Hey there folks!. Happy 2022 for all of you.

Welcome back again, this time around I’m catching up with the Barakaldo save. If you need a memory refreshener to our last season, check it out here

Half the money won from last year will be spent in the club’s facilities. Good results attract fans so it’s all good. Expectactions have grown higher I guess.

As you see we finished 6^th in the last season, which is by all means a decent result so I’m looking to be top 10 again.

To achieve that, we need a bit of depth in the squad as I will turn to a different formation. We are needing a defensive midfielder, a central attacking midfielder and attacking midfielders on both sides as backup in case of any injuries.
Unfortunately the attacking midfielder is gonna be very difficult to acquire due to only three players being natural AMCs within our set criteria (Guerrero, De Paula and Calvo Garcia). The latter is the easier to pick up but he isn’t very good. Therefore, we will have to accommodate Uribarrena in that role.

My targets are:

This man is pretty great but apparently Espanyol bid for him as well. Fingers crossed then

In case Bittor says no, Joseba is our plan B!

We only have Alexis Lamar in this role so we’ll definitely need a helping hand there.

In the next couple of days, they answer our calls.

Alright! We can tick off the list the left attacking midfielder and the sweeper

Now, let’s go for the defensive midfielder first:

Born in Vizcaya, Bilbao. In real life, he did most of his career in Alaves

I’m playing some friendlies to get a feel for the team before starting head-on with the season so it’s time to get the team set up.

I’ve been learning a few things here and there from twitter, so I’m sticking with this one.

Friendly 1

Ah yes, the good old Championship Manager treatment. 1 shot at target, 1 goal.

Anyway, we had good creativity and chances to make up for it. Nothing to be worried about

Good. Azkoitia’s in! One down, only one more to go.

Friendly 2

Ah, this is a far better outcome. Zamarripa with a solid display, sewns the game up and our fans go home happy, excited for the beginning of the season

Sixth place last season got us a place in the UEFA Cup, so I’m hoping to have a decent run

Yeah. Seems like a good matchup to begin with.

Meanwhile, I found a possible target for the right attacking midfielder slot:

Native of Zestoa, Guipuzkoa. Despite what you may see from his attributes, his numbers weren’t really all that good. He underperformed at Cacereño and in his former club, Maritimo. Anyway, there aren’t a lot of available options in the market so he’ll have to do I guess.

So, in the following days before the match for the UEFA Cup, we picked him up

OK. Having signed this lad, we take ourselves off the market. We will only look for replacements if anybody leaves.

UEFA Cup 1^st Round Leg 1:

Barakaldo 4 – Asmaral Moscow 0

Lineup changes:

Aitor Beguiristain for Joseba Arregui

20.000 fans turned up for our debut against this Russian team. Thankfully, we had our revs in sync and we rallied to a tantalising win at home.

Game 1

Celta de Vigo 2 – Barakaldo 3

Good start, innit?. Despite Celta scoring first, we didn’t back down and just two minutes after we were pounding their door which resulted in Pier scoring an own goal. A header from Zamarripa just before half time put us on edge. He pops another goal in the 63th minute and rounding up the score Pier after his early mistake.

Game 2

Barakaldo  1 – Deportivo La Coruña 1

It’s a draw at Lasesarre. We weren’t shy of chances but Deportivo had the upper hand in this game so I consider us lucky to salvage a point.

UEFA Cup 1^st Round Leg 2:

Asmaral Moscow 1 – Barakaldo 2

Lineup changes:

Oscar Gurria for Juan Zamarripa

Gorka Gonzalez for Joseba Lizaso

The Russian team came out on full force trying to overcome a 4-goal deficit but we displayed an efficient performance and we see them off thanks to Roberto Martinez. Off to the next stage!

Game 3

Oviedo 0 – Barakaldo 1

Gurria’s insistence kept our foot on the throttle throughout the majority of the match, making Mora one of the best rated players in the match. However he couldn’t keep his clean sheet as in the closing stages a long cross from Aldalur found Uribarrena with a magnificent chance (his only one in the game) which he didn’t miss.

Game 4

Barakaldo 2 – Merida 0

The fans at Lasesarre surely went home glad but maybe expecting any more goals. Our performance here was absolutely rampant, we barely gave Navarro Montoya a breather. Gurria again carried out most of the shots in the opposing GK’s goal but despite not finding the net, he was helpful enough to assist Uribarrena twice to give us a 2-0 win.

Before leaving, I’ll show you the standings as of now:

Man what a start!. Quite early yet I know but fans are all over the moon.

So that wraps up our first episode in this season with Barakaldo. Tune in next week where we will be playing for the UEFA Cup 2^nd round (you’ll find out who we got in the draw) and the next 4 matches of Primera Division. See ya!

Welcome to a new episode of this save with Barakaldo.

A brief recap of last episode: we were defeated by Valencia in the Copa Del Rey Quarter-Finals, and we are left to focus on Primera Division only.
We will be covering from matchday 20 to 28.

