2014 The Silly Season: Kera does RCD Espanyol Destroying FC Barcelona???

[Keraviln]

@benjy, you speedy reader

 

Love the breakdown of the games at the business end of the season :-)

 

Cheers, I was kind of doubtful that it'd work and almost scrapped it on first viewing. In the end I added in the pictures, hope it breaks everything down and makes it easier to read

 

Read all of that, wow!

 

Tbh I could hardly believe it was happening at the time, I planned on stopping after I finished typing the March update up but because of those two games I played out the rest of the season which is uh... *censored*... and yeah I had heaps of fun!

 

Just for you guys I have this... A VERY bad turn of events:

 

 

What to do... What to do...

[benjyotr1]

Give him a new contract.

[Prevalence]

Yeah new contract worked with Aaron Lennon @ Tottenham for me!

[Keraviln]

I wish it were that easy... FYI by the end of the season, Thievy, Moreno, Dongou and Sergio Garcia are "not interested in negotiating terms". I'm glad I signed Dongou for 5 seasons- complain and I bury your career .

The first thing I did was try to offer a contact but it uh... Failed... Espanyol seems to have a very low reputation

[Peely]

A couple of nail-biting games. I hate it when my players get sent off in stupid ways, especially since the opposition always seem to get away with blatant fouls

 

I look forward to seeing how you get on in the rest of the season.

[Keraviln]

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

 

Things are not going well, the win streak since our 4-2 victory over Valencia is over. We've been brought back to earth by Atletico

 

 

That being said, I'm quite happy with our position . Barca definitely have the league tho .

[Keraviln]

RCD Espanyol Destroying FC Barcelona???

 

The 2013/14 Season Wrap

 

 

The Conclusion

 

Ok, I’m going to be honest, 36 rounds have passed, and things are… well, not looking too great.

 

We are basically guaranteed a top 6 finish with Real Sociedad 6 points behind us. Everything else, however, is not going well, we were sitting in a nice 3rd place thanks to the little win streak that we had going, then we faced Atletico, lost, and got overtaken.

 

We were sitting in 5th until today, which is when after battling out a draw with then 4th placed Sevilla, were overtaken by Valencia, pushing us to our now 6th spot.

 

This would not be a problem normally, except… Thievy got injured…

 

 

Then he complained

 

 

And ever since his injury, we have been completely out of sorts, only scraping a 1-0 victory over Elche in the past 6 games. It’s a wonder how we’re still in touch with the other top 5 teams.

 

So… as it stands

 

 

Normally I’d say that at this point I’d just rush the last two games as we’re guaranteed a Europa League spot, but, there is something I noticed… In the next two games there are some standoffs that are going to happen:

 

Round 37

 

Real Madrid Vs. Valencia

Atletico Vs. Celta

Espanyol Vs. Malaga

Atletic Club Vs. Sevilla

 

 

Round 38

 

Malaga Vs. Real Madrid

Sevilla Vs. Atletico

Valencia Vs. Elche

Real Sociedad Vs. Espanyol

 

In case you’re confused, this means that despite difficult matches against Real Sociedad and Malaga, there’s two clashes in the top 5, Real Madrid Vs Valencia and Sevilla Vs Atletico.

 

This means that someone will drop points.

 

This is our chance!!! And…

 

 

 

Malaga defeats us at home, we blow our chance to hop into the UCL with 3 points as both Sevilla and Valencia lose their matches.

 

 

 

 

 

So that happened…

 

Either way, we finished in the top 6 which means we’ve got a chance to qualify for the Europa League, which isn’t too shabby considering the fact that I was hoping for a top-half finish in the first season (due to the lack of quality available). So, for the final time, here’s the league table and fixtures:

 

 

Barcelona romped home to take the title nice and early, with Tata assuring me that Barcelona is far from destroyed and that there’s a lot of work to do!

 

Final Player Stats

 

 

Thievy claims our top scorer prize with 18 goals (he keeps refusing new contracts), far ahead of the next closest in Jean Marie Dongou, who really did fail to impress throughout Thievy’s injury and then when Thievy began to complain about wanting a move.

