January 2013 - Winter Transfer Window Opens

With the January Transfer Window open it is time for teams to repair themselves after a grueling first half to the season. Atletico Madrid were lining up bids for Porto's young defender Mangala and Celtic's midfielder Wanyama untill they recieved a shock bid from Manchester City for one of their star players...

Luis Suarez Completes Quick Fire move to Man.City. Aguero goes the other way

£33,000,000 was the amount offered and Atletico accepted straight away. Luis Suarez recently voiced to the manager di Matteo that he wanted a move back to the English Premier League and so a quick fire deal was made with Suarez now earning £130,000 a week. He mysteriously left with no comment. The guy enjoyed a fruitful spell in Madrid scoring/assisting over 25 goals in half a season. Roberto di Matteo instantly knew that he had to get another world-class striker to help Falcao and he was undecided between Robert Lewandolski and Sergio Aguero. He then placed an enquiry into both with Aguero being the better value so Sergio Aguero made his return to Atletico Madrid for £35,000,000 after leaving for the Manchester club in 2011. "I love this place and I dreamed of coming back here. Lets hope I play well", were the comments from the Argentine striker. A straight swap deal between Wanyama and Raul Garcia also took place.


Aguero celebrates scoring the title winning goal for Man City.

Mallorca 1-2 Atletico Madrid

Pereira 32'
Falcao 34'
L. Suarez 54'

Real Sociedad 1-2 Atletico Madrid - Copa del Rey Quarter Final 1st leg

N'Doye 82'
Griezmann 84'
D. Costa 90+1'

Di Matteo fielded a full strength team against Sociedad and completely dominated their opposition. They too over 20 shots in the entire game but they had to wait until the 82nd minute to break the deadlock through substitute Momar N'Doye. However, they got too cocky and the home side went straight up the other end to score. Diego Costa had the last laugh though as Momar N'Doye again powered through a tired Sociedad defence and saw his shot hit off the post but be slotted home by another substitute Diego Costa. "It was a nerve wracking final 10 minutes but i'm glad we got the away win. We fully desrved it", di Matteo voiced.

Atletico Madrid 3-1 Real Sociedad (5-2 agg)- Copa del Rey Quarter Final 2nd leg

L.Suarez 33'
Agirrexte 57'
Deulofeu 64'
Adrian 85'

Luis Suarez scored what was soon to be his final goal for the club. Atletico Madrid progress to the semi finals of the Copa del Rey against fellow title challengers Barcelona. Sevilla vs Real Madrid makes up the other semi.

Atletico Madrid 3-0 Real Zaragoza

Y.Toure 6'
Koke 43'
Koke 78'

Koke celebrates scoring a brace

Atletico Madrid 2-1 Levante

Kader 38'
Adrian 53'
Roger 72'

Atletico Madrid fielded a weak team against Levante and still came out with three points. Right back Pere unfortunately suffered a minor sprained ankle and will only miss the Copa del Rey game against Barca and a league game against Athletic Bilbao.

Atletico Madrid 3-3 Barcelona - Copa del Rey Semi Final 1st leg

Falcao 40'
Messi 48'
Song 51'
Aguero 78'
Iniesta 85'
Aguero 90+2'

An exciting game for everyone as the two best teams this season faced off in a six goal draw. Sergio Aguero made his debut for his second spell for Atletico Madrid and scored a vital 2 goals to keep Atletico Madrid in the tie. "It's great to get a goal or two on your debut. I want to help propel this club to a potential treble and at the moment it looks realistic".

Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Atletico Madrid

I.Gomez 40'
D.Costa 66'

Atletico Madrid saw their six point lead over Barcelona at the top be sliced down to four points today.

