Einmal Löwe, immer Löwe - a(nother) 1860 story

[Dalbeider]

Feb 25th 2031

Triple presence in the Team of the Week for us, featuring Miranda (of course), Lange, and Javorcic.

* * *

Real Madrid C.F. vs TSV 1860 München (Champions League 1st knockout stage, 1st leg)

Welp, here we go. A team we've played three times in the last two years or so, and a team we have never won against. Even though we deserved to do so in the Super Cup, but still, results are what matter in the end and their stars are used to getting those results. We'll need to be at our best and to have a much better luck with our finishing than we've been having lately if we're to get anything out of this tie. Here goes nothing...

* * *

REAL MADRID (4-3-3): Dragan Stojanovic (GK); Diogo Dalot (DR), Éder Militao (DCr), Trevoh Chalobah (DCl), Isak Jóhannesson (DL); Federico Valverde (DM), Nicolas Seiwald (MCr), Eduardo Camavinga (MCl); Gilson Tavares (AMR), Kylian Mbappé (AML), Yeremy Pino (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Arnau Casas (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

Most likely our best eleven on paper, with the only absence of Ernesto due to his suspension. Meanwhile Zidane doesn't spring many surprises on us, basically moving a few pieces around and starting Portuguese starlet Tavares ahead of Kluivert on the right. They start the game looking hungry for goals and with the Bernabéu really pushing them forward, but a minor knock to Valverde gives them a reason to slow down a bit. "A bit" meaning they need until the 12th minute to give us a real scare, thanks to a long pass from Camavinga to Pino who dribbles his way past Kretzschmar but sees his finish blocked by Casas, who dives desperately to cover our goal and manages to keep it clean for now.

We've barely got a sniff of the ball so far, but in the 20th minute we manage to string together enough passes to generate something: Granero drops deep and passes forward into Miranda's run, and the midfielder enters the box and places his finish into the root of the post. First opportunity wasted, as feared, and three minutes later Real respond in kind, with a long play that ends with Tavares shooting narrowly wide from a difficult angle on the right side of their attack. Our turn comes next in the 28th, when Rodríguez steals the ball from Valverde and generates a chance out of nowhere, finished by Özcan and saved by a very focused Stojanovic.

Things calm down a bit afterwards, with only a weak header by Tavares going straight to Kretzchmar's hands in the 38th as a chance worth mentioning. In the final minute of regulation Yeremy Pino has another great chance thanks to a run into space following a pass by Tavares, but the forward shows finishing isn't his strongest suit and blasts it into the stands behind the goal while Kretzschmar watches it fly. Nothing follows that final scare, and we reach the halfway point still alive.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Mbappé hasn't showed up too much so far, but early in the second half he appears just long enough to send a direct free kick into the woodwork, just to get things started. Possession is still very much in the hands of the home team, and the few times we get the ball it's always under heavy pressure. A cross by Mbappé in the 52nd sets up another header by Tavares that once again Kretzschmar saves without issue, but afterward we enjoy a few minutes of calm that end suddenly in the 61st: Kluivert, who has just replaced Tavares and taken the left side of Real's attack, sends a long pass forward so the new striker, who else but Mbappé, can display his impossible speed to outrun everyone and place his finish into the net.

Neves, Basualdo, and Hauptmann enter the game then, while we try to keep the game as close as possible. We manage at least that, and there's very little noise on either side of the pitch in the following minutes, with Real looking happy with such a short lead and not even threatening Kretzschmar anymore. They do get a great chance in the 86th after a bad throw-in by Touré allows Mbappé to assist Kluivert, alone inside the box, but Kretzschmar does his usual thing and dives to block what looks like a certain goal. Kluivert then gets another in the 90th, gathering a lob from deep by Camavinga but shooting inches wide, and that's all she wrote. Can't complain.

* * *

Real Madrid C.F. 1 (Kylian Mbappé 61)
TSV 1860 München 0

- - -

One of those rare times in which I can be happy about a defeat. Yes, we lost, and deservedly so because even though we had a couple of really good chances they came basically out of nowhere, with our midfield being a complete nonentity all game long and Real completely dominating us. But managing such a short result after being battered this hard, and with a second leg at home coming soon? Yeah, you won't hear me complain. A far cry from our Super Cup meeting, but that also means we know we can do better than this. Much better.

[Dalbeider]

Mar 1st 2031

1.FC Union Berlin (10th) vs. TSV 1860 München (4th) (Bundesliga, 25/34)

Back to the league, trying to confirm our fourth place as soon as possible, and that means not dropping any more points against bottom half teams. Union qualify, although only just, and they're actually only four points away from the European kerfuffle, but they're still a team we should beat more often than not. Chaining a few good results in the Bundesliga could also help our morale and momentum heading into the really important match in eighteen days, so that's some added value for this match.

* * *

UNION BERLIN (4-4-2 diamond narrow): Florian Kastenmeier (GK); Daniel Murillo (DR), Nathan Phillips (DCr), Jarrad Branthwaite (DCl), Andrija Raznatovic (DL); Mirko Koch (DM), Rani Khedira (MCr), Karamoko Jeanjean (MCl), Aymen Barkok (AMC); Borja Mayoral (STr), Johann Brunnemann (STl)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Jano Lange (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Thiago gets a start after good performances off the bench and in training, looks like his transfer saga shouldn't be an issue at least until the summer. Union keep the same narrow diamond they used last time against us, but they're without Iker Bravo today due to injury. We seem to be in control in the early minutes of the game, but that feeling is shattered after a couple of bad decisions in midfield allow Raznatovic a chance to assist Brunnemann, who finishes well and forces an early difficult save from Kretzschmar. In the 11th minute, though, we strike back thanks to a beautiful long pass by Thiago towards Palomeque, who controls inside the box and finds a gap to score the 1-0, breaking the offside trap by an inch and a half.

With that out of the way we keep things tight in the following minutes, only allowing a high header by Branthwaite in a set piece seven minutes after our goal. They slowly push us back, though, stealing the ball from us and trying luck with multiple inaccurate long-range attempts. Another set piece in the 24th ends in an innocent finish by ultra-veteran Khedira and another good save by Kretzschmar, but then we once again hit them back immediately, this time with a combination through the center between Granero, Miranda, and Rodríguez that the Mexican ends up sending into the crossbar. In the 27th a good steal by Ball leads to another attack, the fullback ends up with the ball on the left side of the box, and he crosses it low towards the penatly spot so Rodríguez can hit it first time and easily score the 0-2.

That one hurt Union for sure, and they show when they immediately allow another chance for us, with Ernesto heading a set piece into Kastenmeier's hands. They shake it off quickly, though, and Bartok profits from a long ball from Koch to run at Kretzschmar and force another miraculous fingertip save by the keeper, who deflects it over. Kretzschmar then grabs a header by Khedira in the corner kick, and seconds later it's our turn again through a cross by Hauptmann that Rijkhoff volleys very wide. More work for Kastenmeier in the 34th, this time blocking a finish by Miranda following a great through ball by Rodríguez, and things then seem to calm down for a while until Brunnemann controls a throw-in, runs towards the box, dribbles past everyone in his way, then unleashes an unstoppable missile into the underside of the bar and in to make it 1-2 only three minutes before half time. A beautiful end to a very entertaining first half.

HALF TIME - 1-2

The second half starts with one of our more frequent plays: run through the center by Rodríguez, Miranda passes the ball ahead of him, and the Mexican shoots into Kastenmeier's save. The game has slowed down a bit after the break, though, not a bad thing by any means for us, while Union switch to a 4-2-3-1 to try and find more ways trough our defense. After a while we bring in a couple of fresh legs, replacing the tired but excellent Ball and the always short on stamina Miranda with Touré and Neves. Things remain calm until the 65th, when a long play all around Union's box ends with Palomeque sending the ball in for Rijkhoff, Kastenmeier times his rush as badly as he can, and the striker finds all the space in the world to slot the ball into the net for the 1-3.

Union try to react with a steal and cross by Brunnemann towards Barkok, who heads it well over the bar, but we hit them back immediately through Granero's pass into space and Palomeque's equally high finish. The Colombian soon goes to take a well-deserved shower and leaves his place to Meunier, and from then on we proceed to kill the game through patient, slow possession play. Only a direct free kick that Rodríguez can't get past the fence keeps thing a bit exciting, as Union seem to have given up by now, their fans even leaving the stadium early en masse. Meunier adds a dangerous finish in the 84th just to keep Kastenmeier awake, then Mayoral scores from a two-meter wide offside position, then Meunier tries with his head after a good cross by Granero but sends it wide, with the clock already about to strike the hour. Nothing happens in injury time, and we go home happy with a job well done.

* * *

1.FC Union Berlin 1 (Johann Brunnemann 42)
TSV 1860 München 3 (Juan David Palomeque 11, Jair Rodríguez 27, Julian Rijkhoff 65)

- - -

Rijkhoff scoring in consecutive league games? That's something we hadn't seen in a while, isn't it? That aside, pretty solid performance today, not exactly dominating since Union also had their chances, but we were good with our finishing for once and the most deserving team took the win in the end. A win that comes with a bonus, as Leipzig lost in their trip to Düsseldorf and are now only five points away. Dortmund follow suit in even more spectacular fashion, losing 0-1 against Gladbach and dropping down to the second place after Bayern's narrow home win against Eintracht. Still very far, but still not gone for good.

[Dalbeider]

Mar 4th 2031

Ball and Palomeque both find themselves in the Team of the Week.

Our U19s are once again having a remarkable season, already in the Juniorenpokal semifinals (against Gladbach), currently second in their league group and pushing Stuttgart for the top spot, and now beating Inter's kids 3-0 and qualifying for the Youth League quarterfinals, where they'll have to get through Ajax. They're also on a nine-game winning run, and haven't lost a single match since late November. Not bad at all.

Mar 7th 2031

Newcastle are apparently interested in signing Touré, and that has brought to my attention the fact that he has a €60M release clause in his (seriously outdated by now) contract. That won't do, so we quickly go to fix that and secure his long-term committment. A raise to €68k per week, a pre-agreed further raise to €88k once he reaches five senior caps for Germany, and a new release clause worth no less than €102M will do.

Mar 8th 2031

TSV 1860 München (4th) vs. VfB Stuttgart (8th) (Bundesliga, 26/34)

Stuttgart were in an Europa League place and with +4 goal difference at the turn of the year. Eight games later they find themselves out of Europe (although only one point behind Nürnberg's seventh place), with a -1 goal difference, and having only scored six points since. Point is, their form isn't good, at all, and their home loss to Augsburg last week didn't help matters one bit. Funnily enough, the downward trend started as soon as Erol Bulut took the reins from Podolski, who left for HSV. We've been looking good lately, on the other hand, and a win here could put some pressure on the top three. Just a little, though.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Arnau Casas (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Juan David Palomeque (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
STUTTGART (4-2-3-1): Finn Dahmen (GK); Bali Mumba (DR), Ronny Klotke (DCr), Chris Richards (DCl), Hrvoje Smolcic (DL); Williot Swedberg (MCr), Shinta Appelkamp (MCl); Eduard Heise (AMR), Ismaël Gharbi (AMC), Isaac Tshibangu (AML), Nedeljko Pavisic (ST)

* * *

Rexhepi will start this and the next league games to compensate for Kretzschmar doing the same in both games against Real Madrid, and after that we'll try to set up a rotation between the two, just to see if we can keep both happy. Miranda rests today with a minor knock and one yellow card away from suspension, and Thiago and Rijkhoff start again to try and solidify their recent good form. Meanwhile Stuttgart have foregone Podolski's 3-5-2 in favor of a more standard 4-2-3-1, although so far the results aren't exactly going their way.

The ball is all ours in the early game, and soon we start threatening Dahmen's goal seriously. First try comes in the sixth minute following a low cross by Palomeque that Rijkhoff sends into the sidenetting, and two minutes later Rijkhoff turns provider with a good forward pass towards Basualdo, who can't get his finish past the keeper and sees his worrying dry spell stretch for a little bit longer. The corner kick is easily cleared by the defense, but Palomeque gathers the ball in midfield and immediately spots a run into the box by Schulze that Bulut's men can't seem to notice. The pass is great, the finish easy, and the lead ours.

Said lead lasts for all of three minutes, all it takes for Tshibangu to sneak his way past Javorcic along the touchline, send a perfect cross towards the far post, and see Heise head it into the net with little opposition from Rexhepi or anyone else. We're still in command, though, and it's not long until Schulze tries again, this time from far away and with much less accuracy. After that shot, though, a long period of futility arrives in which we have the ball but Stuttgart's defense deal with all our attacks without trouble. It takes until the 27th, but eventually Schulze decides to return the favor and send a fantastic little pass over the defense into Palomeque's path, allowing the Colombian to chip the ball over Dahmen's desperate rush and restore our lead.

Palomeque then continues his remarkable performance with a cross from the left towards Thiago, who manages to get a finish in but can't put it anywhere other than Dahmen's hands. After that, though, we decide to slow things down a bit and defend with the ball, going all the way into injury time with nothing happening except for a high header by Tshibangu in a corner kick seconds before half time.

HALF TIME - 2-1

Once again it's Tshibangu who starts the hostilities early in the second half, sneaking into the box and trying a shot that Javorcic blocks and deflects wide. Next up is Rodríguez with his regular appointment with a direct free kick, this one heading straight towards the top corner until Dahmen swatted it away. The game has lost some of its intensity after the break, though, and not much else happens until it's time for our first substitutions: Granero and Neves for Basualdo and Rodríguez.

Not much happens after those substitutions either, and soon there's only twenty-odd minutes left and Özcan replaces Rijkhoff as our last change for the afternoon. In the 70th there's finally some minor action with a cross by Smolcic that Heise heads straight at Rexhepi, and five minutes later Appelkamp gets closer with a good-looking direct free kick that the keeper saves after an aesthetic flight. Our attack seems to have disappeared into thin air, and we enter the last ten minutes with a very dangerous result and not looking likely to improve on it.

In the 83rd Stuttgart threaten again, this time with a cross from the right by Díaz and a high header by Gharbi. Nothing serious so far, but the keep piling up while we do nothing. Our defense does well at least, blocking consecutive shots by Smolcic and Vampeta three minutes later, while Stuttgart's backline do the same with a timid attempt by Granero in the 87th. One minute later, though, we finally wake up for long enough to exploit Stuttgart's very advanced defensive line, Neves threads the pass towards Özcan, and the striker lobs his finish over Dahmen to put the game to sleep for real this time. 

There's still time for Granero to send two consecutive finishes straight at the keeper, the second a particularly clear opportunity to grab his first goal, and for Rexhepi to save a half-volley from Swedberg already in injury time. Immediately after Granero gets another one-on-one denied by Dahmen after a quick break through the middle, and then Casas heads the corner kick that comes from it into the crossbar. After packing a whole half's worth of chances into five minutes, the game ends in our victory.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Maximilian Schulze 8, Juan David Palomeque 27, Vedat Özcan 88)
VfB Stuttgart 1 (Eduard Heise 10)

- - -

Okay, I didn't like that second half one bit, last five minutes aside. It almost looked like we went to sleep after the break, but at least Stuttgart didn't do much to profit from our lack of attention either. The first half was good though, even though we conceded a bit too easily, and Palomeque continues showing he's a completely different player from last season, already with eight goals and eight assists to his name, and counting. Good result, and we can keep the dream alive for a little bit longer.

* * *

| Pos  | Team                | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | GD    | Pts   | Form  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st  | Borussia Dortmund   | 26    | 19    | 4     | 3     | 53    | 16    | 37    | 61    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd  | FC Bayern           | 26    | 18    | 5     | 3     | 55    | 23    | 32    | 59    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd  | RB Leipzig          | 26    | 18    | 4     | 4     | 62    | 24    | 38    | 58    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th  | 1860 München        | 26    | 15    | 8     | 3     | 51    | 24    | 27    | 53    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th  | Borussia M'gladbach | 26    | 13    | 5     | 8     | 40    | 36    | 4     | 44    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th  | Fortuna Düsseldorf  | 26    | 12    | 7     | 7     | 46    | 33    | 13    | 43    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th  | Nürnberg            | 26    | 11    | 5     | 10    | 33    | 31    | 2     | 38    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th  | Augsburg            | 26    | 10    | 7     | 9     | 27    | 32    | -5    | 37    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th  | Stuttgart           | 26    | 9     | 7     | 10    | 29    | 32    | -3    | 34    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th | Freiburg            | 26    | 9     | 6     | 11    | 37    | 34    | 3     | 33    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th | Union Berlin        | 26    | 9     | 4     | 13    | 28    | 37    | -9    | 31    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th | Hertha BSC          | 26    | 8     | 3     | 15    | 28    | 40    | -12   | 27    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th | Mainz               | 26    | 7     | 6     | 13    | 32    | 45    | -13   | 27    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th | Hamburg             | 26    | 7     | 6     | 13    | 29    | 46    | -17   | 27    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th | Frankfurt           | 26    | 7     | 4     | 15    | 30    | 45    | -15   | 25    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th | Wolfsburg           | 26    | 5     | 8     | 13    | 32    | 48    | -16   | 23    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th | Werder Bremen       | 26    | 4     | 6     | 16    | 26    | 59    | -33   | 18    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th | Dynamo Dresden      | 26    | 3     | 5     | 18    | 16    | 49    | -33   | 14    |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

* * *

This batch of nine games ended with a bang, as Bayern traveled to Dortmund as leaders and lost, relinquishing their position back to their opposition after only one week. It's been a constant back-and-forth between the two favorites since the turn of the year, and neither looks to have a noticeable advantage over the other. If anything, Bayern have a slightly easier end to the season as they have already faced all of the top four, while Dortmund still have to face Leipzig on the last date, while the champions also have to host us in a couple of weeks. On the topic of Leipzig, they've been silently reducing the distance to the top and now are very much within reach of the first place. Us, not so much, but we'll be on the lookout for any implosions among the top three to see if we can improve our position in any way.

Our lead over Gladbach and Fortuna is now much more comfortable, particularly after the former lost this last week against Leipzig, so it looks like the Champions League positions are more or less set. Nürnberg and Augsburg could still put some pressure on the Europa League ones, although it's more likely that they'll have to duke it out among themselves for the Conference League, perhaps with Stuttgart or Freiburg chipping in at the last minute. At the bottom, Dynamo look dead and gone and Werder will need something special, but the playoff position is wide open with up to six teams still under threat.

* * *

PLAYER STATS
============

Average rating (min. 9 games played):

Ernesto                     7.39 (19(3) apps)
Matías Miranda              7.38 (26(8) apps)
Jonatan Basualdo            7.37 (19(5) apps)
Juan David Palomeque        7.26 (24(9) apps)
Lukas Hauptmann             7.23 (11(5) apps)

Special mention to Jano Lange, with a 7.54 average after 4(1) apps.

Goals:

Vedat Özcan                 9 goals
Matías Miranda              9
Juan David Palomeque        8
Jair Rodríguez              8
Maximilian Schulze          7
Julian Rijkhoff             7

Assists:

Matías Miranda             15 assists
Juan David Palomeque        8
Thiago                      6
Jonatan Basualdo            6
Joao Neves                  4

 

[Dalbeider]

Mar 11th 2031

Our dynamic midfield duo of Palomeque and Schulze take two spots in the Team of the Week.

Mar 15th 2031

VfL Wolfsburg (16th) vs. TSV 1860 München (4th) (Bundesliga, 27/34)

A gentle match before Real Madrid comes to town, at least on paper. If Stuttgart's form was bad, Wolfsburg's is even worse, with ten games without a win and having being knocked out of the Europa League by Newcastle in the process. More worrying is the position this losing streak has left them in the league, although thankfully for them Werder are still far enough to not be too worrying and they have time to fix it. They sacked Zsolt Hornyak two weeks ago and hired their replacement, Bo Henriksen, just today, meaning all our scouting throughout the week will probably be worth nothing. Still, we should win this.

* * *

WOLFSBURG (3-2-2-2-1): Vladislav Torop (GK); Daan Bosz (DCr), Moritz Jenz (DC), Bright Arrey-Mbi (DCl); Duje Krizanovic (WBR), Jefté (WBL); Rodrigo Quiroz (MCr), Yangel Herrera (MCl); Jovane Cabral (AMR), Talles Magno (AML); Elias Havel (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Jano Lange (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

Seems like Henriksen still uses the same 3-2-2-2-1 formation he favored during his time in Gladbach, so that'll be something we'll have to deal with today. We rotate the team, as would be expected with Real looming in the near horizon, and both sides clash in midfield without a clear winner for the first ten minutes, with the keepers as mere spectators. That finally changes when we find a gap through the center for Schulze to run and pass through, allowing Granero a difficult finish that Torop blocks with some trouble. Schulze himself follows this up with a narrowly wide 20-yarder, and it looks like we're getting started for real now.

