Afonso Sousa 90; Smolenski 29)

Sooner or later I had to play all the new signings so I did it here. And it nearly went very wrong. We started nervously and went a goal down. Despite equalizing before half-time, then everything got worse when again we saw a red card, this time to Rafael. Cagliari outplayed us the 2nd half but we were given 3 points thanks to an outrageous late freekick by Afonso Sousa.

 

Champions League group stage: Bologna 5-0 Liverpool (Jefferson 14, van Mosselveld 21, 32, Pellegri 48, den Otter 76)

Needless to say, after what had happened at the Bernabéu, this was the last thing I expected to happen. We were magnificent and then as the match went on just kept riding this wave of awesome morale. Best thing was the first goal by Jefferson, which has to be the best goal I've yet scored in FM20 - a first time volley 40 yard lob over the keeper. Outrageous.


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We have been unconvincing in the league and nowhere near Inter's level, they've been doing things like smashing Brescia 7-0 away, whilst we're suffering trying to win matches by the tightest of margins with 10 men after boneheaded red cards. That being said at this stage last year we had already lost a heap of points that we later had to recover, and as of now we've only drawn one match.

In Europe it's hard to say what's going on. We've had one appalling match and one superb match. I definitely want to get at least 3rd place in this group, but I've no idea if we have what it takes to sneak in to 2nd or not.

Remind me to upload Jefferson's goal against Liverpool, that was awesome.

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4 hours ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Wow! Juve in the drop zone! I know it's relatively early in the season, but I've never had that on FM20 (don't think I've had it on any FM in recent memory to be honest). Challenging with Bologna is mighty impressive.

Juve's fall from grace has been one of the most entertaining things in this career, they've finished 10th in Serie A a couple of years ago. I though they were recovering a bit last year when they finished 5th in the league and gave us a couple of tough matches, they even hired a monster centerback for this season that I've been keeping my eye on. But apparently nope, it's not working out for them. :D 

Thanks but I don't feel it's that impressive, I've had quite a few seasons to build up this squad!

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10 hours ago, noikeee said:

Remind me to upload Jefferson's goal against Liverpool, that was awesome.

As promised:

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At last this little ****er is showing something worth the mountains of cash we're paying him. His only goal of the season so far, but it's a start.

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On 14/05/2020 at 23:08, noikeee said:

Shouldn't make a difference but I use "no syntax" so it doesn't start highlighting text by accident.

Yeah no problem copy it. :) 

Man City.

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I'm pissed off, he'd have been the perfect replacement, specially for free.

Wow, that would have been an incredible coup! I managed to get Federico Valverde on a free from Real Madrid on my Wigan save and I thought that was impressive. Shame he went elsewhere!

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Holy h*ll

7 ore fa, noikeee ha scritto:

As promised:

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At last this little ****er is showing something worth the mountains of cash we're paying him. His only goal of the season so far, but it's a start

 

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3 hours ago, cerud said:

After Real Madrid, that Liverpool result was...unexpected! Good recovery in the group stage table.

Tell me about it, was the last thing I expected!

2 hours ago, ShaunG95 said:

Wow, that would have been an incredible coup! I managed to get Federico Valverde on a free from Real Madrid on my Wigan save and I thought that was impressive. Shame he went elsewhere!

Yeah I'm pretty annoyed, that would've been the permanent fix for the position. That being said, since we got Bragança again and now there's Cibilicã and Ampadu, we're well stocked at DM playmakers anyway.

1 hour ago, zethani said:

Holy h*ll

The bloke is the definition of a youtube player. Looks incredible on a good day, but... please give me some consistency Jefferson.

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19 hours ago, noikeee said:

Best thing was the first goal by Jefferson, which has to be the best goal I've yet scored in FM20 - a first time volley 40 yard lob over the keeper.

Just saw the video, great goal!

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October 2026: Growing into a ryhthm as we keep Inter in check


Serie A: Roma 0-0 Bologna

We put in 32 shots, 18 of them on target. And still nothing would beat goalkeeper Emanuele Grazioli. I don't know whether to be pissed off at this, or happy we could go to Rome and dominate so much.


Serie A: Bologna 3-2 Inter (Gozzi 48, den Otter 63, Bragança 68; Richarlison 80, Torresi 94)

A critical match, as just before this we had dropped 4 points behind Inter and this could let us catch them up. Thankfully it went great and that's exactly what we did. Inter fought back at the end but it was too late as we'd opened up a 3 goals lead. Daniel Bragança's long range goal was particularly great, too.


Champions League group stage: Ajax 0-0 Bologna

Like a repeat of the recent match for the league in Rome, we again dominated away from home against strong opposition, but just couldn't really create enough to score goals. Might end up costing us qualification from this group.


Serie A: Torino 1-5 Bologna (Afonso Sousa 3, Rabbi pen 20, André Anderson 36, 64, van Mosselveld 40; Donato 79)

And then there's days like this where the ball absolutely does want to go in, whether it's from long range, short range, everything. I can't complain.