Barcelona 1-2 Atletico Madrid (4-5 agg) Copa del Rey Semi Final 2nd leg

Falcao 22'
Messi 24'
Y.Toure 36'

2 first half goals were enough to book a place in the final of the Copa del Rey for Atletico Madrid. They will play local rivals Real Madrid who beat Sevilla 4-1 on aggregate. "It's another huge stride to a trophy for us. Beating Barcelona other two legs is not easy, not easy at all", said Roberto di Matteo. Barcelona manager Tito Vivanola had this to say "It is a shame. WE dominated the match and deserved to go through other 2 legs. We cannot feel sorry for ourselfs though".

La Liga 2012-13 (1st-7th + 16th-20th)


1. Atletico Madrid------P21-----56pts
2. Barcelona----------P21-----52pts
3. Malaga-------------P23-----45pts
4. Real Madrid---------P21-----44pts
5. Valencia-----------P22-----39pts
6. Sevilla-------------P21-----37pts
7. Real Sociedad------P22-----36pts
_____________________________

16. Levante-----------P23-----20pts
17. Real Valladolid-----P23-----19pts
18. Rayo Vallecano----P21-----17pts
19. Getafe------------P22-----17pts
20. Granada-----------P21-----10pts

Copa del Rey Semi Finals + Final

Sevilla 1-0 Real Madrid
Real Madrid 4-0 Sevilla
Atletico Madrid 3-3 Barcelona
Barcelona 1-2 Atletico Madrid

Real Madrid - Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid team at end of Transfer Window

4-2-2-2

GK T.Courtois (85)
RB P.Zabaleta (82)
CB Dede(81)
CB D.Luiz (81)
LB E.Insua (81)
RM Deulofeu (75)
CM V.Wanyama (78)
CM Y.Toure (87)
LM Koke (81)
ST S.Aguero (87)
ST Falcao (92)

Subs
GK S.Asenjo (74)
CB L.Koscielny (81)
LB F.Luis (82)
CDM M.Suarez (79)
CF M.N'doye (64)
ST D.Costa (81)
ST Adrian (81)

Notable Reserves

CM T.Vilhena (75)
LW C.Rodriguez (80)



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Update on my Brighton and Hove Albion career mode(4th Season 2015/2016)

I am at Feb i'm 2nd in the league 9 points behide 1st place Chelsea i got knocked out in the 3rd round in both the Capital one cup and the F.A cup and i'm in the last 16 in the Champions cup(Champions league).

My top scorer is C. Benteke with 17 goals in all competitions 2nd is W. Escudero with 7 and 3rd is M. Niang with 6 goals in all competitions.

In the summer and winter transfer windows:

INS:

M. Niang RW (8M in a swap deal with K. Lualua) (Summer)
E. Mayuka ST (8.6M) (Summer)
Sokratis CB (4M) (Summer)
J. Riley RB (3.5M) (Summer)
W. Escudero ST (Loan) (Summer)
C. Perez Navarro CM (Free) (Summer)
T. Ince RW (5.5M in a swap deal with Reyes) (Summer)
K. Rebko LM (Loan) (Summer)
R. Church (Free) (Winter)
E.dos.S. Goncalves CDM (3M in a swap deal with C. Essombe) (Winter)
R. Lukaku ST (9M) (Winter)

TOTAL: 41.6M

OUTS:

S. Long ST (8M) (Summer)
A. Hutton RB (950K) (Summer)
A. Barnes ST (1,6M) (Summer)
A. Pilkington LM (4.8M) (Summer)
Elton CDM (1.2M) (Winter)
E. Mayuka ST (14.5M) (Winter)

TOTAL: 31M

My starting line up looks like this 4-2-2-2

GK: C. Macmath (77)
RB: Ramalho (79)
CB: Sokratis (83) - S. Kjaer (80)
LB: A. Cresswell (81)

CM: S. Muntari (80) - T. Carroll (83)

CAM: M. Niang (81) - K. Rebko (80)

ST: R. Lukaku (80) - C. Benteke(83)

SUBS:

RB: J. Riley (79)
CB: S. Savic (80)
LB: D. Rose (79)
CDM: E.dos.S. Goncalves (76)
CM: C. Perez Navarro (78)
CAM: T. Ince (79)
ST: W. Escudero (80)

RES:
CB: D. Tallo (67)
CDM: P. Azogue (64)
CAM: R. Church (71)

Key players: T. Carroll and C. Benteke


It's has been a good season so far.