Of course that's when Wolfsburg decide it's a good moment to hit us on the break, and Magno almost turns that into a lead with a shot from a narrow angle that hits the upright and has to be cleared behind by Rexhepi. Our response comes in the 19th, with Hauptmann passing the ball into the box for Schulze to collect and shoot into Torop's comfortable save. A couple of inconsequential blocked shots by both teams follow as we enter a less fluid and more clumsy segment of the game. 

A long range attempt by Miranda that Torop holds with ease in the 38th finally brings some attacking flair back into the match, and one minute later a cross from the right by Schulze finds Özcan's head, the Turk nods it forward, and Granero appears to smash it into the net... from an offside position. Kid's got zero luck. A couple minor chances later, the first half ends with the same result it started.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Four minutes into the second half Granero generates another great chance for us, this time with a good assist towards Miranda who can't get past Torop either. The corner kick is cleared by the defense, but we recover the ball quickly and Schulze once again makes an intelligent movement while Wolfsburg are trying to get out of their box, gathering an equally smart pass by Miranda and finally scoring the 0-1 with a placed finish.

With the hard part done, we keep playing well and looking for more, and almost get it in the 54th with Neves' first positive intervention of the game, a pass forwards towards Özcan so the striker can test Torop again, a test the keeper passes with good grades. With the team looking comfortable we start saving some legs for the Champions League game, bringing Palomeque in Miranda's place. Wolfsburg finally decide to show up near our goal in the 65th thanks to a ball lost by Neves and a counterattack finished by Asprilla with a wide shot, and five minutes later Thiago and Casas replace Schulze and Stjepanovic to keep us as fresh as possible out there.

Meunier pushes forward as a result of that last change, and soon he has a chance with a bouncing shot from far away that Torop can't quite catch, allowing Özcan to pound on the rebound and... send it back into the keeper's hands, somehow. Soon after Granero can't get a direct free kick over the barrier, and in the 77th it's Rexhepi's turn to perform with a fantastic reflex save to block Starzynski's shot after a break through the channel between Ball and Casas. Four minutes later the keeper is called to perform again, swatting away a dangerous direct free kick by Arnold, but in the 83rd he can't do anything when a cross from the right by Asprilla is volleyed by Cabral in spectacular fashion. 1-1 and not much time to fix things.

Another offside goal, this one by Özcan and much clearer, is our best bet to regain our lead in regulation and of course it doesn't pan out because VAR exists nowadays. Injury time doesn't give us much to work with either, and in the end we have to do with a poor result in a game we dominated clearly. Feels familiar somehow...

* * *

VfL Wolfsburg 1 (Jovane Cabral 83)
TSV 1860 München 1 (Maximilian Schulze 50)

- - -

I thought we were past our "can't make our chances count so we end up gifting points away against inferior teams" phase by now, but apparently not. Good game play-wise, but Torop stopped everything we threw at him except for that one shot by Schulze, and when Wolfsburg pushed us in the final minutes we could only hold out for so long. Played well, couldn't make it count. That should be on our tombstone, most likely... Granero had his first really good game, and only a couple of inches robbed him of his first goal today. Oh well, it will come. 

Dortmund, Bayern, and Leipzig all win so that's our dreams of catching up with the top three finished, but there's good news: both Gladbach and Fortuna lose today, the latter spectacularly conceding four at home against Augsburg just before visiting us. Our mini-rivals are now 7th, incidentally, and closing in on the Europa League places by the minute.

[Dalbeider]

Mar 16th 2031

The new youth intake is here, and it gets a resounding "meh" from both me and my staff. Two players have a certain degree of potential, striker Christoph Dahl and winger Alioum Kameni, but neither of them looks like a future first team player let alone a star in the making, and the rest is just filler for the U19 squad. Disappointing, but we can't get bangers every year, I guess.

Mar 18th 2031

Once again the midfield of the Team of the Week is all ours, this time with Miranda and Schulze taking it over.

Mar 19th 2031

The kids show us the way with a 1-2 win against Ajax in Amsterdam to book their place in the semifinals of the Youth League. We can't really ask Katic and company for more.

International callups! It's been a while, and we have no less than thirteen senior internationals this time, with some interesting returns like Palomeque with Colombia and Granero with Argentina, plus chances for debuts for Ernesto and (again!) Kretzschmar.

* * *

TSV 1860 München vs. Real Madrid C.F. (Champions League 1st knockout stage, 2nd leg)

And here we go again. We got a decently short result in Madrid, which means we actually have a chance of turning things around in our stadium. We'll need to be at our best, though, so exactly the opposite of what we did in the first leg. Scoring two against Real feels like a pipedream, but I know we can do it.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
REAL MADRID (4-3-3): Dragan Stojanovic (GK); Diogo Dalot (DR), Trevoh Chalobah (DCr), Evan N'Dicka (DCl), Isak Jóhannesson (DL); Eduardo Camavinga (DM), Gilson Tavares (MCr), Federico Valverde (MCl); Yeremy Pino (AMR), Kylian Mbappé (AML), Justin Kluivert (ST)

* * *

Five changes from our Bernabéu lineup, bringing in Ernesto, Thiago, Palomeque, Basualdo, and Rijkhoff to see if we can find something different this time. Zidane's two new faces are Kluivert and N'Dicka, and the big surprise is seeing the former playing upfront while Mbappé stays on the wing. The early minutes see the visitors in control, creating the first chance with a high header by Camavinga in a corner kick, so we try to slow things down a bit and start from regaining possession, then work from there. That seems to work, at least in recovering control and stopping any further attacks from Real, but we still can't do much on the other end of the pitch.

Minutes pass without a single intervention from either goalkeeper, and before we notice the first half is halfway gone. The visitors try a few long distance shots whenever they get close to our box, but neither goes anywhere near the target, and it isn't until the 38th minute that Kluivert manages to break into the box chasing a pass from Valverde, only to see Casas go down and deflect his shot wide before it could reach Kretzschmar. Nothing else afterwards.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Something changes after some encouraging words in the dressing room, and we start the second half looking like a different team, enjoying a long possesion that ends with a good pass into space by Rijkhoff and a wide finish by Palomeque in our first shot at goal of the game. Javorcic then works hard to prevent a dangerous finish by Valverde already inside the box, tackling him just in time to clear the ball behind. Next comes another great pass from Palomeque towards Miranda, who can't get his shot out before Dalot blocks his path. The game seems to be finally picking up.

Granero replaces a very invisible Basualdo in the 60th minute, together with Schulze coming in to give an exhausted Palomeque some rest. And four minutes later it pays off: Granero holds the ball near the edge of the box and sends a perfect ball forward towards Rijkhoff, who outruns his marker and places the ball beyond Stojanovic to score the 1-0. All tied now, and the visitors don't really seem to have any kind of immediate reaction. A bit later Ball replaces a poor Touré, who's also under threat from a second yellow card, and we keep on keeping on, with the ball under our control and Kretzschmar having no work at all.

Zidane moves his players around and switches to a flat 4-4-2 in the final ten minutes of the game, following a long period with no action on either side of the pitch. An offside chance for Pino that nonetheless ends up hitting the crossbar and going over is the first time the fans have anything to fear about in a long while, and it comes already in the 84th minute. A much better one falls for the same Pino two minutes later, chasing a long ball by Mbappé while leaving Casas in the dust, but failing to finish the job and watching Kretzschmar dive down to tip his shot wide. The keeper also blocks a shot by Jóhannesson in the resulting corner kick, but after that there's no further pressure on us, and the match heads into extra time.

FULL TIME - 1-0

Meunier replaces a surprisingly poor Rodríguez right as extra time starts, moving Miranda to the center of our midfield. The first ten minutes have once again little to talk about other than a few long-range shots by the visitors that go nowhere dangerous, but in the 101th minute Miranda decides to test Stojanovic from afar and almost surprises the goalkeeper, who has to fly to tip it over. Nothing much else happens before we reach the halfway point.

We start the second half with a quick move that leaves Miranda with lots of space ahead of him, but he's obviously exhausted by now and can't outrun Madrid's defenders, so he has to shoot from way too far away and the ball goes over the bar. Rijkhoff picking up a minor knock doesn't help our fitness levels in the slightest, although we still manage to lock Real inside their own half and threaten them with a couple of blocked shots. 

It's our best moment of the game, so of course that's exactly when Seiwald gathers the ball twenty yards away from Kretzschmar's goal and, free of any defensive attention, curls an absolute beauty into the top corner to score the 1-1. We go into desperation mode and that allows Madrid all the space in the world to counterattack, leading to a high ball by Dalot from distance four minutes before the end. But the drama is not over just yet: in the 119th a corner kick taken by Miranda goes towards Casas, but the defender can't reach it due to interference from Calabria. VAR calls for a penalty, and the referee gives it. Under all the pressure in the world, Miranda just slots it in and drags everyone into a penalty shootout.

Pino starts the shootout for Real, scoring with ease, and Miranda follows that up with another masterful kick, placing the ball exactly in the same spot he did just minutes before. Dalot also scores with a cheeky centered shot Kretzschmar can't read, and Granero follows Miranda's lead ans makes it 2-2 with precision. Kretzschmar almost (but not quite) reaches Tavares' shot afterwards, and then comes the turning point when Thiago sends his penalty kick over the bar. Jóhannesson builds on Real's lead with another perfect execution and makes it 4-2, and now we're forced to score to stay alive. Schulze feels the pressure and sends the ball straight at Stojanovic, and it's over.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 2 (2) (Julian Rijkhoff 64, Matías Miranda 120p)
Real Madrid 1 (4) (Nicolas Seiwald 114)

- - -

We made them sweat, that's for sure. A very even game in which Real probably had more looks at goal but we had the best ones, and in which we got the win we deserved at the very last moment and in the most dramatic way possible, only for the shootout to kill our hopes. To be fair we have a pretty average set of penalty takers in this squad, we're not really prepared for these situations. Still, we made ourselves proud, almost kicked the champions and favorites out of their competition, and showed all of Europe that we're to be taken seriously. Not a bad way to reintroduce ourselves to the grandest of stages, really. Also, €9.6M in prizes, yay.

We're the only German team to fall at this stage, funnily enough. Bayern came back from a 2-1 defeat in Porto and joined Dortmund and Leipzig, who'd got rid of Milan and, very notably, PSG last week. Not a bad boost for the German coefficients, that's for sure, although it's very unlikely we'll ever drop from the top four.

[Dalbeider]

Mar 22nd 2031

All of the top three play before us this week, and only one of them drops any points: Leipzig, in a goalless draw against Augsburg, who incidentally keep stealing points from teams ahead of them on the table. A win would put us five points behind Leipzig once again right before facing them, which means we still have a (long) shot at the third place.

Mar 23rd 2031

TSV 1860 München (4th) vs. Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895 (6th) (Bundesliga, 28/34)

Only the league remaining now, and not much to play for other than to keep our faint options of improving our position alive for a bit longer. Well, that and securing Champions League football for the next season as soon as possible, and beating one of the two teams behind us is a good way to get started on that. A win today leaves Fortuna fourteen points behind us, which should be enough with only eighteen available after today, even more considering how shaky Fortuna's form has been lately, including their 0-4 loss to Augsburg last week. That said, they did beat us last time we met them, so we better take this seriously.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Jano Lange (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Joao Neves (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)
DÜSSELDORF (4-4-2): Aleksa Todorovic (GK); Florian Kaiser (DR), Christoph Klarer (DCr), Mark Harrington (DCl), Lars Eismann (DL); Tim Pohl (MR), Ilay Elmkies (MCr), Alexandre Pacheco (MCl), Marcos Paulo (ML); Chaka Traoré (STr), Björn Marinov (STl)

* * *

That said, most of our starters are completely exhausted after the big effort against Real Madrid, and we're even without Beltramone today since he's already left to play with Argentina U23, so we're a bit restricted in who gets to start today. It's still a more than good enough eleven, and considering we have two weeks of rest (except the internationals) coming we can afford to overexert ourselves a bit. Fortuna's lineup isn't much changed since our last meeting, Marcos Paulo included.

An offside chance for Palomeque flagged down before he could score five minutes into the game is the first bit of action, as we start with our usual controlling approach and slowly push Fortuna back into their own half. Two minutes later Meunier sees a gap from afar and launches a long ball ahead of Özcan, unmarked and with lots of space, which the striker uses to run into the box and lob it over Todorovic to score an early 1-0, and his tenth goal of the season. The striker then sets up another great chance for Basualdo, but the forward keeps showing worrying signs and completely miskicks his finish, making it easy for the keeper in an otherwise fantastic opportunity to break his goalscoring duck.

Fortuna wake up in the 15th with a set piece that Klarer heads narrowly over and, more worryingly, completely unmarked. They try to push their lines forward, but that only gives us more space to send our passes into, and soon a good play down the right flank ends with Basualdo passing back outside the box, Meunier finds Hauptmann, then the fullback returns it towards Basualdo inside the box, allowing the forward an easy run at the keeper and a good finish towards the near post to finally score his first goal since January, doubling our lead. The visitors try to answer with another set piece, this one finished by Elmkies and parried beautifully by Rexhepi, but afterwards we reestablish control over possession and start letting the minutes tick away.

We take our time before pushing forward again, only returning to attacking duties in the 33rd with a blocked finish by Rodríguez. Two minutes later Basualdo receives from Palomeque inside the box and finds himself some space to shoot, only to see Todorovic punch it wide. Neves then wastes a fantastic chance in a counterattack launched by Basualdo with a weak and centered finish that the keeper grabs almost without trying, but in the 41st Neves remembers how to finish after receiving a great through ball from Rodríguez, and blasts it into the net for the 3-0 from point-blank. There's still time for an individual run by Palomeque that ends in a fingertip save by Todorovic and a corner kick that Lange heads and the keeper saves before the first half runs out of time.

HALF TIME - 3-0

It's hard to improve on such a comprehensive performance, and seeing Özcan suffer an apparently minor injury on his lower leg first thing in the second half certainly doesn't help. We still replace him with Granero out of precaution, and continue keeping things under wraps with the sole exception of a badly wide shot by Marcos Paulo in the 58th minute. Traoré also shoots wide from distance four minutes later, and soon after Miranda and Schulze replace Rodríguez and Palomeque, keeping our midfield fresh.

Not much else happens for a long while, with us playing more conservatively and Fortuna unable to generate danger with any kind of consistency. In the 74th we finally bring some action back into the game with a nice touch by Miranda towards Basualdo inside the box, prompting a punch shot that Todorovic deflects wide, but just barely. Stjepanovic heads that corner kick into the crossbar and over, and the fourth seems to be getting really close now. 

We stop there, though, and once again the game goes to sleep until the 86th, when Pohl volleys over a cross from the left by Traoré. Injury time comes and a cross from the right by Pohl is finished by Traoré, Rexhepi parries, Wagner gets the rebound, and Lange ends up deflecting the whole mess into our own net, gifting Fortuna a very late and very useless 3-1. A final lob by Schulze that ends up on the upper side of the net brings the match to its end, and we grab our well-earned three points.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Vedat Özcan 7, Jonatan Basualdo 16, Joao Neves 41)
Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895 1 (Jano Lange 90+1og)

- - -

A pretty good show all things considered, particularly a very one-sided first half in which we scored all our goals and completely dominated Fortuna. The second half was a bit on the "eh" side, and losing the clean sheet to an unlucky bounce hurts a bit, but I'm sure we'll be fine with "just" the win today. Very happy to see Basualdo and Neves scoring, both had been largely irrelevant since January at the very least. The midfielder in particular hasn't been doing much to earn the contract we've promised him come the end of the season, come to think of it...

[Dalbeider]

Mar 26th 2031

More good news about our kids, who just qualified for the Juniorenpokal final after a dramatic 2-3 extra time win over Gladbach, in which they turned around a 2-1 defeat with two goals in injury time.

On the international front, Rijkhoff has the best outing with a goal for the Netherlands against New Zealand, while Granero and Palomeque add to their caps with solid performances and Ernesto gets a half-match debut off the bench in Brazil's disappointing 0-0 draw against Tunisia.

Mar 29th 2031

The second round of fixtures brings Ernesto's first start for Brazil, looking solid in a 2-0 win over Mali. Otherwise, an assist for Rodríguez and not much else from the rest, with Rijkhoff being particularly cold in the Netherlands' 1-0 loss to precisely Mexico.

Mar 31st 2031

This year's NxGn list has three 1860 players in it, with Touré sixth, Althoff (!) eighth, and Granero in twelfth place. The winner is Utrecht's attacking midfielder Ciro Melillo, who finished second in 2030 and is one of the players we're seriously looking at for the next season if cash permits, eighteen and already a fantastic-looking attacking midfielder who would be a perfect replacement for Miranda. Too bad he'd cost upwards of €60M to bring to Munich, but hey, if we can afford it...

Apr 5th 2031

RasenBallsport Leipzig (3rd) vs. TSV 1860 München (4th) (Bundesliga, 29/34)

If there's anything we can realistically fight for in the six league games that remain, other than defending our mostly secure fourth place, it's toppling Leipzig from their third. Their form is the shakiest among the top three despite having scored some important results along the way, like kicking PSG out of the Champions League. We also beat them in our stadium last November, although narrowly, so we know for certain we can do it again. Other results would probably be not enough to keep the target within range, though, so we have to go all out and hope for the best.

* * *

RB LEIPZIG (4-2-3-1): Alexander Nübel (GK); Wilfried Singo (DR), Kamil Piatkowski (DCr), Marko Cumic (DCl), Luca Netz (DL); Jakub Moder (MCr), Paulo Bernardo (MCl); Francisco Conceiçao (AMR), Aarao (AMC), Alan Velasco (AML); Patson Daka (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Jano Lange (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

We go out there with one of the best elevens we can produce nowadays, although leaving some in-form players like Rijkhoff and Palomeque on the bench in case we need a gear shift later on. Baum doesn't spring too many surprises on us either, changing only a few pieces and, most notably, both center-backs from our previous meeting. We get to a good start, only needing a bit over a minute to generate a first clear-cut chance through a pass from deep by Touré towards Özcan, who runs alone into the box but shoots wide when trying to beat Nübel on his near post. Leipzig's response is equally quick, though, and within seconds Velasco is inside our box and shooting wide following a combination with Netz. This match looks promising already.

Velasco strikes again in the fifth minute, this time with a downwards header following a cross by Singo that Kretzschmar deflects wide with some difficulty, then Daka heads the corner kick over the bar to keep piling up the pressure. We know how to hit them back, though, and another long ball towards Özcan five minutes later leads to a pass back towards Rodríguez, who then sends it into the box so Schulze can collect and beat Nübel with a powerful finish. Özcan generates danger again in the 12th minute, assisting Rodríguez for a mid-range shot that the keeper has to catch in two efforts, and one minute later the Turk hits again, this time sending a header into the post after a nod by Lange in a set piece.

Fifteen minutes and our attack continues, now with Rodríguez barging into the box through his usual central channel and catching a pass by Miranda to immediately shoot into Nübel's parry, while on the other end a dangerous pass finds its way inside our box and into Daka's feet, although the striker can't finish well and it all ends in an easy catch for Kretzschmar. But with 23 minutes gone and the match looking very much in our favor, once again a reckless challenge brings everything to a screeching halt. This time it's Özcan who goes two-footed on Piatkowski when fighting for a divided ball, and the red card is very much impossible to dispute. With Granero now as our lone forward, we prepare ourselves for a very long evening.

Daka gives the first warning shot in a set piece whipped into the heart of the box, well saved by Kretzschmar, but we're also allowed to go on the attack from time to time, even coming really close to scoring the 0-2 in the 33rd minute in a great ball from Granero towards Miranda, who sees Singo arrive at the last second to block his finish. A high header by Singo himself after a blocked shot by Velasco bubbles its way into his head arrives in the 36th, and three minutes later Aarao finds himself running alone against Kretzschmar but completely miskicks his finish, making it easy for the keeper. A knock to Granero near the end of the half gives us more reason to worry, but he makes it to the whistle, as does our lead.

HALF TIME - 0-1

Things restart with a scare, as Touré loses the ball to Conceiçao and allows a cross towards Daka, who hits it first time into another great parry by Kretzschmar. Granero keeps showing some discomfort in those early minutes, too, and soon Rijkhoff has to come in his place. Velasco is the next one to try his luck, but his finish after a good play and pass back by Daka goes all the way into the highest stand behind our goal. The game is much slower than in the first half now, which suits us just fine, and we reach the halfway point of the second half with only another chance for Leipzig, a run through the center by Moder that Lange blocks with a well-timed lunge to prevent a dangerous finish.

