So, as I had some free time yesterday, I went ahead and finished my season completely. As you can see in this calender, I picked up my game again towards the end of the midway of the season. My loss streak was snapped with a 1-1 tie with PES United. I followed that up with a goalless draw with Monaco. My ladder position was around 12th at this time, and a European spot looked far away. However, two 2-1 victories in the league and cup allowed me to reiterate my hopes. The cup victory qualified me for the quarterfinals against Benfica, while the league games pushed me into 10th entering the midseason transfer window. I immediately checked out the Newcomers list, and tried to pick up the only worthwhile regen of the bunch: Maldini. Unfortunately, Inter was also bidding for the Italian defender, and I lost him. However, I bought two Youths: Wiart and Bianchi. Both have huge peaks in the 90s, and were very cheap. Several other teams were bidding for them, so I decided they must be worth it. Along with my new Youths, I once again tried to pry Giovinco out of Juventus. Giovinco refused my salary offer of 2000 points, so I gave up on him. I tried nabbing some players open to negotiation, so I picked up a 20 year old called Kavlak as a backup RMF. My final dealing was signing Adriano on a loan deal. The Brazilian CF cost me a lot of money, but since I couldn't buy him, I went for the loan option.
With these new additions to my squad, I faced off against Porto, this time at home. I paid them back in full for every goal they scored against me in the first match of the season, winning the game 4-1. Adriano and Martins pulled in braces. I continued, beating out Zenit and tying Fenerbahce. I lost in my my first leg of the D1 Cup against Benfica 1-0 at Benfica. In the return leg, I scored a goal to tie up the series and drag it into overtime. With no side finding a breakthrough, it fell into penalties, where I won 4-3, in sudden death penalties. Their keeper had 3 saves, mine had 4. Penta City solidly beat out French clubs Marseille and Paris, then tied leaders Liverpool in an exciting match 3-3. My first loss this half of the season came at the hands of second placed Manchester United, conceding a goal in the first few minutes. I bounced back with a win against Ajax, but slumped against PSV in a tie and lost to French giants Lyon. I embarked on a five game winning streak, beating out Celtic FC 3-2 after being down 2-0, winning 2-1 at Sporting, then a 2-0 shutout at Athens. Then, I crushed Sunderland and Feyenoord 3-0 and 3-1 respectively. This pulled all the way to 4th position. A tie against PES United dropped me down to 5th behind Benfica, and an inconsistent end of season (win at Monaco, loss at Galatasaray) put me into a rival matchup against Benfica, with the winner taking the final Champions League slot. I opened the score early, but Benfica pulled back before halftime. In the second half, I had 12 shots on goal, but Moreira was impregnable. I finished the season as 5th, a very impressive ranking in only my second ML season.
In the cup, however, I was playing PES United in the semifinals. Five minutes into the game, Martins was injured. I switched him out and brought in Kavlak, moving Gervinho up to SS. Thinking I would lose against a solid PES United, I played possession game to keep a 0-0 tie until the next leg. At the 75th minute, however, I launched a through ball to Griffiths down the left, who crossed it back to Kavlak and sent it into the goal. I was celebrating, literally, because this was a vital away goal against a great team. Playing defensive, I sealed that game. I repeated my strategy in the return leg at home, where we were kept goalless in a 0-0 draw. Regardless, I advanced on aggregate and entered into the D1 Cup Finals versus Fenerbahce. In the finals, Fenerhahce dominated me in the first half hour, and found the net before the halftime whistle. I found myself outplayed and losing. I lacked Martins in the offense, and the impact was making itself felt. However, in the 78th minute, Griffiths gave a good ball to Adriano, who took two touches to dribble past Edu Dracena and shot a signature left-footed bullet into the right hand corner of the goal. The score stayed 1-1 until the final whistle, where I discovered that I had been playing the cup final, and not a league match. In extra time, the first half leaned more to Fenerbahce's side, where Gokhan kept spoiling my through balls to Griffiths, and returned on counter attacks. In the second half of extra time, it was relatively balanced until the 117th minute. Adriano received a Gervinho pass about 25 yards out. Taking one touch, the center forward fired a missile into the goal. I had gotten the D1 Cup in extra time. Special praise went to Adriano with a brilliant double. Martins finished as top scorer of the tournament, with 5 goals, and also MVP. Gervinho got top assist leader with 3 assists, including the decisive one in the finals.
Martins finished as top scorer of the league with 25 goals, 11 ahead of second placed Rooney. Martins also notched MVP of the league and had his transfer market value soar to 2240. Diego came close to getting assist leader, merely one assist behind winner Mascherano. I was finally into my favorite part of an ML: the negotiations period. Immediately, I checked out my Scout List. I was scouting Giovinco, Menez, and Kompany. In the last season, Monaco had been relegated, along with Sporting and Athens. I deduced that Monaco had either released Menez, or Menez would want a move. I was correct. Menez had been released, and I quickly picked him up for a minimal fee, a 760 point salary, and no transfer fee. My next target was Manchester City defender Kompany so my team wouldn't contain Defaults. I put in Gutierrez with 10,000 points in a trade attempt, which Manchester City accepted. I then offered a huge 2100 points salary, which Kompany liked. He was my first top class recruit, and cost me quite some money. Browsing the Future Potential list, I spotted Japanese defender Kobayashi, who looked like an interesting buy. I put in a bid and snapped him up pretty fast. He replaced Ruskin on my starting lineup. Giovinco, as expected, refused my generous salary offering of 2500 points, at which point I decided to stop trying to buy him. I tried for Arda Turan, and was refused. However, I found a great Spanish midfielder Sergio Garcia, who could partner Diego very well in the middle. My team salary did not exceed 15000 points, and I kept 35000 points leftover after the end of the season. I tested out all my new recruits in two friendlies against Tottenham and South American Selection. Menez wowed with a brace in his debut against Tottenham in a 4-0 pounding. The other two goals came from Martins. In the next friendly, Menez once again scored, along with Martins, in a 2-1 victory. Kompany and Kobayashi struck up a good partnership in my defense, and my recruits proved very good. Now, it is on to season 2010-2011.
