2009
I finished my fourth season in the top flight with Sao Paulo. Although I didn't slip up too many times this year and only lost a single game (1-0 to Rhone), I nevertheless finished four points behind Barca, who won the league for the first time since 2006, drawing fewer games than me and losing only once (to me!). The league top scorer was Morientes of Atletico Madrid with 18. Madrid achieved their best league finish so far, 3rd, though they were a long way behind me, ten points or more. Also in the top six were Valencia, Rhone and PSG.
I did win the D1 cup though; having knocked out Barca at the quarter-final stage I went on to trounce Rhone in a surprisingly one-sided final, 6-0. I wasn't on great form and had drawn and lost against them in the league. Romario scored twice in this drubbing, making him the highest scorer with 5.
In the European Cup, I knocked Man Utd out at the QF stage with a single penalty in the first leg, much less exciting than our encounter in 2008. In the semis though I lost to Real Madrid; the first leg ended 3-1 at home, with Maradona hitting the woodwork three times before eventually getting a late goal. I had thrown away just such an advantage the previous season against Man Utd, and so it proved again as a Maradona hat trick and a Gravesen header resulted in a 4-0 defeat in Spain. Maradona scored a penalty and a free kick, both justly given by the ref, and the free kick was an absolute stormer. They went on to be defeated by AC Milan in the final, however. The Uefa Cup was won by Inter against Liverpool. Top scorer in the EC was Maradona with 6, and in the UEFA it was Nonda of Roma with 3 (they went out at the semi stage to Liverpool).
League A was won by AC Milan ahead of Man Utd. League B was won by PSV ahead of Bayern, and League D (I am in C) by Juve ahead of Real Madrid. The corresponding domestic cups were won by Chelsea, Bayern and Inter. League A is predominately English clubs, B and C are a mixture of all sorts of Europeans, and D is mainly Italians.
Despite me not having quite as good a season as last, I still performed quite well, and ended the season playing some decent football. I again set a new record number of goals scored for my team, with 66 this year. The title went down to the last game, and at half time things were looking very hopeful- Atletico were holding Barca 1-1 in Madrid, and I was 1-0 up against PSG after an early goal by Vélber. That would have won me the title on goal difference! But alas, Barca won in the end, and in any case I conceded a late goal when a cross was powerfully volleyed in by Bueno. Not bueno for me! I only conceded 11 goals all season, but there were a few games when I felt I had performed weakly, creating next to nothing and losing to struggling teams. Despite scoring more goals than ever, my main forwards (Marcio Amoroso and Grafite) didn't score as many as in previous years, Amoroso only achieving 11 and Grafite 6. Castolo only had two in the league and I think they were both penalties, though he had some good games. There was a broad smattering of goals through much of the side though, and my right back Cicinho scored 8, mainly from free kicks.
FC Utrecht went down this year having survived their maiden season in 2008. PES Utd joined them; early in the year they had seemed to be faring reasonably well in lower midtable, and it was their fellow promotees Sporting Lisbon who were at the bottom, but this pattern reversed itself over the last third of the campaign, and PES narrowly went down. Coming up to replace them are Aquitaine and Charlton Athletic.
Hey I'm curious to know how you actually made the leagues, like which team is in every league xd
By the way if you're interested, Rhone = Lyon