Meunier and Stjepanovic replace Miranda and Thiago then, pushing Ernesto to the midfield and making ourselves even stronger defensively. It also triggers a surprising counterattack lead by Rijkhoff, continued by Rodríguez, and finished by Meunier with an apparently weak shot that nonetheless gives Nübel some serious trouble. Kretzschmar has it a bit easier with a centered shot by Bernardo in the 69th, and after that we enjoy a few minutes of relative calm, still holding on to our lead.

The calm stretches longer and longer, while Leipzig grow increasingly desperate and their attacks seem to lose precision as a result. Only Moran, coming off the bench, has the clarity to go all the way and dribble his way into the box, although his finish comes from a difficult angle and Kretzschmar has it easy to cover the gap and save. By then we're already within the last five minutes of regulation, though, and it isn't until injury time that the keeper has more work to do, holding a well-placed header by Daka after a cross by Netz. Kretzschmar continues his notable performance with another reflex save to deflect over a half-volley by Bajrami, then watches a header by Moder go over in a corner kick. That turns out to be Leipzig's last gasp, though, and we manage to survive a one hour long siege unscathed. A heroic performance.

* * *

RasenBallsport Leipzig 0
TSV 1860 München 1 (Maximilian Schulze 10, Vedat Özcan sent off 23)

- - -

I can't believe this just happened, honestly. Fantastic defensive performance keeping Leipzig's chances to a bare minimum given their superiority, and with Kretzschmar dealing with anything that came through, just like in the old times. And the early game was great, too, with many chances coming our way and an early goal that we managed to ride until the end. The less said about Özcan's red the better, though, that was gloriously idiotic, and not the first time he does it either. 

Still, we'll take the good today, which includes us creeping closer to the third place, now only two points away, while also profiting from Gladbach's shock defeat in Bremen to leave them thirteen points behind with fifteen to be accounted for, almost securing Champions League football for the next year for good. Oh, and Bayern and Dortmund both won, so now it's officially a two-horse race for the title.

[Dalbeider]

Apr 6th 2031

Huh. Well, this is unexpected. A call from the Spanish Federation came into the office today. Apparently they think I'm the best option to replace Roberto Martínez (who's just now taken over as Milan's new boss) as Spain's manager. They offer me €110k per week, and I don't even have to leave Munich to take on the role. I mean, what's the downside to this? Accepted, of course, and now I have something else to talk about here, heh.

Spain are currently 9th in the world rankings, which is quite good but not exactly the best they've ever been. In fact they haven't won a major tournament since their 2027 Nations League win, and that's being generous with the definition of "major". They've had some big successes at youth level along the way including the 2024 Olympics and the 2027 U20 World Cup, though. The senior side is currently topping our group in the Qualifiers for the Euro, but with only two games played so far. It's a pretty easy group, though, with Romania as the toughest opposition on paper and the likes of Armenia, Georgia, and Slovakia filling the other positions. We're actually visiting Romania in my first fixture in charge, which will happen in early June. We have a solid-looking squad, although somewhat short on fresh blood coming from the youth ranks, and we might have to look into changing that in the near future. For now, though, we can leave this in the backburner and turn our attention back to 1860.

Apr 7th 2031

Ernesto will be out for a bit over a week after stubbing his toe in training. Nothing serious, but he'll certainly miss our next match against Mainz.

Apr 8th 2031

Schulze gets a spot in the Team of the Week, something he's been doing quite a bit lately.

Apr 12th 2031

TSV 1860 München (4th) vs. 1.FSV Mainz (16th) (Bundesliga, 30/34)

We just need one more win to confirm our presence in next year's Champions League, which was the main goal all along. Mainz are probably the best target to get that win, considering we haven't lost to them in nine games, that they've scored exactly seven points in the Bundesliga since Niko Kovac was hired almost three full months ago, and that this has brought them into the relegation playoff position after Wolfsburg finally managed to score a win last week. We're in good form, they're in the exact opposite, we should win this period.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Arnau Casas (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Juan David Palomeque (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
MAINZ (4-4-2): Senne Lammens (GK); Joe Scally (DR), Alejandro Valle (DCr), Omar Rekik (DCl), Oier Gil (DL); Amankwah Forson (MR), Syver Aas (MCr), Frank Hennig (MCl), Paulos Abraham (ML); Alessio Besio (STr), Ben Bobzien (STl)

* * *

We're without Ernesto (injured) and Özcan (suspended) today, and Rexhepi gets another chance to start in the league. Kovac has got Mainz playing a flat 4-4-2, a formation that usually doesn't give us too much trouble, and former Löwe Forson starts on the right wing while Da Silva is on the bench. Uncharacteristically for us as of late, the game start slow, with a lot of midfielding and very few actual attacks happening. There's no need to, though, as ten minutes in Basualdo takes a corner kick to the near post and Stjepanovic heads it across the goal mouth to score the 1-0. Football is easy.

After that brief moment of excitement the game goes back to sleep for ten more minutes, only waking up when Palomeque tries luck with a low shot from outside the box that Lammens pushes away with some difficulty. Mainz show up near our goal for the first time in the 25th, with Besio generating a powerful header to finish a cross by Abraham and meeting Rexhepi's remarkable save. One minute later we generate the best chance so far with a long cross into space by Rijkhoff that Schulze collects on the run before failing to find a gap around Lammens to score through. Another attempt by the midfielder, this one a shot from distance, also ends in the keeper's hands, but at least it looks like the entertainment value of this game is slowly going up.

In the 32nd Mainz strike again, this time through Abraham as he collects a pass from Hennig and tries to beat Rexhepi through his near post, to which the keeper responds with a confident-looking save. Five minutes later Bobzien sends a long pass into space behind our defense and Besio outruns Casas to collect, shoot, and score the 1-1. I guess I asked for more entertainment, didn't I... We immediately go back to work, quickly generating a chance that Rijkhoff heads weakly into Lammens' hands, and in injury time a great ball from, well, Ball finds Rodríguez unmarked inside the box, but the Mexican finishes terribly and the ball rolls wide, seconds before the end of the first half.

HALF TIME - 1-1

That wasn't anywhere close to an acceptable first half, and I make sure to inform the players of that point during the break. Yet for some reason they seem to understand that they need to be even less effective when generating danger in the second half, as minutes pass without a single shot at goal. Lange and Miranda soon replace the underperforming Casas and Rodríguez, yet somehow we manage to even lose possession in the following minutes, then proceeding to gift Besio a fantastic chance to pull Mainz ahead when Rexhepi and Lange fail to clear the ball out of danger, although thankfully the striker was as surprised as me and could only shoot wide.

Neves then replaces Schulze as our last-ditch option, and finally something happens in attack, even if it's a desperate 30-yarder by Meunier that sails into the stands behind Lammens' goal. And then it's back to being terrible, all the way until the 75th minute when a long throw into our box is nodded ahead by Farnes Gabrielsen and fellow substitute Krasniqi heads it unopposed to make it 1-2 for Mainz. Absolutely disgusting. Thankfully we get a break almost immediately when Gil picks up a second yellow for a silly foul in midfield and gets sent off, giving us fifteen minutes against ten men to try to fix this mess.

Mainz switch to a 3-5-1 to try and hold to their lead, and our first chance comes straight out from Gil's foul, with Miranda bending a beautiful direct shot that Lammens' fingertips turn around the post. That's a corner kick, and somehow we manage to repeat the exact same routine we used to score the 1-0: Basualdo, near post, Stjepanovic, goal. We still need one more, and we fail to generate even a decent look in the following minutes, only getting a wide shot by Hauptmann already in injury time. Then, at the very last moment, Rijkhoff manages to gather the ball and run all along the left flank, sending a cross towards Palomeque. Lammens goes to intercept it, but in the most unfortunate of ways, as the ball ends up bouncing backwards and rolling over the goal line for a dramatic own goal. Somehow, we've won this.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Mateja Stjepanovic 11 78, Senne Lammens 90+4og)
1.FSV Mainz 2 (Alessio Bessio 37, Bledian Krasniqi 75, Oier Gil sent off 77)

- - -

Something something monkey's paw something, that's what I get for wanting more entertainment... Result aside, this was a terrible performance and we most certainly don't deserve to have come out of it unscathed. Two corner goals, a red card and an own goal saved our necks, but Mainz really deserved something more, and I'm sure they would've got if Gil hadn't seen that second yellow out of nowhere. 

Regardless, Champions League qualification obtained in the most underwhelming of ways, yay. The board are feeling generous as a result and set a minimum transfer budget of €61M for the next season, which should be put to good use. Even better, Leipzig continue with their recent mini-implosion and lose 2-1 to Hertha, thus allowing us to overtake them in the third place. Once again Dortmund and Bayern win their games with ease, so the race goes on. At the bottom, Dynamo confirm their relegation after failing to score a single point in their last seven fixtures. Werder might still escape the drop, though, their 2-0 win over HSV puts them only three points behind Wolfsburg and Mainz and six behind Hamburg themselves.

[Dalbeider]

Apr 15th 2031

Like most center-backs who score braces do, Stjepanovic is in the Team of the Week.

Apr 16th 2031

Of the three surviving German teams in the Champions League quarterfinals only one managess to advance, and it was the most unlikely one given current form: Leipzig beat Dortmund on penalties after a 2-2 draw on aggregate. Meanwhile Bayern lost clearly to Juventus, Real Madrid survived a criminal tie against arch-rivals Barcelona and won by a slim 3-2, and Inter surprised Manchester United with a Fergie Time (TM) goal in Old Trafford to break the draw. Inter will now play Leipzig for a place in the final, while Madrid will face Juventus.

Apr 18th 2031

FC Augsburg (7th) vs. TSV 1860 München (3rd) (Bundesliga, 31/34)

Four games remaining, three of them away from home. No ideal, even less considering that the first two of those are against our rising mini-rivals from Augsburg and against the team that kicked us out of the cup, Gladbach. Let's focus on the first one for now, though, because Augsburg deserve all our attention after the remarkable second half of the season they've had so far, climbing into European places and even threatening to take the fifth place. Gisdol's hiring seems to have worked fine for them, as they haven't lost a match since we (barely) beat them in the DFB Pokal in his first game in charge, and are probably the most in-form team in the Bundesliga right now. Scary.

* * *

AUGSBURG (4-2-3-1): Adam Stejskal (GK); Edier Ocampo (DR), Yerson Mosquera (DCr), Stephan Ambrosius (DCl), Vicente Báez (DL); Tomás Muro (MCr), Torben Rhein (MCl); Randal Kolo Muani (AMR), Diyar Yilmaz (AMC), Rubén Vargas (AML); Stefan Tol (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Jano Lange (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

This is a serious match, so we start with a serious eleven, nothing held back today. Neither does Gisdol, actually, playing basically the same eleven that gave us a difficult time in the cup with only two new faces in Báez and Muro, and getting a very early shot in through Kolo Muani that Touré blocks with a well-timed tackle, all within the first half-minute of the game. We are forced to spend the first ten minutes of the game on the defensive, and we do well at that, keeping Augsburg from generating any more real danger while waiting for our chance to stretch ourselves out a bit.

That chance finally comes in the 12th minute, when good pressing allows us a recovery near Augsburg's box that ends in a wide twenty-yard attempt by Touré. It's not much, but we use it as a base to build upon and only three minutes later we're finally playing our game, passing the ball around their box and finally finding a gap through which Palomeque assists Miranda, who beats Stejskal with a subtle touch that sends the ball slowly rolling into the inside of the post and in, a nice way to score his 50th goal for 1860. Then, in the 22nd minute, Touré sends a pass all across the field and into the right side of the box for Palomeque to barge in, control, and chip it over the keeper to make it 0-2. That's one way to establish dominance, I guess.

After our second the game gets bogged down, as we strengthen our defensive position while Augsburg hold the ball and fail time and time again to break us down. We don't return to Stejskal's goal until the 35th, following a good cross by Miranda that Özcan heads into the keeper's comfortable save. The home team need nine more minutes to generate something, and it's just an attempt by Tol from the edge of the box that goes close, but still over the bar. But the best is yet to come: in the 45th minute Javorcic finds Rodríguez with space ahead just outside the box, and instead of running in like always the Mexican decides to get cheeky and lobs the ball from there over the already rushing Stejskal, a wonderful finish that becomes the 0-3 right as the first half reaches its end.

HALF TIME - 0-3

We start the second half in a more conservative outlook, as is to be expected. Augsburg need goals and quickly, though, and soon Ambrosius has a great chance after a collective marking failure in a set piece that leaves him completely unmarked, but thankfully Kretzschmar is there to fix things. The keeper also has to go down to grab a powerful header by Kolo Muani in a corner kick, and in the 57th he needs some help from the left post to keep a shot by Tol following a cross by Kolo Muani from going into the net. The striker tries again one minute later, this time finishing a cross by Vargas from the opposite side, but once again Kretzschmar saves to keep our lead intact for now.

It's starting to look a bit worrying out there, though, so we try changing things a bit with Meunier and Rijkhoff coming in for Thiago and Özcan. Immediately we get a set piece just to the left of the box that Rodríguez sends in and Lange heads into Stejskal's deflection, and that leads to a corner kick that the Mexican takes and Ernesto finishes, surprisingly free of mark and helped by a lucky deflection for a strangely easy 0-4. With the result even more secure now, we bring Neves in Miranda's place to prevent suspensions (he's still one yellow away from a forced rest), then watch as Mosquera heads over a corner kick for Augsburg in the 66th, probably from an easier position to score from than the one Ernesto found himself in. Differences.

Augsburg's desperate attack continues in the 73rd, with Vargas breaking in from the left and trying to bend his finish around Kretzschmar, who once again stands tall and flicks the ball wide, then does it again in the corner kick to deny Schallenberg, and finally it's Vargas again in the next corner kick that half-volleys a bad reflection wide. Finally, in the 79th, a long ball ahead by Rhein is caught by substitute striker Hoel Andersen, and this time Kretzschmar can only watch the ball fly past and into the net for the 1-4. 

Eleven minutes later, and only with a correctly disallowed goal by Rijkhoff in betweer, another substitute, Richter, comes to know how hard it is to beat Kretzschmar in a one-on-one as his finish is deflected wide. Another corner kick ends in another high header, this time by Ocampo, while in injury time it's Rijkhoff who comes across an excellent keeper in Stejskal, who blocks his own one-on-one in a very dangerous counterattack. Finally, seconds before the end, Hoel Andersen manages to outjump the defense in another corner kick and score the 2-4 from point-blank, thus ending a game with a much clearer result in our favor than it should probably have ever had.

* * *

FC Augsburg 2 (Jens Kristian Hoel Andersen 79 90+3)
TSV 1860 München 4 (Matías Miranda 15, Juan David Palomeque 22, Jair Rodríguez 45, Ernesto 60)

- - -

What a weird game. Augsburg had more possession, double the shots, and almost exactly matched their xG with their two goals, while we somehow scored four out of seven shots on target and an xG of 1.16. If I were on Gisdol's shoes I'd be crying foul, but honestly, we were due some clinical finishing after a whole year of never being able to finish the job when it counts. And hey, rivals, they're meant to be humiliated in these kinds of ways, right? Bayern do it to us all the time! Anyway, this result might put a damper on Augsburg's European aspirations, but it certainly reinforces us in our chase for the third place.

[Dalbeider]

Apr 19th 2031

Well, suddenly things have got very interesting. The Saturday games brought to us an easy 5-2 win for Leipzig against Nürnberg, followed by a shocking 3-0 loss for the leaders Dortmund in Stuttgart, and capped by an even more unexpected 1-0 defeat for Bayern in their visit to Union. This leaves Dortmund still top, Bayern still second two points behind, and us still third but now only seven points behind the leaders. I'm sad there's only three games remaining, I feel if we had a few more we could still catch up to them... A bit more realistic (although not really) is the dream of grabbing the second place off Bayern, only five points away. In the relegation battle, key win for Wolfsburg against Eintracht that pulls them three points ahead of the relegation playoff, still helf by Mainz. Also, Dynamo finally win a game one week after relegating and it has to be against Werder of all teams...

Apr 22nd 2031

Who else but miracle-worker Kretzschmar could be in the Team of the Week this week?

Not Stjepanovic, since he didn't play at all, and he won't against Gladbach either because he's gone down with a serious case of blisters. He'll need a bit over a week for them to heal, so he should be back for our next game against Hertha.

Apr 23rd 2031

Very one-sided final in the DFB Pokal on paper after Bayern easily dispatched Gladbach and Freiburg beat HSV in extra time thanks to an own goal by Lawrence. If Bayern win it again it'll be their third in a row, and once again the lifeboat Nagelsmann needs in case they fail to win the Bundesliga for, again, the third time in a row.

Apr 24th 2031

It's not the season yet, but with our main goals for the year already fulfilled and the board having already set aside the money for the next transfer window we figured we'd better take the chance and get things moving early for a change. The obvious signing we'd need to make next summer is a quality replacement for Miranda, and we found it quickly and for a very reasonable price: Feyenoord's 25yo Turk attacking midfielder Hakki Yilmaz will join 1860 in exchange for his release clause, set at €26.5M.

This signing signals a change in our overall transfer policy, with us moving on from bringing in unproven youth with loads of potential to develop and sell for big profit and now prioritizing players in their prime that improve on our current roster. Or, in other words, we're entering "win now" mode. Yilmaz is a perfect example, providing not just all the quality, vision, and finishing ability that Miranda has provided all these years, but also a strong physical side with great pace and stamina and the capacity to use both feet with almost equal skill. A sure starter from the moment he arrives, and a player that should take us one step further. His new contract will keep him with us for five years, has no release clause, and will cost us €62k per week, a very acceptable price.

Apr 25th 2031

Not like we're forgetting about youth entirely, though. In fact today's a big day for our kids as they face precisely Feyenoord in the Youth League semifinals held in Nyon, and they take the chance of a lifetime with a clear 3-0 win orchestrated by Katic's two assists. The final will take place in just five days at the same venue, and they'll measure up against Monaco with the goal of becoming the best youth team in all of Europe.

Meanwhile, Dortmund get the thirty-second round of Bundesliga fixtures started with a 3-1 win over Wolfsburg. This means we can't be champions anymore, aw, but also that Bayern will have to win if they want to keep up. Oh, and that Wolfsburg still have to fear for their future, I guess.

Apr 26th 2031

Well, they did, a 1-0 win over Stuttgart is enough to keep them two points behind the leaders. Leipzig also win in Freiburg and now the pressure is on us to keep pace with them for the very minimal goal of the third place. Meanwhile, Werder lose again and now they're four points behind Mainz, who managed a draw in Nürnberg and might still escape from the playoff.

Apr 27th 2031

Borussia Moenchengladbach (6th) vs. TSV 1860 München (3rd) (Bundesliga, 32/34)

As for us, we're facing against Gladbach at probably the perfectly right moment: just crashed out of the cup thanks to Bayern being Bayern, only one win in their last six fixtures, and holding on to the last Europa League place just because Augsburg have suddenly gone full downward spiral and have lost two straight. A win practically guarantees their presence in that slightly important competition we won last year, but they probably will get there regardless. Let's see if our luck remains as good as the last time out...

* * *

GLADBACH (4-2-3-1): Henry George (GK); Alexander Menke (DR), Igor Diveev (DCr), Marco Katinic (DCl), Alexandru Onisemiuc (DL); Antoni Milambo (MCr), Mike Kleijn (MCl); Reinaldo Junio (AMR), Boris Malpon (AMC), Anthony Stephens (AML), Jonas Wind (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Just a few changes from the Augsburg game, with Rexhepi, Casas, Meunier, Schulze, and Rijkhoff starting today. No real point in rotating now after all, the season is almost over. Gladbach also keep most of the same eleven that beat us in the DFB Pokal a couple of months ago, and once again we're put on the defensive in the first few minutes, although we quickly launch a good counterattack started by Schulze's steal and run and finished by Miranda with a shot into the wrong side of the sidenetting. Gladbach answer with a pass towards the center of the box by Stephens and a high finish by Malpon in the fifth minute, but soon we level things up possession-wise and start pushing back, gaining some breathing space in the process.

The game then moves into the midfield and doesn't seem to want to leave that zone, as minutes pass with the keepers bored out of their minds, just like the fans. We have to wait until the 28th minute for the next sniff of danger, a curler from the edge of the box by Rijkhoff that doesn't quite find the target, but at least gets close. After that it's back into the mud once again, though, and other than a couple long-range attempts with zero real danger nothing of note happens until injury time, when Meunier challenges Wing inside the box with a bit of excessive strength and the referee decides that's enough for a penalty kick. Soft, but okay I guess. Wind himself scores from the spot just before the end of the first half.

