2028/29: Serie A and Champions League
After finishing runners up last season well behind a dominant Juventus side I was keen to add to our one league title.
My first step towards doing this involved keeping hold of my promising young players before signing new ones as I wanted to keep hold of the current core of my team for as long as possible. National team players Reggini, Bonafizi and Cevoli all signed new long term deals while superstar Francini signed a new contract up until the end of the 2032 season. Ideally I would have signed Francini to a much longer deal as he was developing into a frightening striker but he refused to. I could only hope he would be happy to sign another new deal in a few seasons time!
In addition to a slew of new contracts last seasons champions league prize money (along with the sale of some fringe players) allowed for the squad to be expanded hopefully allowing for a run into the latter stages of the Champions League for the first time.
I finally added great depth to the midfield and defence by signing Portugese winger Teixeira from PSG and stealing Vincenzi and Cristini from the reserve teams of my Italian rivals. I also added serious talent in goal for the first time by signing Jordan Pickford (who is still in the England team) and young potential star Renaud. Finally I decided to bring back national team RB Rossini from Udinese, as he wasn’t being played or loaned out, in an effort to try and get every bit of improvement out of him.
Perhaps the best signing of this window was Peric for only £550k. His potential was huge and I hoped he would fulfil this potential after a couple of seasons on loan.
The final part of our preseason spending was on expanding the San Marino stadium up to a capacity of 23536. While this construction was taking place we would be playing our home games at the stadium of our former parent club Cesena. How times have changed!
After a large number of signings I was confident of being able to meet my objectives this season. Despite this the donestic season got off to an inauspicious start as we drew with Napoli before only just managing to beat perennial relegation strugglers Juve Stabia and Salernitana with Francini scoring all 5 goals in these games. He was becoming a dominant goal scorer which we would need if we wanted to meet our objectives this season, he just needed more support from the other strikers in the team!
Going into the draw for the Champions League I hoped that, at the very least, Calcio could match their exploits from last season by getting out of the group for only the second time. We were seeded second which would hopefully secure us a favourable draw to help us achieve this.
Having being drawn against probably the toughest teams from Pot 1 and 3 I would be relying upon either a major upset from my young team or finishing above Moscow to qualify for the Europa League. Hopes of an upset were raised in the very first game as we secured a credible 0-0 draw at home to Barcelona which sparked a run of three consecutive heavy wins in the league. Francni was still leading the way in goals but Tamagnini chipped in with three of his own after being thrown in the line up in an effort to give the other strikers a kick up the backside. This lead us nicely into the second game in Europe, a trip to Old Trafford.
The game started quickly and Calcio found themselves 3-1 down at half time as they struggled to cope with their English opponents, failing to mount many serious attacks. Things got worse in the second half as Man U scored a 4th goal to really put the game to bed and they took their foot off the gas completely. Vincenzi (who was so far proving to be a bargain buy for only £1.2 million at the start of the season) scored a free kick to offer a glimmer of hope and Calcio were suddenly on top. They pressed and frustrated Manchester United before Vincenzi had a crossed deflected into the net by Santos with only 2 minutes left.
Despite piling on even more pressure they just couldn’t find an equaliser. For all our efforts in the opening two games we only had one point to show for it, a win against Moscow was badly needed.
Calcio rebounded from this narrow defeat in superb fashion hammering Atalanta and drawing with Inter before hammering Moscow 3-1 to get their Champions League campaign up and running at last. This started an eight game undefeated streak (including a narrow win over Moscow) as they took total control of the league having only dropped 4 points so far. Juventus were already trailing by 8 points as we already looked set to take our second league title.
This build up was perfect preparation for the return game against Barcelona where, if we could avoid defeat, we would be right in the mix to finish in the top two after Barcelona failed to beat Man U in either game.
Sensing the chance of an upset Barcelona came out firing to go 2-0 up inside half an hour, they barely gave Calcio a kick as we struggled to compete. Reggini picked up a goal in the second half to give Calcio hope but this was a very rare and fleeting positive moment in the game as Barcelona scored a third almost immediately from kick off to kill the game. I would need to beat Man U in the last game and hope Moscow could pick up a shock point if I wanted to finish top two in the group.
Despite Calcio pulling off a massive 2-0 win against Man U, Barcelona hammered Moscow to consign us to third place in the group and a run in the Europa League for the first time in three years. Hopefully this time we wouldn’t be knocked out by the mighty Watford!
For the second time this season Calcio recovered from disappointment in Europe to mount a huge run of results in the league. This time we won nine straight games (we will ignore yet another defeat in the cup in the middle of this) to go into February without a single league defeat. Surely the league title was ours and even an undefeated season was on the horizon!
