1st June - 31st December
Previously on Conquer The Turf
A full season at Barcelona culminating in a Spanish League and Cup double. The team is playing well after the loss of Suarez with breaking the transfer record for Mbappé looking like an excellent move. The only blot? The Champions League. Manchester City blew us away, so much so I am back again.
The final season in club football. Going all out to win.
Barcelona
Ugh. Where to go now? Normally my first instinct would be a full tactical overhaul but I don't think that's necessary. Let’s push even further forward, keep the ball even more and just let our players attack as much as possible. Let’s see if we can drown the opposition in goals.
No one played very well in the final but Pique was in particular shown up. A brilliant servant for the club but his pace has gone. No chance to catch any quick strikers that break past the high defence. No way I am going to sell him but he is no longer first choice and must be replaced.
I come to exactly the same conclusion that Jürgen Klopp had. I need Virgil Van Dijk. £75 million is a price worth paying for probably the best defender in the world. Tall, strong, excellent ball player. Instant upgrade and ideal to play alongside Umtiti.
Financially I am slightly hobbled by the Mbappé deal so I need to be shrewd. For all of his heroics last season Rakitić is getting on a bit so I accept the £50 million from Manchester City. A lot of the players are getting onto the wrong side of 30 so I need to freshen things up.
His replacement? Nicolò Barella from Cagliari for a mere £37 million. I see him more of a box to box midfielder, making deep runs and shooting from range. A different weapon in my arsenal. As usual I spend a load on kids no one has heard of, even though this is my final season. Some habits don't die.
On the sale front, I sell the final Suarez (Denis) to Watford for £20 million and Lenglet to Juventus for a mere £13.5 million. He wasn't great and I don’t need a fifth choice centre back. Somehow or other I get £33 million for Aspas from Lazio. He actually got 9 goals in 19 league games but I have no use or space for him. Munir is a lot younger and I want to give him a chance as back up.
Pre-season passes without a single goal being conceded, four wins out of five and eleven goals scored. I know it’s only friendlies but it bodes very well. I am very much a broken record on this story. First match is the Spanish Super Cup and it's our old frenemies Ath. Madrid! I must make a quick side point here, in that sometimes the AI does some weird things. In three years they only make a single signing, a £5K centre back to go in the youths. I’m sure they don’t have much money but surely they should have bought someone?
Anyway Messi and Mbappé score to seal the trophy and make it another to scratch off my list. We win the first six league matches, the most notable being a 6-0 win over Gijón and then an almost casual 2-1 victory over Real Madrid. Having already beaten my two biggest rivals I think this league season should be a breeze. Mbappé hits the ground running, scoring 12 goals in those first six league games!
The Champions League group stage has us drawn against Zulte Waregem, Dynamo Kiev and… Juventus! I love playing the biggest teams and it would turn out to be maybe the finest ever. Before that though, a second string thrash Kiev 4-0 away with Félix Pereyra scoring his first goal for the club. This wonderkid winger could become the best in the world and was a steal for £5 million in the summer. Zulte come to the Camp Nou for a 6-0 spanking. That’s now 34 goals in 9 games, the best form I have seen in such a long time.
And of course I spoke too soon.. A drab 0-0 with Malaga is quickly followed by a 4-1 win over Sevilla. Unfortunately we lose our first game of the season, 1-0 against Ath. Madrid. We absolutely hammer them but fail to score and we are punished by a Thomas Lemar free kick, ter Stegen gets a hand to it but cannot keep it out. Lemar is an excellent player, one I want but he is too expensive.
The loss puts us second, 2 points behind Ath. Madrid but can be forgiven. There is one almighty hangover from the Champions League match away to Juventus, probably the finest FM match I have ever seen. Juventus are not radically different, a now 35 year old Ronaldo still terrorising defences. The big signing was Luis Suarez from the previous Christmas from, of course, Barcelona.
Early goals are a great for this team though not when the unknown Marko Pjaca gives the home team the lead in only 3 minutes. Left totally unmarked he slots it bottom corner after coming in from wide right. No matter, 87 minutes to play. That time is of course for both teams and who steps up to perform? Cristiano fucking Ronaldo. A simple back post header nets his first, with a ten pass move ending with a volley courtesy of CR7 to get his second.
20 minutes played. 3-0 down.
What a disaster. We have no choice but to go for it. 3 minutes later and Dembélé nets our first on the counter. A minute later an over the top through ball from Messi gives Mbappé a volleying chance from near the penalty spot. 3-2.
Of the two big players from the summer I am yet to mention Barella. Him and Milinković-Savić are forming a formidable midfield duo, bringing a lot of goals from the CM positions. Slotting in the bottom corner from range he takes the game by the scruff of the neck. All we need to do is make it to half time and push on from there. Juventus have done nothing for 20 minutes and yet again score from nowhere. Ronaldo completing his hat trick and putting them back in the lead. 4-3 at half time.
Roberto is having a terrible game so I hook him off and bring on Milinković-Savić. 20 minutes pass and still no goals until some Messi magic, he passes three players in quick succession before Barella nicks the ball off him with a first time shot. 4-4! Momentum is with us and as Juventus tire we punish them. Every shot from range seems to be going in, Savić gets his first before an Mbappé header puts us two ahead. To cap his man of the match performance Barella yet again scores from the D to make it a hat trick. Ending with 15 shots on target, Savić ends the game with a second to make it 8-4.
Phew. I had to catch my breath after that match! To be honest we should have broken double figures. But to come back from 3-0 and 4-3 down shows just how good this team is! The Titans of Turin! Though conceding 4 is bloody terrible, I bought Van Dijk exactly for matches like these. Fuck it, we can score against anyone!.
The return match ends 5-1, normally an amazing result but it barely registers after the trip to Italy. Interestingly Messi doesn't score in either game, even missing a penalty in the second. Still the other players are more than good enough to make up for a so-so match from him. We tie up the group with two more low scoring wins, ending top of the group with a barely credible 26 goals scored in 6 matches! Next up in the Champions Cup? AC Milan.
The Copa del Rey goes smoothly enough, with the plucky minnows Baleares first up. Itching to give a bunch of my best youngsters a run out they prove my faith in them. Modou Fall comes in for only his second match alongside Diogo Valente (CM), Joan Hernández (RW) and of course Pereyra
on the left wing. Two of the gambles from the summer start, Oriol Busquets in the deep lying DM role and Munir up front. I did look for better back ups but was unable to find anyone. At least both are Spanish and trained at club so I was willing to give them one more season to prove themselves.
We win 6-0, another Barella hat trick stealing the show. Two months later we play the second leg and win 4-2 at home, their 23rd minute goal making things seem nervier than they should be. The 5th round brings Valencia to the Camp Nou, a makeshift team cruises to a 3-0 win. In the second leg a Paulista own goal wraps up the game. Málaga are our opponents in the 6th round.
In the league three draws against Valencia, Celta Vigo and Levante are terrible. The 0-0 against Vigo is particularly bad as its only the second game we fail to score. In our other four league games we get four wins which has us trailing Ath. Madrid, now by 4 points. Not an insurmountable gap but the way this team has been playing you would expect so much more. Those draws are becoming very costly.