Serie A: Bologna 4-0 Cittadella (Hebibovic 3, den Otter 25, Bordignon 32, Gozzi 92)

This is more like it, we're getting into a rhythm now. Big win with the goals and assist all spread between many different players on the pitch - exactly what I want.


Serie A: Brescia 0-1 Bologna (Afonso Sousa 33)

Not a super comfortable win as we struggled to put our best football on the pitch and on the counter Brescia occasionally had good chances. But Afonso Sousa's goal - the Portuguese midfielder is having a surprisingly superb start to the season - was enough for the 3 points.


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The win over Inter was absolutely vital, we are now the only undefeated side in the league. It's been a great start to the season, but we are still largely relying on Inter eventually starting to drop the ball, they've been as relentless as ever or even more so. Not so relentless are Juve... their Serie A performance is just beautiful.

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In Europe I am a bit more negative, we are still holding on to 2nd place but I would've liked to have won in Amsterdam to be a bit more confident.

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November 2026: Big wins get us out of CL group and into Serie A lead


Champions League group stage: Bologna 3-1 Ajax (Castro 13, van Mosselveld 71, 74; Dirksen 78)

A great win as with Real beating Liverpool the same day, this suddenly gave us a 4 points gap over Liverpool for 2nd place. Eric van Mosselveld scored twice, Jefferson assisted twice, but the star was rightback Sebastián Castro with his first goal for the club, at the end of a wonderful solo run.


Serie A: Bologna 4-0 Salernitana (den Otter 7, Cousin 17, Afonso Sousa 37, Cangiano 63)

One of those easy wins with no story - exactly like I've ordered. Perhaps the only interesting thing is winger Gianmarco Cangiano scored a goal on his first appearance of the season off the bench. However we got some very interesting news later that day, once we knew Milan beat Inter... this meant we climbed to 1st place!


Serie A: Bologna 5-0 Sassuolo (Rabbi pen 2, Bordignon 6, 54, den Otter 29, Cristiano Henrique 74)

And the only thing that's better than a 4-0 win is a 5-0 win. Nice morale building win before facing Real Madrid.


Champions League group stage: Bologna 4-1 Real Madrid (Obasi 8, Vuckovic 86, Afonso Sousa 89, Bordignon 94; Fábio Silva 68)

Yes! We're through! Quite frankly this result is completely inflated - we scored early then sat back whilst during most of the match Real kept having the better chances. And they eventually equalised. However their mistake was switching to an attacking 4-4-2 late on to try to win this match, which gave us lots of space to counter, and we pounced on it with 3 late goals. This big win gives us qualification from the group.


Serie A: Verona 1-1 Bologna (Zaccagni pen 54; Pellegri 81)

And here is where the perfect month stops being perfect. We dominated, but struggled to convert that into goals and then they scored on a penalty kick on a rare attack. Desperate, I switched to the 4-4-2 and brought in Pietro Pellegri from the bench, and it worked! We only salvaged a draw, but this way we keep our unbeaten record.


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I'm very happy with the way this season is shaping up, qualifying from the Champions League group was tough but we did it (with a match to spare!) and it's great to be top of Serie A. However it is clear against this Inter side we need to be as close to perfect as possible - only took us losing points once to Verona, for them to tie us in the table again. I sense an epic season-long championship fight is coming.

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5 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Juventus in Serie B will be a very interesting chalenge.Back to season 2006-2007...:lol:

This is now my biggest wish for the season, even more than for Bologna to win the title.

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December 2026: Top spot remains ours


Serie A: Bologna 3-0 Udinese (Wijndal 11, Pellegri 20, Cousin 95)

Just a routine home win settled with 2 early goals.


Serie A: Lazio 1-1 Bologna (Matoug 81; Bordignon 81)

This was well in place to be another one of those away goalless draws in which we're too uninspired to put away our chances, but then Lazio started looking more dangerous as the 2nd half went on, and scored. Again our unbeaten record looked to be ending, but it took us just a few seconds to equalise. We still lost points though - just not the league table lead as we had 2 games in hand over Inter.


Champions League group stage: Liverpool 2-1 Bologna (Da Silva 15, 85; Jefferson 47)

Not a very important match as we were already qualified, I gave a chance to a few players and we did alright, it was largely an even match although Liverpool had a small edge. At the end a long range shot from their inspired playmaker Florent Da Silva gave them the win, fair play to them. Only our 2nd defeat this season, after the 7-2 smashing we received in Madrid, of course.


Serie A: Bologna 3-1 Milan (van Mosselveld 58, Gozzi 77, den Otter 91; Romagnoli 63)

A tough one, this is a strong Milan side. We had to wait until the 2nd half to score and even then they quickly equalised. But with a late surge we managed to get the 3 points. Lennart den Otter shone out of the bench here with a goal and an assist.


