Darius Xavier: The Conqueror

Line Ups

Feyenood XI: Raif Husic, Michael Keane, Mairan Sarr, Alejandro Torres, Oscar Hiljemark, Dennis de Lange, Gedion Zalaem, Jens Toornstra (c), Dorin Rotatriu, Dejan Meleg and Jao Rodriquez

Chelsea XI: Thibaut Courtois, Kurt Zouma (c), John Stones, Aleksandro Dragovic, Juan Bernat, Chris Brazil, Nathaniel Chalobah, Thiago, Oscar, Eden Hazard and Isiah Brown

Commentary

'0' - "This is how it should be, two of the most well-known managers of each generation contesting in the showpiece final at the end of another Champions League final. This is where every player in the world wants to be tonight. These are the moments and events that you live for." Feyenoord 0-0 Chelsea

'1' - "Back in the days when Chelsea were considered the best team in Europe, maybe it is time for history to repeat itself. Chelsea are playing some very talented players tonight, no doubt. The crowd tonight is very tense right now as this could be Jose Mourinho's last managerial match, ever. There is a lot of tense and strong atmosphere currently." Feyenoord 0-0 Chelsea

'2' - "Last year, manager Darius Xavier claimed European championship and realized his dream. Darius Xavier could retain his title tonight if his side is able to overcome Chelsea." Feyenoord 0-0 Chelsea

'13' - "Midfield Feyenoord players are passing the ball shortly outside of the Chelsea penalty box. Look at that pass from Gedion, what a ball that is wide, what a ball. Jao Rodriquez shoots and Courtois saves! The ball falls loosely to Eden Hazard who launches the counter-attack against Feyenoord. He's fast and furious, the defenders can't catch him. Hazard is past the half-way line, can he go all the way? He shoots! The keeper puts it wide. What a match so far! Both teams are playing football out of this world." Feyenoord 0-0 Chelsea

'45' - "It is half-time now in the most intense and biggest match in UEFA Champions League history. There is not many things separating these teams except Chelsea players are putting extremely hard tackles with 6 of them are booked on yellow cards. We will see if any time can make the scoreline stretch in the second half". Feyenoord 0-0 Chelsea

'54' - "Jao Rodriquez is one-on-one with the keeper after using a beautiful piece of skill to get past Kurt Zouma. Except Zouma has caught up! Zouma has seemingly dragged Rodriquez down! That looked like a dive to me, but the referee has given it?! Penalty to Feyenoord. Zouma looks really upset as he looks over to his manager on the sideline. Captain Jens Toornstra steps up to take the penalty. Jens Toornstra looks content in taking this penalty as he knows what's on the line, a manager's career and the UEFA Champions League title. He runs and smashes it into the roof of the net! Feyenoord lead here in Italy. Feyenoord 1-0 Chelsea

'57' - "Kurt Zouma is really upset about the decision on the penalty as he watched Feyenoord take the lead after what he believed to be a dive in the box by Jao Rodriquez. But as captain, he must be an example to the others and inspire them to get one back. Gedion Zelaem picks up the ball at the half-way line. Kurt Zouma slide tackles Gedion from behind! What the hell was that about? The referee brandishes Zouma a red-card as he walks off the pitch with his face buried in his hands." Feyenoord 1-0 Chelsea

61' - "Folks, I can't believe what I'm seeing here tonight. The Chelsea fans are cheering on the players trying to inspire them to get back into the game. Nathaniel Chalobah looks on and nods his head in disappointment? Chalobah has given up. Jens Toornstra picks up the ball in Feyenoord's half, Chalobah just battery rammed Toornstra! Chalobah has already been booked. Here comes another red card for Chelsea. Chelsea are down to 9 men with their managers career in the balance." Feyenoord 1-0 Chelsea

'74' - "Dennis de Lange the young wing-back is charging at the Chelsea center-backs, he plays the ball forward to Jao Rodriquez who makes a beautiful run! He gets a touch on the ball and slots it into the opposite bottom corner, what a fabulous goal! Jao Rodriquez runs to the corner flag and celebrates. As of right now, Jose Mourinho's career is over and Darius Xavier retains the UEFA Champions League." Feyenoord 2-0 Chelsea

'90+5' - "The final whistle has been blown. Feyenoord have their hands on the trophy again. Feyenoord are still champions of Europe! Darius Xavier is now a two-time UEFA Champions League title-winner. We now know that the top manager in this business is Darius Xavier. But most importantly, the legendary Jose Mourinho's career is over.