HALF TIME - 1-0

A not-so-gentle reminder to the players that we are supposed to be the ones with the initiative here later we're back in the fray. Our play doesn't improve one bit, though, and after fifteen more minutes of absolutely nothing happening it's clear that enough is enough: Granero, Rijkhoff, and Schulze are removed from the pitch and replaced by Basualdo, Özcan, and Palomeque. Soon the latter brings a certain degree of excitement back into the game with a cross towards Özcan, whose header doesn't exactly put George under any real pressure but at least it's something. Then, in the 65th minute, Menke whips into our box a set piece and Stephens jumps cleanly over his marker to loop his header over Rexhepi and into the net for the 2-0, and suddenly our reaction is dead in the water.

Miranda tries to revive us with a direct free kick that George has to work hard to deflect wide, then Basualdo heads the corner kick over the bar, so we're not completely out of the game yet but the clock is ticking and fast. Gladbach reply through Stephens once again, this time with a high ball from distance, while on the other end it's Basualdo again with a difficult finish after a good low cross by Palomeque, well blocked by George. Third time isn't the charm either for the forward, as the keeper once again denies him with a fingertip save after a fantastic dribble past Katinic. And afterwards, a whole load of nothing at all, and we helplessly watch as the clock ticks off the minutes one by one without getting any closer to a decent result.

* * *

Borussia Moenchengladbach 2 (Jonas Wind 45+2p, Anthony Stephens 65)
TSV 1860 München 0

- - -

Karma for last week, I guess. The first half was an absolute snorefest in which neither team should've scored, but a soft penalty gave Gladbach the lead and we just couldn't find a way back from there. Completely toothless upfront today, with the exception of Basualdo and his usual barrage of misses, so it's not like we deserved a win, but we didn't deserve to concede two either, or one for that matter. One of Rexhepi's worst games of the year, too, we could've played a rock in his place and it would've done the exact same work today. Oh well, back to fourth for now, and Gladbach get their almost-guaranteed spot in the Europa League. We still have a chance to recover, though, since Leipzig will have a very difficult trip to Dortmund as their final fixture.

At least the kids keep delivering good news: in a flash return trip to play their second-to-last league game before the playoffs they manage to secure the top spot of the Süd/Südwest group ahead of Stuttgart. Their semifinals opposition is still undecided, with Hansa Rostock, Wolfsburg, and Hertha as candidates, but the real foe will be Leipzig, who've won the Nord/Nordost group at a canter and with only one draw and two defeats after thirty-seven games.

[Dalbeider]

Apr 30th 2031

Aww, the kids lost the final of the Youth League. Monaco were too good and beat them 3-1, but still, a fantastic showing in our second appearance in the competition, and with Katic as one of the best players of the year.

May 2nd 2031

Ooh, elections at the club again. Herr Dippel might still run for a fourth term and keep things rolling like he's been doing for a while now, but he hasn't said if he will just yet. Just to give the whole ordeal a bit of a thrill, I guess.

May 3rd 2031

TSV 1860 München (4th) vs. Hertha BSC (11th) (Bundesliga, 33/34)

Hertha and disappointing seasons, name a more iconic duo. True, it's an improvement after last season's 14th final place, and they still have a good shot at improving and even pushing Augsburg for the seventh place with some (read: lots of) luck. So we're both playing for scraps, but still not completely out of the season. A weird game to keep the players motivated for, but we do have a few things to celebrate today at the very least.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Niklas Lang (DCr), Jano Lange (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Joao Neves (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)
HERTHA (4-2-3-1): Zhijian Zhang (GK); Erik Warner (DR), Maximilian Blücher (DCr), Nico Schlotterbeck (DCl), Alejandro Francés (DL); Eyüp Aydin (MCr), Miguel Carvalho (MCl); Philipp Meyer (AMR), Laureano Laconi (AMC), Charles De Ketelaere (AML), Delyan Atanasov (ST)

* * *

It's a day of goodbyes, as we give the fans a chance to see both Lang and Miranda in action for the last time, and maybe some others who might not return after the summer. Meanwhile Hertha look quite a bit different from our last meeting, now sporting a 4-2-3-1 instead of a 3-5-2 under new manager Yannick Ferrera, who's been in charge since the turn of the year with... mediocre results. We start well, with Miranda and Özcan trading passes to generate a shot by the striker that Zhang deflects over the bar before the second minute is gone, then Lange heads the corner kick over making good use of his aerial prowess once again.

Things slow down a bit after that, but we still remain firmly in control of both the ball and the match, so we can afford to be patient for now. We finally get through in the 16th minute thanks to a good assist by Granero towards Palomeque, who can't get his shot past the keeper but still gives us a sign of better times to come. Five minutes later Schlotterbeck gets in the way of a promising shot by Thiago, conceding another corner kick for Lange to head into the crossbar. Getting closer.

After another short period without attacks on either side Aydin gets Hertha's first chance of the game with a direct free kick he slams into the fence, and in the 38th Lange tries again, this time with a surprising shot from distance that Zhang has some difficulty turning around the post. Four minutes later a nod by Özcan sets up a free run through the center for Granero, but once again the goalkeeper answers excellently and blocks his shot. A weak header by Palomeque that Zhang catches with ease comes next, and in the final seconds of the half the visitors manage to generate danger from open play for the first time with a wide header by De Ketelaere to Warner's precise cross. Still, no goals at half time.

HALF TIME - 0-0

We look sharper out of the gates this time, and only two minutes into the second half Miranda attracts the attention of Hertha's defenders then launches a pass in the gap created, gifting Neves a whole lot of space to run into and shoot through, scoring the 1-0 and, maybe, showing that he really deserves a new contract here after a very mediocre first half. Hertha answer immediately with another cross from the rights towards De Ketelaere's head, this one heading towards the target but palmed away by Rexhepi in his first remarkable intervention of the afternoon. His luck runs out quickly, though, as that corner kick is headed into the crossbar by Francés, the ball elludes the keeper, and Carvalho finds himself with the perfect chance to make it 1-1 just two minutes after our opener. Back to the drawing board.

Going right back at it we soon find ourselves with two blocked shots for Neves and Granero in pretty decent-looking chances, but in the 54th Carvalho gathers the ball 25 yards away from our goal and doesn't hesitate to launch an unstoppable bullet into the top left corner of Rexhepi's goal, pulling the visitors ahead against the flow of the game. Another attempt by Neves bounces off a defender's legs as we keep playing well but receiving no reward for it. Rodríguez and Javorcic soon replace Palomeque and Hauptmann, and after ten minutes without anything worth mentioning it's Miranda's turn to receive the standing ovation from the crowd and leave his place to Schulze.

A block by Lange prevents what looks like an easy 1-3 for Laconi in the 73rd after a nod by Wagner, and by now it's been a long while since we last saw our forwards doing anything productive. Five minutes later Blücher heads a corner kick over the bar, and in the 82nd we finally do something in attack when a high pass from Javorcic is nodded into the box by Rodríguez and Özcan shoots into the net, although from an offside position. The Mexican follows it up with a double chance, first with a direct free kick into the barrier, then with a volley to Granero's cross that Zhang deflects over. That corner kick turns out to be the key, though, as Rodríguez crosses into the heart of the box and Lange, who else, jumps high and heads down to make it 2-2 with only two minutes on the clock.

The game's not over yet, though, and Hertha remind us very quickly in a lightning-fast counterattack that De Ketelaere launches and Atanasov finishes, outspeeding Lange and facing Rexhepi one-on-one before, somehow, shooting wide. Another long ball ahead of the speedy striker already in injury time leads to another good chance that the keeper has to tip over this time, but after that no one manages to break free again, and the game eventually ends in a fair, if disappointing, draw.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 2 (Joao Neves 47, Jano Lange 88)
Hertha BSC 2 (Miguel Carvalho 49 54)

- - -

Not our best run of form to end the season, that's for sure. Still, a very entertaining game for all the wrong reasons, including Carvalho striking lucky twice, Rexhepi being a liability once again and not really making a case for an increased role come next season, and Lange being our savior in Lang's and Miranda's goodbye. It's a wasted chance, too, because Leipzig happen to lose at home to Eintracht in today's shock result and we miss the opportunity to regain the third place. We still have one shot, though.

The title might have been decided today, though, and once again in exactly the wrong way. Bayern struggled a bit in Wolfsburg but eventually emerged 0-2 winners, but Dortmund had an absolute nightmare in Düsseldorf, failed to score, and saw Marinov give the home team the win (and Bayern the top spot of the table) eight minutes before the end. Now our neighbors have a one-point lead over Dortmund and only need to match their result in two weeks, with Bayern hosting Fortuna and Dortmund playing, of course, against Leipzig.

At the bottom Werder scored an insufficient point in a 2-2 draw in Stuttgart, and now we head into an interesting final week for the relegation battle with Werder at 25 points, Mainz at 28, and Wolfsburg at 30... and having to travel to Bremen while Mainz visit Frankfurt. Werder are basically screwed, though, since they'd have to win their game, wait for Mainz to lose, and then recover fifteen goals to stand a chance. Another equally important and still undecided battle is the fight for the seventh place and the Conference League, in which Augsburg have a one-point lead over Freiburg... and both play each other in the final date. Nice.

[Dalbeider]

May 6th 2031

One spot in the Team of the Week for Lange.

May 10th 2031

The U19 kids utterly destroy Köln in the Juniorenmeisterschaft semifinals, seven goals to two on aggregate, and are once again in the final ready to face... uh, Stuttgart? Shock result as heavy favorites Leipzig lose 2-3, setting up an all-southern final. Perfect chance to renew our domination at youth level in the nation. And there's also the Juniorenpokal final just one week later!

May 11th 2031

Yep, no surprises there, Herr Dippel will run for a fourth term. Four other candidates show up, but they'll have to offer something different for them to have any chance to dislodge the most successful president in the club's history.

May 15th 2031

We're getting closer to the summer international tournaments, and there's a U21 European Championship coming up with Germany taking part and four of our players making the preliminary squad: Schulze (who's 23 by the way...), Touré, Lange, and Althoff. Ball could also be there with England's side.

May 17th 2031

Just before we end the season, the U19s complete another fantastic year in the league by defeating Stuttgart in the Juniorenmeisterschaft final, two goals to nil. Still the cup final to go, but they can already consider the year an absolute success.

On the topic of youth, our players take two of the most important individual awards of the season: Althoff wins the U17 Fritz-Walter-Medaille while Touré wins the U19 one, crowning themselves as the best players in the nation in their respective age categories.

* * *

1.FC Nürnberg (11th) vs. TSV 1860 München (4th) (Bundesliga, 34/34)

Time to wrap up another successful season, even if we'll likely end up one place below last year's and we didn't get as far in the cup or in Europe. I still feel we're closer than we've ever been to the top, although that might be more their demerit than our merit this year. Regardless, we finish the league with a trip to Nürnberg, who're having a quite torried end to the season and haven't scored a win since early March. All they have left to play is not falling deeper into the bottom half, so at least we have the motivation battle won from the start. I hope.

* * *

NÜRNBERG (4-3-3): Steven Benda (GK); Nicholas Mickelson (DR), Maksim Paskotsi (DCr), Armel Bella-Kotchap (DCl), Omar Campos (DL); Tom Krauss (DM), Niklas Dorsch (MCr), Mads Bidstrup (MCl); Bénie Traoré (AMR), Facundo Farías (AML), Miguel de la Fuente (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCl), Alex Ball (DL); Thiago (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Matías Miranda (MCl); Jonatan Basualdo (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Vincenzo Italiano's reign as Nürnberg's manager hasn't been particular successful so far, but he has at least brought a formation change with him, ditching the flat 4-4-2 we'd gotten used to seeing them play. We have a healthy mix of starters and backups in our final eleven of the season, with minutes for Ball, Stjepanovic, and Basualdo before a transfer window in that all three could end up departing the squad.

Things start slow, but once they get going they go all the way: nine minutes in, long passing play all around Nürnberg's area, Rodríguez sees a gap and sends a pinpoint pass through, and Miranda collects and places his finish past Benda to score a quick 0-1 in his last game for 1860. Nürnberg go for the quick reaction with a shot from outside the box by Dorsch that Kretzschmar collects without much trouble, but afterwards we reestablish ourselves and deny them any other chances in the following minutes, soon settling into a slow and methodical pace that works just fine for us.

That pace breaks in the 24th minute, though, when a set piece near the corner flag taken by Farías is headed unopposed by Paskotsi, who scores the 1-1. But five minutes later a cross by Miranda is punched out of the box by Benda but only as far as Thiago, who sends it forward to Rodríguez so the Mexican can curl it around the out of position keeper from the edge of the box and restore our lead in style. In the 33rd a quick counterattack leads to a diagonal pass into the box by Basualdo, Rijkhoff just lets it pass, and Miranda controls and shoots low to make it three. A blocked finish by de la Fuente in the final minutes of the half is Nürnberg's best look before we head to the dressing rooms for one final half-time talk.

HALF TIME - 1-3

The second half starts with Nürnberg pouring forward and soon testing Kretzschmar through Dorsch, a well-placed shot that the keeper deflects wide. On the other side of the pitch Benda does equally well to save and hold a direct free kick by Rodríguez in the 49th, but after that things slow down dramatically and we soon reach the time to make our first changes, with Neves and Granero replacing Palomeque and Basualdo. The forward soon tries to get his long overdue first goal for 1860 with a placed shot that Benda saves confidently, but it's an isolated chance in a huge sea of nothingness, and soon we make our final substitution with Hauptmann taking Ball's place and moving Javorcic to the left.

De la Fuente wakes the fans up in the 70th minute with a good run past Stjepanovic and a finish that Kretzschmar has to turn around the post, but then Granero does one better and sends a 25-yarder crashing into the woodwork and wide. Another long distance shot by Krauss tests Kretzschmar's reflexes once again for another corner kick, but after that both teams decide to take it easy and the chances dry up, much to the local faithful's groans. The game ends with the result unchanged, and we finish the season with a solid win.

* * *

1.FC Nürnberg 1 (Maksim Paskotsi 24)
TSV 1860 München 3 (Matías Miranda 9 33, Jair Rodríguez 29)

- - -

Two goals as a goodbye present from Miranda, a professional until the very end. We'll miss him a lot, that's for sure, no matter how good his replacement turns out to be. Otherwise, a pretty solid match in which we looked on top of things at all times, not even flinching when Nürnberg got their goal out of basically nowhere. I wish we'd had this composure at other times throughout the season, but alas...

* * *

| Pos | Inf   | Team                | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | GD    | Pts   | Form  | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st | C     | FC Bayern           | 34    | 25    | 5     | 4     | 73    | 26    | 47    | 80    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd | CL    | Borussia Dortmund   | 34    | 25    | 4     | 5     | 72    | 24    | 48    | 79    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd | CL    | 1860 München        | 34    | 20    | 10    | 4     | 68    | 35    | 33    | 70    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th | CL    | RB Leipzig          | 34    | 21    | 5     | 8     | 75    | 36    | 39    | 68    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th | EL    | Fortuna Düsseldorf  | 34    | 16    | 7     | 11    | 58    | 49    | 9     | 55    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th | ECL   | Borussia M'gladbach | 34    | 16    | 6     | 12    | 53    | 51    | 2     | 54    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th |       | Freiburg            | 34    | 14    | 6     | 14    | 52    | 44    | 8     | 48    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th |       | Stuttgart           | 34    | 12    | 10    | 12    | 41    | 41    | 0     | 46    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th |       | Augsburg            | 34    | 12    | 10    | 12    | 38    | 44    | -6    | 46    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th|       | Hertha BSC          | 34    | 13    | 5     | 16    | 40    | 47    | -7    | 44    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th|       | Frankfurt           | 34    | 13    | 4     | 17    | 48    | 53    | -5    | 43    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th|       | Union Berlin        | 34    | 13    | 4     | 17    | 38    | 48    | -10   | 43    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th|       | Nürnberg            | 34    | 11    | 8     | 15    | 40    | 48    | -8    | 41    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th|       | Hamburg             | 34    | 9     | 7     | 18    | 35    | 61    | -26   | 34    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th|       | Wolfsburg           | 34    | 8     | 9     | 17    | 40    | 58    | -18   | 33    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th| Pl    | Mainz               | 34    | 7     | 7     | 20    | 37    | 62    | -25   | 28    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th| R     | Werder Bremen       | 34    | 6     | 7     | 21    | 36    | 77    | -41   | 25    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th| R     | Dynamo Dresden      | 34    | 5     | 6     | 23    | 25    | 65    | -40   | 21    |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Yep, Bayern won it in the end. Or rather, Dortmund bottled it the previous week and couldn't get the miracle they needed to fix their own mistakes. They did their job this time, destroying Leipzig 4-1 and also gifting us the third place (and the €104M that come with it) in the meantime, but Bayern scored the exact same result against Fortuna (even though they conceded the 0-1 only two minutes in, just to give BVB some false hope) and reconquered the German throne in the end. We'll have to do our best to prevent this from becoming the start of another loooong streak of domestic domination for our neighbors. Incidentally, 70 points is our best result ever, even better than last year's 66. If we can be more consistent and stop throwing points away through stupid mistakes we could have a real chance next season.

As for the rest, Augsburg crashed out of Europe after a disastrous final four fixtures in which they scored just one point out of twelve, capped by a clear 3-0 defeat in Freiburg. Their executors now have secured at the very least a Conference League place, but could upgrade it to the Europa League if they beat Bayern in the DFB Pokal final, as unlikely as that sounds. The relegation battle had little emotion in the end, though: both Werder and Mainz lost their games, so nothing changed. Werder go straight back down together with Dynamo, and Mainz will have to survive a relegation playoff, most likely against Köln, with Hoffenheim and Leverkusen returning to the top tier.

[Dalbeider]

END OF SEASON 2030/31 - PLAYER SUMMARY

GOALKEEPERS
===========

Name               Apps    Conceded  Clean Sheets  PoM  Av.Rat.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Kretzschmar      30          29            10    2     7.10
Kevin Rexhepi        17          15             5    0     6.95

More league appearances for Rexhepi this season as our runs in the cup and Champions League were shorter than last year, and despite some good early season performances eventually it became clear that he's not good enough to dislodge Kretzschmar from the starting position, and probably never will. His last two games in the Bundesliga were particularly atrocious, I think he saved something like one shot out of five on target. Meanwhile Kretzschmar was his usual solid self with the also usual moments of brilliance in which he stopped everything coming his way, and with his new contract he's very likely to stay with us until he's 35 at the very least. With Rexhepi making noises about wanting more playing time to have a shot at the national team (keep dreaming, kid), I'm seriously considering selling him if someone comes asking this summer, just to avoid potential trouble and to replace him with someone who actually can challenge Kretzschmar for minutes. Wait and see for now, though, we'd need way more than what we're likely to get for him to find a good replacement.

DEFENDERS
=========

Name                   Apps     Goals    Assists    PoM    Y.C   R.C  Av.Rat.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jano Lange             9(2)         3          0      0      0     0     7.44
Ernesto               24(3)         2          0      2      8     0     7.43
Mateja Stjepanovic    22(2)         3          0      3      3     0     7.25
Lukas Hauptmann       15(6)         0          2      0      1     0     7.19
Arnau Casas           27(3)         1          1      0      4     0     7.17
Tomislav Javorcic     30(6)         1          3      1      9     1     7.15
Niklas Lang              13         0          0      0      6     0     7.11
Mahamadou Touré       26(5)         2          3      2      5     0     7.07
Alex Ball             21(4)         1          3      0      6     1     6.94

Remarkable year for our whole defensive line. Conceding less than one goal per game is an outstanding achievement in this league, even more considering these stats also include the Champions League. Everyone did their part, even Lang, who's leaving on a free and is right now our fifth best center-back. His replacement, Lange, stands out at the top of the table despite having played only eleven games since his arrival, doing a wonderful job in defense and also scoring three on corner kicks in such a short time. Some forwards I know could learn a thing or two from him... The other center-backs were also incredibly solid all year long, with the occasional and forgivable stinker here and there, with Ernesto once more as the most consistent performer in the whole squad.

The wings, usually our weak point, also saw a marked improvement this season. Hauptmann's arrival was thought as a bet for the future, but the Austrian wonderkid has wowed everyone with his defensive performances at right back, even chipping in with a couple of assists despite not being his forte, and maintaining an almost impolute discipline record. Javorcic still started more often than not on that side, though, and it was by far his best season up to this point, also adding a few assists and even a goal to his always solid defensive displays but with a few too many cards in his resume. The left was a bit weaker, but even there Touré continues as one of the most promising young players in the world in his position, while Ball had to recover from a pretty bad start to the season but still ended with more than acceptable numbers. His future in the squad is in question, though, since Althoff will be returning from loan and will most likely become our second left back, leaving no place for the young Englishman in the rotation. A transfer is likely if we can find someone interested.