Game 20

Barakaldo 2 – Valencia 1

Ibañez needs some playing time so it’s time to bring him in

Lineup changes:

Iñaki Ibañez for Dani Alonso

Agustin Exposito for Xabier Pantzeska

Apparently the Thursday game took its toll on Valencia’s players as we’re the ones leading the charge in the first half. We are very keen on the night and between Dani and Zamarripa sandwich a Chiesa goal as we hang on to take the win and valuable 3 points for the standings.

Game 21

Real Madrid 2 – Barakaldo 0

Lineup changes:

Aitor Iru for Gorka Sangroniz
Domingo Larrainzar for Luis Eduardo Dadie (suspended for two matches after his red card against Zaragoza)

Under the blinding lights and the huge murmur of Santiago Bernabeu’s stadium, we failed to deliver a good performance. Real Madrid couldn’t break our resilience in the first half despite being the dominant team. Unluckily our efforts were futile as we caved in minutes 61 and 67 when Joao Pinto and Fernando Sanchez scored.

Our next match is against Betis, and previously they played against Barcelona for the European Super Cup. The result was a great surprise, considering the level and quality of Barcelona’s squad (who are currently running first in Primera Division).

Holy moly, what are up to?

Game 22

Barakaldo 1 – Betis 3

Well, it wasn’t seven but anyway what a clinical display of football by Betis in our stadium. The start was promising as Dani Alonso netted a goal early but we couldn’t hold the advantage for long. First Finidi and five minutes later Solskjaer who races free and tucks one into the bottom corner give Betis a 2-1 lead into halftime. In the second half I made a couple of subs to attempt turning things around or at least levelling the score, but they were unsuccessful. Cañas adds a third goal in the 84^th minute of the game and in the very last minute we have Iru sent off due to a penalty. Sangroniz goes in for Gurria and stops the penalty.

Game 23

Hercules 1 – Barakaldo 4

Judging from the score at half-time, you would have never guessed that it would end up this way. We lost Arozarena early and as I didn’t have another right full-back to sub in, I had to place Matxon in that position. The idea was to keep the formation

until the end of the game. That plan however, was changed after Maestri levelled the game and our guys put the foot on the throttle, adding two more goals to make it 3-1. After that I decided to play with 3 central defenders at the back and sub in Uribarrena for Dani. Our attacking form didn’t stop just there and in the 80^th minute Gurria placed the final 4-1 while the clock swiftly ran away from Hercules. Great win.

Ok. No worries for the moment. Pizo Gomez will be up for this

Game 24

Lineup changes:

Lamar Alexis for Aitor Iru
Antonio Pizo Gomez for Pedro Arozarena

Barcelona 1 – Barakaldo 0

OK, time to face Primera Division’s leader in their home turf. Honestly, it wasn’t the beating that I had anticipated in my head. In fact, the first 15 minutes of the match we had the edge over them and we had got closer to their goal than what they did. But, it’s Barcelona and their class eventually showed when a cross from Ortega was connected by Rivaldo. We didn’t give up though, and in any of the corners taken by us, I expected a Bakero’s miracle header that would level the game. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen and close to the end of the game we had our biggest threat in Barcelona’s goal. A shot taken by Calle hit the crossbar and Gurria had the opportunity to send it in the back of the net with Vitor Baia smothering the ball and denying us. Proud of this lot for standing up in a stadium packed with more than 100.000 souls

Game 25

Barakaldo 3 – Deportivo La Coruña 0

Lineup changes:

Oscar Alkorta for Hector Victor Sanz
Aitor Iru for Lamar Alexis

Inspiring victory from our boys, who were solid on defense and didn’t allow a shot on target from Deportivo in the entire game. Alkorta made a very good comeback, and i plan to keep him a while in the lineup if he doesn’t get injured again. Brilliant victory!

Game 26

Sporting Gijon 0 – Barakaldo 0

Other than Sangroniz, the match looked like we didn’t show up at all at El Molinón. Sporting tried in every possible way but they were unsuccessful. We collect a good away point and Sangroniz is crowned Man Of The Match.

Game 27

Barakaldo 1 – Valladolid 1

Despite showing superiority during the match, we weren’t able to hold the lead with Turiel scoring after a scramble in the last minute of the first half. The second half was pretty much all ours, Valladolid only attempted one shot through Boutoille but Cesar denied us twice while we were trying to win. One point for each side

Before wrapping up the episode, let’s take a quick look at the standings

It’s pretty much a fact that we will end up this season at least in the top 8, so it’s a very good performance by this group of lads

After this match, we reached the end of episode number 5.

Stay tuned for our next episode with Barakaldo. See ya 🙂

Hello everyone! Welcome to episode number 4 of this save with Barakaldo.
In this episode, we will be covering our next 5 matches in Primera Division and the third round of Copa Del Rey against Valencia

Game 15

Barakaldo 3 – Espanyol 3

A bittersweet taste in our mouth as the boys rallied back to take the lead in the game and Espanyol didn’t want to be denied and nicked a draw 6 minutes after we scored the 3-2. The change of Calle for Roberto Martinez seemed to invigorate the squad but Bestchastnykh made sure that feeling didn’t last for long.

