Your Master League - XI

08-09 SEASON REVIEW



He's managed Manchester City, Portsmouth, Tottenham Hotspur, Preston North End, Arsenal, Marseille, Sporting Lisbon and Burnley, Ben Wignall has decided to move to Italy, where he took up the managerial role at ACF Fiorentina. Last season, Fiorentina were demoted due to a match fixing scnadal, and they now have to work their way back into Serie A by competing in a 12 team league. They started things off against Saint-Etienne. Mario Santana tapped in the opener on 7 minutes. Saint-Etienne won a penalty on 13 minutes, as Gamberini slid into Sanogo, which won him a Red Card, but Gelson Fernandes skied the kick over the bar. Cristian Zanetti doubled the lead 12 minutes later with a drilled effort into the bottom corner. The French side got one back though, Boubacar Sanogo curling the ball in from 25 yards, but Adrian Mutu made the game safe with only 15 minutes gone in the second half. In the next game, goals from Jorgensen and Gilardino gave The Viola a much deserved win against Paris-Saint-Germain. This match was in the D2 Cup 1st Leg, so they had a foothold in the quarter-finals.

Next up for Fiorentina was a league encounter with Benfica, but he Portugese outfit grabbed a shock win thanks to a first half goal by Urreta. Long throw specialist Comotto was sent off for a second bookable offence in the second half, and Fiorentina couldn't battle back for a point. They got back to winning ways though, as they demolished Spartak Moscow 3-0. Zanetti, Santana and young striker Castillo netted as Fiorentina wiped last week's loss form their minds. The second leg of the cup arrived, and an Adrian Mutu goal sent them through to the final 8.

Wolfsburg provided a tough test in the next league game, but Fiorentina won again, as Mutu and a scrappy goal by Donadel gave them all three points. A dent was put into their confidence after a 2-1 loss against Internacional. Alecsandro and Kleber (pen) scored in the first half, but Donadel couldn't bring his team to a revival, despite scoring a consolation from 25 yards out. Next game, Fiorentina came from behind to beat Feyenoord 2-1. Goalkeeper Sebastien Frey dropped Wijnaldum's free kick, letting Danish striker Jan Dahl Tomasson to score in-front of an empty net. However, the front two of Mutu and Castillo netted the winning goals for the Viola.

Fiorentina faced AS Monaco at home next, and one star stole the show in the second half. It was 0-0 at the break, but when Gilardino flicked in a Mutu corner, the Romanian showman was destined to steal the show. He scored two goals in 7 minutes, before providing another for Gilardino. He stayed on the field, and bagged his hat-trick, a header from a Savio cross, making the score 5-0 to the Viola. Fiorentina faced another French side the following game, a team who they;ve already beaten twice this season, PSG, but neither team scored in the dull encounter. In the next tie against Olympiacos, a sole goal from Marchionni won the game, but it could of been 2-0 in the second half, but Gobbi blocked Jovetic's shot on the line. This was in the quarter-final 1st leg of the D2 Cup, as Fiorentina had a one-goal advantage going into the 2nd leg.

A sea of green met Fiorentina when they faced Celtic in Glasgow, and it wasn't the game they expected. In just the 4th minute, Bary Robson exploited the defence to score, and Glenn Loovens smashed in a 2nd on 21 minutes. Marchionni got a goal back at the end of the first half, but Celtic overtook Fiorentina in the table with the win. The team re-grouped after that pathetic performance, and the took their anger out on Olympiakos, and their 'keeper Nikopolidis had to pick the ball out of the net 5 times. The first four from Jorgensen, Mutu, Castillo and Gobbi were all from 20+ yards out, and sub Papa Waigo latched onto a rebound to make it 5-0. Jorgensen's was a contender for goal of the season, as he struck a powerful effort into the top corner from 30 yards out. Alberto Gilardino scored a lucky goal as Fiorentina knocked back AEK Athens. The ball came to the 'keeper, but Gilardino slid in and won the ball, with the momentum of the challenge sending the ball rolling into the back of the net. The second leg of the D2 Cup Quarter-Final came around, and Fiorentina cruised through with a 3-1 win. Jovetic (2) and Zanetti netted for Un Viola, who now wanted to strengthen the team in the Winter Negotiations period.

In the first week of transfers, Fiorentina rejected a "measly" bid from Sporting Lisbon for young centre back Alex. Although they had bids rejected for Internacional striker Tasion and young German midfielder Wilhelm Kaiser. However, Wignall managed to capture Bordeaux's wonderkid left back Benoit Tremoulinas. It only cost £5,000,000 to get the French star, and he'll challenge Juan Vargas in competition for the left-back spot. The following week, Fiorentina snapped up Kaiser, and also secured the signature of Werder Bremen's Marcelo Moreno. There was am amzing 3 sales though in that week, with two massive stars leaving. Christian Zanetti joined Bayern Munich for £8,000,000, and a move which broke fans' hearts, Adrian Mutu joined Italian giants Juventus for £16,000,000. Mutu didn't state his intention of leaving, but he wanted European football, something which he thought Fiorentina could no longer provide him. Fiorentina cashed in on another player the following week; centre-back Alessandro Gamberini traded Italy for HOLLAND, as he joined PSV for £11,000,000. He was quickly replaced by a younger defender in the form of Romanian Gabriel Tamas. In the final week of transfers, Pierre Aubameyang and Razvan Ochirosii were signed, whilst Massimo Tagliani joined Helsinki. They spent £21,000,000 in this window, but they brought in £38,200,000, making a big profit, but without Mutu, will the team be able to cope?