MIDFIELDERS
===========

Name                   Apps     Goals    Assists    PoM    Y.C   R.C  Av.Rat.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matías Miranda       33(10)        13         17      5      5     0     7.38
Juan David Palomeque 30(11)         9          9      3      2     0     7.19
Maximilian Schulze   25(10)         9          2      3      4     1     7.13
Jair Rodríguez        33(5)        10          8      1      4     0     7.11
Thiago                20(7)         0          7      0      4     0     7.09
Joao Neves           16(18)         3          4      2      1     0     7.02
Aymeric Meunier      22(14)         1          2      1      6     0     7.00
Ezequiel Beltramone    7(2)         0          1      0      3     0     6.94

Hertha are getting one hell of a player for free this summer, that's for sure. Matías Miranda, a Löwen icon already after his exploits in our Europa League-winning season last year, has somehow managed to turn it up a notch and score absolutely outrageous numbers this season, becoming our top goalscorer and assist provider by a mile. He's 31 already, so I really hope this is his last really good season and we won't have to live to regret his departure even more whenever we meet Hertha from now on.

The rest of our midfield did a fine job, with our most attacking options providing goals and assists galore from deep to compensate for our forwards' slow year. Palomeque in particular had a remarkable revival after a very meh first season with us, almost reaching double figures in both goals and assists and always looking sharp and smart in play. Schulze and Rodríguez both did their jobs to perfection, too, although I kind of expected more from the latter. He's still waiting for someone to come and pay €90M for him, so I guess his head might be elsewhere, but I sure hope he'll return next season.

As for our defensive options, Thiago had a bit of a weird year with off-the-court issues and transfer requests getting in the way of what otherwise was a pretty good season. His seven assists while being our most defensive midfielder are quite notable, and his performances in general were good when he could be trusted to focus on the job at hand, which wasn't all the time. In contrast Meunier was a bit more discreet, more in line with what I'd expect from a defensive midfielder in our formation, but still a bit disappointing when compared to the rest of the line. Young Beltramone had some chances to show his skills in the first half of the season, particularly with Thiago on the brink of leaving, but he never did anything to show he deserved a regular spot in the rotation, and in the final third he disappeared from the lineup completely. He's a wonderful kid and a treat to work with, but we need a bit more quality and he hasn't shown enough. He's likely to be transfered out.

ATTACKERS
=========

Name                   Apps     Goals    Assists    PoM    Y.C   R.C  Av.Rat.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonatan Basualdo      23(6)         7          8      4      1     0     7.35
Vedat Özcan          22(13)        10          1      1      1     1     7.09
Julian Rijkhoff       26(7)         8          2      2      0     0     6.96
Gino Granero          10(6)         0          1      0      0     0     6.92
Rodrigo Caraballo     13(2)         4          2      3      0     0     7.31

We've saved the best for last, heh. More seriously, what an absolute disaster of a year for our forwards, with the only exception of Basualdo and just because he was absolutely on fire in the first ten games of the season or so. After that he dropped off considerably, bringing him back to the level shown by the rest of the line, yet still finished the season as our best forward by far. The fact that we lost our other in-form forward, Caraballo, in January to the usual Bayern vulturing didn't help either, the Venezuelan had had a pretty good (if not too productive) first half of the season before our neighbors poached him away, and then continued playing well for them and amassing quite a good number of appearances and positive contributions on their way to the Bundesliga title. His replacement, young wonderkid Granero, has had half a year to adapt and so far is showing glimpses of brilliance, but also an astounding ability to waste chances, to the point of still being goalless since his arrival. He'll fit right in...

As for our two advanced strikers, well, what to say. Özcan had a decent year with ten goals (some of them actually important, we won at least a couple of 1-0s thanks to him) and a few good performances here and there, but Rijkhoff's season can only be qualified as an unmitigated disaster with no saving graces whatsoever. Eight goals is an unacceptable return for who's supposed to be our best striker, and who's already shown he can do much better than that both at club and international stages. Somehow he's still attracting lots of attention from elsewhere, most likely thanks to his relatively cheap release clause, and I'd be willing to listen to offers if they come. Otherwise, I'll trust him to do better next year. It's hard to do worse, really.

May 18th 2031

The yearly review of the five-year plan sees the board relaxing expectations a bit for the next season, only requiring us to qualify for the Europa League. On the other hand they do expect us to survive the group stage of the Champions League again, and I fully expect we'll have a lower seed this time, which most likely means a more difficult group, but then again we were first seeds this season and see how that turned out in the end, heh. We should be fine.

With that and little extra fanfare the players leave on holiday, some of them knowing they'll return to play somewhere else. The preseason will start on the seventh of July, and soon afterwards we'll depart for our yearly training camp, this time in Burgenland, Austria.

It's also time to decide what we'll be doing in the next transfer window. The goal is to be a bit more active in the market this time, trying to improve our weakest positions rather than just react to unwanted sales. We have €35M available and a bit of wage space, plus we can get some extra cash with some sales. Let's take a more detailed look:

Goalkeepers: no changes expected, which doesn't mean they won't happen. Rexhepi has been somewhat restless lately, and while there's no one currently interested there's a good chance some teams might return for him when the window opens. His market value isn't that high, a bit over €10M at most, so replacing him might be a bit of a challenge. The ideal scenario is that he stops grumbling and start working hard on actually deserving the starting spot, but I won't be holding my breath for that...

Defenders: one guaranteed sale and one guaranteed new face. The latter is, obviously, Althoff, who'll return from his loan in Bielefeld with a bag full of solid performances and a good number of assists, and will slot right behind Touré in the rotation for our left back position. That means we have one full back too many now, though, and the odd one out is Ball, who we'll be looking into selling. We could get around €12M for him, and it's going to be all profit since we got him basically for free from Spurs, so that's money we can invest elsewhere as required. As for the rest, we won't look into actively selling anyone, but Casas and Stjepanovic are once again attracting attention and could be sold if a good enough bid (€30M+) comes for either. Ernesto, Lange, and all our other fullbacks are of course not for sale at any price, although I could make an exception for Javorcic if someone is crazy enough to spend upwards of €100M on him.

Midfielders: we already know we're losing Miranda, and we already have Yilmaz as his replacement, so that's one problem solved. There are other outstanding issues here, though, starting with Neves' contract. We promised him a new deal, but his demands are impossible to accept, including a guaranteed starting place. He didn't raise a fuss after talks broke down, thankfully, but he's one of those pieces we could seriously improve with a bit of cash from elsewhere. €20M would be an acceptable prize for him, and we might actually look into drumming up some interest soon. Thiago is another player who's likely to be offered out, also for around €20M-€25M. The rest I'd rather keep, although Palomeque and Meunier are also being targeted by big teams, plus of course Rodríguez could be bought for €90M at any moment. Besides, we'll be looking into selling both Beltramone (around €8M, Monaco are interested) and Leacock (comes from a decent loan at Groningen but won't ever make the first team here, we could get another €3M for him) and that extra money should help us finance whatever purchases we need to make.

Attackers: no active sales here, for now. Rijkhoff has a lot of second-tier European squads like Ajax, Atlético or Milan on the chase, and if a bid that matches his €48.5M release clause comes he'll be gone, but I won't be forcing the issue unless he asks for it. Everton are also interested in Basualdo, but his market value is much lower (€10M-ish) and he'll be difficult to replace with a good enough player as a result. Still, if it happens we'll deal with it. I don't expect much movement around Özcan or Granero either, and at least the latter I won't sell under (almost) any circumstances. Özcan does have a release clause in place worth fifty-something million euros, but I doubt anyone will go for him that seriously this summer.

May 20th 2031

Undesirable side-effects of players having breakout seasons is that now they want better contracts, sometimes asking for way too much. This is the case here with Palomeque, who demands to be considered an important player and to more than double his current wages, which are admittedly low but not that low. His agent also tries to sneak in a cheeky 10% yearly wage rise into the deal for good measure, which we obviously spot and remove from the picture immediately. Thankfully negotiations actually work this time and the player ends up accepting a €60k weekly wage without any ridiculous clauses on top.

One final appearance in the Team of the Week for Miranda before his departure, together with Ernesto and Rodríguez this time.

May 24th 2031

No surprises in the DFB Pokal final, and Bayern seal a domestic double after a 2-0 win over Freiburg, with Fati and Havertz scoring the goals. That leaves Freiburg in the Conference League and Gladbach in the Europa League in the end.

May 25th 2031

On the topic of domestic doubles, our U19s complete a fantastic year with a 2-0 win over Köln in the junior cup final. One last dance for most of our youth starts like Katic, Jahn, or Donner, most of which will be expected to go out on loan next season to show they can actually perform on a more professional level. Don't expect the new batch to get anywhere close to this year's excellence.

Our first sale of the summer is confirmed today, too: Beltramone moves to Leverkusen in exchange for €6.5M and a 20% of future profits. Decent sale for a good-looking prospect that couldn't quite cut it at the senior level. He might've got there with more patience and playing time, but I think moving on was the correct move here. With some luck he'll show how wrong I am in Leverkusen and earn us some extra money in a future move.

May 26th 2031

Not a good couple of days for Köln by any means, as their defeat in the U19 final is soon followed by another defeat, this one against Mainz in the playoffs. One goal on each leg was enough to secure Mainz's survival in the Bundesliga, and keep Köln in the second tier for at least another year.

May 31st 2031

Time to decide our first Spain squad. And also our tactics, since whoever we call should be decided based on what we actually want to play like. Considering the huge amount of quality wing players we have at our disposal repeating our 4-1-3-2 is out of the question, so we're most likely to lean towards the various 4-5-1 variants, with 3-4-3 as a desperate option. With that in mind, and after a thorough review of the available players, we settle on this squad:

GK: Unai Simón (GK, 33yo, Athletic de Bilbao), Tomás Serrano (GK, 24yo, Everton), Juan Soriano (GK, 33yo, Besiktas)
DR: Guille Rosas (D/WBR, 31yo, West Ham), Pedro Porro (D/WB/M/AMR, 31yo, PSG)
DL: Alejandro Balde (D/WBL/M/AMRL, 27yo, Arsenal), Marc Cucurella (D/WB/M/AML, 32yo, Juventus, about to join Man City)
DC: Héctor Álvarez (D/DM/MC, 25yo, Milan), Eric García (DRC, 30yo, Barcelona), Albert (DC, 23yo, Man Utd), Casimiro Gil (DRC/DM, 24yo, Valencia)
DM/MC/AMC: Albert Cano (DM/MC/AMRC, 23yo, Barcelona), Pedri (MC/AMRLC, 28yo, Barcelona), Gavi (DM/M/AMC, 26yo, Liverpool), Marcos Llorente (yes, 36yo, Newcastle), Óscar (M/AMLC, 32yo, Sevilla), Carlos Soler (DM/MRC/AMRLC, 33yo, Barcelona)
AMRL: Brahim Díaz (MC/AMRLC/ST, 31yo, Milan), Ferran Torres (M/AMRL/ST, 31yo, Barcelona), Yeremy Pino (MR/AMRLC/ST, 28yo, Real Madrid), Nico Williams (M/AMRL/ST, 28yo, Athletic de Bilbao)
ST: Ansu Fati (M/AMRL/ST, 28yo, Bayern), Mikel Oyarzábal (MLC/AMRLC/ST, 34yo, PSG)

As mentioned when I first took the job, there's a serious lack of young talent worthy of a spot in the senior team at this time. There are promising youngsters at every position except possibly goal (and that will be a problem in a few years, Serrano is decent but nowhere near a star), but most of them are still short of the required quality to perform at a senior level, so they stay in the youth squads for now. That said, there are a couple exceptions, most notably our central defense with Álvarez, Albert, and Gil all looking fantastic for their age, plus a great playmaker like Albert Cano. All in all it's a very flexible squad with very few specialists, almost everyone can play in at least two or three positions and we have no out-and-out-strikers whatsoever, with basically any of our attacking players capable of doing well there.

* * *

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD

• Premier League: second title in a row for Manchester United, once again in a close fight against their sky blue neighbors with a final two-point lead showing how close things were. Liverpool and Spurs climbed into the top four in the end, only the second time the London team have managed to reach the Champions League since the 2010s ended. Behind them only Aston Villa managed European qualification through their league position, as the other two slots were decided in the cups: ten Hag's Crystal Palace won their first League Cup and major English title ever after beating equally surprising finalists Norwich in the final, and that led them to the Conference League. Meanwhile, Leicester claimed their second ever FA Cup trophy after a narrow win over Spurs and will play the Europa League as a result. The relegation battle wasn't all that close this time around, with Wolves, Brentford, and Southampton being the unlucky ones.
• LaLiga: Barcelona regained the top spot in Spain after losing it to Real Madrid last year, winning the title by two points over their arch-rivals mostly thanks to a home defeat by los Blancos against Athletic in the second-to-last fixture. Valencia and Real Sociedad grabbed the two remaining Champions League spots, leaving a much improved Atlético and Celta in the Europa League and Athletic in the Conference League. Deportivo's return to the elite lasted for just the one year and they relegated straight away, together with Valladolid and Alavés, and Real Madrid lifted the Copa del Rey after a narrow win over Athletic to avoid ending the year with nothing to their name.
• Serie A: Italy is looking more and more like France by the minute... Fifth title in a row for Juventus, this time with a record fourteen-point lead over Inter and Napoli and nineteen over fourth-placed Milan. These top four had in turn another fourteen-point gap behind them before we see Atalanta and Roma claim the Europa League places, with Udinese just behind them. Relegations for Pisa (only 13 points), Torino, and Empoli, survival without much suffering for Benevento for a change, and a Coppa win for Inter, who destroyed Roma 4-0 in the final.
• Ligue 1: Juve still have some work to do to reach PSG's level, though: eighteen points over second-placed Nice this time, Monaco three further points behind and finishing in the third and last Champions League spot. Europa League for OM and Rennes, Conference for OL, clear relegation for Nantes and a painfully narrow one for Strasbourg, and Clermont are currently in the middle of a playoff for survival against Caen, which will be completed tomorrow. The Coupe de France final was another face-off between the top two in the league, which of course ended in PSG's favor.
• Champions League: small surprise in the Champions League final, not so much for the eventual winners but for how easy the made it look: Inter trounced Real Madrid three to nil, scoring the first trophy for Italy since Inter themselves won it back in 2010. Milinkovic-Savic was the hero of the final scoring a brace, in a match in which the Spaniards seemed to have the upper hand and created more chances but could never put one past Édouard Mendy, while Stojanovic ended up conceding three in four shots on target. Karma, at long last. Inter annihilated Leipzig 5-1 in the semifinals, while Real Madrid prevented an all-Italian final by defeating Juventus in a much closely fought tie.
• Europa League: it's a strange feeling to see Manchester City and Newcastle, two teams you'd expect in the final stages of the Champions League, ducking it out for the Europa League trophy. It was Man City who won it in the end after a very comfortable 3-1 win (and two goals from Haaland), but it's still a somewhat bittersweet victory for a team used to much higher stakes. The semifinals had much more competition-fitting teams, though, with City putting eight past West Ham over two legs and Newcastle making it 6-1 against Empoli, another Italian team showing up in the latter rounds this year.
• Conference League: the youngest European competition saw its first Portuguese winner after Sporting CP narrowly defeated Celta 2-1 in a hard-fought and entertaining final held in Manchester. The Lisbon squad had to get past Athletic in the semifinals, while Celta squeezed a 2-1 win against an even more surprising European semifinalist, Hibernian.

[Dalbeider]

Jun 1st 2031

The end of the Champions League brings €9M more into our accounts from the TV rights and the coefficient ranking pool, which never hurt. Our accounts are now overflowing with more than €150M, which we should be investing in club improvements as soon as the board situation gets cleared up after the elections.

International call-ups slowly trickle in, interrupting our players' holidays. Hauptmann gets another chance to appear for Austria's senior side, while the final squads for the U21 Euros leave Althoff out of the Germany squad, but maintain Touré, Schulze, and Lange, plus Ball with England.

Jun 6th 2031

Romania (69th) vs. Spain (9th) (UEFA European Footbal Championship 2032 Qualification group B, 3/8)

Time for my international debut! Romania have only played once and lost against Armenia, which is noteworthy in and of itself, while we're on two wins out of two and looking good value to top the group come the end of the qualification tournament. We should win this one easily and make it three out of three, and by then we should have very little to fear in this group.

* * *

ROMANIA (4-2-3-1): Andrei Vlad (GK); Zsolt Tóth (DR), Radu Dragusin (DCr), Rafael Soare (DCl), Alexandru Onisemiuc (DL); Stefan Carpanu (MCr), Alexandru Florea (MCl); Dennis Man (AMR), Olimpiu Morutan (AMC), Octavian Popescu (AML); Ianis Hagi (ST)
SPAIN (4-2-3-1): Unai Simón (GK); Guille Rosas (DR), Casimiro Gil (DCr), Héctor Álvarez (DCl), Alejandro Balde (DL); Albert Cano (MCr), Gavi (MCl); Yeremy Pino (AMR), Pedri (AMC), Ansu Fati (AML); Brahim Díaz (ST)

* * *

We go with a 4-2-3-1 in the end, since we don't really have many defensive-minded players that can play in front of the defense unless we push one of our more technical center-backs (Álvarez, for example) forward. A very attacking formation on paper, should be fun to watch and enough to carry us through the qualification, but we'll need to find something more solid for the actual tournament. Romania mirror us, with some legendary family names in their lineup like Popescu and Hagi, and with the former of these two (currently in Aston Villa) and Sassuolo's Dragusin as their best players.

Looking to put them under heavy pressure from the start Cano gets a very early shot from the edge of the box blocked by the defense, and we proceed to lay siege to their goal. Our first shot to make it past the defensive line comes in the 10th in a long-range direct free kick by Gavi that hits the woodwork, bounces back towards Gil, and allows the center-back an easy finish with Vlad still recovering his position to score the 0-1 and his first international goal. Our domination continues afterwards, but now with less urgency, and Romania even manage to stretch themselves a bit and generate a direct free kick of their own that Hagi sends well over the bar.

Today it's the day of our center-backs, though: twenty-four minutes into the game Pino takes a corner kick towards the center of the box and Álvarez rushes in to power his header into the back of the net. Gil gets close in another set piece two minutes later, his header sailing only inches over the crossbar, and in the 27th Pedri controls in midfield, dribbles his way forward until he can spot Pino's movement into the box, and assists him so the winger can finish the job with class and score the 0-3. 

Things get even worse for Romania when Popescu needs to leave the field injured, and Fati threatens a fourth with a shot from outside the box that goes over, as does Álvarez a couple of minutes later. The game is not over just yet, though, and in the 41st we learn why when Morutan finds a way to generate space on the left side of Romania's attack, crosses towards the far post, and finds Man (fantastic name, by the way) ahead of Balde for an easy header Simón couldn't even see coming. Another bad decision by Simón in a deep set piece by Hagi allows Soare an easy chance for a second, but his header hits the crossbar and bounces clear as we release a collective sigh of relief on our way to the dressing room.

HALF TIME - 1-3

We tweak a couple of instructions in midfield to improve our control and they seem to work wonders, with Cano now running the midfield as he's supposed to do and soon finding Pedri with space ahead so the Barcelona star can place a cute little 20-yarder far beyond Vlad's reach and into the net for the 1-4. Romania still don't give up, though, and in the 56th Hagi gets really close with a first-time finish after a lob from midfield by Florea that the forward sends inches wide. Soon afterwards Williams and Torres come into the game, replacing a tired but excellent Pino and a somewhat out of place Díaz. Not much later veteran Llorente replaces Gavi to solidify our midfield even more.

The game slows down after the substitutions, with Romania unable and us unwilling to commit too much in attack. In the 79th we finally launch a successful attack with Williams running down the right and assisting Pedri, who can't get out a credible shot and sends the ball straight at the keeper. A wide header by Dragusin in a corner kick is Romania's only real chance, and it comes already in injury time and with the stands almost empty of local fans. The game ends soon afterwards in an easy win for us, and a very good-looking first performance in charge.

* * *

Romania 1 (Dennis Man 41)
Spain 4 (Casimiro Gil 10, Héctor Álvarez 24, Yeremy Pino 27, Pedri 49)

- - -

Pretty good overall, with some help from our center-backs being absolutely clinical with their heading today. There were some darker spots in an otherwise solid performance, though, Ansu Fati in particular had an absolutely horrendous evening on the left, but I think we can be satisfied with both the result and the performance. Nine out of nine, and if we beat Georgia at home in four days we could be well on our way to the main tournament.

[Dalbeider]

Jun 8th 2031

I completely forgot, but we still had an outstanding loan we took for building our new stadium. Well, no more, as the board has decided to just repay the whole amount with all that cash we have sitting in the bank. Now we're officially debt-free, and should stay so for the foreseeable future.

A new batch of international call-ups arrives, with Granero and Kretzschmar joining Argentina and Germany, among others.