Game 16

Celta 2 – Barakaldo 4

A very good brand of football in Balaídos saw us head into halftime with a two goal lead. Right from the locker room Roberto Martinez came out in full force and before reaching the first 10 minutes we were up 2-0. In the second half, Celta edged closer with Pier scoring another goal and I envisioned a worst case scenario in my head. However, the boys didn’t let me down, and Ipiña added a 4^th goal to the tally and we closed the lid on the game.

Game 17

Barakaldo 2 – Oviedo 0

Lineup changes:

Pedro Arozarena for Antonio Pizo Gomez

Oscar Gurria for Jose Uribarrena

Oviedo are no threat to us and as a proof of that Mora is chosen as Man Of The Match due to our incessant hovering around his goal. Xabier Pantzeska scores a brace and Roberto Martinez in the second half finish off the job.

A few injuries along the way mean that we have to make changes for the match against Valencia:

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Copa Del Rey Quarter Finals Leg 1

Lineup changes:

Gorka Sangroniz for Aitor Iru
Daniel Barroso Dani for Hector Victor Sanz
Dani Alonso for Gorka Gonzalez

Valencia 1 – Barakaldo 1

I had my doubts about this one, as you can’t deny the players quality in Valencia’s lineup. Surprisingly, we held our heads high and picked up a valuable result at Mestalla. Despite a calm attitude in the first half from our side, on the second one the boys came out with energy and we found a goal after a rebound from a Gurria’s shot which was parried by Zubizarreta and picked up by Roberto Martinez. Good feelings for leg 2.

Game 26

Merida 1 – Barakaldo 0

Lineup changes:

Iñaki Aldalur for Domingo Larrainzar
Oscar Alkorta for Asier Ipiña

Sketchy affair against the team lead by Jorge D’Alessandro, one of their defenders had a fantastic night and managed to clear the danger in the occasions we had. Onto the next one.

Game 27

Barakaldo 0 – Zaragoza 0

We were out of ideas in this game and both teams needed a few lessons in how to shoot onto a target I guess. 1 out of 6 for us, and 2 out of 11 for them tell the full story, huh? To make matters worse I was forced to retreat when Dadie got sent off, which meant subbing in Matxon for Gurria to cover the hole in the back and Raul Calle for Roberto Martinez (having a below par game). Big 0-0 and despite the yawns from our supporters, we’re running in the top 6 in Primera Division.

The rundown to our 2^nd leg against Valencia couldn’t be worse as we have 3 people injured:

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LOL! You just got injured Oscar, how can I play you if you’re injured? Sit tight, work on your recovery and we’ll talk again.

Copa Del Rey Quarter Finals Leg 2

Barakaldo 1 – Valencia 1 (lost on penalties 0-2)

Lineup changes:

Agustin Exposito for Xabier Pantzeska
Aitor Beguiristain for Oscar Alkorta

The crowd erupted into joy when in the 17^th minute Dani Alonso scored the first goal of the match. Everything was looking neatly until we succumbed to Valencia’s pressure. Iñigo Idiakez punished us in the 52th minute of the game, and then we had to endure a gritty second half. Good thing we had Sangroniz on top form, as he was the key that kept us alive until the penalties. We were terrible in that stage and couldn’t score while Valencia managed to score two. Anyway, Sangroniz proved his worth when he stopped Fernando and Mendieta’s shots. The supporters were proud despite the elimination, and the team went into the locker room under a roar of applause. We meet Valencia again on Saturday.

Before wrapping up the episode, let’s take a quick look at the standings

Dropped down a little in these last few matches, but it’s a very good first half so far!

Now yes, we reached the end of episode number 4

Tune in next week for episode number 5 of this series. See ya 🙂

Hello! Welcome to episode number 3 of this series with Barakaldo.

In this one, we will be covering the third round of Copa Del Rey and our next 5 matches from Primera Division.

Game 9

Barakaldo 3 – Racing Santander 2

The string of good performances continues to bring people to our stadium. This time 18732 fans congregated at Lasesarre to watch this match. Our rival Racing Santander was a hard challenge and they gave us a good run for our money. The starting goal by Garmendia was quickly shot down by a double of Alex and Islhat Faizulin. Even so, our guys didn’t throw away the towel, and Exposito with a screamer from the right side levelled the match. A few minutes later, Zamarripa tapped in a rebound from a Gurria shot, and we were up again. In the second half the action wasn’t as much as in the first one, and neither team managed to score any more. We have a match for Copa Del Rey against this same lot so I hope we have learned a few things in the way to repeat.