Match Statistics

Shots were in the favor of Feyenoord tonight as they accumulated a total of 20 meanwhile Chelsea was able to get only 9. This has many factors to take into consideration for the lack of shots such as the nerves of the players, playing for their manager's career. 2 players were sent off from Chelsea's time were undoubtedly key factors to take into consideration.

Possession was mostly split 50/50 but Feyenoord picked up a lot of there possession after the 78th minute in which they were 2-0 up and just retained the ball which gave them 2% more possession than Chelsea.

Pass Completion is exactly the same as Possession in the retrospect that Feyenoord retained the ball after the 75 minute and 'parked the bus'. Feyenoord had a solid 82% pass completion rate and Chelsea had again, a solid 77% pass completion rate.

Manager's Comments

"This season is my last season with Feyenoord and it's been a great one. I've built this club up to be a European powerhouse and I intend to do that with the next club I go to. You never know, I heard Chelsea's manager position has opened up." -Darius Xavier

"This game was not expected, at all. It did not come down to the managerial skills or the team tactics, the formation or anything like that. It just came down to the players. If they could perform under pressure, obviously, they couldn't. 2 men were sent off. Stupid challenges. We gave away a penalty. Now, my career is over. This is my farewell, goodbye football." -Jose Mourinho

The month of March was very successful in terms of league performance. We defeated AZ in a 10-goal extravaganza which was considered epic and possibly match-of-the-season by many. We then edged Go Ahead a few days later. The side defeated Rio Ferdinand's Manchester United side who actually won the English Premier League this season 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League. The team then picked up two more mediocre league wins and then suffered a massive loss to Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League at the Emirates Stadium.

Returning back to Holland for the first match of April led us to defeat NEC slightly before going and completely obliterating Arsenal at our home ground, allowing us to advance to the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League against Barcelona. But before that, we drew and defeated two clubs in the league to solidify our third consecutive league title. The two big showdowns with Barcelona purely came down to away goals as we drew 6-6 on aggregate, which put us to the final against Chelsea.

There were two major matches in the final month of May. First was a derby against Ajax and second was the UEFA Champions League final. We had already won the league title, winning was not mandatory but it was necessary to carry on momentum towards the UEFA Champions League final. We defeated Chelsea after an incredible turn of events to retain our championship.



At the top half of the table, we see that Twente has fallen from second place last year to fourth place. PSV has regained there second place spot after previously being third last year. Vitesse had a fall from grace and finished sixth while last year finishing fourth. Ajax finished third this year after finishing sixth last year. AZ slightly improved by going to fifth place while previously being sixth last year. Utrecht and Feyenoord were the only teams that retained there positions from the year before, seventh and first respectively.

At the bottom half of the table, we see that Sparta and Zwolle were relegated due to consistently bad league performances. Roda JC, Go Ahead and NEC were close to finishing in the relegation zone as all teams were very close in points. This season was more of a highlight for the bottom teams than the top half as the bottom was much more competitive in terms of point difference. Overall, the Feyenoord fans and the Feyenoord board will be pleased.


"142 league games that I have remained unbeaten for. I will be leaving this club before the summer transfer window and I will be signing for a new Premier League club. I have left this club with a legacy, three-time league winners, two-time Dutch Cup winners and finally two-time UEFA Champions League winners. One day, I may return, if not, then I bid all the fans farewell. It was fun while it lasted."

In an eagerly-awaited statement this morning, the Liverpool board finally confirmed the appointment of young manager Darius Xavier as the new Anfield boss. Darius Xavier, who commands the deepest respect of all the footballing world will take charge with immediate effect. This is Xavier's first role back in England since leaving Watford in May 2017. Xavier was the subject of considerable success at Feyenoord in 2018/19 and 2019/20 following two consecutive UEFA Champions League wins.

Liverpool have sensationally splashed out on Real Madrid's Portuguse legendary left winger Cristiano Ronaldo with a reported fee of £8.5 million. Cristiano Ronaldo was part of the Real Madrid side who won the European Champions League in 2015. Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival has been greeted in positive fashion with spokesperson Jon Clarke telling local media that the fans recognized the player's ambition and determination to succeed and were firmly behind their new signing. Darius Xavier spoke at the reveal of the transfer when asked the motivation of the signing: "I like to win titles, Cristiano likes to win titles. I won titles last year, Cristiano won titles last year. I wouldn't say that we have a friendship or respect for each other, it's purely business."