Serie A: Juventus 1-4 Bologna (Piccoli 72; Hebibovic 11, Afonso Sousa 26, Obasi 39, Wijndal 59)

Few things in FM are as satisfying as going to Turin win 4-1 and help Juventus get relegated. They actually had the better chances here (although we had all of the ball) which speaks volumes of how low their confidence is at the moment. Afonso Sousa continues his astonishingly good season with another goal and assist. This makes him our joint top scorer on 8 goals (together with forwards van Mosselveld and Pellegri), which just makes no sense.

 

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We head into 2027 unbeaten in Serie A, and thanks to Inter losing points twice at the end of December (away defeat to Cremonese and home draw with Sampdoria), we open up a 3 points gap. This is a new situation we hadn't yet experienced, that makes me hopeful this could be the year we grab the Italian title, but we need to remain consistent. Our attack has been great, but the fact we're conceding goals almost every match leaves me slightly aprehensive.

In Europe we face an Arsenal side now managed by Pep Guardiola and spearheaded by English superstar Finley Justham. Tough opposition but they're only 5th in the Premier League, we have a chance if we are at our best. But that's in February, before that in January there's a new trophy to fight for that we haven't entered before, the Italian Supercup - held in the "neutral" venue of the San Siro against Inter... can't we go to a more appropriate place like China or Saudi Arabia?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Right, let's get back to this after a little detour to the US to Nashville on the joint save.. I've had a few days where I didn't feel like playing, too. I see I return in the middle of a winning run and just after winning a trophy so that could be good for motivation :D 

edit: oops, I hadn't posted about the trophy yet. :lol: Spoiler alert.

Edited by noikeee
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January 2027: Opening up a gap in Serie A
 

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This transfer window we did nothing but loan out a bunch of U20 kids.


Serie A: Bologna 2-0 Empoli (André Anderson 52, 86)

A dominant performance, but we took a while to score. 2 goals from André Anderson on late runs from deep gave us the win.
 

Coppa Italia 1st round: Bologna 4-0 Empoli (Jefferson 7, den Otter 22, Rabbi 52, André Anderson 82)

2nd home match against Empoli in a week, 2nd win. Easier than the 1st one.
 

Supercoppa final: Inter 0-2 Bologna (Obasi 66, Jefferson 72)

First trophy of the season in the ever tightening Inter-Bologna rivalry, goes to Bologna. In the very "neutral" San Siro, it was an even match if quite frankly Inter had some big chances they should've scored. We broke the deadlock though, minute 66, Samuel Obasi in a corner. And 6 minutes later Jefferson hit a nice spontaneous volley shot after a rebound in the area, to put us 2 goals up. This gave me the 2nd trophy of my career after the Italian Cup last year which qualified us for this.

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Serie A: Bologna 4-1 Sampdoria (André Anderson 18, den Otter 33, 36, Cristiano Henrique 67; Valette 85)

Another easy win and the only memorable thing was that we conceded our first goal of 2027 after they had gone down to 10 men after a late injury. André Anderson is clearly on form, opened the score with a nice shot from just outside the area. Also Lennart den Otter became our top scorer this season on 9 goals which is just weird - he's our backup winger.


Serie A: Fiorentina 0-3 Bologna (Obasi 24, Pellegri 36, pen 43)

And the run keeps on going, I didn't exactly expect another easy win away in Florence. Pietro Pellegri catches up den Otter as top scorer on a tally of 9 - followed by van Mosselved, Bordignon and Afonso Sousa all on 8. Goals are spread quite evenly in this side! More important than that... Inter **** up and lose to Roma - so we suddenly open up a very nice 8 point gap over both Inter and Roma!


Coppa Italia quarter final: Inter 1-2 Bologna (aet) (Meregalli 56; Rabbi 45, Bordignon 114)

Luck would have it that we had to play Inter again this month, now for the cup. We got the first goal on a corner in the 1st half injury time, they had a goal in a corner right after the break. That was it for the 90 minutes, and it was a fair reflection of what had gone on. In extra time luck smiled to us - we took our chance, a low cross from Rafael to Bordignon. They had headers on corners cleared off the line and in the last minute of extra-time Richarlison hit a sitter to the post, but I'm not gonna cry in their behalf. We'll face Napoli in the semi-finals.


Serie A: Bologna 0-1 Napoli (Varnier 87)

This match was marked by Jefferson's brainless tackle and subsequent red card in the 10th minute of the game, making us have to play 80 minutes with 10 men against a pretty talented side. We still right about managed to make it an even match... until we conceded in a corner at the very end. This ends our unbeaten record in the league this year. Thanks Jefferson you useless ****.


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Although this last defeat to Napoli puts a sour taste in my mouth as we were starting to look good for the unbeaten season, the mood is definitely positive. We're now well clear of Inter and Roma for what's looking by far our most promising bid for the Italian title yet, we've won a new trophy (albeit... yeah, it's the Italian equivalent of the Community Shield), we're into the cup semi-finals, and of course we're in the Champions League knockouts, where we'll soon play Arsenal. It's shaping up to be a successful season, let's see if we can keep this up.

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