shannon2007

The draw for the last sixteen of the UEFA Champions Leagues was, as you might expect, eagerly anticipated amongst the Saxemarians. In the end, German side Schalke 04 would be their opponents, hardly a glamour tie and certainly a very dangerous one. But then again Saxemara had nothing at all to lose, they had already achieved way beyond their wildest dreams.

The usual round of transfer activities began and a fair chunk of the youth squad were given released on frees, despite that fact that the U-18's had completed an excellent League & Cup double triumph. Of the new batch of kids, left winger Thomas Martensson (16) was probably the name to look to the future for. Of the first team leavers, Christian Jardler had months ago agreed a Bosman deal to Bolton and having been frozen out ever since no-one really cared about him leaving. Richard Spong and Matias Caballero found that no-one was really interested in them and in the end their contracts were terminated. Johan Palm, who had seemed a promising enough right back but in the end had proved useless, went to Halmstad for £180,00. Mathias Sundstrom, seeing that his chances of ever becoming the first choice keeper were diminishing decided to leave the club in a £100,000 move to Norwegian side Stabaek. and Kevin Olimpia joined up with Palm at Halmstad in a £30,000 deal. Biggest sale of the winter was Martin Kadlec's £825,000 move to AIK. None of these players had made any real impact with the club, and certainly won't be missed. No huge money transfers out, which can only be good as it means the core of the team remains the same.

Coming in the way, 25 year old Spanish midfielder Agustin Montes (Wolves, £1.8M); 26 year old right sided Czech Republic midfielder come full back, Jiri Holub (Leicester, £300,000); 23 year French central defender Mickael Fourtier (Lyon, £400,000); 19 year old Swedish right full back Fredrik Ericsson (Dundee United, £130,000); The highly rated 20 year old Swedish left sided midfielder, Jonas Bengtsson (Hacken, £500,000); Promising 18 year old Swedish keeper Per Emanuelsson who will probably play for the reserves this season (Sparvagen, £14,000); 24 year old Portuguese keeper Fernando (Wolves, £725,000); Another promising left sided midfielder, 19 year old Swede Daniel Gustavsson (Djurgarden; £775,000); 21 year old Icelandic international midfielder Olafur Benediktsson (Oldham, £1.2M); 23 year old Brazilian keeper Leonardo (Palmeiras, £850,000); and the return of 26 year old Swedish striker Fredrik Sorensson whose time at Manchester City was far from productive (Manchester City, £1.1M).

The regular starting eleven for the new season will be along the same lines as the last one, even if they did struggle at times in the League . Their European form cannot be faulted.

[b]Mads Nielsen[b] now 24, had another solid season between the sticks and even though it can be argued that better keepers have been signed, the Dane has done nothing wrong and cannot be dropped at this time.

Brazilian Santos (23), fitted in well after his arrival from Sao Paulo and will keep his place at right back, whilst at left back 17 year old Johan Lundmark proved that he is certainly a protegy and was outstanding in his eleven first team starts and will be given the chance to be the regular left back this season. With Greek defender Giorgos Christou almost certain to leave the club in the near future in a £2M+ deal, the central defensive partnership should be Cypriot Giorgios Pelagias (28) who played very well on the left hand side with his Greek partner but in the new season he should be alongside Ola Ahlstrom (22) who has shown that he is also a solid defender and should have no problems replacing Christou.

The midfield was a well tuned engine last season and should continue to be so. 20 year old Swede Thomas Engstrom has finally gained his first full cap, starting against England in a 1-0 friendly defeat at Wembley. Engstrom more than justified his one million pound price tag, and had become a key player in the team. The key to the midfield though is held by the exceptional talent of Andreas Olofsson (22), who has also been in the full Swedish sqaud but is yet to actually make it onto the field of play. Olofsson was sensational at times last season, contributing eleven league goals as an ever present and can hit a ferocious strike from distance as well as being the regular spot kicker. On the left of the midfield, new signing Daniel Gustavsson will be given his chance to shine, due to the fact that Swedish Player of the Year Asgeir Fridjonsson is starting to get past it and Pierre Dahlstrom is on the verge of a £2M to anyone of a whole host of clubs who are after him. The pleasing aspect of the midfield is that as well as being all Swedish, it also a very young average age and there is plenty of potential there.

