Football Manager 2012 Malaga story: season 3 report, new rising

Hey guys and welcome back to sunny old Spain. My Football Manager 2012 Malaga story: season 3 report is ready for your viewing pleasure. You may remember Malaga winning the La Liga title last season but falling short in all other competitions, while I was delighted to pip Barcelona I started to ponder what the squad needed. We had plenty of youth and a bright future but I needed to strengthen for the present if my boys were to ever challenge Europe’s elite. That is what the 2013/14 season is all about, to see if we succeeded carry on reading as I bring you the entire third season from start to finish (well the important bits anyway.)

I started the season like any other looking through my squad, deciding who was to stay and who would go. In the end I offloaded no less than 19 players though at least 10 of these were youth players with no future. The rest were getting old and I just had no place for them any more. My wheeling and dealing helped fill the boards pockets with £31.5 million, not bad at all.

Now for the exciting part, my signings. :) OK so I mentioned earlier about strengthening for the present, well signing Bolat, Martinez (who I way over paid for), Sturridge and Canales were all apart of that plan while the rest bar one were future signings. That one player left unmentioned is my best signing to date, he was available on a free transfer and his name is Kagawa.

La Liga results — 1st half of the season

After finishing the last campaign so well it was vital to keep morale up and the form going. My boys certainly didn’t disappoint with 15 wins, 4 draws and zero losses from our opening 19 fixtures. We endured a few close shaves and tight score lines but its getting the points when you play badly that wins you titles. :)

La Liga table after 19 matches

19 excellent results later and Malaga sat a top the Spanish league with 49 points, 3 points ahead of Athletic and Real Madrid with a game in hand. However Barcelona seemed to be out of the race already falling 10 points off the pace.

La Liga results — 2nd half of the season

With a decent lead and my team in great form all we had to do was maintain. The second half of my season didn’t start well as we dropped 5 points from the first 4 games but things soon picked up and we completed the final 19 matches with 14 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses. With Real Madrid hot on my heels did they slip up also or had Mourinho pipped me to the title?

La Liga table — final standings

Malaga may have lost 3 matches, drawn 6 and notched up 7 points less than last season but Barcelona completely collapsed making this a two horse race. Thankfully Real Madrid fell short and could only finish 6 points behind me on 87 points. The title was wrapped up for a second consecutive season but the biggest shock was Barcelona’s 78 points.

Copa del Ray results

My last two seasons have provided a tough draw in the Copa del Ray as Malaga were eliminated by Barcelona and Real Madrid. While we avoided the two giants this years route wasn’t exactly easy. We beat Badalona, Sevilla, Mallorca and Espanyol to reach the final. After getting so far I was desperate to complete the domestic double but Villarreal stood in our way.

Copa del Ray final vs Villarreal

Venue: Santiago Bernabeu

Attendance: 80,354

Team formations:

Well Villarreal are some tough opposition but I felt confident with a near full strength squad to select from. The match started very tense and I could tell that it would take a moment of magic from either team to break the deadlock….I think you know what’s coming up so I suggest watching the match highlights below!

Match highlights: Click here to watch the Copa del Ray final highlights!!

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Match stats:

Awesome result and an even better performance, Badelj broke the deadlock with a stunning goal and we never looked back. The Copa del Ray was added to my La Liga title thanks to that all important strike.

Champions League results

We started this seasons Champions League campaign with a decent group draw. After losing away to Manchester United we won our remaining games at home to United then in both ties against Rapid Wien and Benfica.

These great results led to an inevitable top spot as Malaga walked through to the knockout stages finishing three points above Man United.

We drew Manchester City in the first knockout round and while I expected defeat my team had an entirely different plan. We lost the first leg 1-0 away but then won the second leg 3-1 at home in one of the shocks of the season. FC Bayern stood in my way during the quarter-final as a tough tie finished 4-2 on aggregate. Then French giants PSG were easily defeated 6-3 on aggregate in the semi-final. A shock final appearance was made doubly surprising by the progression of Marseille, the bookies must have had a field day with this one. :)

Champions League final vs Marseille

Venue: Amsterdam ArenA

Attendance: 52,960

Team formations:

Marseille have a very talented side going forward and took me to penalties during last seasons quarter-final. However, their weakness is in defence and after such an amazing season my boys were the favourites. All I can say is that this was an amazing final and you should definitely watch the match highlights…just be sure to keep count of the goals :)

Match highlights: Click here to watch the Champions League final highlights!!

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Match stats:

What can I say other than simply amazing. Marseille started the scoring and I wondered if this would be one of those days as Kameni made a massive error. But an absolute master class followed as Niang scored six goals, probably the first time that has happened in a Champions League final and while the draw was on my side we deserved this with some great football.

Squad stats and finances

A lot of players are to thank for this amazing season and treble, but I’ll just pick a select few. The first is Kagawa who joined for free this summer, the left winger scored 16 goals and assisted 8. On the other wing Weiss scored an incredible 15 goals and assisted 21 times. The last piece to this forward thinking puzzle was Niang’s 24 goals. While Kara was my rock in defence with 17 goals, the entire back line was outstanding making up the top 5 of my best average ratings.

Now we can check the clubs finances, unfortunately I am still paying off some rather hefty transfer fees but the great run in Europe has helped balance the books and we have a balance of £6.5 million.

Well that is all for today, this was probably one of my proudest seasons on FM and that is saying a lot. I thought I’d acknowledge the achievement with a special post sharing all on my squad, tactic, training and basically everything that has helped me succeed. Until then I look forward to reading your comments as always.