Simulating Barcelona in FM18 – Check out the Results!

Although Barcelona exited from the Champions League, to everyone’s surprise, their performance in the Spanish 2017-18 football season has been terrific to say the least. Owing to their spectacular 5-0 game against Sevilla, Barcelona emerged as victorious to win the Copa del Rey in Spain. For this reason, we tried to simulate the club in Football Manager to see if we were up for a surprise!

Early-Season

In the first match, Ernesto Valverde’s men fought against Stoke City and beat them 4-1. Since they played at home, their efficiency was not so clear at this point. Regardless, the club continued its excellent performance and has constantly been in the top ranks in the recent times. We agree that many Barcelona fans would’ve already observed this trend, and must be actively betting on the team as well. If you too want to bank on your knowledge about the club and make your prediction game stronger, click here for the tips!

Its only loss in the first half of the season came against Chelsea, where Alvaro Morata managed to impress everyone. Apart from this, the Club registered a win against the Old Trafford 3-0 and also defeated Pep Guardiola’s squad in the Manchester City 3-2.

Mid-Season

By simulating the games, it can be comfortably said that the Big Six’s expansion to the Big Seven was most harmful to Liverpool and Tottenham, and while Manchester City continues to fight in the league, it looks as if the London teams would have to fight for the fourth position. In mid-March, the playoffs started presenting certain ups and down when Barca clinched a lead of five points, however, with one additional game than Manchester United. In their last five games, they registered wins in each one of them. They beat PSG in the Champions League, defeated Stoke City by astonishing 4-0 and also won in the FA Cup at the Potters.

In the run-ins, from the top 10 teams, Barcelona is scheduled to play only against Arsenal and Manchester United. On the other hand, Mourinho’s men have to fight off Chelsea and Tottenham to reveal the Nou Camp winner. The results of top teams’ run-ins were shocking for everyone – United and Barcelona ended up in a draw! United had won all other matches in the league, while the Catalans were defeated by Arsenal and their match with Everton ended in a tie. With this, the Barcelona lost their top spot.

The Final

As Barcelona progressed in the League, the Red Devils faced their most embarrassing moment when they lost to Huddersfield 3-2. Consequently, Barcelona lifted the coveted Premier League trophy with the three-highest rated players being Catalans. The Golden Boot was conferred upon Romelu Lukaku with 22 goals. He was followed by Harry Kane with 21 goals and Luis Suárez with 20 goals.

Barcelona lost only 3 matches in the entire season while the Mourhino squad lost six games, but still went into their final match as underdogs.