Astrit Ajdarevic (23) did have a decent season in the end on the right wing, but at times he didn't seem interested and his performances do tend to fluctuate. He will keep his place for the time being, due to the fact that nobody better was willing to come to the club. On the left wing Oscar Carlsson has been outstanding, although the still only 18 year old really does need to contribute more in the way of goals, but that will surely come. Throught the middle, Scot Gary Robertson had a hard act to follow, but 26 goals from 21 starts proves that he is more than capable replacing the Polish legend and with Ulf Karlsson out for around another two months, the striking role is all his - as long as he keeps scoring.

With the continuation of the Champions League, and the quest to regain the title, the season ahead is certainly on worth looking forward to.

shannon2007

UEFA Champions League, round of the last 16
Saxemara If versus FC Schalke 04 (Germany)
19th February & 5th March 2014

Having come through preseason matches with the U-18's and reserves and then a full scale match against struggling SPL side Gretna, which was won 4-0 Saxemara were looking good. How good was underline with an easy 2-0 away win at eternal rivals Helsingborg in the Royal League and then a superb 7-0 drubbing of Danish side OB in which Oscar Carlsson stole the day with a fabulous hattrick. Confidence as therefore high as the squad travelled to Germany, but this of course would be a different kettle of fish and Schalke were sure to prove a much tougher challenge than the Scandinavian sides.

The German sides route to the last sixteen had come by the way of Rangers, PSV and Club Brugge - hardly the most glamourous of groups when all is said and done. A draw in Eindhoven and a defeat in Glasgow were the only blemishes as they ended in 2nd place behind Rangers. Schalke though would be no pushovers, even if the group they had come through hardly contained Europe's elite clubs. Last season they had gone all the way to the Champions League Final, and beaten Arsenal on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw and had followed that up by winning the World Club Championship. They would not be willing to be anything other than ruthless against the Champions League debutees from Sweden.

A huge crowd of over 60000 turned up for the first leg, and were shocked to see Gary Robertson give Saxemara the lead after just thirteen minutes in the most outrageous of circumstances. The keeper passed innoculously to right back Hoffman but his dilly dallying on the ball, on the edge of his eighteen yard box, allowed Saxemara right winger Hakan Lennartson to rob him and blasted the ball wide of Tim Weise in the Schalke goal only for the ball to come back off the inside of the post. With the keeper befuddled, the onrushing Robertson had a two yard tap in and no way was he going to miss. And he didn't. Schalke may have been stunned but they were still sure they would win this, yet as time went on and their domination failed to produce goals, doubts probably started to set in and the fans were on the verge of panicking. Right on half time they won a free kick 25 yards out which was floated into the box to find the head of Halil Altintop who had somehow gotten behind the Saxemara backline and looking suspiciously offside the Turkish veteran levelled the match.

As the German fans prepared to celebrate their teams now certain win, on the 62 minute mark Saxemara won a rather soft penalty kick and Andreas Olofsson made no mistake from the spot and now the reigning European and World Club Champions were in a spot of bother. You don't become such champions without being a decent side and just three minutes later Altintop broke through again and this ding dong battle was turning into a real treat. Yet of Schalke expected their much more inexperienced rivals to now crack, they were about to be sadly mistaken and with seventeen minutes left to play, Gary Robertson fired home from just inside the area and Saxemara had stolen a fantastic away win. In the dying seconds Schalke's Marco Shuster was red carded to add further misery to their night of woe.

A crowd of 1726, not quite capacity, turned up for the return leg knowing that Saxemara could actually afford to lose 1-0 or 2-1 and still reach the Quarter Finals. Only nine minutes had gone though when the home side had a penalty kick, and once more Olofsson kept a cool head and now Schalke were really up against it. Goals on the 13th and 22nd minutes from Gary Robertson ended the match as a contest it seemed, but Halil Altintop gave his side a chance at least with a fine goal on the half hour and at half time it stood 3-1 to Saxemara on the night, and incredible 6-3 on aggregate.

Needing to score at least three times to keep a chance alive of retaining their title, there was nothing else for it for the Germans to go all out attack and in the end it was to backfire spectacularly. On the hour Olofsson fired in a 20 yard free kick which went sailing past the Schalke keeper and surely now the match was over. Four minutes later Gary Robertson completed his hattrick but the scoring wasn't over even yet. Asgeir Fridjonsson will probably never play in the Champions League again, but at least he managed to get his name on the scoresheet after coming on as a substitute and Gary Robertson wrapped up a superb evenings work as Schalke gave up the ghost and Saxemara had humiliated the European & World Champions by a ridiculous seven nil and an unbelievable ten three on aggregate.

