3rd June 2017
It’s time for the Champions League Final and we have a problem. Bernardo Silva is not available for the game today. He has a damaged heel and can’t play. Maybe twenty minutes but it is unlikely he will feature. Our best player and basically the heart of our team.
Bernardo Silva is not the only problem. Cavaleiro and Saint-Maximin are both injured and can not play. This means that we have to play 18-year old Cavallier at AMR, another big let-down for us.
Manchester United seem to have no major injuries or suspensions, so we are definitely the weaker side in that perspective.
Anyway, the game is in Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium. 72,500 people will be watching in the stadium and I am very nervous. I am always positive and believe in my own chances but with Cavaleiro and Bernardo Silva missing, I really feel like we are missing two very important players and it is hurting our chances.
The following teams will battle against each other today:
AS Monaco: Horn; Fabinho, Sule, Touré, Jorge; Moutinho, Traoré, Cavallier, Boschilia, Lemar; Barbosa
Bench: Badiashile, Diarra, Tisserand, Bakayoko, Bernardo Silva, Gil Dias & Baud
Manchester United: De Gea; Darmian, Stones, Laporte, Shaw; Herrera, Schweinsteiger, Januzaj, Mata, Depay; Higuaín
Bench: Romero, Smalling, Ziyech, Martial, Rooney, Vidal & Blind
It is time for my team talk, I decide to keep it simple and try to motivate my team. I passionately told them to impress me and keep playing like we have been playing the previous weeks. I also told every player that I have faith in them to get the job done.
1st minute
Kick-off at the Millenium Stadium. AS Monaco get this Champions League final underway! Nothing happens in this highlight! (As always)
2nd minute
We have a throw-in, Jorge takes it and tries to reach Traoré. Traoré loses to Higuaín in the air but Moutinho picks the ball up and plays a through ball to Lemar who is unfortunately, offside.
10th minute
Manchester United have a throw-in. Darmian takes it and reaches Januzaj who plays a simple pass to Higuaín. Higuaín has an effort from the edge of the box, but he fires this shot well wide.
14th minute
Another effort from range by Higuaín with the same outcome. This shot came from a counter attack by Manchester United.
22nd minute
De Gea with a long free kick which is intercepted by Almamy Touré and he reaches Adama Traoré. Traoré then heads the ball on to Schweinsteiger who then loses out to Moutinho who reaches Boschilia. Boschilia plays a simple pass to Gabriel Barbosa who spreads the play to the left side of the pitch to Lemar. Lemar crosses it in and this causes a bit of a scrimmage with Boschilia being the winner. He plays a through-ball to Barbosa who can have a shot but its blocked by Shaw! A last ditch block by Shaw to deny AS Monaco a certain goal!
30th minute
A dangerous free kick for Manchester United. Mata takes it but he finds Almamy Touré who heads it back to Mata. He finds Memphis but his shot is blocked by Sule and the following cross by Darmian can easily be gathered by Horn.
Half Time
A boring first half with neither side being able to fire a shot at goal. I tell the players to show the world that they are winners to try and motivate them.
49th minute
Yellow card for Herrera, that is the third yellow card for Manchester United as Mata and Schweinsteiger have also received a card yet.
50th minute
Higuaín can run up to our box without being attacked and fires a shot straight at Horn which results in a corner. Not the greatest defensive display by us here.
54th minute
Boschilia crosses the ball in but it is straight at de Gea and he gathers it. Some of our players claim the ball crossed the line but the referee does not award a goal. I hope we have goal-line technology in Wales otherwise, it is a big mistake by the referees.
David De Gea sends the ball upfield but does not reach another Manchester United player. Traoré picks up and a quick piece of play between him, Moutinho and Fabinho sees the ball reach Cavallier who plays it into Barbosa. Barbosa plays it out wide to Thomas Lemar while making a run into the box himself. Lemar plays a brilliant through ball to Barbosa who takes a touch and fires a shot which GOES IN OFF THE POST!! 1-0 TO AS MONACO AND GABRIEL BARBOSA OPENS THE SCORING HERE!
That was a very fine goal by AS Monaco and I am delighted!
65th minute
It’s a corner for Manchester United and Mata takes it. Sule clears but Schweinsteiger picks the ball up and spreads the play out wide to Mata who reaches Stones on the edge of the box. He tries a shot but it goes well over. No real danger.
70th minute
We make our first change. Thomas Lemar leaves the pitch and Gil Dias replaces him.
78th minute
We make our second change. Fabinho leaves the pitch and Marcel Tisserand replaces him.
80th minute
Vidal has been brought on by Manchester United and he tries a first-time cross after receiving a layoff from Higuaín. It is a bad cross if he tried to reach a teammate as it goes for goal dangerously and Horn has to tip it over to make it a corner.
81st minute
Blind picks up the ball for Manchester United after Gil Dias cleared it. Blind plays a great ball to Vidal who outpaces Jorge and goes one-on-one with Horn but he can’t direct his effort to goal! Great opportunity for Manchester United but Vidal misses.
87th minute
We make our last change with Raphael Diarra replacing Almamy Touré.
92nd minute
FULL TIME
WE WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE! What a result for us and what a moment for me. My second year as AS Monaco manager and already such a great season. Gabriel Barbosa was the match winner in a game where nobody really shined. It was a nervy affair with no real star player. It says enough that Fabinho was the man of the match with a 7.7 rating.
I wish I could have made this match report much more exciting but as you can see from the shot count, not a lot happened. It was a very boring game.
Enough about that, we are celebrating winning a treble this season. The Champions League, Ligue 1 and French Cup. What a season! I will definitely be continuing this blog to try and improve the club and make the club stay at the top of the food chain.
We receive £30m in one day as well, a massive amount for us. We are rich but we basically have barely any income due to our small attendances. This will really help me build for the future.
It’s award time again and Gabriel Barbosa is the first of our players to win a prize. He wins the UEFA Champions League Golden Boot with 10 goals in 12 appearances, ahead of Higuaín with 9 and Messi with 8.
Five of our players were also named in the UEFA Champions League Dream Team. Jorge, Fabinho, Lemar, Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Barbosa made the cut.
The current overall AS Monaco best eleven has been updated too and six players have been introduced which forms the following team.
We also had the end of season awards and Jorge was the big winner there. He won the Player of the Year award with 36% of the votes, he won the Signing of the Season award and the Young Player of the Year award. Thomas Lemar won the Goal of the Season award with his free kick against FC Barcelona.
Finally, here is our Season Review for the 2016/2017 season.
That concludes our season! Great successes as you can see. As far as this series is concerned, I might write an epilogue about the save at the end of FM16, but this is the last update for this series as we have won the Champions League and will also be my last update for FM16. I feel like FM17 is around the corner and I can not bring myself to start another save or continue this as there is no real goal to achieve.
I want to say thanks for your support during FM16 and I will be back with FM17 content!
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