I am the new Italy manager played a couple friendly's and looking forward to the next summer(2016 Euro's Championship).



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Shortman

Thanks for tagging me in future posts it means a lot to get myself well noticed on this forum. Hopefully i'll have an update for everyone tomorrow after I get home from college.



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Season 2012/13 - Difficulty: Legendary - Part Seven

January 2013

The Coppa Nazionale Round of 16 saw Roma play away to Fiorentina. Miralem Pjanic was back in the side after suffering a bruised leg which kept him out of the Milan game. On 21 minutes, Balzaretti played the ball to Bony whose eventual shot took a wicked deflection off of Stefan Savic which left the goalkeeper helpless as it nestled in the net. After 33 minutes, Tomovic failed to clear the ball which allowed Francesco Totti to nick the ball from him and plant a firm left-footed strike past Emiliano Viviano to make it 2-0 to the visitors. Just after the hour mark a well-worked corner routine saw the home side draw one back. Llama crossed it in to the front post, Sissoko headed it to the back post at which the waiting Gonzalo Rodriguez had a tap-in. Five minutes from full-time, Sissoko played a perfect ball to Rossi on the six-yard line who slid the ball beyond Stekelenburg to send the game to extra time. Roma were dominant in the extra half-hour but Fiorentina defended well and held off the onslaught to take it to penalties.

The man who scored the late equaliser, Rossi, took the first penalty and blasted it straight down the middle. Pablo Osvaldo rocketed his spot-kick right into the top corner to level things up. Fiorentina captain David Pizarro had his penalty saved by Stekelenburg much to the delight of the travelling fans behind the goal. Newly-returned Pjanic stepped up and scored to send Roma into the lead. Cuadrado and Destro scored their team's third penalties. Llama looked nervous as he walked forward and it was justified as he sent Stekelenburg the wrong way, but agonizingly hit the outside of the post. That miss meant that Daniele De Rossi just had to score from 12-yards to send Roma through to the quarter-finals. He did just that and Roma won the tie 4-2 on penalties.

08/01/13 - Coppa Nazionale Round of 16 - Fiorentina 2-2 Roma(2-4 on pens)

MOTM: Mohamed Sissoko - The defensive midfielder on loan from PSG was brilliant today, assisting both of Fiorentina's goals and putting in some great tackles to break up Roma's attacks.

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Roma's first Serie A game in January was an away game to Catania. When these sides met at the Stadio Olimpico at the start of the season they played out a 0-0 draw. Brown made 10 changes to his starting XI as his Roma side face Napoli in only three days time and so he is keeping his big guns for that clash. Stekelenburg was the only player that kept his place as the young duo of Dodo and Tachtsidis made their first appearances of the season along with the experienced Simone Perrotta. It was a miserable, damp day in Catania and the first-half reflected that as there was many misplaced passes by both sides and feeble attempts on goal. Mattia Destro came closest in the first-half as his shot from outside the box struck the woodwork on the stroke of half-time. The opening goal came in the 61st minute as Tachtsidis played the ball to Marquinho whose left-footed strike from inside the D found its way into the bottom corner to beat Andujar in the Catania goal. On 80 minutes, young left-back Dodo ran into the box and cut the ball back to the oncoming Michael Bradley who hit the ball first-time with his weaker left-foot and the shot crept underneath the goalkeeper to all but confirm the three points for Roma. In the 90th minute the referee awarded Catania a penalty after Ivan Piris was deemed to have fouled Pablo Barrientos in the box. The Argentine took the penalty however Stekelenburg guessed right and kept it out to ensure Roma's fifth league clean sheet of the season.