In a league match against AC Milan I noticed that the game had finally created the third Ronaldo! It turns out this version was a CB who came through at Palmeiras, was bought by West Ham before being loaned out. Even more bizarrely he played for Brazil U21’s before being capped 52 times by Austria. This is despite having never played in Austria and being born in Brazil, surely one of the more unusual regen dual nationalities!
The draw for the Europa League saw Calcio drawn against FK Austria Wien, a very beatable team to hopefully start us off on a good cup run. The first leg started badly as Wien, spurred on by a passionate home crowd went 2-0 up in 20 minutes with Onder Yildirim scoring both goals. Fortunately Francini scored immediately in the second half to get an away goal but we couldn’t get an equaliser. It was a very poor performance against a team we were expected to beat, Calcio simply had to pick things up if they wanted to secure a domestic and European double this season.
The team were clearly feeling sorry for themselves as in the very next game the unbeaten league record was gone. Away to Sampdoria, Calcio struggled to get going and went down 1-0. This was only the second time we had failed to score all season and we were only 13 games short of an unbeaten season.
Fortunately, after a team meeting, Calcio snapped out of this bad streak in the Europa League second leg and showed the gulf in class between the two teams as they emphatically won 4-1.
The next round saw us drawn against Italian rivals AC Milan a team we had beaten 4-0 earlier in the season so again I was confident we could progress to the Quarter finals of the Europa League. We prepared for this tie in perfect fashion by hammering Torino and Palermo as Francini continued to fire in the goals. Sadly we didn’t manage to carry this momentum into the first leg at home as we only managed to sneak a 1-0 win thanks to a late Reggini goal.
The second leg of the tie was in total contrast to the first. It was a much more open game but this wasn’t a good thing. Calcio started a little sloppily in defence and after 11 minutes Milan were 2-0 up with my former midfielder Krizmanic coming back to haunt me by scoring and assisting a goal. Clearly Milan were playing much better than they did against us in the league so I was forced to switch to a more counter attacking style to stop Calcio being blown away in the first half.
This worked and we got to half time with the score 2-0. We were clinging on by our finger nails with just a single away goal being enough to see us through. On 69 (nice) minutes we got this goal as Alessandro Francini chased a ball over the top and blasted into the goal. It was our first significant chance of the game and it took 69 (nice) minutes to arrive. This was a surprisingly lacklustre performance so far so I switched up the CM pairing to Cevoli and Pelliccioni in order to provide a lot more legs in the middle.
This backfired in spectacular fashion as only two minutes later Krizmanic once again provided the assist for Milan to score a third goal. Before we could recover from this hammer blow Serbian LB Bojovic picked up a second booking almost immediately from kick off. We were in a desperate situation, needing a goal with only ten men on the pitch for the last 20 minutes. A promising season was in danger of unravelling in the space of two minutes.
As the match wore on Milan became more defensive and frantic in their defence despite having a man advantage. In the last minute of normal time substitute Pelliccioni took advantage of this chaos to drill a shot into the net from the edge of the box causing Calcio to qualify on away goals! A place in the next round was secured in the most dramatic fashion with the handful of away fans going wild!
After this win Calcio secured the league title on the 8th of April with a 2-0 win against SPAL with six games remaining in the season. An emphatic achievement. With the league secured I could focus my efforts entirely on the remaining Europa League fixtures in an effort to secure a historic double for the club.
Porto awaited in the next round and a late goal for either side in the first leg saw Calcio snatch a 1-1 away draw thanks to yet another 90th minute goal. Before the second leg Calcio’s reserves lost 1-0 to Roma for only their second league defeat all season although the league was largely irrelevant at this point.
The second leg was again much more open than the first however, unlike in the previous round, Calcio dominated against Porto at home. Francini scored the opener after 15 minutes but this did little to change Calcio’s control in the game. After half time this Porti continued to struggle as Reggini and Francini both scored to complete a comfortable victory. This was Francini’s 40th goal in all competitions this season. A phenomenal effort for a 21 year old!
in the semi final San Marino were drawn against RB Leipzig, another team to have been knocked out of the Champions League. Yet again the first leg was quite a tight affair as both teams didn’t want to give the other an advantage.
After a goalless first half San Marino took the lead thanks to yet another goal from Francini only for them to be pegged back by a soft penalty. Despite a draw we were level on aggregate with an away goal to take into our newly expanded stadium!
In the build up to the second leg AC Milan got revenge for their defeat in the Europa League to inflict only our third (and final) league defeat this season.
