My Division 1 Cup semi-final opponents were Real Madrid. They’d held me to a 0-0 at home in the first leg, but in the second leg I beat them 0-2 at their place. Their phenomenal player, Kaiser, was not on the pitch. If he wasn’t 28 years old in my ML right now, I’d be making it my priority to get Kaiser in the next transfer window. I’ve seen him turn in some truly stunning performances. As it stands I think I’ll maybe pick him up as a Regen after he retires. That could be as long as 12 seasons away—I’ll wait.
In league game 24 I fought out a tough 0-0 draw against Heracles Almelo. It was a blatantly scripted shut-out on the CPU’s part. Possession for me that should have led to goal-scoring chances simply didn’t; goal-scoring chances for me that should have led to goals simply didn’t. One of those games. Chalk it up to PES experience, and move on.
In game 25 I beat Real Mallorca 2-0 to set up game 26. If I won this one, I’d won the League Championship.
The game was against Espanyol, which slightly set the alarm bells ringing. Espanyol are just one of those teams (along with Heracles Almelo and quite a few others) who can often present a stubborn obstacle for no particular reason.
And things did not start well. Vieri was playing as my central CF instead of the fatigued Schwarz. He’s been pretty good for me, has Vieri—whisper it, but at times I think he out-Schwarzes Schwarz. I had no qualms about playing him in such a big game, and was confident his strength would be worth at least one goal up front.
But I had Vieri sent off in the 5th minute. It was for a completely innocuous-seeming tackle in the opposition half of the pitch. As the referee was going through his animation I knew that the card coming out of his pocket would be a red one. It was the kind of foul that’s always worth a yellow card, but seems to get a red card whenever the script wants to make a big game just that little bit harder for you. I went to a 4-3-2 formation and prepared to work hard…
Amazingly, with 10 men, I went on to deliver my best-ever performance whilst short-handed. Giggs is newly-reinstalled back in the AMF slot. He scored a dazzling hat-trick, bursting through from the wing twice, and heading in from a Camacho cross for the third. Burdner, on as a late sub, got the odd goal in a 4-0 win.
And that was the title won. The first and most important element of the Treble has fallen into place.
It’s come early this year. There are still four league games left in the season. I haven’t even played the European Cup semi-final yet. Speaking of which… the first leg of the semi-final is my next fixture, and my opponents are Lazio. A few seasons ago I met them in the final and they were immense, and they beat me; I met them in the final the following season as well and they were curiously lightweight by comparison, and I beat them. The fate of the Treble will be largely decided by which version of Lazio turns up for the semi-final
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Congrats on the title — at least you’ll be able to rest players for your cup challenge.
ck - that’s the idea. Now that the unbeaten record has gone I don’t have to worry about losing a league game or two. My strongest XI will play in both Cup finals. If I get the second Treble in a row I’ll certainly have a sense of ‘completion’ re. this ML career—but will continue to play it of course….