13/01/13 - Serie A - Catania 0-2 Roma

MOTM: Maarten Stekelenburg - The Dutch international goalkeeper collects his first man of the match award of the season as eight saves, including keeping out a penalty, helps ensure Roma pick up three points when a largely inexperienced side was fielded in front of him.

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Next was first against fourth as Roma travelled to Naples to play Napoli. In the first quarter of an hour Roma were the better team by far, however De Sanctis was pulling off some brilliant saves to deny Roma from getting off to a great start. On 27 minutes a loose pass by Marquinhos allowed Napoli to break away. Marek Hamsik played a lofted ball over the top of Roma's defence which Goran Pandev ran onto and sweetly hit a first-time volley with his left-foot beyond Stekelenburg to give the home side the lead. For the next half an hour of play both goalkeepers played brilliantly to keep the other team's potent attacking threat fruitless. Roma drew level after 64 minutes as a beautiful passing move that involved Totti, Bony, Pjanic and Lamela left the latter with a simple finish with his weaker right-foot. On 80 minutes, Lamela was in again as he found space between centre-back and full-back. Totti fed the ball to him and the youngster controlled it expertly and blasted a half-volley into the bottom corner to give Roma the lead for the first time in the match. It didn't last long as only two minutes later a shot by Pandev was palmed back to the penalty spot by Stekelenburg where Edinson Cavani was waiting. The Uruguayan striker leapt and bobbed the header over the oncoming goalkeeper to equalise. Cavani is second in the goalscorer charts behind Roma's Totti however that late header ensured a point for Napoli. This was the first time Roma had dropped points in the league since the 2-2 draw against Pescara at the end of November.

16/01/13 - Serie A - Napoli 2-2 Roma

MOTM: Morgan De Sanctis - The Napoli goalkeeper single-handedly kept his side from letting in about three goals in the first half and was the main reason why his side got something from the game.

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Four days later, it was a top of the table encounter as second-placed Roma played host to first-placed Inter. Despite the enormity of the the opposition, Brown fielded the same side that played away to Catania earlier in the month. The ever-present Stekelenburg was the only player that kept his place from the draw with Napoli.

The first goal came only 11 minutes in as Fredy Guarin's initial header was saved by the Roma goalkeeper, the Colombian stretched out and poked the rebound into the net to give the table-toppers the lead. Roma replied three minutes later as young Mattia Destro gave the ball to 35-year old Simone Perrotta. The experienced midfielder held off Guarin and struck a stunning effort into the top corner from 22 yards out to equalise. Five minutes into the second half, Destro was involved again as he chipped the ball over Chivu and Ranocchia to play in Alessandro Florenzi who controlled it and passed it across the face of goal and the incoming Marquinho was left with an easy finish from inside the six-yard box. Four minutes later Florenzi dribbled past Chivu in the box and passed it to Destro who calmly curved the ball beyond Samir Handanovic to give Roma a two-goal cushion. On 75 minutes, Tachtsidis played a sloppy pass in his own box which was intercepted by Antonio Cassano who took the opportunity and slotted the ball into the far corner. Tachtsidis' blushes were spared as this second-string Roma side held on to overcome Inter 3-2 and go back to the top of the table.

20/01/13 - Serie A - Roma 3-2 Inter

MOTM: Mattia Destro - The 22-year old played brilliantly against a title-challenging Inter outfit and grabbed himself a goal and an assist to help Roma to victory. A well-deserved first man of the match award.

- Mattia Destro in 3-2 win against Inter.

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The manager had a match on his birthday and it was a big one. The Coppa Nazionale quarter-final away to Torino. The Granata were not to be taken lightly as they had caused the shock of the Round of 16 by dumping out Milan 2-1 in extra-time. Roma would have to play well if they were to progress to the semi-finals although when these two sides met in November at the Stadio Olimpico, Roma ran out comfortable 5-1 winners. Torino would be hoping that they could cause an upset again.

