I am in in my 4th season in m "test" CM with Dortmund. So far the only silver wear we could grab is an Europa League trophy won during my second season. Past season, we reached the CL final, which ended with a cruel 4-0 loss against Real Madrid (We lost Witsel, during the semi final second leg, with a cruciate ligament injury and that mad a hell of difference as he is a a pivotal player for the team. With him we might have stand a chance). Bayer Munich has bossed the Bundesliga for 3 years in a row and past year we finished second, 6 points behind them. The DF pokal has been a disaster as we never passed the quarter final before this year.
But things have changed quite a bit this year and we entered April a the top of the league, 8 points clear a head of B Munich. We made some significant signing in the last summer transfer window, that helped the team to step up. The most notable one being Van Dijk, that we managed to get through an exchange with Savic, plus a non staggering amount of money. That really surprised me, because others teams asked for much more money for less classy player. Savic, that we got past season thanks to Bossman ruling, never fitted into the team. It was really impressive at man marking, blocking shots or clearing crosses, but he was really slow. As the team plays with a very high defensive line, he was too often outpaced by strikers. Van Dijk on the other hand, is not particularly quick, but he isn't slow, and share all the above mentioned quality of Savic plus more strength (he almost never loose a physical battle) and very good passing skills for a defender. This season our team has the best defence in the league, with the highest clean sheet number. Players individuality really shines in this game and it is so satisfying to know that bringing a guy like him in the team is making such an impact.
While our team improved from past year, Bayern Munich "only" bought young promising players, without really replacing some of its ageing players. We beat them at home 1-0 (video of the goal somewhere upper) early in the season. Like if this result impacted their team morale, they started dropping points, which they rarely did past seasons. They entered the January transfer position at the third position and I don't really know if their team morale was really low, but they loosed important players. Coman signed to Valencia (?) and both Gnabry and Bale will leave next summer on a Bossman agreement.
So April started, and B Munich were second 8 points behind us. The hazard (?) of the CL quarter final drawing and the Bundesliga calendar made that we had to play against each others 3 times in 7 days. The first game was the CL first leg at home that we easily won 4-1 against a diminished B Munich team. They started the game without Kimmish, Gnabry, and Bale, may be because of stamina issues due to a crowded April calendar. The second game was the return game of the Bundesliga at the Alliance. A 6 point game. If we win, we put B Munich at 11 points which would almost guaranty our first Bundesliga title. If we loose, Bayern comes back at 5 points and it is still game on for the tittle race. They started the game with their best line up, while I was forced to make some turn over, because of tired players, among them Witsel. It was like they gave more importance to this game than the CL game. They ultra dominated the game and managed to score in the first half. Chance were scarce for me and I really thought, we need to bring back a draw from here. A win was not conceivable. In the second half Bernardo Silva (bought this winter with fresh cash we got by selling back Fekir to United, that we previously got from them on a Bosman agreement (I might need to use house rules in the future, when playing my proper CM
) ) gets half a chance, that Neuer flipped behind the line. Bruno Fernandes takes the corner kick and.....
I have never seen an own goal in any footy game I played like this one. At that moment, my thought was exactly, Bale is leaving the team and doesn't give a f..k about Bayern Munich any-more. He is just thinking about the end of his ciareer at Arsenal.
Ironically, at the end of the first season, I tried to sign Bale to replace Reus who left for an insane amount of money to Liverpool (a true fan of B Dortmund would have probably never let Reus leave the team). R Madrid agreed on the transfer terms, but Bale refused to sign to our team no matter the wage we offered, probably because of our team prestige. A couple of weeks after he signed to Bayern Munich... and he always was a pain in the arse to play against.
After that own goal, Bayern went in full attack and unfortunately, my little head story broke up at the 87th minute of the game. Bale gave hard time to my left back and sent a perfect pass in the box to Tolisso, who scored with a first time shot (not really rare in this fifa). After a crazy Neuer save in the injury time, the ref blown the whistle. Bayern won the 6 points game. Game on for the tittle race.
, but it was more than a year ago when I started this "test" career (My manager name is Manager). I never played a career in the Bundesliga before, but with the stadium of Nisoley, the atmosphere is great and it grew on me. It is the end of my fourth season now.