Copa Del Rey Third Round Leg 1

Barakaldo 2 – Racing Santander 0

Lineup changes:

Gorka Gonzalez for Iñaki Ibañez
Xabier Pantzeska for Oscar Alkorta as a sub

The fact that our match was in a Thursday didn’t impede that 100 fans more than our last attendance showed up at Lasesarre to witness this match. And we did repeat a fine performance. Bakero lead the charge against Racing, taking the most amount of shots and managing to net one in the 30^th minute of the game with Gurria previously opening the game in the 21th minute. Oscar Garcia was the one who tried the most from Racing but he didn’t succeed as neither did anybody else from the team. We hold a good goal difference heading to leg 2 in El Sardinero.

Game 10

Logroñes 1 – Barakaldo 2

A few needed changes as the match is on Saturday and there is little recovery time

Lineup changes:

Jose Angel Uribarrena for Oscar Gurria
Xabier Pantzeska for Jose Maria Bakero
Luis Fernando Dadie for Lamar Alexis
Roberto Martinez for Juan Zamarripa

An absolutely powerful display by Roberto Martinez, who took responsibility of the attacking display at Las Gaunas. He levelled the game after an unfortunate own goal by Garmendia, and kept on pushing Adolfo firmly. In one of those occasions he forced a ball which touched Nayim and ended in the back of the net. Logroñes didn’t retaliate in the rest of the game and we take the win.

Game 11

Barakaldo 3 – Tenerife 1

Time to even the playing time between the goalkeepers

Lineup changes:

Aitor Iru for Gorka Sangroniz

Jose Maria Bakero for Agustin Expósito

Roberto Martinez woke up in the right side of the bed this Saturday and boy he was on the rampage! Despite pulling one goal back courtesy of Domingos, Roberto quickly added a third and I saw the screen sign “Tenerife has gone defensive”. I was left wondering how much defensive had they gone, and I found out this:

Geez, first half against a recently promoted team. Is this really necessary?. During the rest of the game, they kept this formation until the 75^th minute where they resorted to a standard 532 defensive and managed to get a shot on our net. We ended up with 10 shots on target, and 3 goals.

Copa Del Rey Third Round Leg 2

Racing Santander 1 – Barakaldo 0

Lineup changes:

Hector Victor Sanz for Dani Alonso

In El Sardinero, there was no display of magic and we are narrowly defeated. I made a couple of late changes in the hope of a calming goal, but it never materialized. What’s important though is that given the goal difference I’m through to the next round.

Game 12

Atletico Madrid 1 – Barakaldo 2

I’m honestly surprised with this result. If you take a look at Atletico Madrid’s names, a narrow defeat can be considered a good result (especially with two excellent free kick takers like Milinko Pantic and Juninho). Nevertheless, we complete a fantastic assault and leave the Colchoneros surprised when the referee signals the end of the match. The initial goal by Gallardo wasn’t a deterrent and Bakero levelled after a cross from Roberto Martinez before we reached half-time. In the second half we traded blows and with the clock running out, Bakero returned the favor to Roberto and with a splendid pass left him on a breakaway against Ceballos. Roberto wasn’t in a forgiving mood and the ball went through the net. The remaining 6 minutes was just holding on tightly and it’s 3 terrific points we are taking to our basque city.

Game 13

Barakaldo 2 – Sevilla 2

A little bit of a wobble here, as we’re the dominant team and we only managed to salvage a point from this meeting. Despite our best efforts we’re taken by surprise by Sevilla and the joy that was surrounding Lasesarre turns to faces of concern with two goals in the final five minutes of the first half.

Game 21

Athletic Bilbao 2 – Barakaldo 1

We push Athletic all the way in San Mames but our efforts weren’t enough. Tabuenka finish us off when the match had 20 minutes yet to end.

Before wrapping up this episode, let’s take a look at the standings as of now:

Looking good for the moment!

Now yes, we reached the end of episode number 3.

Tune in next week for a new episode. See ya 🙂

Welcome back, everyone! We have been promoted to Primera Division and we will be facing the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and so on this season.
The main goal for this season is avoiding relegation at all costs while adhiring to our strict policy of Basque-born only players.

Let’s start with the transfer activity in this off-season

TRANSFER NEWS:

Their contracts have ran out and I attempt to capitalize on that.

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Unfortunately, no luck and they both turn me down

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Let’s keep it going then

Born in Bilbao, Vizcaya. Played for Athletic Bilbao, Zaragoza, Lleida and Amurrio.

Born in Equatorial Guinea. He joined Real Sociedad B as a youth, therefore he qualifies as an eligible player

OK. Moving on then.

A few days later these lads are released from Real Sociedad. Highly unlikely that their free agency goes unnoticed as they’re top notch players, but we’ll bid anyway.

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Well, at least we tried.

SIGNINGS:

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As you can see, he’s the regen of Eugenio Bustingorri, a product from the Osasuna’s youth team who played most of his career in Osasuna with brief spells in Atletico Madrid and Izarra. Looks like a good option to have as a left defensive midfielder.

This fella is the regen of Patxi Salinas, so it’s definitely a no-brainer to go all in for him given he’s free

We got him. Good!

The good news is that no one has left the club so the squad is intact.