Jun 10th 2031

Well, it's early but it looks like the summer transfer fiesta is starting already... Everton come with an offer for Basualdo worth €11M and a 20% of future profits, which matches the player's market value but doesn't give us nearly enough return for investment. We negotiate, asking for €10M upfront, €7.5M in installments, and a 30% of future profits, and they accept it outright. Huh. Basualdo has some interest in the move but isn't particularly enthused about it, so we might have a chance at keeping him if we offer him a new contract. Only problem is that his demands are outrageous, asking for wages that would put him only behind Rodríguez in the whole squad when he's basically a glorified rotation piece. So, we'll let him go and start looking for a replacement. C'est la vie.

* * *

Spain (9th) vs. Georgia (102nd) (UEFA European Footbal Championship 2032 Qualification group B, 4/8)

Surprisingly second in the group, Georgia have scored four points out of nine so far, including a clear win against Armenia just four days ago. They're still a team way below our punching level, so we should win this one at a canter, make it four wins in four games, and practically guarantee that we'll be top of the group at the end.

* * *

SPAIN (4-2-3-1): Juan Soriano (GK); Pedro Porro (DR), Eric García (DCr), Albert (DCl), Marc Cucurella (DL); Carlos Soler (MCr), Marcos Llorente (MCl); Nico Williams (AMR), Óscar (AMC), Ferran Torres (AML); Mikel Oyarzabal (ST)
GEORGIA (4-1-4-1): Giorgi Mamardashvili (GK); Omar Duduchava (DR), Saba Kobiashvili (DCr), Luka Lochoshvili (DCl), Gigla Tsertsvadze (DL); Giorgi Kutsia (DM); Zuriko Davitashvili (MR), Anzor Mekvabishvili (MCr), Giorgi Chakvetadze (MCl), Khvicha Kvaratskelia (ML); Georges Mikautadze (ST)

* * *

Full team rotation today, with Soriano earning his first cap ever at the age of 33 as the highlight. Georgia have a clear star in their goalkeeper Mamardashvili and a player that actually spent a few months in 1860 a long while ago, striker Mikautadze. Somewhat surprisingly, Georgia don't wait for us in their own half, and instead try to press us high to make our buildup as difficult as possible. And it works wonders for them, as twelve minutes in they string a series of good passes together, Mikautadze assists Davitashvili, and the left winger leaves Porro behind and finishes with quality in front of Soriano to give the visitors an unlikely lead.

We need a few minutes to recompose ourselves, but in our first attacking play with some degree of continuity Soler is brought down inside the box by Chakvetadze and the referee doesn't hesitate one bit to point to the spot. Oyarzábal, Spain's top goalscorer of all time, adds one more to his count from the spot and restores sanity to the scoreboard. Soon we're looking for the lead, with García getting close in a set piece he heads inches over, but Georgia are still very dangerous going forward, and Soriano has to work hard in the 25th minute first to tackle the ball away of Mikautadze before he has a chance to shoot in a run ahead of the defense, then deflecting over an attempt from distance by Kvaratskelia on the follow-up, and finally blocking a fee header by Kutsia in the resulting corner kick.

Mikautadze keeps playing out of his mind with a 30-yard direct free kick he sends into the crossbar and over, and by now the fans are starting to grumble in the stands, understandably so. We finally generate a chance of our own through Oyarzábal, who sends a beautiful pass to Williams but the finish isn't good enough to beat Mamardashvili. There's no continuity, though, and it takes us until the 40th minute to return, yet that's enough: possession play that ends in a deep pass down the right for Porro, perfect cross towards the far post, and there's Torres to loop a header over the keeper to make it 2-1. Our best minutes of the game come after the goal, but we still have to see Chakvetadze blast wide a fantastic chance on the break in the final minute of regulation. Ahead, but not looking good at all.

HALF TIME - 2-1

The early second half sees divided possession and little danger, with the one exception being a soft header by Davitashvili that Soriano catches without issue. Mikautadze then sends into the stratosphere a first-time shot from inside the box, and it's obviously time to change things a bit, with Gavi and Fati coming in for Soler and Torres. Gavi's presence soon gives our midfield a bit more bite we'd been sorely lacking, and in the 63rd Williams has another great chance to score following a great cross from deep by Cucurella, but once again he's denied by Mamardashvili. Seconds later, though, the winger collects the ball from Gavi on the right side of the box, crosses low, and finds Oyarzábal so the striker can do what he does best: score.

Álvarez then replaces Llorente in midfield, a role he's perfectly capable of playing and which might actually become his default position given our lack of defensive options in that area. Soon Oyarzábal sends wide another great chance generated by Cucurella with a long pass into space, and it looks like we're finally playing like we were supposed to today. Things slow down afterwards, though, as we slip into a more controlling pace to prevent any further scares from the Georgians. With little to no action other than a high header by Álvarez in a corner kick near the end of the ninety minutes, the game slowly trudges forward until the referee calls for the end.

* * *

Spain 3 (Mikel Oyarzábal 16p 63, Ferran Torres 40)
Georgia 1 (Zuriko Davitashvili 12)

- - -

We got away with it today, but that first half performance was nowhere near acceptable. If we do this against a better team we'll get pummeled into dust, plain and simple. Things improved once Gavi restored balance to our midfield, a role Llorente is obviously not capable of performing anymore. Growing pains, I suppose. Great game by Oyarzábal to rescue the three points, in any case.

[Dalbeider]

Jun 12th 2031

Spain's international duty might be over for now, but 1860's internationals are still working hard, with Özcan scoring a goal against Bosnia and Javorcic providing an assist against Moldavia.

Jun 13th 2031

One day later the U21 Euros start, and our players get a rough deal in Germany's 0-1 defeat against the Netherlands, with all three of our kids playing the whole game but all of them being as poor as the rest of the squad.

Jun 14th 2031

Meanwhile, Spain's U20 squad shows there's hope for the future of the nation, winning the U20 World Cup after destroying the USA 4-2 in the final. There's a couple of pretty good-looking prospects in there, particularly Villarreal's winger/striker José Carlos Puig, only 17 and already winning international titles well above his age group.

Jun 15th 2031

Ball does better than his German colleagues, winning 2-1 against Italy with England U21 and looking decent. Otherwise, a new round of international fixtures bring another goal for Özcan, a goal and an assist for Rodríguez with Mexico, and Granero not only starting for Argentina, but also scoring the winner against Ivory Coast. So the kid can score, huh. Finally, the biggest news of the day: Tom Kretzschmar gets his first senior cap with Germany! He played 70 minutes in a friendly 4-1 win against Stjepanovic's Serbia and did well enough, so there might be more chances for him in the near future.

In club news, 1860's stature in the world stage keeps improving, and we climb up to the 23rd place in the European club rankings table. Today we also celebrate the retirement of long-serving head of youth development Manfred Paula, who performed the role for twelve years with remarkable success until he decided it was time to call it a day. It'll be weird to return to work in July without him around.

Jun 16th 2031

Much better for our U21 German contingent in their second game, winning 2-0 against Bulgaria with Lange scoring one of the goals from the penalty spot. Solid performances for Touré and Schulze, too. Ball also has a notable performance in England's 2-0 win over Ireland, assist included.

Jun 18th 2031

More good international news for our players, this time Rijkhoff being the one to grab himself a goal with the Netherlands while Hauptmann scores an assist in Austria's surprisingly easy 4-0 win over Japan.

Rodríguez joins the international host now, as Mexico get ready for the Gold Cup. Meanwhile, Basualdo accepts his move to Everton, but now will have to wait for a work permit to be granted before the transfer can be finalized. We're still looking for a replacement, and it's likely to cost us quite a bit in the end.

Jun 19th 2031

Huh, Everton really want to buy all of our fringe players this year, and even before transfer listing them. Now they come with a €10.25M plus 20% of future profits offer for Ball, a player we were planning on selling just the same, and the bid more than matches his market value. Still, negotiating this a bit never hurts, particularly considering half of the money would be on yearly installments. In the end we settle in a deal worth €10M upfront, €5M in installments, and a 30% of future profits. Quite nice, and with the extra upside that we don't need to replace Ball at all thanks to Althoff's return in a couple of weeks.

Germany's adventure in the U21 Euros ends prematurely after a second defeat in the group stage, this time 0-1 against Belgium. Schulze and Lange played and did decently well, but not enough to be able to turn the result around.

Jun 20th 2031

Basualdo's work permit is granted, and there goes another of our forwards one year after finally showing his true quality, sigh. In this case we don't even get a big payday, so replacing him is going to be an interesting ordeal. Still, a decent profit made on a player we signed for €6.5M, we get €10M added into the transfer budget immediately plus a few more in future seasons, and there's the promise of a bigger windfall in the future thanks to his sell-on clause, so it's not all bad. Best of luck to him in the Premier League.

The Bundesliga fixture list is released today, too, and we learn that once again we'll be having the first Münchner Derby quite early in the season, on the fifth week this time around, and starting in the Allianz-Arena. Our first games will be against Union, Freiburg, and Fortuna, nothing too dangerous but nothing easy either, and we'll close the season with an always tricky trip to Hamburg.

One of the outstanding mysteries of the season that just ended is finally solved today: where will Lang go? Turns out the answer is "not very far", as he'll be joining Eintracht Frankfurt on a free transfer. The 29-year-old center back will therefore stay in the Bundesliga and will have the chance to visit the city where he's played his whole career up until now. A sad day, but I'm happy that he wasn't short on offers, at least twenty different teams from all over Europe tried to get his signature. Always a solid performer at the back, it's amazing that he's managed to stay relevant for us during ten full seasons, stretching all the way from the 3.Liga to the Champions League, and never looking out of place. The only reason we're letting him go is because there are now four center-backs in the squad that are better than him, and I'd rather see him play his final years elsewhere than keep him around for no good reason. Plus the whole thing about him wanting to leave but not really in the end, I guess. In any case, end of an era.

Ball continues on in the U21 Euros after England manage to top their group following another easy win, this time a 3-0 over Poland in which the full back played the whole game and looked good. The question is whether he'll remain a 1860 player by the time the tournament ends...

Jun 23rd 2031

Three days later England U21 reach the semifinals after a hard-fought 3-2 win over Belgium, once again with a solid Ball on left back for the whole game.

Jun 26th 2031

And three days later they make the final! Easy 4-1 win against the Netherlands, which means England has now beaten the two teams that defeated Germany in the group stage, heh. This time Ball came off the bench and was largely irrelevant for the final result.

Jun 27th 2031

A very Ball-centric June comes to an end when the player agrees a move to Everton, leaving €15M behind and the possibility of more in the future. A bargain buy that turned out quite well, Ball has been a solid rotation option since his arrival and delivered way more than what would be expected given how little we had to pay for him, and now that he's been superseded by young Althoff as our second left back we make a very good profit out of him. I wish all signings worked this well, honestly.

Schulze is next in line asking for a new contract, and while it's true that his current deal was quite outdated, once again his demands are a bit out there, particularly his demand of a release clause no higher than €29.5M. That's... literally no improvement over his current €25M one, so that's certainly not worth more than doubling his wages. Negotiations halted, player unhappy but thankfully he doesn't force the issue any further. For now.

Jun 29th 2031

For what it's worth, England won the U21 European Championship in the end, 2-0 against France in the final and with Ball grabbing an assist.

Jun 30th 2031

The month finally ends, and with it many contracts, including Miranda's and Lang's, who both depart to join their new Bundesliga teams. Not looking forward to meeting them again, that's for sure. Another expiring contract is Englisch, our third goalkeeper, who never developed in any meaningful way since his arrival. We'll probably need to find someone to fill that gap, actually, just in case of injuries. There's also some movement in the backroom staff, as some expiring contracts are not renewed and we start looking for new faces to replace them. On that topic, our new head of youth development is Max Balster, coming from Gladbach.

It's also election day at the club, with the usual excitement that comes with it: none at all. Once again not a single original idea among the candidates, so I fully expect Herr Dippel to easily sweep the opposition and earn a fourth term.

[Dalbeider]

Jul 1st 2031

Loanees return, Yilmaz joins from Feyenoord, and we get ready for another fun fun transfer window. Still looking for a replacement for Basualdo, incidentally. We have two options, one of which we're already negotiating with. Meanwhile Manchester United seem to want to rid us of Rijkhoff, which wouldn't be exactly ideal but nothing I would cry too hard about either. €48.5M is the price if they want him.

Meanwhile, Rodríguez has already played two games with Mexico in the Gold Cup, scoring one assist and helping them along to two wins against Martinique and Honduras. They're already guaranteed to top their group before the final fixture against Haiti, as would be expected.

And hello, that's a surprise: Dippel loses the election! His replacement will be Franz Schulte, whose arrival doesn't seem to change much other than an extra focus in increasing commercial revenue. Not like we need the money, but hey, more never hurts. He also seems happy to listen to my request for an improvement on our training facilities to keep them up to par with the top clubs in the nation, and a few days later work begins on that. Now that we have a huge cash cushion it's the perfect moment to start working for our long-term future.

Jul 3rd 2031

And here comes our replacement for Basualdo, who happens to be another Argentinian: 20yo forward Facundo Robledo joins from Vélez Sársfield in a deal worth €12M, plus an extra €1M whenever he scores ten league goals and a 30% of future profits. And yes, I know, I said we'd focus on developed players in their prime from now on, but the prices we're being quoted for such forwards are astronomical, so we don't really have an alternative here. Among the young, promising options we looked at Robledo is probably the best, a quick and nimble false nine with lots of flair and enough vision and finishing ability to provide both goals and assists. He'll be slightly behind Granero in the picking order, but he'll still play lots whenever we need to rotate the squad, which will be often. He comes with a reasonable €45k weekly wage, set to increase when he reaches certain amounts of league games, plus a release clause worth €70M.

And soon enough, more contract talks. This time it's Ernesto, our best center-back, so it's an important one, particularly considering he has a relatively low release clause in his current deal. He wants to be treated as a start player, which is absolutely fair given how good he's been so far for us, and as such he earns the highest wage in the squad as of now: €100k per week, plus a guaranteed 5% yearly raise and a €75M release clause. All fair to keep one of our best players happy at the club.

When it rains it pours, and Javorcic comes next. He wants the same treatment as Ernesto, but his wage demands are much more reasonable: "only" €70k per week, a 5% yearly increase, and a €100M release clause. Quite reasonable all in all, although with him demanding star-worthy playing time it's going to be difficult to find space for Hauptmann to play and develop, hm.

Jul 4th 2031

Another of our likely sales seems to be going to happen without having to force it: Rangers pop up with a €23.5M offer for Thiago, including a 20% of future profits. That's about right for his value, and since we're looking into improving that position anyway it comes in really handy. Accepted, and time to start work on signing his replacement. Not "finding", mind: we already did that a long time ago.

Jul 5th 2031

Another assist for Rodríguez in a poor 1-0 win over Haiti for Mexico, who nonetheless advance with three out of three wins.

Thiago's transfer saga gets a bit more interesting, as Porto join in with a bid worth €30M. The player seems to be much more interested in moving to Portugal than to Scotland for obvious reasons (language, weather, food...), so it looks like we might get a bit more for him than we'd expected. Meanwhile, Bayern try to hijack our preferred option to sign in Thiago's place, the asterisks. On the other hand this would make this signing even more of a coup if we manage to land it in the end. Crossing fingers...

Jul 7th 2031

Preseason starts! Nothing big to report, just the players looking quite fired up for what's coming this season.

Jul 8th 2031

Welp, that's another early crash-out for Mexico in the Gold Cup. This time they lost in the quarterfinals to Panama, an absolute travesty of a result considering the theoretical difference between both teams. Rodríguez wasn't any better than his companions, and his stinker didn't help their cause even a bit. Guess he's coming back home early after all...

Today we also experience our first preseason injury of the year, with Meunier as the (un)lucky winner of a pulled thigh. Nothing serious, he'll just miss around a few days of training and maaaybe our first friendly against Karlsruhe but nothing more.

On the topic of our affiliates, young starlet Katic moves to Karlsruhe on loan for the season. The 2.Bundesliga looks like the perfect fit for him at this point of his career, and if he can replicate the incredible numbers of goals and assists he produced for the U19 team there he'll be a keeper for the future for sure. He's also in a contract year, so we'll keep a very keen eye on his performances.

Jul 9th 2031

Another expected sale is finished today: midfielder Romelle Leacock leaves for mini-rivals Augsburg, who'll pay €2.6M and a 30% of any future profits. Leacock is looking like a very decent  midfielder for a mid-table Bundesliga team like Augsburg, but not good enough to fight for a place in our rotation, and unlikely to ever get there. He was a free transfer released by Chelsea back in the day, so this is all profit and more money to throw a quality players in other positions.

Jul 10th 2031

Welp. Bayern sell Ramsdale to Manchester City for €60M. Expect them to come back for either Rexhepi or Kretzschmar in the near future...

Jul 11th 2031

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him: 21yo defensive midfielder Frank Hennig joins from Mainz in a club-record transfer worth (deep breath) €50M upfront, €20M in three yearly installments, €10M after 50 league appearances, and a 30% of future profits. That's a lot of dough, but at least only the first €50M will impact this season's budget, meaning we can pay it without issue after all those sales (and even before Thiago's is finalized). 

Now, who is Frank Hennig, you ask? Probably the best young defensive midfielder in Europe, and most certainly the best in Germany. We've been chasing him for a long while now, and he was our first option to replace Vuskovic (remember him?) back when Manchester City release-clause'd him away, but he decided to extend his deal with Mainz instead and we went with Meunier in his place. Since then he has developed as much as we hoped he would, and now it has taken this much to pry him away from Mainz even after he requested a move to a bigger club. 

The kid is a physical prodigy, an absolute monster at tackling and marking rival midfielders and forwards, and has a very mature mentality that helps him perform consistently well. He's also very versatile, able to play both in front of the defense and further upfield, and can even do a very decent job as a central and right-sided defender. Already capped seven times for Germany's senior side, it's extremely likely he'll continue racking up the caps for a long time, maybe even threatening some longevity records there. And he still can improve! Worth every penny if you ask me, and his contract isn't particularly troubling at only €54k per week and with a prohibitive €120M release clause.

Also? In your face, Bayern.

Minutes later, Thiago frees up the space Hennig will now occupy after completing his move to Porto, as expected. €30M (€21M of which upfront) and a 30% of future profits is a good deal for a player we bought for €11M four years ago, and who did a pretty good job despite not quite reaching the level he was supposed to back then. Solid player, solid profit, no complaints whatsoever.

Jul 12th 2031

Karlsruher SC vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

Our regularly scheduled visit to our affiliates kickstarts the preseason, although since the loan deal specifies Katic can't play against us we won't see him in action today, a bit of a shame. Our ex-keeper Englisch has also joined them, and he watches helplessly as Rijkhoff quickly scores the first after heading a cross by new kid Robledo into the crossbar, then gathering the rebound unopposed. The striker then assists Rodríguez so the Mexican can forget his international woes by scoring the second in a great run through the center, then Rijkhoff does it again and sends a great pass into the box for Robledo, who places his finish near the post to make it 0-3 after 31 minutes. Two minutes later the other two new guys, Hennig and Yilmaz, connect so the attacking midfielder can send a short cross into Rijkhoff's easy volley for the fourth, then the Turk barges into the box chasing a pass from Rodríguez to make it 0-5, all within three minutes. There's still time in the first half for Rijkhoff to complete his hattrick, heading in another great cross by Robledo.

In the second half we obviously take the foot off the gas a bit, yet we still get a penalty kick after a push on Lange in a corner kick, converted into the 0-7 by Neves. Özcan makes it eight in the 58th minute following another great pass by Yilmaz, who's playing the whole game today, and in the 74th Granero finishes a low cross by Hauptmann to make it 0-9, which seems to be the final score until the young Argentinian buries a direct free kick in the last minute of regulation. Reminder that Karlsruhe are a 2.Bundesliga team, by the way.

Karlsruher SC 0
TSV 1860 München 10 (Julian Rijkhoff 2 33 41, Jair Rodríguez 11, Facundo Robledo 31, Hakki Yilmaz 34, Joao Neves 57p, Vedat Özcan 58, Gino Granero 74 90)

[Dalbeider]

Jul 14th 2031

Our staff renewal process is still ongoing, but today a big name joins our coaching staff: Cesc Fàbregas, former Arsenal and Barcelona star midfielder, joins from Atlético.

Jul 19th 2031

DSG Vienna Falcons vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

Our first friendly of the training camp sees us meeting a known foe, the amateur Vienna Falcons who we already played four years ago and, er, put twenty goals past them. And when Palomeque scores eleven seconds into the game after a great pass from Yilmaz, then Robledo adds a second even before the first minute is over, we get the feeling that it's going to be more of the same this time around, too. Said and done, as Palomeque (again), Rodríguez (thrice), Yilmaz, and Rijkhoff combine to put us eight goals ahead by halftime. Neves restarts the onslaught with an early penalty in the second half, then immediately adds a tap-in to make it a round ten. He is followed by Özcan (twice), Rodríguez (thrice more), Schulze (twice), and Hauptmann for a total of eighteen goals come the end of the ninety minutes. Not quite twenty, but good enough, I'd say.

