Season 33 Week 20 Processing...

Welcome to week 20.

Another huge week for some of you with some exciting finals to look forward to as Chicago take on arch enemies Cosmos in the Confederations Cup Final, Cherry Orchard play Spurs in the Cup Winners Cup final, Leverkusen play Shamrock in the European Cup final, Feyenoord take on spanish champions Atletico in the Europa Cup final, Coventry play Rennais for the Intertoto Cup, Botafogo play Independente for the Copa Libertadores trophy, Bragantino play Danubio in the Sudamerica final, whilst the big game sees Barcelona play Watford in Champions Cup Final. Good luck to all of you this week.

Plus of course a whole host of crucial league games with just three game days left before Champions and Chumps are decided.

No orders this week from Real Madrid and Sevilla...

Barca have to be favourites for this one with rumours abound the Watford manager has been incapacitated all week a la Antonio Conte.  Will he make it to sit in the dugout for the big game?

**Dressing Room swings open**
Huge roar from the players... have they won the final? No... The gaffer is stood there! "C'mon you sorry good for nothing's you get out there and show em' you deserve this, leave nothing on the field!" 

Rice leads the charge to the tunnel, g'ing his team mates up! 

Reports around the Watford Group suggest the manager has been absent from the training ground as he focuses on his health. The club are glad to have the manager return to guide the team. No doubt will give 110%. 

Will keep the round up short and sweet this time. 

....

Arsenal 2 Inter Milan 1 Daniel Agger with a header on 84 minutes.


.... The last time these two managers met in the final it was decided by the Great Dane, Daniel Agger.. 

Watford Vs Barcelona

Given the indifferent form in the league for Watford, this is certainly a cause for celebration for the fans. To go and enjoy the occasion and support the side as they aim to bring home Glory. 
Watford have had some success in recent years. So hopefully there no-how can be called upon to guide them. However, the Barcelona team is filled with stars and will no easy contest through out the pitch. With the likes of Grealish/Dest, Abrahams/Hernandez, Barnes/Hernandez, Maddison/Brozovic and Gabriel/Benzema just to name a few of the contests on show. Will the manager have better form in front of goal this week? Time will Tell....

LEVERKUSEN Vs SHAMROCK

Leverkusen dropped points last week in search of the title... perfect response? To go and win themselves a european trophy! Can the side pull themselves together and pull a performance? The players are looking to the manager for inspiration this week, and him being in the dugout will no doubt give them encouragement to overcome their foe! 

Trio of finals...

BOTAFOGO Vs INDEPENDIENTE 

All of Rio and Brazil are backing the Brazlian side in the conquest, as they take on Argentinian side Independiente.. Can the manager muster the strength to fly to south america, of course he can. His players and the fans deserve it! However, this might be a high scoring game given the 32 goals scored by De Paul and 29 by Zapata, Neymar and Hulk are going to have to go into superhuman mode and Casemiro will need to keep the side together best he can. 



Good luck and good health to all managers this week

Barcelona

As they say, 'if it isn't broken, don't fix it'. Last time out in the domestic Cup Barcelona played reigning League champions Atletico and came away with a comprehensive 4-0 win. After some debate the management team decided to stick with a winning teaming not make changes for the sake of it. Benzema retains his CF role under pressure from the ever improving Victor Osimhen who comes on to the bench for Dani Olmo in the only change to the match day 18. Subs could make the difference in this one so fresh legs in the form of Valverde and Pedri could be key. Watford are a great team and this will be a very tough test for both sides. 

As if playing in a Champions League final (the clubs first time to go past the quarters since I took over) wasn't enough we also have a League title decider against 2nd placed Real. Hopefully home advantage will count and the opportunity to win the League title will spur on tied legs for the visit of Real. Barca have been rock solid at home this season with a 100% home record and 0 goals conceded ...... one more win will do it.

Nacional

Nacional have 2 massive fixtures coming up over the next couple of weeks in a domestic Cup final against perennial rivals Danubio and then a potential title decider in the last game of the season against the same opponents.

In order to make that last game matter Nacional need to keep winning. Every game is vital and this week's trip to Progreso is no exception. Nothing short of a win is acceptable. Again a very settled Nacional side with only Agustin Alvarez coming on to the bench to add fresh legs up front late in the game.

Hannover

A win at home to Cologne would secure a well deserved 4th place in the Bundesliga for Hannover in a season which started disastrously with 6 points in the first 7 games. The gap on the leaders has closed significantly and the team are in good form since Jonathan David took on the CF role. The squad is looking stronger in preparation for next season although the manager has been discussing strengthening the squad with potentially the back up ST and AM roles being most obvious.

Rennes 

The little Breton club have been performing above their lowly status in the third tier of French football. Promotion has been secured and the team have focused on 2 highly entertaining Cup runs. This week sees  them face off against Coventry in the Intertoto Cup and with the injury to our captain and anchor man in midfield, Samassekou, Seko Fofana will hopefully display his versatility by covering. Krepin Diatta has come into the starting line up at DY.

Next week is another huge challenge in the form of the excellent PSG in the Coupe De France. Having gotten past Etienne and then Lille this will make for a tough match. It is a true David versus Goliath fixture in terms of League placings but Rennais have some aces up their sleeves. The attack is full of French internationals in Thuram, Diaby and Griezmann and the wily Wissam Ben Yedder and exciting Dango Ouattara can add some threat from the bench. The defence is also littered with French internationals and superbly marshalled by 19 year old captain, Castello Lukeba. But that's for next week and as the manager says ......... one game at a time.

Good luck to all the finalists this week, I can actually say it and mean it this week as I've not got one to play in! 


All about the league games for me, massive games for Charlton, Nantes and Wolfsburg.  Three games left leaves little room for any slip ups!  Looking forward to it as always.

Reviews are always a good read, thanks guys.

Thoroughly enjoyable previews, good luck to everyone

Friendlies have kicked off. League games will kickoff at 1000 hours Wednesday morning...

Confederations Cup Final

Chicago 1 Cosmos 0

Champions Cup Final

Barcelona 2 Watford 0

European Cup Winners Cup Final

Cherry Orchard 2 Spurs 1

European Cup Final

Leverkusen 1 Shamrock 1 aet pens 5-0

Europa Cup Final

Feyenoord 2 Atletico 3

European Fairs Cup Final

Mechelen 1 Innsbruck 2

Europa Conference Cup Final

Bournemouth 1 Ajax 2

UEFA Intertoto Cup Final

Coventry 0 Rennais 1

Europa Intercity Cup Final

Manchester United 4 Blackburn 0

Copa Libertadores Final

Botafogo 2 Independente 1

Copa SudAmerica Final

Bragantino 0 Danubio 2

Congratulations to all the winners and well done to the losers for reaching one of these auspicious finals may you have better luck next season.

League games will kickoff at 1000 hours today...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Copa Libertadores Final

Botafogo 2 Independente 1

So close again in a major continental final! Was up against one of the strongest teams in South America so not too disappointed in their first season in the Libertadores. Congrats to Phil. Though with lots of changes to next season’s team might make it hard to replicate… they need to pick themselves up for the league game tho!


 Delighted Atletico make up for last season’s disappointment.

Breaking team news from Plymouth - Haaland dropped and on the bench... Torres, Jesus, Alvarez front line... Can the more mobile CF make a difference...

Well done to all the winners, massive achievement. Commiserations to the runners up, so close but still a great 
accomplishment. 

Now onto the league games and the nerves are starting to kick in…..

Congrats to Rob, 

Another thrilling end to the competition! 

Well played to all the managers and good luck in the league games