Romanian FM 2012 Story, Season 12: Dreaming of the Final, Take Two

Hello friends, it’s time for another try to reach the Champions League final as my Football Manager 2012 story enters the second half of the 12th season in charge of Romanian club Viitorul Constanta. The first half of the season was perfect on the domestic front as we grabbed 18 wins out of 18 in the league. The Champions League group stage went smoothly as well as we finished atop the group, ahead of AC Milan.

I didn’t do much in terms of transfers during the winter break, just two changes in the first team:

• Midfielder Kamel Ben Yahia was sold for 4 million and I bought young Argentinian Nahuel Lopez for 7 million to replace him.
• Striker Peter Guba was sold for 5.25 million and the replacement was free as I decided to promote youngster Richard Hendry from the Under 19s team.

As you remember we were drawn against Anderlecht in the first knockout round, the easiest opponents we could get at this stage. We grabbed a 1-1 draw in the first leg but we could have done a lot more since we had 19 shots but just 4 on target. The second leg was a lot easier, we beat them 2-0 to advance to the quarter finals.

The draw put us against Arsenal, not an easy task. I would have preferred Schalke but I guess there are no easy opponents at this stage.

We had a decent record against Arsenal before that clash, 1 win and 1 loss in competitive games plus a friendly win. But all those games had been played in 2019, that’s almost four years before the battle ahead.

I had quite a few injury worries before the game though as Sebastien Verdier, Fabian Caporale, Roman Benes and Juan Cruz Argenti were all unavailable due to fitness problems. As for Arsenal, they have Antonio Conte as their manager, two great midfielders in Jack Wilshere and David Alaba and a dangerous striker in Connor Wickham.

Viitorul vs Arsenal (Champions League Quarter Final Leg 1)

Starting Line Up: Nicolas Salva — Tomislav Djurdjek, Xavier Dumont, Georgica Dicu, Danut Gongolea — Yasen Zlatinski, Maximiliano Ceballos, Hector Fernandez — Rastislav Benko, Manoel, Dramane Sow

My boys got off to a decent start, we managed to get a few shots on target right away but Arsenal were far more dangerous on 15 minutes when a header from inside the penalty area bounced back off the post before being cleared by my defence. Our domination was quite clear though and we finally managed to create a clear chance in the 35th minute but Sow‘s header from a good position was totally misplaced.

The African striker did a much better job two minutes before the hour mark when he nodded home on a Djurdjek cross to put us ahead. Arsenal replied four minutes later but goalkeeper Salva kept the door shut with a great save. Another four minutes went by before we doubled the lead: Manoel sent in a good cross and Benko produced a perfectly timed sliding finish. I decided to switch to the counter version of my tactic but that didn’t help as Arsenal pulled one back on 69 minutes with quite a bit of help from my defenders. Luckily we restored the two-goal lead eight minutes from time as substitute Jerome Vrignaud was held inside the box and Benko coolly converted the penalty kick. It was a well-deserved win and by a decent margin too, even though I would have preferred to keep a clean sheet.

Match Highlights:click here to watch

I expected a tense second leg but it was anything else but tense. Arsenal were unable to create clear chances, they had just two shots on target, while we kept things under control. Moreover, Dramane Sow bagged a decisive goal on 56 minutes to send us through to the semi finals for a second time in a row.

I was expecting to get Barcelona in the last four but we got Inter instead as the Italians defeated the Spaniards in tight battle. Real Madrid and Manchester United appeared to be cruising in the other half of the board…

We didn’t have a good track record at all against Inter: just one point out of four matches, all of them in the Champions League group stage. However, those games were played in 2015 and 2016 and we did make some progress in terms of squad quality since then.

Our injury problems were a lot easier to handle before the semi final as only Fabian Caporale and Roman Benes were still out. Inter had Josep Guardiola on the bench and two very important and well-known players on the pitch: Lorenzo Crisetig and Iker Muniain.

Viitorul vs Inter (Champions League Semi Final Leg 1)

Starting Line Up: Nicolas Salva — Tomislav Djurdjek, Xavier Dumont, Georgica Dicu, Sebastien Verdier — Yasen Zlatinski, Mike Broadhead, Maximiliano Ceballos — Rastislav Benko, Manoel, Dramane Sow

I decided to start with the counter tactic this time, even though I have always used the attacking version for this season’s home games. I thought that keeping a clean sheet was far more important than creating lots of chances but we still managed to get quite a good one on 24 minutes when Benko was sent clean through but fired straight at the goalkeeper. That was the highlight of the first half as Inter were reduced to just one shot (blocked) for the entire 45 minutes. However, I had to replace two players due to injuries before half time, Ceballos and Djurdjek.