As money is a bit thin due to my prize being spent on building new seats I organized a couple of home friendlies to collect some fundings.

Friendly 1

OK test against a non-league team. Good goal difference

Friendly 2

This one was a proper test. Bastia are a Ligue 1 team and definitely higher in quality than Murcia. Despite being an even match, we only managed to score through Calle whilst they finished us off in the second half

Friendly 3

This match however there wasn’t a big display of football on our side. We only managed one on shot on target to their seven. The final score is a flattering one, though spectators leave Lasesarre with a look of concern in our eyes. Is the season going to be this hard?

The season begins with a Copa Del Rey match, and the wheel of fortune gave us no other than Celta de Vigo.  It’s a very good opportunity to avenge the early exit of past year. If you don’t remember what happened back then, let me refresh your memory. I wasn’t able to find left full-back at the moment of the match and I had to resort playing a left midfielder in that slot, using a 2332 tactic. I lost that match 3-0 and I won 4-2 at home, therefore if it hadn’t been for that mishap I firmly believe I would have progressed further.

Copa Del Rey 1^st Round Leg 1:

Celta 2 – Barakaldo 1

The difference in this game was Celta taking their chances and us fluffing ours. Uribarrena’s provisional draw was very short-lived as Bruno Caires scored just one minute later and thwarted our opportunity to leave Balaídos with a 1-1. Nevertheless I have high hopes for leg 2 in Lasesarre so I don’t think the playoff is totally lost.

Game 1

Valencia 3 – Barakaldo 2

Welcome to Primera Division Valencia said to us. A penalty committed by Zubizarreta in the 7^th minute of the game was converted into a goal by Uribarrena. However, just as Valencia kicked off the ball, a smart play ended up in Albelda’s feet and he put the ball into Iru’s net. From then on, Valencia went into a high charge against our goal which paid their dividend when Albelda with a header scored again in the 39^th minute. Fernando added a third goal in the 51th minute but Bakero brought us closer with a header after a corner kick. Unfortunately after Bakero’s goal there wasn’t much action from our side and Valencia kept their foot on the throttle with Iru doing his best.

Game 2

Barakaldo 1 – Real Madrid 1

Is there a better match to start your season at home than against the almighty Real Madrid?

18500 spectators out of the 19.000 available came up to Lasesarre to enjoy this match. We ended up collecting a very nice point in front of our crowd and against players of the calibre of Redondo, Roberto Carlos and Suker. Through thick and thin, I trust in our formation and we’re keeping it.

Copa Del Rey 1^st Round Leg 2:

Barakaldo 2 – Celta 0

The first victory of the season and when it mattered! Well done boys. Just early in the game, a cross from Bakero went to Zamarripa, whose shot was blocked by Dutruel and Xabier showed up to tap it into the net. Then, just two minutes later Josema was sent off and Celta were forced to retreat for a while, which led to our team push forward until half-time. Zamarripa placed the finishing touch in the 59^th minute of the game and despite trying at the late stages, they fell into their knees. We’re through to the next round!

Game 3

Barakaldo 3 – Hercules 0

We showed Hercules no mercy and we make light work of them in the early stages. In the second half, there were some brief moments of action from Hercules, with Maestri blasting a penalty wide in the 56^th minute. Our supporters go home happy with the display of football by our guys.

This match wraps up our first episode of this new season with Barakaldo.

Tune in next week where we will cover the 5 next matches from Primera Division and also the second round from Copa Del Rey. See ya friends 🙂

Getxo! Welcome to our last episode for the season with Barakaldo

Game 36

Numancia 0 – Barakaldo 4

A fantastic display in Numancia’s territory. We lead early as Roberto Martinez and Xabier give us a 2-0 lead with just 10 minutes on the clock. 20 minutes later, Roberto Martinez scores after a corner kick taken by Ipiña. Every time we go forward it looks like we are going to score, even though we just lead 3-0 at half time. Gijon start the second half well and they enjoy a brief period of boldness in which they attempt a couple of shots on our goal. Nevertheless, Uribarrena crushed any hopes when he scores the 4^th goal in Los Pajaritos, and they immediately retreat to defensive schemes until the clock runs out.

Game 37

Barakaldo 1 – Osasuna 1

We throw away 2 points in this affair though I find a bright spark in the game as Roberto scores again and seems to be making the most of this new opportunity I gave him. The first half didn’t see much action aside from the goals from each team, and in the second we limited their advances through Dadie and Bakero. We had a good chance of winning in the last ball of the game but we weren’t lucky this time.

Game 38

Levante 1 – Barakaldo 1

Next up in the league are Hercules, another one of the promoted sides, and they sit rock bottom of the table, so it’s a chance to get some more points on the board. Our only change is Histilloles in for Arregui. It’s a lacklustre first half with no shots on target from either side. The second half is much the same and despite a shuffle around up front, we can’t find a breakthrough in this dull affair and we’re back to 10th in the table.