Well this will certainly be interesting

Cool. Good luck buddy.

The transfer window was a complex one and very controversial according to media sources. We raked spent £83 million on players this transfer window while selling £119 million worth of players. The club is in a lot of trouble financially with not qualifying for UEFA Champions League, instead the Europa League. I mostly purchased a lot of young high potential talent in every section of the pitch (attack, midfield and defense). The most notable purchase would be Dennis de Lange from my former club who proved very clinical and effected in the left-back position.

Our biggest out-transfer was top-goalscorer last season in the English Premier League Divock Origi who was disappointed in not getting UEFA Champions League last season. I am not interested in keeping players that do not respect my managerial ability, respectively being sold to Bayern Munich. We made our fee for Dennis de Lange after the departure for Alberto Moreno as he left to Feyenoord, technically only spending £5.5 million for Dennis de Lange ultimately.

Dennis de Lange
Dennis de Lange proved to myself last season that he was the next big thing in world football both defensively and on goal. Dennis de Lange was a key player in my success at Feyenoord after signing him on a free on my first season at the club. De Lange over three years of being in the left-back position acquired 17 assists and 10 goals averaging a 7.87 rating in just over 80 appearances, and he's just 19 years old.


Donis Avdijaj
After the departure of our top goal scorer Divock Origi, we needed a striker that could do just a job. We signed the 24 year old because he has a lot of solid stats but I don't think he's had the right amount of service at his previous club. He is technically gifted and I'm hoping he can do a job for us otherwise it would be a big loss, a big risk for a player that's quite unproven and hasn't scored over 10 goals in one season yet.


Robin Knoche
This was a Brendan Rodgers signing. I took over the job and he was already on his way to the club. I don't know too much about this player apart from the fact that he cost over £20 million isn't too appealing to me. We will see how he does in the pre-season, if he proves to be a useful player than he will stay, if he doesn't he will go in January.


Cristiano Ronaldo
This was a signing that seemed necessary for this season's needs. The legendary winger will be a first-team player for only a season or two, just until I am able to move Dennis de Lange up the pitch into the left attacking-midfielder position. Cristiano Ronaldo is on extremely heavy wages however is signed to a short-term contract. Hopefully, Cristiano Ronaldo can do us a good job in winning us the league title this season.


Dwyane Vale
Dwyane Vale is a young talent that has the potential to be a useful player in the squad. We don't know a lot about the player but he has the potential to be a useful ball-winning-midfielder, which fits into my tactical system perfectly. Obviously, being so young he will only be introduced into my first-team for backup purposes or properly introduced in the final years of my contract (3-4 seasons time).


Stuart Milne
The 18-year-old from Scotland is the youngest European Championship goal-scorer ever possess exceptional finishing which has the potential to be leading Premier-League striker in the fore-coming years. Stuart Milne has a good work-rate and better teamwork which will allow him to fit into the system a lot more smoother. A cheap transfer fee could see the next global superstar come.


Javier Santamaria
This was seen as a panic signing in all honesty. After looking at the defense, I saw that my new signing Dennis de Lange would be better in a more advanced position because of his technical ability. Javier Santamaria is seen as a backup for now as Dennis de Lange trains in the new position but in a few seasons time, he will be coming in as a first-team player. Javier Santamaria also came at a really cheap transfer fee, so easily replaceable if necessary.


Olivier Kremen
Olivier Kremen is a very similar to the signing of Dwyane Vale. Both have the potential to be a useful ball-winning midfielder. The reason for these two signings is because we have a lack of defensive midfielders who can play such non-attacking roles, these two would be in rotation in the future.

The upcoming North-West rivalry clash between Manchester United and Liverpool at Anfield has got a bit more interesting as Rio Ferdinand claims that Liverpool 'will slip up' and 'will return to mediocrity'. The last meetings between the two sides has left Liverpool without a win in 5 matches against Manchester United. Rio Ferdinand's full answer to the answer on the question of "What do you think of Liverpool football club?" is below:

"Liverpool football club was a big club once upon a time. They won their first league title three years ago, before I was in charge. They finished fifth last season. Darius has got them playing great football, got them results I think they will slip up and will return to mediocrity. I think we will defeat Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday."

