Football Manager fa pronostici su Champions League e Europa League

I ragazzi di Sports Interactive hanno simulato con Football Manager 2015 le partite dei calendari di Europa League e di Champions League: i risultati sono veramente interessanti soprattutto per le italiane:

• In Europa League, Football Manager, prevede una finale tutta italiana tra Roma e Inter, con la vittoria della Roma
• In Champions, invece, la Juventus dovrebbe superare gli ottavi contro il Borussia Dortmund, i quarti contro il Porto per poi essere eliminata dal Real Madrid in semifinale, la simulazione realizzata con Football Manager 2015 prevede una finale Bayern Monaco contro Real Madrid con la vittoria finale dei tedeschi per 3-2

Qui a seguire tutti i passi delle simulazioni:

*********

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Juventus will make it to the semi-finals of the Champions League before being knocked out by eventual winners Real Madrid, according to Football Manager 2015. The popular football management simulation has run through the Champions League from the ties drawn in today’s last 16 draw until the showpiece in Berlin. Here’s how the competition might pan out.

PSG and Monaco Out, Favourites Through

Juventus were handed an intriguing last 16 encounter against Borussia Dortmund who have been good in Europe but have struggled in their domestic league this season. The two closely matched sides can only be separated by a single goal with Paul Pogba scoring what proves to be the winning goal. Also safely through to the next round are both of last year’s finalists as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid see off their German opponents.

More German Heartache for Arsenal, Chelsea Squeeze Through

The quarter final draw sees Porto up against Juventus with the Italians progressing after a 5-2 aggregate win. After taking a 2-2 from the away leg, Juventus dominate the second leg with Carlos Tevez’s twelfth minute goal setting them on the way to a 3-0 win.

The most appetising draw in the quarter finals is undoubtedly the El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Surprisingly though, Madrid ease to victory over their fierce Catalan rivals and book their place in the semi-finals.

English interest in the competition focuses on Chelsea against 2014’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid and Arsenal facing Bayern Munich – the side that had knocked them out of the competition for the last two seasons. Unfortunately for Arsene Wenger’s side, Bayern come out on top once again although the Gunners can take solace from the fact that they made it past the first knockout round for the first time in five years.

PSG’s conquerors, Chelsea, do make it through to the semis after Diego Costa helps them to a hard-fought win over his former club, Atletico Madrid.

Germany vs Spain in the Final

Unfortunately for Juve, the draw couldn’t have gone any worse for them as they are paired with Real Madrid which sees Real overcome a spirited Juventus challenge. Pirlo gave Juventus the lead only for Gareth Bale to score a precious away goal just fifteen minutes from time. At the Bernabeu, Juventus found it difficult to get a foothold on the game as Real enjoyed 59% of the possession and took a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to join Bayern in the final.

In the other semi-final, having already seen off one English side, Bayern make it two out of two with a relatively straightforward semi-final victory of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. With almost as much focus on the resumption of hostilities between Mourinho and long-time rival Pep Guardiola, the action on the pitch threatens to take a back seat. Fortunately, the tie is of high quality with both sides regularly carving out chances. After edging the match at Stamford Bridge, Bayern took control of the game at the Allianz; restricting Chelsea to few chances and controlling the midfield to confirm their place in the final.

Real Make it Eleven

An eagerly anticipated final doesn’t disappoint with Real Madrid edging out their German rivals 3-2 in a classic encounter. Bayern enjoy the majority of possession but Real are more clinical in front of goal as they convert three of their five shots on target into goals. James Rodriguez opens the scoring on the half-hour mark before Robben finds Mller who taps in to get Bayern back on level terms.

Despite Bayern’s domination in the early part of the second half, Real go 2-1 up just shy of an hour of play thanks to a Bale through ball releasing Ronaldo who buried the finish past Manuel Neuer. Bayern began to commit bodies forward in the hope of equalising but Real utilised their pace on the counter to make it 3-1 as Rodriguez picked up a loose ball and played in Benzema who made no mistake from just inside the penalty area.

Bayern did add a consolation late on as Boateng headed in from a corner but it was not enough to prevent the Champions League trophy heading back to Spain for the second successive season.

A full summary of the tournament is below with the winners of each tie outlined in bold:

First Knockout Round

• PSG vs Chelsea (2-3 agg)
• Man City vs Barcelona (2-4 agg)
• Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid (0-3 agg)
• Juventus vs Borussia Dortmund (2-1 agg)
• Schalke vs Real Madrid (1-4 agg)
• Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich (0-2 agg)
• Arsenal vs Monaco (3-1 agg)
• Basel vs Porto (2-3 agg)

Quarter Final

• Chelsea vs Atletico (2-1 agg)
• Real Madrid vs Barcelona (4-1 agg)
• Porto vs Juventus (2-5 agg)
• Arsenal vs Bayern (3-5 agg)

Semi Final

• Juventus vs Real Madrid (1-3 agg)
• Chelsea vs Bayern (1-2 agg)

Final

• Bayern vs Real Madrid (3-2)

*********

EUROPA LEAGUE

There will be an all-Italian final in this year’s Europa League, according to Football Manager 2015. The popular football management simulation has played through the tournament from the last 32 until its conclusion in Warsaw.

Torino and Fiorentina knocked out but Inter, Roma and Napoli Progress

After being given a tough tie against Athletic Bilbao, Torino are eliminated from the competition after a disappointing performance against Athletic Bilbao. Fiorentina are also knocked out after a narrow aggregate defeat against Tottenham.