Game 39

Barakaldo 2 – Lleida 3

Lleida get their revenge for the Camp D’Esports loss in the first round. We have a goal disallowed in the 6^th minute of the game. Gurria quickly makes up for it, only for Navarro to equalise reaching the 30^th minute mark. It’s 1-1 at half time and we’ve been by far the better side. We have a few more chances in the second half but it’s Lleida who scores first through Veretennikov. After 5 minutes we get punished for our woeful finishing when Veretennikov strikes again. In the 89^th minute of the game, Bakero puts a question mark on the final result after he scored but despite having the last ball in a corner kick, Raúl denies us twice and they take the win.
Despite the loss Las Palmas, Logroñes and Xerez are also losing points which is why we still hold hope to finish in the top 4 and get promoted.

Game 40

Barakaldo 3 – Leganes 2

It’s Saturday and we’re on it again at Lasesarre, this time against Leganes.

Gurria scores early before the 10^th minute mark and aided by Mesas being sent off, Gurria strikes again in the 24^th minute of the game. Staliunas attempt to regain control is quickly neglected by a potent header of Bakero, putting off the fire in their veins (at least for the first half). In the second half it’s just a cruise control kind of match. The peace is broken when in the 70^th minute Staliunas adds a second to Leganes’ tally. However, there wasn’t really much danger beyond that and we take the win, highly celebrated by the fans congregated in Lasesarre.

Sit tight Juan. You will be not moved now. This complaint about the asking price is because at the start of January, I saw the WNT icon and Numancia was interested in picking him up. Therefore, I changed his asking price to 1.4 million and eventually Numancia’s offer just vanished into thin air

Game 41

Elche 1 – Barakaldo 2

A bit of a struggle to win this one. With 20 minutes to go, I decided to shake up the tree a little to find the elusive victory. Eventually we made it, Zamarripa rose up to the task and the team heads home happily after collecting a massive 3 points.

As you see from these pictures, this next matchday is absolutely crucial. Alaves is fighting to avoid relegation and their only possible choice is to win. On the other side, we’re fighting to be directly promoted to Primera Division, and our best bet would be winning to avoid depending of our rival’s results.

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Game 42

Barakaldo 3 – Alaves 0

The time of truth has arrived. Can we get directly promoted or will we have to wait another year?

Yes! We’ve done it! I honestly thought that Alaves would have more resolve as they were fighting to avoid relegation, but soon it became clear to us why they were in that spot.

Unfortunately for Alaves, this means relegation to non-league and their board took actions swiftly.

FINAL STANDINGS:

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FULL FIXTURE RECAP:

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WORLD CUP:

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ANNUAL AWARDS:

In a very weird twist of fate, Joachim Low decided to coach Extremadura after getting sacked from Stuttgart

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FFS! I’m going to Primera Division almost in banktrupcy

BARAKALDO’S PLAYER OF THE SEASON AND GOAL SCORER OF THE SEASON **

And so my friends, it’s to bring this episode to an end. Hope you enjoyed this first season with us.

See you soon with a new season in Primera Division. Aupa Barakaldo!

• Footnote here: I forgot to screenshot the average ratings, goals scored, goal assists and man of the match awards that’s why I’m only showing the player of the season and top goal scorer

Welcome to a new episode of this save with Barakaldo.
In this one, we will be covering from matchday 29 to 35.

INJURY NEWS

Game 29

Barakaldo 1 – Xerez 1

Ibañez needs some playing time so it’s time to bring him in

Lineup changes:

Iñaki Ibañez for Dani Alonso

Agustin Exposito for Xabier Pantzeska

Bit a mixed feeling here. We could have well lost it because Xerez had a bunch of chances and even a goal nullified, but also the last 5 minutes of the match were absolutely ours, and Zamarripa got unlucky to add a second goal to the score and also his tally.

Oh dear! That’s the end of the season for him.

Game 30

Toledo 2 – Barakaldo 1

Lineup changes:

Luis Garmendia for Dani Barroso

Well we failed miserably here. 3 minutes in Eduardo hit us with a volley which couldn’t be stopped by Sangroniz. After a bunch of missed shots, finally at the end of the first half we picked up a goal. Corner kick taken by Gorka was headed by Zamarripa, Villavilla parries it and the ball falls to Expósito’s feet who doesn’t hesistate and we go 1-1 into halftime. In the second half we had about 4 shots on goal which we dutifully neglected by Toledo’s defense and Villavilla. 10 minutes from the end of the match, Edu capitalizes on a wrong backpass from Dadie, and we couldn’t do anything else to prevent the defeat.