Lying in wait in the Quarter Finals would be Italian giants AC Milan......

shannon2007

2014 UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals
Saxemara If versus AC Milan
26th March & 2nd April 2014

The last eight of the UEFA Champions League, and Clemente Marito, a nobody from nowhere was on the verge of becoming a footballing legend. This was it, they were in with the big boys now and they don't come much bigger than Italian giants AC Milan. Mind you, after having totally humiliated the reigning European Champions, Clemente's side should fear no-one. And yet there was also the opposite side of the coin, in that after such a result no-one was going to take them lighty and the matches from here on in were bound to be that much harder.

Six times Club Champions of Europe, three times winners of the now names Inter Continental Cup, 21* times Champions of the most notoriously difficult league in football, AC Milan's name alone inspired fear and awe in lesser sides. They would not underestimate their Swedish foes, that was for sure but what was also for sure was that the current AC Milan side was nowhere near the level of their legendary status. Their recent European record was abysmal and you had to go back to 2008 for their last real decent run when the Quarter Finals of the Champions League was reached, only to lose home & away to Barcelona. Coming through a group which also contained Liverpool, Kiev and Barcelona, Milan were trounced 4-2 in Liverpool, 3-0 in Kiev and lost 1-0 at home again to Liverpool. On the other hand they did beat Kiev at home and completed the double over Barcelona to scape through with fairly poor record. The last 16 saw Milan come through on away goals against Scottish Champions Rangers, and so although they were a name to be feared, there was little about their performances to suggest they could not be beaten. Saxemara might never have a better opportunity to reach the last four of Europe's elite.

With just under 72,000 in the legenday San Siro stadium, this would be the biggest crowd to date any of these Saxemara players had played out to and it was to be wondered if the occassion might not just get to them. This was, after all, the Quarter Finals and Saxemara were only playing their second ever season in European competition. Then again, they had just humiliated the holders of the tournament, and so really they had no need to be overawed and indeed perhaps it was Milan who should be awed by their Swedish opponents.

The match was only a matter of seconds old, when Daniel Gustavsson found himself in the referee's book and when Hakan Lennartsson was carded only a few minutes later it looked like we had a live wire homer and any chances of winning this match were fading fast. And yet, as if to perhaps make amends for his earlier harshness, on 23 minutes the referee - to the utter fury of the massed ranks in Milan - awarded a penalty to the Swedes and Andreas Olofsson rarely misses these. In the bedlam of noise and hate, he calmly stroked the ball beyond Barzilian keeper Julio Cesar and Saxemara were astonishingly ahead at the San Siro.

Three minutes later Milan were level. A ridiculous back pass from teenage left back Lundmark could only find Englishan Jermain Defoe and he cooly rounded Nielsen in the Saxemara goal to bring some relief to the home support. This though was never going to be the match that had been in Schalke and the only remaining talking point was the sending off of Mexican Ricardo Osorio with 12 minutes left - the third match in a row in the Champions League that a Saxemarian opponent player had been sent off.

The result in Milan had been an excellent one, but the job was far from finished. With so many people wanting to see this, the 2nd leg was moved to the 5000 capacity Vastra Mark in nearby Karlskrona the crowd was just nine short of capacity. The first half was a tactical battle, as Milan tried in vain to break down their supposedly inferior opponents, looking for the goal that would change the entire complexion of this tie. It didn't come though, and by half time the match was tied at nil all on the night, despite the Italians domination and of course Saxemara led still on away goals. They stood forty five minutes away from the last four of the Champions League.

Eight minutes into the second half, Milan's task was made that bit harder. Carlsson neatly played the ball to Robertson on the edge of the area, and holding off two defenders the striker slotted the ball home and the Swedes were ahead for real now. Ten minutes later Robertson was taken off injured, but he would only be out for a week or so. And as the match wore on, so Milan simply seemed to lack the imagination needed to carve out the goal that would take the game to extra time and beyond. Whilst Schalke had at least gone for it, Milan seemed incapable of going for anything and as time ran out so Andreas Olofsson got onto the end of a Gustavsson cross with his head, two minutes into injury time and the match was over. With 93 minutes and 51 seconds on the clock, the referee had still not blown for full time and remarkably awarded Saxemara a penalty, which Olofsson gleefuly sent home and in the end the scoreline of three to nil certainly did not reflect the balance of play. But surely it was all Milan deserved for their failure to make anything creative in this tie.

