Bavarian FIFA Works - The Year With Perfect Vision

I’m going to start off this one with a little bit of rage. Virtual Bayern Munich got ROBBED in the UEFA Team of the Year for 2019. I demand a recount:

UEFA TOTY (4-4-2 diamond?)

C. Ronaldo - Messi

De Bruyne

Sergio Busquets - Dybala

Kimmich

Jordi Alba - Piqué - van Dijk - Kyle Walker

Ter Stegen

...

WHO MADE THIS LIST? JOSEP BARTOMEU?

The number of Barcelona players on this list is criminal. How do you pick Sergio Busquets? Why does Jordi Alba get picked over even Andrew Robertson? WHY IS KYLE WALKER THERE AT ALL???

But, at the end of the day, this may be the most accurate part of this game: the BS team of the year lists stick around.

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BuLi MD 18 - Hertha Berlin vs. Bayern Munich

Once again, my wifi isn’t the most reliable and unfortunately, there’s no twitch account of this game.

Hertha Berlin (4-5-1)

Selke

Grujić - Rekik - Florenzi - Darida - Portillo

Torunarigha - Boyata - Stark - Wolf

Jarstein

A similar lineup to what we saw last time, this time with Alessandro Florenzi anchoring midfield.

Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1)

Lewandowski

Werner - Müller - Gnabry

Thiago - Goretzka

Alaba - Hernandez - Süle - Kimmich

Neuer

We’re trying Werner out on the left wing this time, but otherwise, it’s all of our starters.

3’ GOAL from Thomas Müller (BSC 0 - 1 FCB)

A simple and easy goal? Not this time. A Timo Werner cross into the box is too high for Robert Lewandowski. An oncoming Serge Gnabry almost gets to it but a defender bodies him off. Though, Thomas Muller is there to pick up the scraps and converts easily.

52’ PENALTY to Leon Goretzka (BSC 0 - 1 FCB)

No yellow card on this decision, but it’s questionable to say the least. Goretzka slides in on an oncoming Marius Wolf. By slides in, I really mean he slides parallel to him. Wolf sees the mistake, runs into Goretzka and falls down in the box. The referee points to the spot.

53’ PEN GOAL from Davie Selke (BSC 1 - 1 FCB)

Selke sends Manuel Neuer the wrong way and puts it calmly in the right side netting.

57’ Substitution: Leroy Sané for Thomas Müller

Thomas is getting tired and his passing has been sloppy at this point in the game. Werner slides to his normal role in the No. 10 position and Sané takes over on the left wing.

60’ GOAL from Robert Lewandowski (BSC 1 - 2 FCB)

This was an absolutely crazy goal from beginning to end. Werner feeds a through ball to Leon Goretzka. The midfielder takes a shot but Rune Jarstein is right there to make the save. Cue a mad scramble in the box with four Hertha defenders, Jarstein, Werner, Goretzka and Lewy. Werner puts a shot on net that looked more like a pass to an onside, unmarked Lewandowski. With the goal mouth yawning open, he calmly strikes it with his left foot into the right corner.

78’ Substitution: Philippe Coutinho for Timo Werner

Another tired attacker comes off the pitch. At this point, we’re trying to keep Hertha out of our half and need players who can quickly get into our attacking end to keep the ball away.

80’ GOAL from Philippe Coutinho (BSC 1 - 3 FCB)

The substitute makes his impact immediately! Lewandowski feeds him the ball well and after one touch, Coutinho places a well-struck ball in the top left corner to extend the lead.

After a few more pressing chances, Bayern seal out the 3-1 win.

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Match Awards

Jersey Swap: Davie Selke

10/11 passing, 5/7 dribbling, 3/4 SOT, 1 goal

Tip of the Cap: Niklas Süle

2/4 tackles won, 6/7 passing, 3/3 dribbling

Golf Clap: Thomas Müller

14/14 passing, 14/16 dribbling, 2/2 SOT, 1 goal

Standing Ovation: Philippe Coutinho

3/3 passing, 3/3 dribbling, 1/1 SOT, 1 goal

Meister of the Match: Robert Lewandowski

10/16 passing, 14/17 dribbling, 1/3 SOT, 1 goal, 1 assist

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Transfer Talk

Nearly 20 days into January, and already we have some major transfers happening.

12/03/2019 José Maria Giménez from Atletico Madrid to Manchester City for €65 million

This deal was apparently finalized back on December 3rd of 2019, but it goes through in this transfer window. An already scary Manchester City side gets more defensive reinforcements as Pep Guardiola tries to win his team a UCL title. I was curious to see how he would be replaced, and I’d find an answer soon.

01/07/2020 Joel Matip from Liverpool to Atletico Madrid for €33,800,000

There’s your answer. I don’t know how Liverpool felt comfortable letting their third best centerback go in the middle of the season, especially given the injury history of Fabinho. But, Klopp usually knows what he’s doing. The former Schalke player heads to an Atleti side currently 3rd in La Liga and five points off the top.

01/09/2020 Marcel Sabitzer from RB Leipzig to SS Lazio for €36,300,000

Sabitzer was the team’s top scorer and top assister. I imagine they will drop like a rock considering no one else was close to his production. I wouldn’t be surprised if they fell into the relegation zone.

01/15/2020 Troy Deeney from Watford to RB Leipzig for €6,800,000

Whoops, I guess I spoke too soon...Seriously? Troy Deeney? With the amount of money you got from all those transfers?

01/16/2020 Gabriel Paulista (a.k.a. Gabi) from Valencia to Bayer Leverkusen for €36,100,000

* spits coffee *

You spend HOW MUCH on Gabi?

01/16/2020 Ángel Correa from Atletico Madrid to Internazionale Milan for €47,400,000

This is a great deal fro Inter Milan. Great transfer.

01/19/2020 Harry Winks from Tottenham Hotspur to Atalanta B.C. for €30 million

Oh wow, didn’t expect this at all. Can anyone remind me the last Englishman who did well in Italy? Because it’s slipping my mind right now. Anyways, this seems like too premature a move if you ask me. If this was real life, I’d be railing against this move.

01/19/2020 Lukas Klostermann from RB Leipzig to Valencia CF for €20,400,000

And with that, the dismantling of the Red Bulls is complete. They’re gonna be a disaster in the coming months. Imagine more central midfielders playing in defense. Now they have no scoring and no defending to match with their thin midfield.

I’ll also add something important that happened. We were approached by Inter Milan for David Alaba in the range of €36.8 million. I was going to deny it immediately, but I decided to keep simming forward a bit to see what happened. Turns out, the response wasn’t timely enough and Inter pulled out.

Oh no. How sad.

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Poll Time

Greetings Fenner,
Manchester United have shown interest in purchasing Robert Lewandowski for a fee of €147,500,00. You can find the details in your folder, along with some comments from me.

So...I guess it’s time to make a transfer decision?

The poll closes tomorrow at 7:00am.

We’ll be on tomorrow at 11:30 am ET like normal, so be sure to check us out then!