Game 31

Barakaldo 2 – Hercules 1

Surprisingly, against the current leader of Segunda Division we had a very good game in which we dominated many passages in it and Hercules had very little reaction. Gorka scored one goal before leaving due to an injury at the restart of the second half. Ibañez added a second after much harassment of Mari’s goalkeeping area. Visnjic tried to restore some dignity to Hercules but immediately after the goal, we went swarming all over them again. 2-1 and 3 valuable points to continue in the promotion conversation

Game 32

Eibar 1 – Barakaldo 2

Lineup changes:

Domingo Larrainzar for Pedro Maria Matxon

Another 3 valuable points collected at Ipurua. The start couldn’t have been better as our first attack ended with a goal from Zamarripa. After the 15^th minute mark there was a shy attempt by Eibar of trying to gain some ground. We quickly put the fire out when in the 27^th Zamarripa scored his second. In the second half, Eibar went decisively for a comeback, switching their 532 for a 433 with Long Ball. It payed off at the closing stages of the game when Eres scored and brought the game closer. However, after scoring they went defensive again and didn’t go near our goal until the clock ran out

Game 33

Barakaldo 2 – Extremadura 2

Zamarripa heads us ahead from a corner inside 20 minutes, and we go into halftime holding a narrow lead. Exposito doubles our lead just past half an hour. The visitors hit back twice and manage to level the match by the 74^th minute of the game. This leaves me with a bitter taste in our mouth as we could’ve easily won the match and we are losing three valuable points.

Game 34

Atletico Madrid B 2 – Barakaldo 4

Time to give Roberto Martinez a new opportunity. Hope he delivers

Lineup changes:

Roberto Martinez for Juan Zamarripa

Despite offering serious resistance and refusing to let us blow them away early doors, we managed to break Atletico Madrid. After having Garitano sent off, it opened the door to more of our attacking chances, and Roberto Martinez rose to the challenge by scoring two.

Game 35

Barakaldo 1 – Villarreal 1

Roberto again! Well done, man! He saved us from a potential disaster at Lasesarre. Villarreal didn’t exactly do much and as you may witness from this picture, they kicked our players a lot. However, their effort was enough to take a point away from us.

After this match, we reached the end of episode number 5.

Stay tuned for our next and final episode of the first season with Barakaldo, which will be released next week. See ya 🙂

What’s with the title?
Translated to Basque language (Euskera), it means Trip to Barakaldo.

So, the question.. why Barakaldo?

The idea came after watching Nick doing it with Athletic Club. To avoid repetition, I chose to do it with a different team from the Basque province.

Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team founded in 1917 and based in Baracaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. For those of you who are unaware, since 1912 Athletic Bilbao have had a club transfer policy, whereby they can only sign either Basque-born players, or players who learned their football skills at a Basque club. The challenge here is to manage them while adhering to this policy, meaning that I can sign any players born in Basque Country, or graduates from Basque teams (such as Alaves, Real Sociedad, Eibar and Osasuna). I’m also going to allow myself to sign regens of any of those players.

Nick kindly shared on his twitter a list of eligible players which met the criteria and i added a few of my own that weren’t on that list, which might be featured alongside the series.

I loaded the Spanish, French (to pick those French players if needed) & German leagues

Goals? First season probably the best possible result is avoiding relegation. From then on, the idea is building up the squad and doing the best possible.

Withour further ado, let’s jump into it.

This is the squad we begin with

As you see, we only have one eligible player, Juan Zamarripa.

A quick look at his attributes tells us that he’s quite decent

There’s a lot of work to be done here, so let’s scout the market to see which players we can pick up:

He has everything in place for a defender.

Doesn’t even need to be introduced. Fundamental part of every team you pick in Segunda Division. Heading is especially nice in combination with a good corner taker.

Prodigal son? Well, Raul played in Barakaldo in the real world for this season so it’s good to have him here in the virtual world. Good young prospect

Born in Getxo, Vizcaya. Started out in Bermeo, also played in Castellon, Sestao (that’s why i remembered from his CM2 days) and Burriana. Young and capable goalkeeper.

In real life, this guy played in Barakaldo after Sestao went bust (back in 95/96 season). A nice option to play in midfield. Decent pace and creativity and quality passing.

A few days later, we have news from these group of lads.

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Good!

Our first 5 signings came through.

Let’s carry on looking for players to bolster this squad.

My next 5 targets are:

Born in Santurtzi, Vizcaya.

Born in Berango, Vizcaya. In real life, played from 1996 to 1998 in Barakaldo

Born in Vizcaya, Bilbao. Prodigal son. This guy made his debut here in Barakaldo back in 1990. He was 21 years old then

Born in Portugalete, Vizcaya. In real life, played in Barakaldo from 2002 to 2004

Born in Eibar, Guipuzcoa

A few days later..

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Awesome, we have 11 players now. The goalkeeper position seems to be well covered so we need to pick up more bodies in defense, midfield and attack.

My 5 next targets are:

Born in Bilbao, Vizcaya. Played in Athletic Bilbao and Zaragoza. He will surely gives good experience

Born in Tudela, Navarre. Product of the Bilbao youth team, never made the first cut in real life. In the game, it looks perfectly fit to play in parternship with someone like Zamarripa or Raul Calle

Player of great experience in Primera Division. Played in Real Sociedad, Barcelona and Deportivo La Coruña. A few quid has come our way and we have a little bit above his worth to bid for him. 