 

Tejera gets the most assists with just 5, barely edging out newcomer Espinosa, winger Lanzarote and surprisingly a certain Hector Moreno! Rating-wise, Thievy is the top dog, with Moreno, Lopez, Sanchez and Casilla rounding up the top 5. Casilla has done extremely well for a goalkeeper, with probably the highest average rating of any goalkeeper I’ve ever had .

 

Awards

 

 

My efforts have failed to get enough attention to win a manager award sadly, whilst Neymar’s amazing performances (as he came runner up in the main competition) allowed Thievy to claim the Young Player award with a one-two finish for Barca (Messi & Neymar).

 

Man City claim the Champions League which I find… surprising, Barcelona take La Liga, with Atletico claiming the Super Cup and Real Madrid taking home the Copa Del Rey to make it the big 3’s three trophies.

 

Analysis

 

Now… this is where the fun starts . Or should I say the sobering…

 

I had a look back at what happened, especially at the tail-end of the season, and there’s really only one explanation in my mind…

 

 

See how the dates of Thievy’s injury (and after his recovery, he complained, which ruined his performances and the team’s harmony) and the start of relegation-worthy performances happen at the same time?

 

It’s no coincidence.

 

In other news, some of you who looked at the table closely would’ve noticed something, we only scored 47 league goals. That is the same amount as 15th-placed Granada (although there are a few higher up with a lower amount of goals), this has meant that as the old saying goes “Strikers win matches and defenders win competitions.”

 

We have the best defensive record.

 

Casilla has been amazing, it’s like for once having an AI-controlled keeper who seems to be invincible some games with the occasional blip here and there (which is normal). Moreno and Raul Rodriguez have also formed a great partnership, and with the side already loaded defensively, it can only get better when Sergi Gomez joins the squad next season.

 

Transfer Targets & Policy

 

I’ve had a season to warm up and now it’s go big or go home time, we have failed to get a single piece of silverware (which I expected), but I need 5 league titles in the next 6 seasons, so getting one next season is a priority.

 

I’m going to offload some old men (sorry Peely), and bring in some talent from Barca B as well as re-integrate all the loanees from this season.

 

The Results

 

Career Objectives:

 

3 Champions Leagues

5 La Liga Titles

5 Copa Del Reys

5 of the UEFA Super Cup, Supercopa & Club World Championship

 

Current Progress:

 

Zero Trophies in the Cabinet

It is empty

 

Thanks for reading guys!

I’d like to get some predictions for next season BEFORE you all see the transfers that happen… because, some very unexpected things occur (good and bad) which will definitely make for interesting reading, which makes me smile .

[dirtboy]

Decent season, hope you manage to keep Thievy

[Keraviln]

Decent season, hope you manage to keep Thievy

Cheers, although...

 

 

I reckon that the money from Thievy's sale has been reinvested properly though

[benjyotr1]

I would recommend getting Dong-Won Ji, he was a beast in my Dortmund save I played for Transfer Cup. Hes at Augsburg in Germany.

[PriZe]

Great write up mate! Unlucky in the end of the season. Good luck next season!

[Ashez]

Just caught up, decent going mate

[Keraviln]

I would recommend getting Dong-Won Ji, he was a beast in my Dortmund save I played for Transfer Cup. Hes at Augsburg in Germany.

 

I don't really get much of a choice because as the challenge states, I can only sign players from my biggest rival, which is Barcelona, so, unless Barca sign him I can't even begin to dream about getting him (remember the inflated prices, atm I'm just slowly fishing out the fringe players because they're a heap better than Espanyol's starting players)

 

Great write up mate! Unlucky in the end of the season. Good luck next season!

 

Just caught up, decent going mate

 

Cheers guys

 

I wasn't expecting to get into the Europa League and surprisingly (to me anyway), the turnover rate of players is still alarmingly high (spoilers!). I've been a bit busy, but expect to see the next update tomorrow or the day after (I'm aiming at 3-4 updates per week).

 

In the meantime, to tide you guys over... The game had other ideas when I tried to sign a trio of players...

 

 

Snubbed.

[PriZe]

Ouch

[benjyotr1]

Try to get Rafinha he's a beast.

[Keraviln]

The asking Price is 28m. Transfer Funds: 18m.



Rafinha is one of my favvys but like Bartra and Roberto I'm gonna need a massive financial boost to get him...

