And the big day finally came, the first leg of the semi final with Atletico Madrid. I had my best eleven available while they were missing an important first team player, Marek Hamsik. We had enough to worry about though, their four men upfront can bring nightmares to any defense. They just knocked out Barcelona (3-1 at home and 0-0 away) so I guess that tells something about their strength.
We got off to a great start in front of 32000 ecstatic fans, Andrea Romano made one of his trademark moves, skipped past a defender and powered it in right at the far post beyond the keeper’s reach! The game was fairly even after that flamboyant start but Andrea Romano created and missed another chance right before the break. Atletico came pretty close after the interval but Akinfeev stopped the counter attack with an immense save. A few minutes later Andrea Romano struck again, he played a fabulous through ball for Rafael Sobis and the Brazilian striker netted it in cold blood. We were keeping things under control, moving the ball around well, but just when I thought it was all over Simon Kjaer missed an interception in defense and Atletico clawed one back. It was a good win but it could have been a lot better with just a bit more concentration in the last minutes. We were preparing for a tough second leg, a one goal advantage is not very reassuring.
We had another Premier League game before the second leg so I chose to rest all the lads that played against Atletico, that game was way too important to risk any injuries. But I surely didn’t expect to be humiliated by 8th placed Newcastle at Meadow Lane… My players were complacent and sloppy, it was a disgraceful performance. Some of them might have to think twice before coming to me with «more first team football» requests, they don’t deserve to wear the Notts County shirt after such an embarrassing outing.
Anyway, back to the important matter, the second leg of the Champions League semi final. We had a slim one goal advantage to defend and we did that very well in the first half, it was an evenly matched game with only one clear chance for each side. Atletico were building up the pressure after the break but they were unable to create any clear chances, we were defending very well. We even had a good chance on a counter attack but we failed to convert it. Then we slowly regained control of the game and the last 20 minutes were entirely ours, we were pushing Atletico back into their own half! And we scored eventually, Andrea Romano picked up a long kick from Igor Akinfeev and somehow squeezed it past the keeper! We were through to the final!
I had a slight reason to be sad though, Sam Hinshelwood picked up a yellow card and he’s going to miss the final, I feel sorry for him. Anyway, Nicola Bonetti should recover from his injury by then so it won’t be much of a problem for the team. Juventus beat Aston Villa in the other semi final, so we’ll get to meet the team that knocked us out last year in the semi final, I hope we’ll get our sweet revenge.
Before the final we’ll have to meet Liverpool and Manchester United twice, that’s quite a weird schedule. I hope we won’t get any injuries on the road to the final, otherwise I guess we are prepared to fight for every inch of turf and lift the Champions League trophy.
That’s how it was folks, thanks for reading and see you tomorrow for the season’s last update.
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Laxeyman
5 апреля, 2010 at 19:36
Hi Johnny, congratulations on your title win! Also well done on beating Atletico, the game with Juventus will be tough but I think you’ve got a great chance. Good luck in the FA Cup Final.
Majk
5 апреля, 2010 at 19:40
We don’t like Juventus do we? No we don’t! Down with the old lady!
I’m rooting desperately for you Johnny to win the Final.
Congrats on the title this year, though you have to make it more exciting next season, this is just too unreal hehe.
Calum
5 апреля, 2010 at 19:45
Good luck in the final of the Champions League and in the FA Cup Johnny, I really hope your team can do it :D
Congratulations on another title, and good luck in the next month again!
sam warren
5 апреля, 2010 at 19:48
Well done johnny, good luck for the game against Juve. Well done on the premier league title you deserved it and just hoping that you can win all of the domestic trophies this season.
warren
ps I am doing well in my newcastle story but I was just wandering if you had any tips on how to get more people to my site.
I love blogging but if no-one is reading my posts I dont see the point in continuing.
Kevin Mayo
5 апреля, 2010 at 22:31
Hi Johnny
Congratualtions on winning the Premier League again. So that’s two down and two to go. That is a wierd schedule to end with so I’m assuming you will manage you squad very carefully so as to be at full strength for both Cup Finals.
Lye
6 апреля, 2010 at 04:38
Hi mate, congratulations on another title win. Its great to see you up against Juventus in the final, i think you will get your sweet revenge over them as your squad is definitely stronger this season. You have a good resord against Liverpool, so i think it will be another trophy for come May.
Johnny Karp
6 апреля, 2010 at 08:22
Thanks for your comments and good wishes folks!
@Laxeyman
I think we have a chance against Juve too, my team is better than last year but it will still be a tough game.
@Majk
I guess next season can be even less interesting, I intend to further strengthen the squad :)
@Sam Warren
Which site are you talking about, FM Guru or you old site?
@Kevin
The last three games, including the two finals, are 7 days apart from each other so I don’t expect any fatigue problems. I just have to protect my players from injuries but those can happen in training too so there’s not much to be done about that, I can’t just send them home.
@Lye
I’m pretty confident about the Liverpool game, they didn’t cause us too much trouble in the last games. Juventus will be a lot tougher but I agree, the squad is stronger than last year.
Mícheál
6 апреля, 2010 at 16:58
well done Jonny another league tittle to your name. The champo league next good luck with that. Will you be spending big this summer.
Johnny Karp
6 апреля, 2010 at 17:44
Thanks Micheal. I didn’t think about next summer yet, I guess it depends on the Champions League outcome. I might try to bring a star player though but you’ll know more about that in the next post.
sam warren
6 апреля, 2010 at 19:18
@ Johnny, I was talking about the FM guru site as I only blog on their.
Johnny Karp
6 апреля, 2010 at 21:06
@Sam
Well Sam, when I started the blog I went of for a few months writing and writing with nobody leaving any comments on my posts. So I don’t know a better way, just keep writing good stuff and the readers will come. I don’t know how all these people discovered my blog eventually but somehow they did :) And last but not least, the most difficult part isn’t building an audience but keeping it. That’s my two cents but there probably are easier ways.