And so the half-season without Mutu began, and they started with am emphatic win over Saint-Etienne. Gilardino, Marchionni, Jovetic and Jorgensen got the goals, as they showed they don't need Mutu to propel them to glory. They did miss the firepower of the Romanian though against league leaders SL Benfica, as the sides battled out a goalless draw, keeping the Portugese side 6 points ahead of the Viola. Next up was AS Monaco in the D2 Cup Semi-Final, and the 1st Leg had a lot riding on it. As expected, Fiorentina ran out winners, as goals from Montolivo and Gilardino sealed the first leg win. In the next game against Spartak Moscow, Bazhenov cancelled out Mario Santana's 6th minute opener to come out with a draw. It was harsh on Fiorentina, as they had lots of chances, and probably should of won with a Gilardino header, but it was Frey's mistake which led to the equalising goal.

Next game, Fiorentina made tough work of Wolfsburg, but they eventually got the job done in the second half, but it really should of been 2-0, but Diego Benaglio dropped a clanger, allowing Savio to net the 3rd. Fiorentina lost in the 2nd leg of the semi-final of the D2 Cup to AS Monaco. 2-1 was the final score, as their ex-target Park Chu Young scored a brace, but the Italian side still went through to the final 3-2 on aggregate. Un Viola still beat their next two opponents 2-0 though, Internacional and Feyenoord. Another loss to Monaco followed, this time in the League. Chu Young netted twice again, this time manager Ben Wignall REALLY wanted him in the Summer. They clinched promotion to Serie A in the next game, beating Paris-Saint-Germain 2-0, as Riccardo Montolivo netted twice to seal promotion. The first came from a Kaiser corner which was chested down by Marco Marchionni, and Montolivo squeezed it in from a tight angle. Another Kaiser corner forced Sammy Traore to clear the ball off the line with his head, but the Italian midfielder was on hand to nod the ball back into the goal.

Fiorentina went one step further to becoming Champions with a 2-0 win over 2nd place Celtic, and after an early slip up against Olympiakos, they defeated the Greek giants 2-1, again Montolivo taking over the scoring reigns from the departed Mutu. A brilliant first half gave them the D2 Cup in a nailbiting affair. With just 3 minutes gone, Gilardino latched onto a long ball played in by Marchionni, and the Italian took the ball past Kevin Hofland and slid the ball under Van Dijk in the Feyenoord goal. Jovetic made it 2-0 with a header on 17 minutes, before Bahia bundled in a consolation goal for Feyenoord with 10 minutes to go. They couldn't salvage a comeback though, as Fiorentina grabbed their first trophy of the season out of a possible two, and there was another one in the waiting.

The last game of the season came away to another Greek team, AEK Athens. Mario Santana got Fiorentina off to a perfect start early on when he flicked in a Kaiser cross, but the AEK Athens striker Djebbour was the party pooper, heading in a 51st minute goal after Frey came too far off his line. The result didn't matter in the slightest though, as Fiorentina added another trophy to their collection, the D2 League! About the scorers in the league; a Fiorentina player didn't finish top. Javier Saviola of Benfica was top with 11 goals; Samaras of celtic was closely behind with 9. AEK's scorer against Fiorentina, Djebbour, scored 6 goals, while a Fiorentina threesome, Santana, Montolivo and Gilardino all netted 5 goals. In the D2 Cup, Monaco's Park Chu Young was the top scorer with 4 goals; the Fiorentina strikers Gilardino and Jovetic netted 3 times each.

The first week of Summer transfers commenced, and the two biggest stars of Fiorentina's campaign, Santana and Gilardino both had bids in for them. Gilardino's offers from Lyon and Juventus, both around the £18,000,000 mark were rejected, but a £10,500,000 bid from Real Betis for the ageing Santana was accepted. Midfielders were signed though, as Blackburn's Steven N'Zonzi and FC Zurich's Yassine Chikhaoui were signed. N'Zonzi, a centre midfielder didn't renew his contract with Rovers, and Chikhaoui was frustrated by ther progress of his club. Week 2 commenced, and a midfield trio was wanted. Montolivo was wanted by Inter Milan, who had a £13,000,000 offer rejected. Galatasary and Birmingham City both wanted Marco Donadel, but an offer of £7,500,000 from The Blues couldn't make Donadel part company from his beloved, and Galatasary's offer of £650,000 + Akman was dismissed. Martin Jorgensen did leave though; West Ham beat Bolton for his signature, for a fee of £5,500,000. Negotiations came to a halt with Villarreal striker Marco Rubin and Tottenham right-back Kyle Naughton, but Fiorentina were eager to sign more players. Rui Patricio was signed from Sporting Lisbon for £7,000,000, but Vedran Corluka rejected a move to Fiorentina, and so did Miralem Sulejmani. Two strikers were brought in the following week though. Mamadou Samassa and Valter Birsa were brought in from Marseille and Sochaux respectively. These two are expected to bolster the front-line, but they can also play in the attacking midfield role. Next week, Fiorentina finally gave in to the money that Gilardino was been bidded for, and they accepted £20,000,000 from FC Porto. In the final few weeks of transfers, Savio was in hot demand, but Chelsea, Portsmouth and Bologna all failed to get him. No other strikers were brought in though. Fans were left fuming at the decision Wignall made to let Gilardino go, and with no big name replacement in, and with Wignall going for inexperienced youth, will the season take a turn on it's head for Fiorentina?

First Team

Frey
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De Silvestri -- Tamas -- Kroldrup -- Vargas
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Savio -- Kaiser -- Montolivo -- Marchionni
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Birsa
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Samassa