[benjyotr1]

Get Roberto then because he's a beast after 1 season.

[Keraviln]

Get Roberto then because he's a beast after 1 season.

 

Asking price is somewhere in the region of 30M, besides I doubt that any of them will sign for my team until I win a league title because they feel the club is too small. That's the challenging thing of the challenge (funnily enough it's not easy), Barca will always charge more for their players if they want to keep them, and then they'll slap another 100% on the price especially for me because we're La Liga rivals (it'd be cheaper if I was say, Liverpool). As a result I've had to pay inflated price for B Team players who I know are reasonable (Espinosa, Gomez, Denis Suarez, Dongou, Edgar Ie).

 

At the end of this year when I sell Moreno (unless he signs a new deal) I'll probably have a bit more flexibility as far as who I can poach from the first team.

[Keraviln]

            RCD Espanyol Destroying FC Barcelona???

 

August 2014 Update

 

 

Transfers

 

We’re in the Europa League this season and while I didn’t tell the board, I’m secretly hoping that we can push for the league this season. The reason for this is because the board is already expecting me to bring home a cup of some sort, and with a 3-headed assault being launched there needed to be some serious re-vamping of the squad.

 

 

Unfortunately, our top scorer from last season, Thievy, was messing around with the squad harmony too much that I had to offload him for a cheap 10.25M to the ‘bigger’ club of Hercules. I offloaded some of the poorer performers from last season in Cristian, Abraham and Felipe Mattioni whilst veterans Diego Colotto and Joan Capdevila’s departures signalled a new start.

 

My foreplanning from last season payed off (in my opinion) with the signings of Sergi Gomez and Denis Suarez for UNDER their market price, let alone at the inflated rival price.

 

With the lack of wingers, Nieto was signed to make an instant impact with Adama and Sergi Samper lined up to join at the start of next season.

 

There was also big news, despite the snubbing by Xavi, Afellay and Aogo, we managed to secure the signing of Aogo on a season long loan after Barca decided he really wasn’t needed. This is massive, and it’s expected that Aogo is one of the top players at the club for the season (I’m going to use him as a winger).

 

Tactics

 

Tactically, I’m going to be sticking to a tactic that I got to work last season (with a couple of minor tweaks to suit this season’s squad)

 

 

The only weak point in this squad is the striker position, with young Jafar, Dongou and veteran Sergio Garcia the three options. Of the three, Dongou is the best option, but he’s far from being the finished product whilst Garcia is in his final few season and Jafar is underdeveloped.

 

I’m hoping that Jafar and Dongou getting gametime will improve them as the season goes on and that Dongou improves his goal tally from 9 last season to somewhere in the region of 20-30 with Garcia supplementing with another 15 or so and Jafar contributing 10 (hopefully).

 

(This is something I’ll cover more in Meet the Season 2 Squad)

 

Europa League Group

 

 

As you can see, the Europa League group drawn seems fairly beatable, with our first match in Europe coming against Shirak at home. Spartak Moscow may top the group, but I expect us to qualify quite comfortably.

 

Results so far

 

 

Like this time last season, there aren’t too many results to look at so far, but with our playoff win against AEL on aggregate we are in for the long haul in Europe and we’re off to a good start in the league with a 1-0 win over Sevilla.

 

Dongou and Aogo are standouts, with Dongou scoring 3 goals in 3 games whilst Aogo has provided 3 assists in the same gametime.

 

The Wrap

 

So with such momentous changes, the squad will take a while to settle in, but once they do, it is expected that this season we grab a cup of some sorts and that we get a strong position in the league (I’m secretly hoping for the title, but we’ll see!).

 

So, it’s a new season and a new look squad with new objectives. Hu has got to start winning trophies soon, where do you think his Espanyol side will finish this season?

 

Also, will they claim the Copa Del Rey or Europa League title and keep the board happy?

 

Coming Soon: Meet the Season 2 Squad

[Keraviln]

RCD Espanyol Destroying FC Barcelona???

 

Meet the Season 2 Squad

 

 

First of all I’d like to apologise to all you guys for taking so long with this, but I had some problems… (including deleting one bracket whilst collapsing the code which ruined the entire table). Either way, here it is, Meet the Squad for Season 2!