With the tie finely balanced from the first leg I set up to play in a counter attacking style in anticipation of another tight leg. I was wrong. So very wrong. With young stars Francini and Reggini up front forming a lethal partenrship we had the tools to damage any team and against Leipzig they were in top form. Combining to create havoc in the Leipzig penalty area they scored and assisted three goals between them to put Calcio in complete control after only 20 minutes.
Leipzig snatched a goal back just after the half hour mark to give themselves a glimmer of hope which was swiftly extinguished after half time as Francini scored his second. With the tie practically put to bed once again the pace of the game still didn’t relent as both sides exchanged late goals to end the game with a 5-3 score line. Calcio were off to their first ever European final!
With just two games left before the Europa league final I geared all of my efforts to ensure that my starting eleven for the game would be in peak condition. This squad rotation actually lead to our penultimate league game against Juventus becoming an absolute classic. Trailing 3-0 with only five minutes to go I threw caution to the wind as San Marino scored three very late goals to complete a monumental (albeit totally pointless) comeback.
The Europa League final put Calcio up against another Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon in the Belgian national stadium. After recent games I might have been expecting this to be another absolute goal fest especially as I was playing Reggini and Francini up front. They had scored and set up a total of 101 goals between them in all competitions this season and were a truly frightening prospect for anyone to face (cries at the thought of him no longer being eligible for the national team).
Despite this partnership up front and the game starting off in an open fashion the game remained goalless until the second half. Club legend Francini (the right winger) played the ball through to club legend Francini (the striker) who squared the ball for Reggini to tap into an open goal. It was a familiar story this season and this proved to be the only goal of the game. San Marino had their first piece of European silverware as well as a historic double to go with it!
Just a few weeks after the end of the season a consortium failed in their bid to buy the club. Despite all of the success on the pitch the summer months could prove to be one of little progress in terms of signings! I could only hope the reputation gained from winning the Europa League would attract serious investment.
The league table made for great reading. Our second league title was secured with a record points haul along with having the best attack and second best defence. Most surprising of all was that the team who ended our unbeaten season (Sampdoria) were relegated having only won nine games all season. Classic Football Manager.
- Average Attendance – 17123
- Biggest Win – 4-0 v Hellas Verona
- Biggest Defeat – 3-5 v Sampdoria
- Top Scorer – Alessandro Francini, 37 Goals (over double second places’ total)
- Most Assists – Massimo Reggini, 13 Assists
- Player of the Year – Alessandro Francini
- Highest Rated Player – Alessandro Francini, 7.38
Best Eleven
With Pickford really shoring up the defence Hansen and Postma had become a top CB pairing however, considering the sheer firepower up front the rest of the team were almost a footnote. Reggini notched his third straight year of double figures in goals but Francini completely stole the show. In this season alone he won; supporters player of the year, Serie A player of the year, Serie A golden boot, Serie A Italian player of the year and European Golden Boy for the second year running (only the second player ever to do this). What a talent!
On a side note club legend Tamagnini enjoyed his best season in a while to get 9 goals. This brought him to 92 career league goals only five shy of becoming the clubs all time leading goal scorer. It would be fitting if he became the first player I developed to break this record as he was now in his 10th season at the club. I hoped he could do this before Francini overtook him.
Youth Intake
The most talented goalie to come through the ranks in years he had the potential to be better than current #1 Gallo and was immediately my second best goalie when he appeared in the game. If i could develop him right he could become a great national team goalie and perhaps even feature for the club side.
Unfortunate to come through as a CM as both club and country had phenomenal depth in this position. A solid and hard working midfielder who could provide a more workman like presence in the centre of the park. Despite initially touted to have low Serie A potential he went on loan in Serie D and never made an impact. He might eventually kick on but it is unlikely he will feature much.
Physically and mentally sound but lacking any technical strengths Serra provided a good back up option in the national team at full back. Was sadly another player who struggled to make an impact while on loan in Serie D.
Yet another CB with 2 and a half stars potential and yet another CB who has so far struggled to develop to his full potential. Has played for the national team without ever being too dependable I hope he can kick on at some point as he genuinely could become a first team standard player for club and even country.
Not a great prospect at all however, with Francini in RM now reaching the ripe old age of 28 I had to plan for life after he retired. Cenci might be quite poor (only Serie B potential at best) but in 12 youth intakes he was the second best RM option I had produced and I needed him to kick on!
Overall a familiar story in recent youth intakes as it added solid depth to the national team squad but lacked an out and out star like Reggini or Bonafizi. My impressive facilities and coaching staff were still yielding mixed results.
Thanks for reading! Next i’ll cover the National teams effort to qualify for the 2030 world cup!
StratMan Gaming 
Really enjoying this series so far.
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