Our game was less convincing after the break and the match seemed to be heading towards a goalless draw. We did get another chance on the stroke of full time, it fell to substitute Juan Cruz Argenti, but he imitated Benko and targeted the goalkeeper. Two minutes later we got a corner kick, the last set piece of the game, and we made the most of it: Sow bent in the cross and legendary centre back Georgica Dicu thumped the header home! Get in! It was a precious win, not a spectacular one by any means, but extremely important.

Match Highlights:click here to watch

The Inter coach, one of my favourites in real life football, had nice things to say about me before the second leg. I guess he was honest, he doesn’t play the Mourinho-type mind games.

I guess you’re curious to find out how the second leg went, right? Well, you’re just one click away, the answer is in the next page! ;) (just click the number 2 above the comments section)

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Unfortunately we had two more injuries to worry about, both of them coming from the first leg: Tomislav Djurdjek was going to be out for a month and a half while Maximilano Ceballos was going to be unavailable for three to four months.

Inter vs Viitorul (Champions League Semi Final Leg 2)

Starting Line Up: Nicolas Salva — Henning Valentin, Xavier Dumont, Georgica Dicu, Sebastien Verdier — Yasen Zlatinski, Mike Broadhead, Hector Fernandez — Juan Cruz Argenti, Manoel, Dramane Sow

I had to send in young right back Valentin in such a tense game and that was my main worry since he had Muniain as the direct opponent on that flank. However, it was us who created the first chance after just four minutes but Argenti was denied by a great save from the goalkeeper. We were dominating the game but that wasn’t enough to keep things quiet as Inter caught us on a counter attack and Castaignos scored a great goal. Things went from bad to worse just before the break as Manoel had to leave the field on a stretcher… But it was all square on aggregate at half time, we were still in with a chance.

And it didn’t take long for my strikers to show their class: four minutes after the interval Argenti played a brilliant pass for Benko who fired low into the bottom corner of the net! Inter were in shock and we struck again just one minute later as a long kick from goalkeeper Salva found Sow clean through and the striker rounded the goalie before nesting the ball into the back of the net!

Inter needed to score three goals at that point and they started throwing more and more men forward but we stood firm and didn’t allow them to create more than one clear chance. A fabulous display from my lads and a huge victory against Guardiola and his troops. There were bad news coming after the game though: Manoel was going to be out for two months…

Match Highlights:click here to watch

Real Madrid, the defending champions, went past Manchester United in the other semi final so we’ll have another clash with Los Blancos. In case you don’t remember, it’s them who knocked us out last season in the semi finals…

We did win the last game against them though, 2-0 in the second leg, but not enough to overturn the 4-0 defeat we were handed at Santiago Bernabeu.

Let’s leave the Champions League for a moment and see what has happened on the domestic front as all games were completed before the Champions League final.

In fact, the Romanian Cup final was just three days before the big day. That is why I fielded mostly reserve players in that final but we still won it thanks to a brace from new signing Nahuel Lopez, one of the few first team players that took part. That’s our 9th consecutive Romanian Cup success…

The Romanian League went smoothly as well, even though we dropped some points due to the rather wild squad rotation I implemented in order to keep the important players fit for the Champions League battles.

We grabbed our 10th Liga 1 title in a row, that could be some kind of a record in Romania but I haven’t checked.

The financial situation is getting even better, we have over 25 million pounds in the bank. The shareholders will get dividends again, happy days :)

With just one game left in the season the player stats are looking satisfactory, even great for some lads. I am pleased that all the players in the squad managed to contribute to the team’s success this season, even new boys like under 19 star Richard Hendry who bagged 8 goals in 11 appearances.

But, as you can see, there are problems before the Champions League final. Both right backs are injured while Maximiliano Ceballos and Manoel are still a long way from recovery.

And where’s the Champions League final? Where is it, I hear you cry and shout. Well, I haven’t played it yet :)

Why, why? Because I think it would be nice to live it together. Yes, you guessed it: the final will be played tomorrow (Sunday June 8) and I will try to make a live text broadcast of the event. The broadcast will start at 18:00 (6 p.m.) London time, I hope you will all join me and live the tension of that final together.

Until then, thanks for reading and feel free to voice your opinions in the comments area.