 

Things to note

 

Average stats is a direct average of all stats, including creativity for keepers and aggression for strikers, it’s only really useful for comparing players in the same position.

 

Strengths & Weaknesses are the top 3 stats (more if the 3rd stat has a tie, less if there’s going to be 1 or 2 or 100).

 

Yes, the table is going to need some work, it isn’t as pretty as I thought it was going to be :(

 

The Squad

 

[th=75px]Strengths[th=75px]Weaknesses[th=75px]Reflexes, Agility & Teamwork[th=75px]Positioning, Throwing & Communication[th=75px]Aerial, Handling & Decisions[th=75px]Communication, Positioning & Teamwork[th=75px]Crossing, Technique, Passing & Decisions[th=75px]Shooting & Positioning[th=75px]Teamwork, Technique & Decisions[th=75px]Shooting & Movement[th=75px]Decisions, Technique, Tackling & Teamwork[th=75px]Shooting, Movement & Creativity[th=75px]Teamwork & Technique[th=75px]Heading, Creavitiy, Shooting & Tackling[th=75px]Heading, Tackling & Positioning[th=75px]Creativity, Shooting, Technique & Decisions[th=75px]Pace, Crossing, Movement & Teamwork[th=75px]Shooting & Positioning[th=75px]Decisions, Teamwork, Heading, Passing & Tackling[th=75px]Crossing, Movement & Shooting[th=75px]Decisions, Teamwork & Positioning[th=75px]Dribbling, Shooting, Crossing & Movement[th=75px]Positioning, Heading, Tackling & Teamwork[th=75px]Crossing, Creativity & Dribbling[th=75px]Positioning, Teamwork, Tackling & Decisions[th=75px]Dribbling, Crossing, Shooting & Creativity[th=75px]Teamwork, Positioning & Decisions[th=75px]Shooting, Crossing, Dribbling & Creativity[th=75px]Positioning, Teamwork & Decisions[th=75px]Crossing & Dribbling[th=75px]Shooting, Decisions & Teamwork[th=75px]Movement, Crossing & Heading[th=75px]Technique, Creativity, Crossing & Passing[th=75px]Tackling, Shooting & Positioning[th=75px]Passing, Decisions & Movement[th=75px]Crossing & Positioning[th=75px]Technique, Dribbling, Passing, Creativity, Decisions & Movement[th=75px]Heading & Tackling[th=75px]Tackling, Passing, Technique, Creativity & Movement[th=75px]Heading, Crossing, Dribbling & Positioning[th=75px]Passing, Movement, Dribbling & Decisions[th=75px]Tackling, Positioning, Heading & Teamwork[th=75px]Decisions, Movement & Teamwork[th=75px]Tackling, Positioning & Heading[th=75px]Decisions, Crossing & Movement[th=75px]Tackling, Positioning & Heading[th=75px]Technique[th=75px]Tackling, Positioning & Heading[th=75px]Dribbling, Shooting, Decisions, Teechnique & Movement[th=75px]Tacking, Positioning & Passing[th=75px]Shooting, Technique, Movement, Creativity & Decisions[th=75px]Tackling, Positioning & Heading[th=75px]Technique & Teamwork[th=75px]Tackling, Creativity, Positioning, Crossing & Passing

Name	Nationality	Age	Position	Squad Role	Av. Stats
Kiko Casilla		27	GK	Key	13.12
German Parreno		21	GK	Backup	10.24
Dennis Aogo*		27	D/DM/M LC	Key	13.06
Carlos Clerc		22	D/DM/M L	Rotation	12.76
Victor Alvarez		21	D/DM L	Rotation	12.12
Javi Lopez		28	D/DM/M RC	Rotation	12.35
Edgar Ie		20	D RC	First Team	11.82
Pere		23	D/DM R	Rotation	11.71
Hector Moreno		26	D C	Key	15.24
Raul Rodriguez		26	D C	First Team	13.06*
Sergi Gomez		21	D C	Key	12.65
Juan Fuentes		24	D/DM LC	Rotation	12.18
Victor Sanchez		27	D/DM/M RC	First Team	13.35
David Lopez		24	DM/M C	Key	13.06
Paul Quaye		18	DM/M C	Rotation	11.94
Sergio Tejera		24	M/AM C	First Team	13.35
Cristian Alfonso		25	AM C	First Team	13.06
Javi Espinosa		21	M/AM RLC	Key	12.59
Alex Fernandez		21	M C	First Team	12.59
Denis Suarez		20	M/AM C	Key	11.41
Dani Nieto		23	M/AM RL	Key	11.29
Manu Lanzarote		30	M/AM RL	First Team	10.94
Simao		34	M/AM RL	Backup	9.82
Jean-Marie Dongou		19	S C	Key	13.41
Sergio Garcia		31	AM/F RLC	First Team	12.41
Jafar		19	S C	Backup	8.82