Line Ups

Liverpool XI: Simon Mignolet, Nicolas Otamendi, Robin Knoche, Nigel Reigns, Ben Davies, Joe Allen, Jordan Henderson (c), Raheem Sterling, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jerome Sinclair and Donis Advijaj

Manchester United XI: David De Gea, Phil Jones (c), Steven Caulker, Marcos Rojo, Ricardo Rodriquez, Will Hughes, Marco Veratti, IIkay Gundogan, Jari Schuurman, Juan Mata and Adnan Januzaj

Match Statistics

Shots was very one-sided at Anfield as Liverpool exploited the left side with legendary winger Cristiano Ronaldo passing to the strikers allowing more shots at goal. Liverpool had 30 shots in total with 14 on target, Manchester United had 9 shots in total with only 1 on target. Liverpool had the most amount of chances this game and took them all very well.

Possession is very unconventional for this type of game as Manchester United based their former tactical system last game on a possession-based style. This game they were more passive and went much more in a traditional counter-attacking Sir Alex Ferguson way. Liverpool had 61% of possession and Manchester United had 39% of the ball.

Pass Completion was not a big component in this game as this was less convincing from Liverpool. Pass completion came merely down to the amount of technically gifted players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Raheem Sterling making fantastic passes into space. Liverpool had 61% pass completion and Manchester United had 39% pass completion.

Result

Liverpool proved to be the better side at Anfield today in-front of 58,000 of attendance. The only goal today was scored by Liverpool striker Donis Avdijaj who scored with a poaching effort in the 36th minute after a very risky pass by Raheem Sterling playing him through one-on-one against David De Gea. Raheem Sterling was named man-of-the-match when he obtained an 8.9 rating. Sterling also made 6 key passes and crossed the ball 21 times. Liverpool 1-0 Manchester United

Manager's Comments

"This was surprising. This was not the first match I've had against Darius Xavier except this time, he doesn't have as good as a side, in my opinion. The reason why I think we would have won today is because he's made a lot of new signings and they needed to relish in his tactical system. I thought we would win because I've kept the same team and it won us the season last year. I'm actually looking forward to seeing Liverpool at Old Trafford." -Rio Ferdinand

"I've faced Rio before and I've beaten Rio before. This was no different and it will be no different when we go to Old Trafford. I have come to England to win the league, and that's what I'm going to do." -Darius Xavier

good first match at Liverpool, a win against your fierce rivals.

hopefully you go on to dominate English football

We had one match in pre-season for the simple reason as there was heavy transfer-activity. However, the extremely high training kept the players fit but not a lot of match practice. Our only pre-season match was against Portland in which we obliterated them 5-1. The Premier League managerial debut for myself proved to be competitive and a highlight of things to come when goals glore, we drew 3-3 with Blackburn. I was pleased with this result as my new striker signings both scored however the defense proved quite loose. Manchester City suffered a major loss to us (4-1) in a game which we dominated at Anfield. The final game of August was against Aston Villa in which we absolutely hammered them 5-0.

The first game of September was against Chelsea and Stamford Bridge which meant a lot to the managers involved. Myself, an excellent track-record against Chelsea, I retired Jose Mourinho and I knocked them out of the UEFA Champions League twice in a row. We drew the match 3-3. The next game was Europa League match against Dnipro in which we took them to town 5-1. Returning back to the Premier League to face Swansea in which we kept up our fantastic form of destroying teams 4-1. Using a lot of reserve and U21 players in the Capital One matches led us to struggling to win as bringing on Jerome Sinclair won us the game in the 100th minute against Leicester. The final game of September was against Hull away from home in which we defeated them 5-1.

October was the month we saw our first loss as manager of Liverpool. However, the first match was actually against Club Brugge in the Europa League in which we kept our second clean-sheet of the season by winning 3-0. We followed up our defensive form against Leeds by edging them 1-0 but not conceding any goals. International break led to a few injuries unfortunately, leading us to only edge Norwich 2-1. We qualified for the Knockout Stage after defeating FC Nordsjaelland 4-1. Our first game against West Ham had us beat them 2-1 however our first loss was actually against them a few days later in the Capital One cup. We were knocked out of the Capital One 4-6.

The month of November consisted of a lot of big games. We had two derbies, against Manchester United and Everton. Preparing for both games consisted of careful team-selection and a change of tactical systems. We defeated Newcastle 3-1 was a good win as we were in rotation and needed to rest players. Keeping two clean-sheets in a row as we defeated FC Nordsjaelland and Manchester United both 1-0. The local derby was a big deal for myself as it was the first in the Premier League, we smashed them 4-1. A lot of tired players go to one of the final Europa League group matches, unfortunately losing 0-2. Going to the Emirates Stadium and defeating Arsenal 3-2 was a particular highlight.