DSG Vienna Falcons 0
TSV 1860 München 18 (Juan David Palomeque 1 7, Facundo Robledo 1, Jair Rodríguez 10 15 28 59 67 68, Hakki Yilmaz 37, Julian Rijkhoff 45, Joao Neves 51p 56, Veda Özcan 59 90, Maximilian Schulze 70 82, Lukas Hauptmann 72)

Jul 22nd 2031

FC Blau-Weiss Linz vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

More of the same for our second friendly in Austria, although BW Linz are an actual professional team in the second tier, so they should prove a tougher challenge. Or so we thought, but eight minutes in a good combination by basically our whole attacking unit ends with the ball inside the box an under Althoff's control, and the left back doesn't miss and makes it 0-1. Chances keep flowing until Palomeque smashes a pass by Robledo in for the second, but afterwards thing do indeed slow down a bit, and it takes us until the 30th minute and a great counterattack led by Palomeque and finished by Rodríguez to finally get our third. No more until the second half, which sees young midfielder Felix Donner having a chance to play with the big boys and scoring with a screamer from distance just six minutes later. We're firmly in energy-saving mode now, though, and despite some decent looks the result stays the same until the end.

FC Blau-Weiss Linz 0
TSV 1860 München 4 (Markus Althoff 8, Juan David Palomeque 12, Jair Rodríguez 30, Felix Donner 51)

Jul 24th 2031

SKU Amstetten vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

Our last match in Austria is against a semi-pro side from their regional leagues, so it should be another walkover. This get complicated very early, though, as Rodríguez sees a straight red for a silly and dangerous scissor kick not even two minutes into the game. We still dominate the game, of course, but chances are slightly harder to come by without a midfielder. Thankfully things go back to parity in the 23rd minute when one of their own midfielders goes a bit crazy and earns himself a red for a reckless challenge on Yilmaz. So much for a "friendly" match, huh. The first goal finally arrives in the 27th when Yilmaz finishes a great pass from deep by Hennig, then the two midfielders connect again seven minutes later in very similar fashion and with the same result. Yilmaz then seals his hattrick in the 39th tapping in a great cross by Robledo, and normalcy seems to have been restored for good. A much calmer second half brings a fourth through Neves' run and finish through the center in the 59th minute, then a fifth scored from the penalty spot by Neves himself after being clearly tripped inside the box. Then, out of nowhere, Amstetten get one back after a great passing play finished by Frederiksen with a shot into the underside of the bar, surprising a very passive Rexhepi. It doesn't matter in the end, but it's a bad look. Regardless, this friendly-in-name-only ends in another clear win after all.

SKU Amstetten 1 (John Frederiksen 71, Marcel Tanzmayr sent off 23)
TSV 1860 München 5 (Hakki Yilmaz 27 34 39, Joao Neves 59 70p, Jair Rodríguez sent off 2)

Jul 25th 2031

And here's our new midfielder! Yes, we haven't sold Neves yet, in fact we haven't even tried and there's a chance we keep him in the end, as long as he doesn't mind a slightly reduced role. Regardless, our new guy comes from Manchester City (again) in a surprisingly cheap €15M plus 30% of future profits deal, he's a 21-year-old Belgian, and his name is Bienvenu Moke. A case similar to Granero, a quality youngster who couldn't quite break into City's squad and leaves looking for more playing time. Last season he played just twice with the sky blues, then went on a half-season loan at Rangers in which he looked really solid, so we know he can cut it at a decently high level. He's a fast and agile midfielder with lots of vision and passing ability, has a very nasty long-distance shot, and is no slouch defending either. He'll join the midfield rotation on the same level as Neves, Palomeque, and Schulze, that is, players that can start at any time but won't do so consistently, but given his youth and potential he's the most likely of the three to become a sure starter in the near future. Comes with a €47k weekly wage, very reasonable and set to increase after a certain amount of league matches, and a €55M release clause which we'll make sure to get rid of as soon as possible.

Moke's transfer leaves us with around €7M still unspent, which should help a bit should we need to find a replacement for someone before the window ends. Not looking at you and your dozen suitors, Rijkhoff... At least a couple of those millions will go straight into the wage budget, though, we are just a bit above the limit right now. Which also could be a problem if/when someone else comes asking for an improved contract in the next few months, actually.

Jul 27th 2031

Freialdenhoven. That's the name of the team we'll be playing in the first round of the DFB Pokal, SC Borussia Freialdenhoven to be precise. They play in the Oberliga Mittelrhein, a regional league in the fifth tier of German football. Needless to say it should be easy, but we've had... experiences in the past when playing this kind of teams, so yeah.

Jul 29th 2031

Well, that didn't take long at all... Bayern sell former Löwe Ian Amador to Liverpool for €36.5M, and that means we score 30% of the profits made, which comes up to a nice €2.3M. The fullback played in all of nine games last season (and dished out four assists in those), let's see if he has better luck in the Premier League.

Jul 30th 2031

Boavista Futebol Clube vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

Raising the level a bit (or rather, a lot) with a short trip to Porto to face Boavista, who finished ninth in the Portuguese top division last season. Higher level or not, we still take an early lead thanks to a great through ball by Robledo towards Rodríguez, who places it into the back of net with his usual precision. In the 13th minute Yilmaz adds another, finishing with power a good pass by the Mexican, and six minutes later the Turk bends another one into the net, this time after receiving the ball from Althoff. Ernesto makes it four with only 22 minutes gone in his usual manner: jumping higher than everyone else in a corner kick. After a short break Rodríguez scores the fifth, tapping it in after a great cross from deep by Javorcic, and that's how we reach half time. The second unit comes in and soon Moke introduces himself with a beautiful vertical pass towards Özcan, who scores the sixth with a precise touch, then gifts another goal to Schulze, who doesn't miss either. We finally decide to take a breather then, and we breeze through the rest of the match without pushing too hard for more goals. Seven is enough, I think.

Boavista Futebol Clube 0
TSV 1860 München 7 (Jair Rodríguez 8 35, Hakki Yilmaz 13 19, Ernesto 22, Vedat Özcan 51, Maximilian Schulze 53)

Aug 3rd 2031

TSV 1860 München vs. R.C.D. Espanyol de Barcelona (Friendly)

And from the ninth in the Portuguese league to the ninth in the Spanish league, just to keep a consistent theme. Espanyol should be another final step up to get us up to speed for the actual season starting next week. We start dominating like we've done all preseason long and get a ton of early chances, but Espanyol's keeper denies us over and over again and we somehow end the first half still goalless. Early in the second half, though, a cross from the left by Özcan reaches Moke, his first finish is blocked, but his second attempt goes in for the very overdue opener. Chances keep coming afterwards, particularly in corner kicks where Lange just dominates but can't seem to aim his headers correctly, and finally it's Hauptmann who finds a gap on the right wing to cross through and set up Özcan's header for the second, eight minutes before the end. That'll have to do for today.

TSV 1860 München 2 (Bienvenu Moke 50, Vedat Özcan 82)
R.C.D. Espanyol de Barcelona 0

[Dalbeider]

Aug 7th 2031

There hasn't been much movement regarding our players lately, which feels a bit like the calm before the storm. Chelsea are interested in Rodríguez but haven't made any offers just yet, Rijkhoff continues attracting attention from the likes of Manchester United, and there's some minor interest in players like Casas or Schulze, so things could get really fun before the window shuts. At least Bayern have already found a new keeper elsewhere, so that's something we don't have to worry about.

Aug 9th 2031

Ah, here we go: Sevilla offer €19M for Casas. Quite a bit short from our valuation, and I'm more than aware that it'll be difficult to find someone of his quality and earning as little as he does right now, so we'll reject it for now. Won't rule out a sale if they go a bit higher than that, though.

Aug 10th 2031

SC Borussia Freialdenhoven vs. TSV 1860 München (DFB Pokal 1st round)

Season start-o! As usual, an easy (on paper) trip to some semi-pro side from the bottom tiers of German football, this time taking us all the way to the Rheinland to face Freialdenhoven. A good chance to give our new players a serious(ish) test to see how they perform in a real, competitive match, and also minutes for our less frequent starters to get everyone up to speed before the real season begins.

* * *

FREIALDENHOVEN (4-2-3-1): Lucas Becker (GK); Gabriel Weiss (DR), Lukas Frings (DCr), Gabriel Laba (DCl), Luke Schierenbeck (DL); Ben Hompesch (MCr), Muray Aydin (MCl); Tobias Dombrowa (AMR), Leandro Ricker Rasteiro (AMC), Steven Heib (AML); Mike Osenberg (ST)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Kevin Rexhepi (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Jano Lange (DCr), Arnau Casas (DCl), Markus Althoff (DL); Frank Hennig (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Bienvenu Moke (MC), Hakki Yilmaz (MCl); Facundo Robledo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)

* * *

As mentioned, all our new signings and returning loanees start today, and we all expect a pleasant time out with a good result to match. And yep, only twenty seconds into the game Schulze has already found Moke on the run and the midfielder has our first chance of the game, denied by a well positioned Becker. One minute later Althoff surprises almost everyone with a wonderful direct free kick straight into the post and clear, and before the second minute is over Lange heads a corner kick wide. Looks like we're gonna have fun today.

Another corner kick in the sixth minute brings another header by Lange, this one a bit too high, but after that we spend a few minutes without finding a new way to break through. We go all the way into the 15th before Althoff tries again from a direct free kick, Becker blocks it, Yilmaz smashes the rebound on a defender, there's a chaotic scramble inside the box, and in the end Moke pushes the ball over the line for a somewhat awkward and very hilarious debut goal. Six minutes later Özcan sees another clear chance bounce off a defender's legs following a great run and pass back by Yilmaz, who's looking quite good in Miranda's place so far.

More work for Freialdenhoven's keeper in the 24th minute, deflecting wide a good-looking shot by Hauptmann, and after a couple good chances that end up not counting due to narrow offside positions, Yilmaz has a legal one stopped by Becker after barging into the box chasing a pass across the field from Schulze. Patient passing play while looking for the free man in the 39th minute ends with a wide finish by Robledo, probably the less involved of the newbies today so far. Seconds later Frings blocks an attempt at a chip over the keeper by Özcan after a delicious pass from Yilmaz, and then, finally, Lange finds the target in the corner kick that follows and scores the 0-2, assisted by Moke from the flag. 

There's still time for Robledo to steal the ball from the defense through good pressing only to then blast his finish over the bar, and for Özcan to waste another great pass forward by Yilmaz with a miskick that sends the ball wide. A high ball from distance by Robledo marks the end of the first half, as easy as expcted.

HALF TIME - 0-2

Seventeen seconds is all we need in the second half to grab a third, thanks to Schulze's pass over the defense and Özcan knowing where to run to gather it, then finishing with precision for once. Five minutes later Hennig shows up in attack to send a beautiful pass into the box for Yilmaz's volley, tipped wide by Becker. That generates another corner kick, Lange reaches it on the near post but, instead of heading it in, sends the ball across the goal mouth so Hennig only has to tap it in on the far post and score the 0-4, and another debut goal.

Now we're playing with wind on our sails, and only one minute later Özcan runs into the left side of the box, turns around, and crosses towards the other side so Schulze can head it in and score the fifth. Around this time we decide to bring Granero in Robledo's place, hopefully allowing the youngster the chance to score his first goal for us. Meanwhile, Althoff keeps trying with direct free kicks, this third one going worse than the others and sailing well over. In the 63rd minute Moke looks for another goal to add to an already impressive debut with a shot from outside the box that also goes over, shortly before Palomeque and Ernesto enter the game replacing Schulze and Lange.

Yilmaz keeps showing his quality in the 69th, curling a shot from the edge of the box into the crossbar and behind. Özcan follows it up with a high and wide header in a set piece taken by Moke, then Granero takes over from Althoff in direct free kick duties and gets close, but still a bit high. Finally, in the 72nd, Frings fails to intercept a lob by Hennig into the box and there's Yilmaz to control, place his finish, and score the 0-6. Palomeque then joins the goalfest with a perfect finish after a great ball into space by Özcan, and now we're reaching numbers we hadn't seen in a long while in a competitive match.

Granero gets his chance in the 78nd in a counterattack that Özcan turns into a one-on-one with a great through ball, but the youngster shoots wide when everyone was already celebrating the eighth. One minute later he controls a pass by Hauptmann inside the box, but instead of trying again he pauses, passes it towards the penalty spot, and Yilmaz appears to place it between the keeper and the post. Somewhat surprisingly, the first brace of the afternoon, although we have six different players with at least one goal and one assist. Granero adds a second assist to his off-the-bench display with a nod towards Casas in a set piece taken by Moke, so the defender only has to smash it in to make it 0-9. One minute later, Granero collects the ball twenty yards away from goal and bends it with power and precision to, after all this time, finally grab his first goal as a Löwe.

There's still time for a few more, and Moke almost gets one in the 86th after finishing a quick break and a great pass by Althoff, but seeing his finish deflected over by a well-timed block from Frings. Two minutes later he runs into the box again, attracts the keeper attention, then passes it back to Yilmaz for an apparently trivial finish against an empty goal that the Turk, most likely already thinking about the shower, somehow blasts over the bar. Then Moke tries again from distance, his shot deflected into the crossbar by Becker, before in injury time we allow Freialdenhoven their first shot at goal of the game, a good attempt by Osenberg that Rexhepi parries, if only just. That marks the end of a game that went exactly as expected, for a change.

* * *

SC Borussia Freialdenhoven 0
TSV 1860 München 10 (Bienvenu Moke 15, Jano Lange 40, Vedat Özcan 46, Frank Hennig 51, Maximilian Schulze 53, Hakki Yilmaz 72 79, Juan David Palomeque 74, Arnau Casas 81, Gino Granero 82)

- - -

Yup, that was a cup first round match indeed. Not much to say other than that the players did a thoroughly professional job, and that I want to see this finishing in the league, too. Nice debuts for all the new faces, Althoff looked surprisingly mature out there, and I can have absolutely no complaints about how this went down. Can't wait for the Bundesliga to start.

[Dalbeider]

Aug 11th 2031

With Lang's departure comes a change in captaincy. Seniority determines it should be Kretzschmar taking the armband, but the keeper graciously declines, indicating that Ernesto is a much better choice given his natural leadership abilities, and I can't help but agree. Therefore, the Brazilian is our new captain, while Kretzschmar remains as vice-captain for whenever Ernesto is resting.

Aug 16th 2031

Second round of the DFB Pokal: Braunschweig-1860. Not a bad deal, considering Braunschweig are among the relegation favorites in the 2.Bundesliga this year. There are some interesting ties already in this early round, including Leverkusen-HSV, Hertha-Nürnberg, and Bayern-Gladbach.

* * *

1.FC Union Berlin vs. TSV 1860 München (Bundesliga, 1/34)

And here we go for the eleventh time. The goal for this early league season will be to try and get twelve out of twelve points in the first four fixtures, so we can go into the derby against Bayern without pressure and, with some luck, ahead of them on the table. Flights of fancy aside, Union should be a decent target for a first win, considering we haven't lost against them in our last eleven meetings, but each season is a whole different world.

* * *

UNION BERLIN (4-4-2 diamond narrow): Florian Kastenmeier (GK); Daniel Murillo (DR), Reece Oxford (DCr), Thanasis Atmatsidis (DCl), Maximilian Mittelstädt (DL); Mirko Koch (DM), Juan Ignacio Cabrera (MCr), Karamoko Jeanjean (MCl), Aymen Barkok (AMC); Iker Bravo (STr), Maurice Malone (STl)
1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Ernesto (DCr), Jano Lange (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Frank Hennig (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Hakki Yilmaz (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)

* * *

Baumgart maintains the narrow diamond formation he used last season with Union, with a few personnel changes but keeping a similar core of players. We bring out what'll probably be our default starting eleven today, with a few moving pieces like Lange, Palomeque, and Rijkhoff who have some stiff competition for their place in the eleven. And it seems to work fine, as we get a very early chance in a set piece taken by Rodríguez and headed by Ernesto into the woodwork, although in the end it's invalidated as the center-back was very narrowly offside.

Soon we start playing our game, dominating possession and launching quick attacks through the center, one of which leads to a nice assist by Granero towards Palomeque, whose shot is deflected wide by Kastenmeier. The Colombian tries luck again in the ninth minute with a long shot that narrowly misses the post, all this while Rijkhoff is on the fringe receiving treatment for a knee injury. We decide to play it safe and bring Özcan in his place, and in the 15th minute a steal by Hennig creates a chance to run, Granero takes it and drops all the way to the right touch line, then sends a ball ahead into the gap he's created and through which Rodríguez barges in, shoots low and placed, and scores the 0-1.

Two minutes later a cross by Palomeque into the heart of the box ends in a bit of a melee and Rodríguez on the ground. The referee pauses play to review the incident, and after a short while awards a penalty kick for a push by Cabrera. Granero takes it with such precision that the ball bounces on the underside of the crossbar then inches inside the goal line, and it's 0-2 already. Things calm down a bit after that, with only a wide header by Cabrera in a corner kick come the 26th minute to keep the fans slightly interested, in what's Union's first attempt at goal of the match.

Our domination continues unabated, and in the 35th minute Hennig surprises with a long ball ahead of Javorcic, who escapes everyone's attention and enters the box completely unmarked, shoots in a somewhat awkward way, and somehow beats Kastenmeier only to see it all disallowed after VAR spots a very narrow offside position. Barkok's position in Union's first approach from open play looks equally dubious, but the flag stays down and it's Lange's job to go down and help Kretzschmar by blocking the finish. In the final minutes Özcan *also* takes a bit of a knock, but thankfully it's nothing serious and he can continue playing, although somewhat in pain. With that, the first half ends with a very positive result for us so far.

HALF TIME - 0-2

The second half starts as the first ended: slow and with very little action on either goal, although now Union are challenging our territorial domination a bit more seriously. The first real chance of the half doesn't arrive until the 62nd, a cross from the left by Malone that Bravo controls inside the box, but Kretzschmar is there to first block and then hold the ball. Hauptmann and Moke soon enter the game replacing Javorcic and Yilmaz, both surprisingly mediocre today, and in the 64th minute the right back starts the play that ends with the ball reaching Rodríguez near the penalty spot, and the Mexican decides to pass it ahead instead of shooting and finds Özcan in the perfect position to score the 0-3 unopposed.

After that it's back to holding the ball and denying Union even a sniff of a chance. In the 73rd a silky run by Özcan leads to a great assist by Granero towards Moke, who faces Kastenmeier but sends his shot straight into his hands. Another pass by the young Argentinian finds Rodríguez six minutes later, and the Mexican gets closer with a finish that licks the upside of the bar as it goes over. Then it's Granero's turn to be unlucky, gathering an assist from Özcan inside the box and lobbing it over Kastenmeier and straight into the post. Union's last minute switch to 4-2-3-1 doesn't really pay any dividends for them, and soon we confirm a very comfy win to start the season with.

* * *

1.FC Union Berlin 0
TSV 1860 München 3 (Jair Rodríguez 15, Gino Granero 18p, Vedat Özcan 64)

- - -

All according to keikaku. Perfect way to start the season, with the team doing what they're supposed to do, being clearly better, and taking their chances when they come. And that's despite hitting the woodwork three times! Nice to see Granero already on two goals scored, Özcan seems to be starting in good form too, and Rodríguez keeps being himself. Let's keep it this way. Oh, and Rijkhoff's injury turns out to be nothing more than a bruise, he'll be more than fine for our next game.

(And yes, "keikaku" means "plan". Had to put it somewhere, I guess)

[Dalbeider]

Aug 19th 2031

Ernesto and Rodríguez make the first Team of the Week of the season.

Aug 21st 2031

Özcan goes down in training with a pull in his groin, nothing too bad but still enough for a week of forced rest. Out of our next game, should be fine if a little tight for the one after that.

Aug 22nd 2031

Ten days left of the summer transfer window and still no movement. I've been hesitating about whether to keep Neves or not, and right now I don't see a reason to sell him other than maybe potential unhappiness at a reduced role seeping into the rest of the squad. If we have to gather funds to replace someone like one of our veteran center-backs and/or Rijkhoff then we can think about it.

Aug 23rd 2031

And on the topic of injuries, here's another, not even 24 hours before our game against Freiburg: Ernesto is out with a bruised thigh. Again, a week out of training and he'll be back as new, but in the meantime we'll need someone else to lead our defense tomorrow.