Roma opened the scoring after seven minutes after Wilfried Bony's shot from a tight angle went in off the inside of the post. On 26 minutes some poor defending allowed Pjanic to shoot. His shot was saved however Lamela jumped above D'Ambrosio to nod the ball into an empty net to double the away side's advantage. Just after the half-hour mark, there was some neat passing between Totti, De Rossi and Bony which resulted in the Ivorian threading through the ball to Pablo Osvaldo who took a touch and caressed the ball into the bottom corner to make the score 3-0 to Roma. That was Osvaldo's first goal since his hat-trick when these two teams met in the league two months ago. Six minutes later a one-two between Bianchi and Meggiorini saw the Roma defence falter and allow the former to score. It was quite a drab second-half as Roma just played the game out to book their place in the semi-finals.

23/01/13 - Coppa Nazionale Quarter-Final - Torino 1-3 Roma

MOTM: Wilfried Bony - The striker scored his 11th goal of the season and assisted Osvaldo's first goal in eight matches to earn his third man of the match award this season.

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Four days later Roma travelled to Bologna. The away side were looking towards the semi-final of the Coppa Nazionale against Inter so fielded a weak side. Goicoechea replaced Stekelenburg in goals. 19 minutes in, Bologna had a corner nodded in by Gilardino who had outjumped Florenzi to make it one-nil to the home side. On 37 minutes, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos put a right-footed effort past Goicoechea to double Bologna's lead. Seven minutes into the second half, Mattia Destro shrugged off pressure from Antonsson and got a goal back for Roma after a low strike from inside the box found the back of the net. Bologna's goalkeeper Curci produced some good saves to keep the home side in front. In the 89th and 90th minute, Roma were sloppy defensively which allowed Panagiotis Kone to score twice to confirm Roma's third Serie A loss of the season.

27/01/13 - Serie A - Bologna 4-1 Roma

MOTM: Lazaros Christodoulopoulos - The Greek took the game to the second-string Roma side and was the hub of the team as he scored and assisted two other goals to ease his side to a comfortable win over the title-challenging outfit.

- Bologna ran out 4-1 winners against a weakened Roma side.

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The last game of January saw Inter and Roma do battle again as they faced each other at the San Siro in the Coppa Nazionale Semi-Final First Leg. In the aftermath of a corner 20 minutes in, a Ranocchia shot was parried away be Stekelenburg however Chivu slid in and poked the ball into the net to give Inter the lead. It stayed that way for a large portion of the game as Samir Handanovic pulled off some magnificent saves to keep his team in front. Roma had started playing short corners in a bid to shake things up a bit and on 77 minutes, one came off as successful passes between Totti, Osvaldo, Pjanic and Burdisso saw the defender play the ball through to the just onside Wilfried Bony who fired a first-time strike past the Inter goalkeeper from eight yards out. There was a frantic end to the game from that point on. On 85 minutes, Erik Lamela dribbled past Chivu with ease and his shot with his weaker right-foot went in off the post to give Roma a 2-1 lead. Only two minutes later, Diego Milito hit a brilliant shot from outside the box past Stekelenburg to tie the score again. Roma would have the final say in this first leg though as in the 90th minute Osvaldo shimmied away from Gargano and threaded the ball through to De Rossi who hit the ball first time with his left foot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net and that was how the first leg finished.

30/01/13 - Coppa Nazionale Semi-Final First Leg - Inter 2-3 Roma

MOTM: Samir Handanovic - Although he conceded three goals, he kept out Roma's attack for 76 minutes through an incredible show of athleticism and technique.

INJURY: Roma striker Pablo Osvaldo suffered a sprained ankle during the Coppa Nazionale match against Inter and will be out of action for three weeks as a result.



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Shortman

I enjoy reading your AS Roma updates they're all quality. Feel free to tag me in your future posts



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