The top of the table see a lot of surprises, in first place is Liverpool as expected due to our impeccable form and it will continue to be Liverpool at the top of the table. In second place is Manchester City who is 6 points behind us and looked to find their rhythm after thrashing them at Anfield back in August. Third place sees local-rivals Everton unfortunately in an unconvincing position as Manchester United in seventh place is only 5 points away. Fourth place sees surprisingly Blackburn in which have played well so far in the league and would need to put in more good performances to keep that position and finish in the top 10 or even top 8.

The bottom of the table sees Crystal Palace who has a huge negative goal difference alongside Norwich. Norwich is surprisingly down there after signing many quality players like Jordan Rossiter. The main downfall to Norwich's performance is the departure of their star player Suso in which went to Inter Milan for £20 million in the summer. Newly promoted Leeds is just in the relegation zone as one win could get them to fifteenth. Just escaping the relegation zone is Newcastle and Charlton, Newcastle looking very leaky in defense this season and Charlton has picked up three wins a row.


"This start to the season has been unconvincing for myself. We have only three clean-sheets in the league which is really starting to get to me. We are giving away stupid goals nearly every game and this worries an individual like me. I can only hope that Nigel Reigns can turn into the leading center-back that is predicted of him. The Europa League is not important to me and feels more of a nuisance than a privilege."

Starting the winter fixtures off with a big victory against Club Brugge in the Europa League, however returning to the league competition, putting out a substandard side to take on Fulham to only draw 2-2 was somewhat expected. Once the top players had recovered, we bounced back and smashed Crystal Palace 3-0. Our fourth home game in a row saw Tottenham in an underwhelming 1-1 draw. Our first away game of the winter fixtures witnessed Wolves and Liverpool clash in which we exited victorious with a 3-2 win. Which may have seemed like a sneaky 1 goal difference victory against Wolves, critics would be silenced as we thrashed the winners of the Sky Bet Championship last year 3-0. Momentum continued before the New Year as we swamped Southampton 3-0.

Thankfully, we were knocked out of the FA Cup by Newcastle which will allow us more of our precious time to be focused on the league. Which may have lowered morale slightly, only increasing it as we had a big win against Blackburn 4-1. This was the beginning of a dry spell in terms of goals as the next two games we drew 1-1 with Aston Villa and title contenders Manchester City. Facing a team which I personally have a lot of history, the history repeated itself as we once again, defeated Chelsea 2-1. The goals were still quite dry as we only got a 1-1 draw with Hull City.

Swansea was the first game of February as we just defeated them 2-1. Leeds put up a good fight as we drew with them 2-2. The first knockout round witnessed Liverpool take on a fellow Dutch team Ajax as we smashed them 6-3 on aggregate. The final two games of the winter fixtures saw Liverpool face Norwich and West Ham. Completely smashing Norwich 4-1 and keeping the goals consistent again 4-2 against West Ham.


We remain our undefeated match streak with 28 games being played in the English Premier League, retaining the dominance. We have pretty much secured the UEFA Champions League next season as we have gone past 70 goals this season which are the normal margin for qualification. Manchester City are on our tail with only 2 points between us. Tottenham showing that they have some class as they storm into third place overtaking Chelsea. Most notably, personal rival Rio Ferdinand managing Manchester United will not be getting Champions League unless they win the tournament as of right now.

The player statistics have mostly our players occupying the spots. Jerome Sinclair being given a chance up front, the first season the club has not loaned him out, the 24-year-old has netted 17 goals in the league in 21 appearances. Robin Knoche was a Brendan Rodgers signing and he is doing the business of over £20 million, he is worth the price tag as he occupies the second top rating, alongside my signing Cristiano Ronaldo and the third top goal-scorer Jerome Sinclair. Finally, on the assists, our signings Donis Avdijaj and Cristiano Ronaldo has shown they are worth the money as they have assisted 30 goals between them.


"The Premier League, overrated. Liverpool, when I came into this club were sixth and were struggling from becoming a mid-table team. When I come, I come with it and I have shown that so far this season. We are top of the league, the fans are singing in the stadium, this is our year. But, it isn't. This is my year, this is my moment, this is my destiny. The future is here, the future is now, I am the future."