Saxemara had incredibly reached the last four of the UEFA Champions League along with Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Aston Villa. And fate decreed they would be going back to Germany - and that there be no all English final - and only the might of Bayern stood in the way of a place in the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final. As David Coleman himself would have said - Reeemarkable!


(*Italian league is not running but it's safe to assume Milan could have added four titles to their current total)

shannon2007

2014 UEFA Champions League Semi-Final
Saxemara If versus FC Bayern Munchen
23rd & 30th April 2014

Unlike the previous two rounds, Saxemara would be at home this time in the first leg. Whether that is advantageous or not is always open to debate, but the truth is it's really only advantageous of you win 10-0. With the league season now three games old - Saxemara having made the perfect start to their campaign - and having easily dispossed of Norwegian side Valerenga on a 6-1 aggregate to reach the Final of the Royal League against Halmstad, things were shaping up for a glorious season for Clemente and his band of heroes.

First though, they had to get past Bayern and that was no easy ask at all. German sides are notoriously hard to beat - although tell that to Schalke - and in Bayern Munchen they don't come much bigger. Six time Champions of Europe, their last success came in 2009 when they beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Final. This is their 3rd Champions League Semi in four seasons, the pedigree is there for all to see. With a qualifying group containing Artmedia and Debrecen, as well as Internazionale of Milan, it was no surpise that the Germans eased through, only dropping points in a 4-1 home hammering from Inter - although they did return the favour with a 3-0 triumph in Italy. Indeed when you consider both Artmedia and Debrecen managed to score only one goal each, it shows the poorness of these two sides and makes you wonder how they progressed that far in the first place.

A 1-0 loss in Turin was overcome by a 2-0 triumph at home against Juventus in the round of the last sixteen and then Liverpool were seen off on a 4-2 aggregate. Bayern are looking good and are overwhelming favourites to end the run of the Swedish pretenders and meet Chelsea in the Final - although no doubt Aston Villa would have something to say about that.

The first leg was, as you would expect, moved to Karlskrona and a packed stadium eagely anticipated a match that could have Sweden talking for years to come. And sure enough, just twelve minutes had gone when Gary Robertson sent Saxemara into the lead and it seemed almost scripted that the Swedes were going to reach this final. Alexander Becker had other ideas.

The lead was to last just four minutes before the German international striker pulled his side level, and of course supplied that oh so precious away goal that meant whatever happened, Saxemara would need to go to Germany and score. The match developed into a tense tactical battle and although both sides made decent chances, no-one could rise to put the ball away and secure the first leg win. Twelve minutes from time, Andreas Gorlitz was sent off for Bayern and in injury time Giorgios Pelagias joined him and both teams ended with only ten men apiece.

Of course Pelagias would now miss the next match, but not only would he be missing, so would Gary Robertson and Thomas Engstrom. With Fredrik Sorensen ineligible, it meant risking Ulf Karlsson up front, with Magnus Roos on the bench and in midfield Daniel Gustavsson would switch into the middle allowing Asgeir Fridjonsson to start. Karlsson had managed only a couple of games since his near ten month lay off, and looked nowhere near the player he had been. Yet this was his big chance to show that he could overcome that setback and re-establish his career.

With so many problems, it seemed inevitable that Saxemara had no chance in Germany and just 12 minutes into the 2nd leg, Ulf Karlsson agonizingly pulled up, and had to go off injured. Later on it would be revealed he would be out for another five months, and huge doubts now hung over the once promising strikers future. There was little option but to send on 17 year old Magnus Roos, who had been doing well enough with the youths and reserves, but this was a whole other ball game.

As the hands of fate seemed to be closing around Saxemarian necks, so the referee came to the rescure by awarding a 33rd minute penalty, which Andreas Olofsson calmly converted and if nothing else, at least the team could no now lose on the rather silly and annoying away goal rules. Right on the stroke of half time, teenager Roos marked only his third first team staert with a well taken goal and it was to resounding boos and jeers that the Bayern Munich players headed up the tunnel to at half time.

Bayern though had no intention of giving up, even if now they needed to score three times. Just after the hour Lukas Poldolski gave them the hope they needed with a fine goal and from that point it was all the Saxemarian defence could do to hold out. As time ran out, the fourth official noted that there would be four extra minutes and boosted by that fact, Jens Schulz battered a shot home to level on the night and Bayern had their tails up.