Born in Azkoitia, Guipuzcoa. Played in Badajoz, Getafe and Benidorm.

Another experienced player that will come very handy in defence. Born in Pamplona, Navarre. Started in Osasuna, then Malaga and retired in Levante

A few days later, we have some news.

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Awesome! With these 5, we now have a total of 16 players.

We’re still lacking a few more bodies, specifically a couple of midfielders and left full-backs position.

These are the chosen ones:

Born in Segura, Guipuzcoa. Played in Beasain, Sestao, Las Palmas and Eibar

A player born in this city, where he started his career. Then played in Benidorm, Orense, Hercules , Xerez and Almeria

Other than a lack of creativity and tackling, a pretty well-balanced midfielder. Born in Donostia, Guipuzcoa. Played in Alaves, Espanyol, Rayo Vallecano and basque teams Sestao, Eibar and Beasain

Surely their decisions will come after the next game, so it’s time to get the team set up.

My go-to tactic has become 4231, but given the current circumstances we will have to get a bit creative. I’ll use this until we can acquire some left full-backs.

Copa Del Rey 1^st Round Leg 1:

Celta 3 – Barakaldo 0

The experiment didn’t work and against a solid Celta team, it was a pain to watch. They were in control throughout the entire game and we were lucky enough that they were only able to put three goals past our net.

A few days later, our signings join

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Nice! With these additions, we’re up to 20 players. Main focus point now is another right full-back.

The only available choice in the market is:

Born in Navarre, Pamplona. Spent the majority of his career with Osasuna. Had brief stints in Castellon and Marbella

Game 1

Barakaldo 4 – Badajoz 0

This is how we will line up for the match

What a debut in Segunda Division. It’s a mauling at the Lassesarre stadium. Zamarripa completely unleashed, scoring a hat-trick and stunning Badajoz. A great day for the fans!

Game 2

Rayo Vallecano 3 – Barakaldo 1

Lineup changes:

Luis Garmendia for Daniel Barroso

Simply not our day. An own goal by Osman near the end of the game shatters any hope for a good result. Middleton picked up an injury so we’ll have to deal with that.

Copa Del Rey 1^st Round Leg 2:

Barakaldo 4 – Celta de Vigo 2

A delightful victory in front of our crowd. Although Celta were up ahead twice in the score, we managed to claw our way back into it. It’s an early exit in the Copa Del Rey, but we displayed good football and a decent image among our supporters.

Game 2

Barakaldo 3 – Las Palmas 3

A little nervous about how this one can turn out, as Las Palmas recently advanced to the next round in Copa del Rey by beating Real Sociedad quite convincingly.

Let’s roll the ball!

My lads show some fire in the game though. Despite being 3-1 down in the second half, Bakero gave us a massive boost to claw our way back into the match. Even in the last five minutes we had a couple of shots deflected by Canales which could have easily meant the 4-3 in our favour.

Time to keep bolstering the squad. In this case, a defender:

Born in Azkoitia, Guipuzcoa. Product of Real Sociedad youth team, spent a good amount of years in Deportivo La Coruña where he was part of the team who won Copa del Rey and the Cup-Winners Cup. He’s wanted by Extremadura and Hercules, so it will be tough to get him. Fingers crossed

Yep, expected with the low reputation we have. Time for plan B then. *Looks in the excel sheet. Hmm, ok*. Let’s go get him!

Born in Pasaia, Guipuzcoa. Another good product of the Real Sociedad youth team. Went up to Primera Division with Celta de Vigo, also played in Osasuna and Toledo. We’ll have his answer after our next game

Game 3

Albacete 2 – Barakaldo 1

It’s a comfortable win for Albacete. Despite an equaliser from Zamarripa we struggled to find the grip of the match and it was Albacete who created most of the chances in the match. Hopefully we can improve our away form as there is a notorious difference compared to how we do it at Lassesarre.

Cool! No more defenders are needed for the time being.

A quick glance at the Players Released screen showed that this lad (brother of Rafael Alkorta) had been released from Athletic B (the Athletic Bilbao youth team). Capable of playing two positions, he’ll surely find a place with us. I’ll bid for him

Game 4

Barakaldo 3 – Sevilla 2

Lineup changes:

Gorka Sangroniz for Aitor Iru

A good performance overall. The early lead from Hibic is quickly neglected by Zamarripa. Uribarrena adds one more after a pass from Begiristain, and we lead at halftime. Briefly after starting the second half, Bakero with a powerful header puts us up 3-1. From the on, we didn’t create many more chances and Sevilla got closer. Despite the anxiety of an equaliser, they can’t make it and we take a valuable win.

Game 5

Logroñes 1 – Barakaldo 2

Woohoo! Our first away win of the season. We lead early through Uribarrena and Zamarripa leads us to an advantage at halftime after Morales had provisionally equalised the match.

Before leaving, I’ll show you the standings as of now:

Fine start, isn’t it?

So that wraps up our first episode of this save.

Tune in next wednesday, where we will cover from matchday 7 to 13. Cheers!