 

Summary

 

Looking at the table there are a few obvious things, the higher the average rating, the better the player, another obvious thing is my team is pretty poor.

 

Hector Moreno is the only real standout that I can see with Tejera and Dongou a little ahead of the rest.

 

Another thing to note, is loanee, Dennis Aogo isn’t actually the best, I’ve already finished playing the season so it’s too late to go back and change things but the players who I gave the “Key” squad role were the guys I basically played whenever I could, saving them for crucial matches and only resting occasionally.

 

Other than that, it’s up to you guys to have a look, if I said anymore I’d probably be giving away what happens for the rest of the season (as I’ve finished) because I’ll probably end up using my experiences with these guys.

 

As well as guessing what place we’ll finish, how about guess out top scorer, assister and average rating-er by the end of the season?

 

Also, what do you think of this table? Useful? Useless? Get rid of a column?

 

Let me know :)

[Peely]

Interesting table. Personally, I would use the primary and secondary attributes for a player's main role, from Dec's post on the subject, to form their average stats figure. This would mean that you are actually looking at their ability in their role, rather than just averaging all stats.

 

I'll guess Dongou for top scorer and average rating and Espinosa for to assister.

 

*edit*

 

You'd probably want to give primary stats a little more weighting than the secondary ones. Perhaps multiply the primary stats by 1.5 to show their increased importance.

[Ashez]

Interesting approach

[Keraviln]

Interesting table. Personally, I would use the primary and secondary attributes for a player's main role, from Dec's post on the subject, to form their average stats figure. This would mean that you are actually looking at their ability in their role, rather than just averaging all stats.

 

I'll guess Dongou for top scorer and average rating and Espinosa for to assister.

 

*edit*

 

You'd probably want to give primary stats a little more weighting than the secondary ones. Perhaps multiply the primary stats by 1.5 to show their increased importance.

 

I am most definitely going to do that next time . Should give a much more reliable and comparable result, I guess it means scratch the strengths & weaknesses column- if this ends up being a regular thing I guess I could add in changes over the past season or something like that...

 

This career should only be 5 more seasons anyway (or less if I fail).

[Keraviln]

And... for the first time... we finally...

 

are...

 

 

At the top

[Keraviln]

RCD Espanyol Destroying FC Barcelona???

 

Mid-Season Update (Jan 2015)

 

 

Results

 

 

From the start of September Hu’s Espanyol have only suffered one defeat, albeit a shock 2-1 loss to Osasuna in mid-November. The rest of the first half of the season, has, however, been full of goals and dogged fights, including draws against Barcelona and Real Madrid.

 

 

This has resulted in Espanyol being currently 3rd placed in the league, sitting on an equal 35 points and 17 goal difference with Barcelona and a game in hand a 2nd place is quite possible. Real Madrid site 5 points ahead with 40 points, making this a close title race at the moment.

 

 

Espanyol qualified comfortably from the Europa League with a 4-2-0 record and a +13 goal difference from 6 matches which featured a 5-0 drubbing of Shirak on the opening day of the competition.

 

The Copa Del Rey has also been relatively straightforward up to this point, with a 3-1 aggregate win over Athletic followed by a 3-0 first leg victory over Girona, Espanyol look likely to make yet another deep run in the competition.

 

Player Form

 

The team has been absolutely excellent up to this point .

 

 

Dongou has been absolutely amazing, stepping up a few notches from last season with 18 goals from 20 matches, phenomenal.

 

Dennis Aogo has also proved to be a great signing, setting up 13 goals, as well as scoring 3 himself from the left wing. He could easily crack 30 assists this season if he keeps it up!