The seconds seemed to drag by, slower and slower as wave after wave of Bayern attack came and the four minutes seemed more like four hours as the referee played on and on and you could feel the tension amongst both sets of players but particularly the Swedes who had battled so hard and it would be ridiculously cruel luck now if they were to lose a goal in a stupidly added on amount of time. Time though had to run out eventually for the Germans, and almost reluctantly it did and the Saxemara players had lifted themselves into the status of legend.

The Final would be against Chelsea, who had ousted Villa 3-0 after a scoreless first leg and it would be played in Belgrade. Apart from Ulf Karlsson, whose injury threatened his very career, Andreas Olofsson and Daniel Gustavsson would also miss out on the biggest match of their lives, and that had to be wrong. Nevertheless, right now, little could take away from an achievement that will surely never be matched again.

shannon2007

2014 UEFA Champions League Final
Saxemara If versus Chelsea
Wednesday 14th May 2014, Stadion FK Partizan, Belgrade

With Olofsson and Gustavsson suspended and Ulf Karlsson's career lying in ruins thanks to another injury, those were the only real worries for a Saxemara side who faced up to a Chelsea side who had just finished 6th in the English Premiership yet were still red hot favourites for this match. For sure, the biggest blow for Saxemara was the loss of Olofsson who was surely irreplaceable. Nineteen year Saxemara youth product, Hans Martinsson was nowhere near the same class as Olofsson and was a lot more of a defensive minded player but nevertheless he was included for only his 3rd ever first team start. Twenty year old Jonas Bengtsson would also make only his 3rd first team start for Saxemara, the other two also having come in the Champions League.

Chelsea may well not be quite the side who won the 2011 Champions League, 2010 & 2012 English titles and 2011 World Club Championship, but they were still formidable foes. After all, you don't get to a Champions League Final by being rubbish. And Chelsea had come through a fairly tough group that included Lyon, Fenerbache and Porto, their only dropped points coming in a 1-0 loss in Oporto. In the knock out stages, Ajax, Arsenal and Aston Villa all fell by the wayside and few people could see past a second triumph for the London club.

A near capacity crowd of 32,697 filed into the tight Partizan Belgrade stadium and it took only nine minutes for the action to really heat up. John Terry tripped Gary Robertson on the edge of the area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. With regular spot kick takek Olofsson suspended of course, the task to send Saxemara into a sensational early lead fell to the youngest player on the park, 17 year old left back Johan Lundmark. The teenager has been attracting a huge amount of transfer interest, and as he cooly slotted home from the 12 yard spot, that interest would surely only surge.

Saxemara were ahead, and if truth be told were the better team. Yet Chelsea always looked dangerous when the came forward and eleven minutes from half time they were level, ironically enough through Swede Dennis Holm. At half time Clemente's players could consider themselves unlucky to be only level, and it might well be they would end up regretting the missed opportunities of the first forty five minutes. Three minutes into the second half though, Gary Robertson, who when he first arrived at the club had not looked anywhere near replacing the legend that had been Filip Sledzinski, fired his side into the lead for the second time and there was no turning back.

Chelsea, on the night, were fairly woeful and fifteen minutes from time Gary Robertson added a third and it was all over. Few teams win the Champions League on their debut in the competition, but as the referee drew this match to a close, the English side falling to their knees in utter disbelief, Saxemara had been crowned Champions of Europe. It was quite an incredible achievement.

shannon2007

OK well I've decided to end this here. Frankly, it was far too easy and half the problem was being able to sell players who were worth £10,000 for millions. Thats just stupid and completely ruined the game for me. Not that I don't want to win, but I prefer at least a hint of realism and if I ever try something like this again, mibbe I'll have to set myself a rule of only accepting realistic transfer bids.

Anyway, I hope it didn't spoil your enjoyment too much that in the end it was stupidly easy. Guess I'll just go back and finish my Faroes story

retired_kaynar99

Awww.

Great story anyway, and well done on your success. :thup:

retired_melparker1017

Great story! I couldn't get enought of it!

shannon2007

Thanks guys.

I suppose I could do the World Cup and then mibbe move Clemente to somewhere else, we'll see what comes up

retired_amgine

Excellent PM7 you are by far the succesful Saxemara manager:thup:

Good luck with your next stroy or what ever you do