Aug 24th 2031

TSV 1860 München vs. Sport-Club Freiburg (Bundesliga, 2/34)

First home match of the season and it's against the most in-form team in the last third of the previous one, managing not just to sneak into the seventh place and into Europe, but also into the DFB Pokal final. Always a tough team to beat, if they can keep their performance levels as high as before the summer we're in for a rough time today.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Tomislav Javorcic (DR), Mateja Stjepanovic (DCr), Jano Lange (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Aymeric Meunier (DM); Maximilian Schulze (MCr), Bienvenu Moke (MC), Jair Rodríguez (MCl); Gino Granero (STr), Julian Rijkhoff (STl)
FREIBURG (4-2-3-1): Florian Müller (GK); Hugo Siquet (DR), Laurin Moser (DCr), Manuel Akanji (DCl), Sadiki Mussa (DL); Tom Bischof (MCr), Mads Bidstrup (MCl); Jan Thielmann (AMR), Dominique Forel (AMC), Niall Slaney (AML), Nicolai Skoglund (ST)

* * *

Bit of an experiment today, moving Rodríguez to the left of our midfield instead of his usual place in the center, which is taken by Moke. Freiburg have changed a bit since our last meeting, but most of their regulars remain in the lineup. Our experiment seems to work in the early game, as we control possession as almost always and create an early counterattack thanks precisely to a steal by Moke, a good assist by Schulze, and a narrowly wide finish by Granero. Another interception by Moke generates another chance almost immediately, this time for Rodríguez after a quick combination through the center, although Müller doesn't have much trouble saving it.

Things slow down a bit after those two arrivals, though, and only a direct free kick that Rodríguez slams into the defensive fence in the 11th minute gives Freiburg some pause. The Mexican then tries a wide header following a good cross by Javorcic, all while Freiburg can barely get out of their own half due to our constant pressing. In the 15th another good pass forward by Schulze leads to another chance for Granero, stopped by Müller under heavy defensive pressure, and the corner kick we earn from it is headed by Stjepanovic into the keeper's hands. After that, the visitors seem to tighten their lines a bit and we find it harder to get near their goal, and a period of sterile possession play follows.

We finally revive our attack in the 38th, with Rijkhoff finally appearing with a pass back towards Rodríguez, who tries a first-time shot with his left foot but mishits it terribly and sends it into the stands behind the goal. It's an isolated chance, though, and Freiburg seem to have found the right position to stop us from getting to Müller as easily as we did before. Other than a couple of blocked finishes by Granero and Moke, there's little of interest until injury time, when Moke intercepts a bad clearance by Müller and assists Granero inside the box, only to see the keeper react wonderful to his mistake with a miraculous save in the one-on-one, then blocking Lange's header in the corner kick. No goals at half time, somehow.

HALF TIME - 0-0

The second half continues the pattern of complete 1860 domination, and soon enough Schulze generates danger again with a pass into the box for Moke, who shoots over. But then it's back to banging our heads against Freiburg's wall without much success, and with fifteen minutes already gone we decide to move things a bit, bringing Hennig in Meunier's place. Five minutes later it's Yilmaz coming in for Rodríguez, pretty good in his new position but very tired. That one makes the trick: Schulze completes a fantastically creative match with a beautiful long ball into space for Yilmaz, who breaks alone into the box and places the finish right next to the post to finally put us ahead.

Althoff comes in to get more first-team minutes and give Touré a bit of a rest, and we go back to doing our thing, which is tearing defenses through the center and missing with our finishes afterwards, with Granero being the one to see his shot blocked by Akanji this time. Our next try comes in the 78th when Granero runs in and out of the box before passing it back to Javorcic, who spots Moke's run and sends the ball forward so the midfielder can just blast it in and score the 2-0. Beautiful play, and experiment officially successful. One minute later Müller stops Yilmaz from scoring the third after yet another fantastic assist from Schulze, and the game seems all but decided by now.

Rijkhoff turns up again to assist Yilmaz, who's tearing Freiburg a new one since he's come on, although this time his finish isn't particularly good and his shot goes well over. The striker's next intervention comes in the 89th, when he brings down a pass from Hennig, holds it, then sends it forward into Granero's path so the young Argentinian can barge into the box and grab himself another goal. A mostly uneventful injury time leads to the final whistle, putting an end to another great performance.

* * *

TSV 1860 München 3 (Hakki Yilmaz 67, Bienvenu Moke 78, Gino Granero 89)
Sport-Club Freiburg 0

- - -

That was a short result. Yes, we were that much better than Freiburg today, and I'm stoked to see us completely dismantle teams of their supposed quality. This game could've easily ended 5-0 or 6-0 and no one would've batted an eye, but instead we had to be patient and keep trying again and again until we finally managed to turn domination into goals. Great team performance, and Moke has proven that he's a very capable replacement for Rodríguez in the center, and the Mexican that he can play well on the sides of our midfield, too. Looking good.

[Dalbeider]

Aug 26th 2031

Lange, of all players, makes the Team of the Week this time.

Aug 28th 2031

Time for another round of international games, and that means picking Spain's players. This time we're playing two home games, a friendly against Bolivia and a qualifier against dead-last Slovakia, so it's probably a good chance to pick up some players on the fringe of making the jump to the side and see how they perform. The squad ends as follows, with the new additions highlighted:

GK: Unai Simón (GK, 33yo, Athletic de Bilbao), Tomás Serrano (GK, 24yo, Everton), Jose Luis Mecerreyes (GK, 21, Hertha BSC)
DR: Adolfo (DRC/WBR, 25yo, Real Madrid), Pedro Porro (D/WB/M/AMR, 31yo, PSG)
DL: Alejandro Balde (D/WBL/M/AMRL, 27yo, Arsenal), Javier Gutiérrez (DRLC, 23yo, Dortmund)
DC: Christian Mosquera (DRC, 27yo, Valencia), Eric García (DRC, 30yo, Barcelona), Albert (DC, 23yo, Man Utd), Casimiro Gil (DRC/DM, 24yo, Valencia)
DM/MC/AMC: Albert Cano (DM/MC/AMRC, 23yo, Barcelona), Pedri (MC/AMRLC, 28yo, Barcelona), Gavi (DM/M/AMC, 26yo, Liverpool), Héctor Álvarez (D/DM/MC, 25yo, Milan), Iban Sánchez (AMC/ST, 21yo, Juventus), Brahim Díaz (MC/AMRLC/ST, 31yo, Milan)
AMRL: Raúl Moro (MRL/AMRLC/ST, 28yo, Newcastle), Ferran Torres (M/AMRL/ST, 31yo, Barcelona), Yeremy Pino (MR/AMRLC/ST, 28yo, Real Madrid), Nico Williams (M/AMRL/ST, 28yo, Athletic de Bilbao)
ST: Ansu Fati (M/AMRL/ST, 28yo, Bayern), Mikel Oyarzábal (MLC/AMRLC/ST, 34yo, PSG)

As for 1860, Moke joins the international host with a chance for a senior debut with Belgium. Yilmaz also joins Özcan with Turkey, and we provide a record six players for Germany's national teams, three at U21 level (Althoff, Touré, Lange), and three at senior level (Kretzschmar, Schulze, Hennig). Javorcic, Stjepanovic, Granero, Rijkhoff, Rodríguez, and Hauptmann are our other senior internationals this time.

To complete a very busy Thursday, the draw for the Champions League group stage is performed today, too. We also receive no less than €14.8M for reaching this stage, which is always welcome. As expected, our seeding has dropped from first to third, and the result is a group with PSG (ow), Porto (winnable), and Fenerbahçe (not easy but still the weakest of the four). It'll most likely be a duel between Porto and us for the second place, although beating PSG would be an absolute highlight of the season if it happens. As long as we secure the six points against Fenerbahçe we'll have a real chance to progress, which is the goal.

Aug 29th 2031

Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895 vs. TSV 1860 München (Bundesliga, 3/34)

Not the best of starts for last season's surprise package so far, with two straight defeats including a heavy 4-0 loss against Gladbach just last week. And they're playing Leipzig just after the international break... Still, this is the same squad that qualified for the Europa League last season, with no significant departures and some interesting adds, including a 36-year-old Serge Gnabry returning to Germany after some time in PSG and PSV. Form aside, a very difficult match.

* * *

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Tom Kretzschmar (GK); Lukas Hauptmann (DR), Arnau Casas (DCr), Ernesto (DCl), Mahamadou Touré (DL); Frank Hennig (DM); Juan David Palomeque (MCr), Jair Rodríguez (MC), Hakki Yilmaz (MCl); Facundo Robledo (STr), Vedat Özcan (STl)
DÜSSELDORF (4-4-2): Aleksa Todorovic (GK); Florian Kaiser (DR), Jonas David (DCr), Christoph Klarer (DCl), Lars Eismann (DL); Florian Kaiser (MR), Juan Sthevan Barrios (MCr), Yordan Bonev (MCl), Chak Traoré (ML); Björn Marinov (STr), Dawid Jankowski (STl)

* * *

Starting minutes for Hauptmann and Robledo today, as we keep the squad fresh after only five days of rest. Gnabry isn't even in the bench today, so it's basically the same Fortuna squad from last season with some rotation added in, plus Jankowski, another new arrival. We start doing our thing, and five minutes into the game Özcan is already attracting defenders while spotting the gaps they leave, assisting Palomeque so the midfielder can have his finish parried by Todorovic. Ernesto then heads a corner kick narrowly over, and we look ready for a repeat of the last two games.

Fortuna won't take it without fighting back, though, and they contest our midfield domination while restricting our attacking movement, leading to a drought of chances until Rodríguez tries a direct free kick in the 13th minute and forces the keeper into a difficult fingertip save. A blocked shot by Robledo comes next, nothing big, but otherwise we keep struggling to generate danger consistently. Fortuna even try their best to put us under some pressure, and manage a decent chance in the 29th with a cross from Kaiser that Jankowski heads straight into Kretzschmar's hands.

Another blocked shot by Rodríguez is our best response, while Fortuna return with a more dangerous look in the 33rd, a great pass into space from Chaka that Barrios controls inside the box only for Kretzschmar to deflect his finish wide. That corner kick leads to a push on Harrington by Ernesto, a very clear penalty that VAR confirms and Barrios transforms into the 1-0. From then on, lots of possession but absolutely no shots at goal, and we end the first half trailing for the first time this season.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Things don't look much better after the mandatory shouting session in the dressing room, and in fact Casas soon has to go down to tackle the ball away from Jankowski with the striker getting ready to smash into the net a cross by Kaiser. We finally get a shot in the 54th, a direct free kick that Rodríguez sends into the barrier, but the bounce falls to Robledo, who tries to hit it first-time but can't get it past Todorovic. Robledo himself is the first to be taken out of the game, together with a strangely disappointing Ernesto, giving way to Granero and Lange.

In the 60th minute Fortuna get another corner kick, and once again the referee stops play as he seems to spot a handball by Özcan. VAR agrees, and there goes another penalty kick. Barrios doesn't miss and scores the 2-0 from the spot, and now we have an even tougher task ahead of us. Rijkhoff comes in for the unfortunate Özcan, and soon he's running on the counterattack and setting up a decent chance for Hennig, who can't find the target with his rushed finish. We're looking strangely nervous today, though, as Hauptmann exemplifies with a horrid pass in the 67th minute that leads to a great chance for Marinov, thankfully averted by the always focused Kretzschmar.

Rijkhoff has brought a different kind of energy back into the game, though, and a steal and break led by the striker ends in a curling shot from outside the box by Yilmaz that hits the post of Todorovic's goal. We're having all the bad luck today, it seems. We get some of that karma back in the 76th, when Jankowski wins a header against Casas, Lange fails to clear it properly, and Marinov is left with a perfect chance to score the third that he also sends into the woodwork. Another shot by Jankowski goes over the bar two minutes later, and our energy seems to have run out all of a sudden.

Minutes pass without any chance that could give us hope for a comeback, at least until in the 88th a counterattack led by Granero ends in a blocked shot by Rijkhoff and a centered attempt on the rebound by Rodríguez that Todorovic catches without issue. Another break one minute later ends with Rodríguez assisting Granero, who scores with a placed finish in what looks like a clearly offside position, but VAR once again comes in to show that no, he wasn't offside, and therefore the goal is good. We have one minute plus injury time to get something out of this, but other than an offside shot by Yilmaz that Todorovic stops nonetheless, it looks like we're out of luck. That is, until Granero controls the ball in the right side of our attack and sends a no-look pass into space for Rijkhoff, who calmly collects, rounds the keeper, and scores the 2-2 with only seconds remaining on the clock. There's no time for more, and we leave Düsseldorf happy with our point, but not particularly proud of the way we got it.

* * *

Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895 2 (Juan Sthevan Barrios 34p 61p)
TSV 1860 München 2 (Gino Granero 89, Julian Rijkhoff 90+4)

- - -

Now that's a comeback! Granero and Rijkhoff inspired us off the bench after an absolutely horrendous first 60-ish minutes, double penalty included. Sure, there was a certain degree of bad luck, but our free-flowing attacking play from previous fixtures was nowhere to be seen, probably smothered by Fortuna's extremely tight lines. We kinda got away with it in the end, though, and we can stay unbeaten one more week, but we'll need to do better next time if we want to seriously challenge for anything this season.

Edited July 25 by Dalbeider

[Dalbeider]

Sep 1st 2031

And another transfer window shuts down. One of those final days in which I hope dearly that nothing at all happens, but I get the feeling we'll have to scramble to patch some last-minute holes. Our two strikers are among the headlined rumors, so I would be surprised if neither of them left by the end of the day. Other than them, only Schulze (trailed by HSV) and Casas (Nice and Benfica) seem to be attracting any interest, so at least Rodríguez looks likely to stay. We'll see how it all goes.

Five hours left, still nothing. Meanwhile, Bayern are already the biggest spenders of the transfer window worldwide *by far* and they keep throwing money around to sign even more players. Even PSG keep having to reject their bids...

Uh-oh, Newcastle are interested in Rodríguez now that there's only one hour left. Hopefully it won't go anywhere...

Not Rodríguez, but Özcan does attract an offer. Thankfully it's from Everton, so a) they don't trigger his €61M release clause because they're not in the Champions League, and b) he doesn't care one bit about them. Easy no, despite it being quite a generous one.

And that, as they say, is that. No last-second offers and no need to fish for replacements. Good, that's good.

Sep 3rd 2031

Spain (9th) vs. Bolivia (83rd) (International friendly)

A friendly game perfect to test some of our younger players and see if they can cut it with the big boys. That means young Mecerreyes, who's just arrived at Berlin and already taken over Hertha's goal, gets his first cap as a starter, with full backs Adolfo and Gutiérrez and attacking midfielder Iban Sánchez also debuting today. Bolivia's 3-5-2 makes things difficult for us in the early game, at least when it comes to generating danger, but our domination of possession is almost absolute. Patience eventually pays off, and in the 29th minute a set piece whipped towards the far post by Raúl Moro is headed in by Mosquera to inaugurate the scoreboard with his first international goal. We remain firmly in control for the remainder of the first half, and in the second half we start substituting players while keeping the pace high, and Brahim Díaz comes off the bench to send a good-looking finish into the post with some help from the Bolivian keeper. Fati also smashes a point-blank finish after a cross by Baldé into the crossbar in what's probably our clearest chance in the whole game. Eventually, though, a trip inside the box on Iban Sánchez leads to a penalty kick and a second yellow card, which makes our domination all the greater. Pino scores the 2-0 from the spot in the 69th minute, but despite quite a few chances to make our win even clearer, the result remains the same until the end.

Spain 2 (Christian Mosquera 29, Yeremy Pino 69p)
Bolivia 0 (Kevin Mendoza sent off 68)

Sep 4th 2031

Nothing like playing Luxembourg to get some international goals, I guess: both Touré and Lange score with Germany U21 in an easy 7-0 win, with Althoff also playing the full game and doing well. Granero and Rijkhoff have pretty poor performances, but the big news today is Moke's debut with Belgium off the bench, twenty-two minutes in which he played quite well despite not managing to break the 0-0 against Perú. One day later Rodríguez bags two for México, who beat Canada 4-0, while our two Turk internationals have a serious stinker in a 0-1 defeat against Slovenia and Javorcic gives a defensive masterclass with Croatia against Latvia. 

Sep 6th 2031

Germany (the senior side) play last this round, and Hennig plays the whole game and does well in a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic while both Schulze and Kretzschmar watch from the bench. Hauptmann contributes to Austria's notable 0-0 draw in France, and Rijkhoff turns it completely around in the Netherlands' second game of the window and grabs himself a hattrick against Morocco.

Heh, PSG are the top favorites to win the Champions League this season. Promising. Somewhat surprisingly Inter aren't even among the top five favorites despite being the current champions. Us? 100-1. Yeeeah...

Sep 7th 2031

Spain (9th) vs. Slovakia (79th) (UEFA European Footbal Championship 2032 Qualification group B, 5/8)

Well, Slovakia aren't dead last in the group anymore after beating Armenia 4-3, and despite only having four points after four games they're only one point behind second-placed Georgia. Still, we're so far above the rest that there's a chance we secure qualification for good today if we win and Romania and Armenia draw their game, and we'd be just a couple of points (or a defeat for Georgia) away from sealing the first place. That would allow us to relax and experiment until the actual tournament starts, which would be great.

* * *

SPAIN (4-2-3-1): Unai Simón (GK); Adolfo (DR), Christian Mosquera (DCr), Casimiro Gil (DCl), Alejandro Balde (DL); Albert Cano (MCr), Héctor Álvarez (MCl); Yeremy Pino (AMR), Pedri (AMC), Ansu Fati (AML); Mikel Oyarzabal (ST)
SLOVAKIA (3-2-3-2): Dominik Greif (GK); Sebastian Kosa (DCr), Matej Oravec (DC), Ivan Mesik (DCl); Peter Sulek (WBr), Matej Balaz (WBl); Mario Nemeth (MCr), Peter Jano (MC), Christian Herc (MCl); Matej Trusa (STr), Peter Spiriak (STl)

* * *

No experiments today, other than pushing Álvarez into midfield to give us some semblance of a defensive presence in there and Mosquera and Adolfo starting ahead of Albert and Porro. Slovakia start with a 3-5-2 with a flat three in midfield, something quite rare nowadays, and we start the game with bad news, as Mosquera takes a blow to his left foot and is left struggling a bit, which forces us to replace him with Albert to avoid aggravating it. Our first shot comes eight minutes in, a direct free kick Oyarzábal can't get past the fence, but four minutes later Jano brings down Pino a couple of inches inside the box and the referee doesn't hesitate to point at the spot. Oyarzábal scores the penalty kick and we're off to a good start.

We keep the pressure up and soon Pedri sees a point-blank volley after a nod from Balde deflected away by a defender that got in the way. A header by Pino after another assist from the left back is well saved by Greif in the 21st minute, as he does with another header by Gil in a set piece four minutes later and with a one-on-one against Fati immediately afterwards. Slovakia then try to attack seriously for the first time, first with a dangerous cross that Gil and Simón combine to clear, then with a high finish by Trusa after a good pass into the space behind Adolfo. They don't go beyond that, though, and we soon settle into a slower rhythm as the minutes tick by.

There are no more approaches on either goal until the 41st minute, when Adolfo crosses towards Oyarzábal and the striker connects a centered header that the keeper catches without any trouble. After that it's back to midfield play until the first half ends on us. Ahead, but not quite enough.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Another free kick for Oyarzábal that the fence blocks kickstarts the second half, followed by a howler from distance by Cano that flies well above the target. Pedri then gets another finish from close blocked by Kosa after Fati's pass, but after that our ideas seem to dry up once again. Gavi and Brahim Díaz come in then replacing Álvarez and Fati, neither of whom played anywhere near the expected level. We've been playing with fire all game long, and in the 65th it finally happens: corner kick for Slovakia, Sulek takes it to the near post, and Jano towers above his marker to head it in and draw the game. Now we're in trouble.

With no more substitutions available we have to do with what we have, which should be enough. It seems to work when Brahim scores after a fantastic cross from deep by Cano in the 71st minute, but the flag is up and the forward was clearly offside upon review. Pedri also gets close with a 20-yard bender that misses the post by inches, then Oyarzábal tries another header that doesn't give Greif any, heh, grief whatsoever. We enter the last ten minutes still level, and Slovakia tighten up even further to make it even more difficult for us to get any shots in. The ten minutes pass, so does injury time, and Grief doesn't have anything else to do in all that while. A poor result in an even poorer performance.

* * *

Spain 1 (Mikel Oyarzábal 13p)
Slovakia 1 (Peter Jano 65)

- - -

Horrible. Yes, we deserved to win this at a canter by the numbers, but you can't just half-ass a performance like this and expect to get away with it. Our finishing was poor and our creation wasn't much better today, and both things will need to improve a lot in the coming fixtures. Oh well, good thing we have a huge cushion on top... Armenia win in Romania and are now second in the group, seven points behind us. One more win is all we need.

Edited July 25 by Dalbeider