 

One of the bigger disappointments has been Javi Espinosa, he hasn’t been able to nail down his spot in the side despite having ample opportunity, his inconsistency has been frustrating as he’s only gotten 3 assists with an average rating of just 6.95.

 

Instead Alex Fernandez has taken his spot and has acted as the anchor for the team with a dynamic David Lopez playing as a box-to-box midfielder and Cristian Alfonso playing as an attacking midfielder to complete my trio.

 

Transferred Players…

 

On the whole, the players I purchased have been disappointing, with former loanees from last season impressing the most all over the field. The only reasonable signing I seem to have made is Dani Nieto and he only gets his spot in the side due to the shortage of wingers in the side, and even then is part of a rotation designed to use Aogo as much as possible as well as keep Lanzarote as fresh as possible for bigger matches.

 

Sergi Gomez has, especially, been a bit of a pain, he’s complaining about his training regime, he’s been called “lax” by the media, and he keeps doing this stat-loss thing which is kind of annoying. Although he is playing decently which is a positive .

 

 

Basically, things need to change with my transfers, more misses can’t happen and could ruin the whole challenge 3 or 4 years down the line when the team is worse than it started off.

 

The Wrap

 

We’re looking in a good position to be serious challengers for the league title this season which is exactly what I wanted from the team at this point. A strong group stage performance in the Europa League also helps our case and I’m hoping we can make some deep runs in the cup competitions and maybe even win one of them if some of the bigger teams are eliminated before we have to face them.

 

Aogo and Dongou have been absolute beasts so far, with almost 20 goals from Dongou already he’s almost definitely looking at a 40+ goal season

 

What do you think of the team’s performance so far?

Do you think that this Espanyol squad can win the Europa League?

What about the Copa Del Rey?

And… Of course the silly season is back!

 

I have a question- would you prefer an update every 2 days (3 month sort of thing) with an image or two on the other day when there’s no update or would you rather I split the updates so that they’re less text heavy? (So tomorrow I could do the transfers and earlier results and then on Monday I could do a summary up until March). Let me know please

[ManagerAddict]

You're doing great so far, nice idea for a career thread too

Can I ask how you made your table?

[Keraviln]

You're doing great so far, nice idea for a career thread too

Can I ask how you made your table?

 

I'll private message it, if any1 else wants to know how, there's a tutorial that Dec made when it was introduced to the site in 2013 (I'm not sure where the link is, you'll have to ask Dec) or I can send you the things I did for my table a couple of updates ago

[Keraviln]

RCD Espanyol Destroying FC Barcelona???

 

The Silly Season (Update 8)

 

 

Please Read

 

I’d just like to apologise for the long time between updates, I have been busy with IRL things and I used up all my extra updates, I’m going to get back to being ahead on updates so hopefully such a big gap won’t happen again!

 

This update is going to cover the January transfer hoopla that happened and also covers our campaign for the Copa Del Rey- is there a trophy to be claimed?

 

 

The Silly Season

 

The silly season is back, Moreno is wanted, and I want some reinforcements. Could it be time to cash in on our star and buy a new (and hopefully better) one?

 

Food for thought when I got this bid

 

 

I decided to try and negotiate it up, Mallorca gave up.

 

Oh yes, I got Xavi and Afellay on loan

 

*fanfare*

 

 

On the other side of town, Barcelona were taking things into their own hands, making a sweet offer for Draxler, which was turned down. So instead they purchased a certain Lucas Moura (which made me sad, as you’ll see further on in the update)

 

In the end that’s all that happened, I had a bit of a poke at trying to buy Deulofeu, Bartra and Roberto but their wages or transfer fees proved to be too much for the board to accept.

 

As a result… no permanent signings

 

 

On the brighter side, a few days after the end of the window, Pitroipa became available, and for just 2.5million! Definitely number one target at the end of the season!

 

Copa Del Rey

 

It is that time of the year again, crunch time, we’ve been drawn to play our rivals Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey Semi-Finals. In the previous season we exited at the same stage, this time we want to go one better and get into the final!

 

Of course, playing a big team like Barcelona will be difficult for us, but our defensive ability has been strong recently so all I could do is hope we get one or two past Valdes and then hold off the other Catalans.

 

 

In the other semi-final fixture, Malaga plays Real Madrid. Personally I’m hoping Malaga pulls off a win so that we have a chance if we get to the finals .