There are no such problems however for Inter, Napoli and Roma as they safely advance through to the last 16 after wins against Celtic, Trabzonspor and Feyenoord respectively.

Narrow Wins for the Three Remaining Italian Teams

The tie of the round is between Ajax and Inter which is settled in a penalty shootout with Inter prevailing after Samir Handanovic saves a Davy Klaasen spot-kick.

Napoli scrape past Zenit after a 1-1 draw in Russia and a 1-0 win at the San Paolo with the winning goal coming from Gonzalo Higuain.

Roma are given a real scare by Belgian team Anderlecht after the first leg at the Stadio Olimpico ends in a 2-1 win to the visitors. Roma battle back away from home though and, after opening the scoring in the first six minutes, go on to get a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Three Italian Sides Into the Semi-Finals

Roma battle past Tottenham to secure their semi-final place after an enthralling encounter. Spurs head to the Stadio Olimpico with one foot in the semi-finals after a 2-1 win in the first leg. Roma turn on the style at home though with a scintillating attacking performance controlled by their talisman, Francesco Totti. The veteran bags two goals and sets another up and a late Christian Eriksen free-kick is not enough to see them through.

Napoli also join them after two superb performances against Wolfsburg. Having won the first leg at the Volkswagen Arena 3-1, the tie is never in doubt as Napoli win 2-1 at home to book their place in the semi-finals.

Inter enjoy a relatively easy win against Club Brugge to join the other two Italian clubs in the last four thanks to goals from Mauro Icardi, Mateo Kovacic and Hernanes.

An all-Italian Final Awaits

Roma are handed possibly the toughest tie that was available to them in the semi-final draw as they are paired with Liverpool. A nervy first leg at Anfield ends in a 1-1 draw with Roma’s goal coming from Iturbe. Roma take the initiative in the second leg with an early Gervinho strike before a string of wasted chances cost Liverpool dear. With ten minutes left, Kevin Strootman picks out Francesco Totti who guides the ball past Mignolet to send Liverpool out of the competition.

The other semi –final is an all-Italian clash with Napoli taking on Inter. Napoli are slight favourites heading into the tie but are rocked when Rodrigo Palacio puts Inter in front on the stroke of half-time before things get much worse after an injury-time header from substitute Dani Osvaldo puts Inter 2-0 up. Napoli seek to attack Inter throughout in the second leg but can only come away with a 1-1 draw after Icardi cancels out Higuain’s opener.

Roma Claim their First Europa League

Roma enter the final as favourites although Inter have overcome the tougher opposition out of the two sides. It is the Milanese club who have the first chance with Icardi firing wide from eighteen yards before Kovacic forces a good diving save from De Sanctis.

Roma’s first shot on target comes courtesy of a surging run from Gervinho who pulls the ball back to Juan Iturbe on the edge of the area but his shot is straight at the keeper. On the stroke of half-time, Inter look to have taken the lead but Palacio’s strike is correctly ruled out for offside.

After a relatively pedestrian start to the second half, the game explodes into life on the 68 minute mark when Iturbe is allowed time and space in the Inter half and he fires a 35 yard effort into the top corner.

Inter never look like recovering from that and after bringing on Osvaldo and changing to a 4-3-3 they are caught out on the counter when Totti slides a pass through to Gervinho who casually rolls the ball home from the edge of the area to seal the trophy for Rudi Garcia’s men.

Last 32

• Young Boys vs Everton (2-4 agg)
• Torino vs Athletic Bilbao (1-5 agg)
• Sevilla vs Borussia Mnchengladbach (3-3 agg – Sevilla through on away goals)
• Wolfsburg vs Sporting Lisbon (4-3 agg)
• Ajax vs Legia Warsaw (4-0 agg)
• Aalborg vs Club Brugge (1-4 agg)
• Anderlecht vs Dynamo Moscow (3-2 agg)
• Dnipro vs Olympiakos (1-6 agg)
• Trabzonspor vs Napoli (2-5 agg)
• Guingamp vs Dynamo Kiev (0-2 agg)
• Villarreal vs Red Bull Salzburg (3-3 agg – Villarreal through on away goals)
• Roma vs Feyenoord (3-1 agg)
• PSV vs Zenit (4-5 agg)
• Liverpool vs Besiktas (4-1 agg)
• Tottenham vs Fiorentina (3-2 agg)
• Celtic vs Internazionale (1-3 agg)

Last 16

• Wolfsburg vs Everton (4-1 agg)
• Zenit vs Napoli (1-2 agg)
• Sevilla vs Villarreal (3-1 agg)
• Roma vs Anderlecht (4-3 agg)
• Olympiakos vs Club Brugge (4-4 agg – Club Brugge through on away goals)
• Ajax vs Inter (2-2 agg – Inter win 4-3 on penalties)
• Tottenham vs Athletic Bilbao (2-0 agg)
• Dynamo Kiev vs Liverpool (2-4 agg)

Quarter Finals

• Wolfsburg vs Napoli (2-5 agg)
• Sevilla vs Liverpool (0-3 agg)
• Tottenham vs Roma (3-4 agg)
• Club Brugge vs Inter (3-5 agg)

Semi Finals

• Napoli vs Inter (1-3 agg)
• Liverpool vs Roma (1-3 agg)

Final

• Roma vs Inter (2-0)