 

The First Leg, Home, 28th January 2015

 

And they’re underway! Espanyol seem to be pushing forward right now, they’re taking risks, as are Barcelona- this will be an exciting match!

 

8’

 

Dongou has the ball for Espanyol! He’s glided past Vertonghan! But wait! He’s fallen over! Everyone’s looking at the referee!

 

 

No Penalty!!!

 

Dongou is warned, it looked like a dive from here!

 

14’

 

Messi has the ball now, he’s out wide on the right wing today, he outsmarts Pere with a lovely move! He’s free! He’s running straight at goal…

 

 

He taps the ball through Moreno’s legs!

 

Fabregas is on the other side!!!!!

 

GOAL!!!!!!!!!

 

Barcelona have the lead! What a goal! Amazing pass from Messi and great finish by Fabregas!

 

 

Barcelona have the lead in less than a quarter of an hour, it looks like Tata’s side have this under control.

 

41’

 

Lanzarote has the ball out wide here, he runs out wide, he’s done this a hundred times already- the ball is floated in.

 

 

Dongou meets it with his head!!!!

 

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING FINISH!

 

*WHISTLE BLOWS*

 

Oh wow! The whistle has gone off! Apparently Dongou was offside! What a call! No goal for the hosts!

 

71’

 

Espanyol are looking desperate now, they’re pushing hard against a condensed Barcelona, great pass from Quaye to Lanzarote- Lanzarote now, running wide on the left flank yet again.

 

The ball is floated, this one looks good!

 

 

Dongou rises up! It flies over!

 

Moreno!!!!!!!

 

He’s got it in the back of the net! Perfect timing from the defender! He flew above everyone else and he’s put it home!

 

1 - 1!

 

 

It was an absolute nail-biter and we somehow managed to hold on to a draw despite being outplayed by Barca- we have some work to do in the 2nd leg if we wish to progress.

 

 

The Second Leg, Away, 11th February 2015

 

Espanyol need at least one goal to go through, they’re on a mission tonight, it might’ve been mission impossible but now it’s more like mission improbable- at least they have a chance.

 

Most people except a thumping for the smaller team from Catalonia but there’s only one way to find out!

 

And they’re off! The game has started!

 

6’

 

Neymar slides the ball across to new signing Lucas Moura.

 

Lucas is dancing through Espanyol like they’re made of water! Who’s going to stop him!

 

He’s through!

 

 

GOAL!!!

 

Beautiful pass, sublime dribbling and amazing finish! An amazing goal! Barcelona have this under control! They lead 2-1 on aggregate!

 

63’

 

Espanyol aren’t looking dangerous tonight, Barcelona are dominating possession with almost 70%, something has to change or else Hu’s side will be on their short trip home.

 

Iniesta with the ball now, out wide, he’s swapped places with Neymar. He taps the ball to the overlapping Adriano, Adriano immediately plays a small ball forward.

 

Iniesta’s onto it! He roulettes his way past two defenders!

 

He’s taken a shot!

 

 

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

THERE’S ANOTHER!

 

*whistle*

 

But wait…

 

Adriano was offside

 

88’

 

Mascherano is hurt, he’s going to have to leave in the dying minutes, this could be costly if this goes to extra time, Bartra comes on

 

89’

 

Adriano sprints down the flank, he’s been dangerous all night! He crosses the ball in!

 

 

Substitute Marc Bartra is on the end of that cross!

 

It’s in!

 

GOAL!!!

 

 

It’s 3 - 1 on aggregate! There’s no way Espanyol can claw this back!

 

The Nou Camp erupts into celebration! What a win!

 

 

 

Unfortunately there was no dream win for us tonight and we’ve been bundled out at the semi’s in the Copa Del Rey again.

 

The side is improving although the lack of Xavi, Afellay and Aogo left us a bit lacking in the creativity department.

 

 

There’s work to be done.

 

 

So, silverware continues to elude Hu’s Espanyol, can they claim the league or the Europa League title this season?

It’s crunch time and if trophies don’t come flowing in soon it could be all over for this destroying your rival challenge

 

Comments and suggestions to improve the career, are, as always, appreciated

[dirtboy]

Good job getting Xavi .