The Least Balanced Rivalry in the World

Incredible! The tide has completely turned and Gimnasia are now continental giants!

Another one! Excellent victory once more and as Jack said you are becoming a major name in the continent!!

Gimnasia is just on top of the world in the moment! By the way, did you play Club World Cup this year?

Wow very nice run!

After getting that smashing win in the Copa Libertadores finale, we paid back the elimination against Vélez in the cup. Which I'd rather have, if you ask me. But there is still one thing missing that we have to get over them, and this something is really important in my mission of catching up to Estudiantes: win one more league.

In this sense, the Copa Libertadores has been a blessing and a curse. A blessing because, as you may know now, we are continental champions once again. A curse, because it attracts the attention of the European scouts to my lads more than any other team, and sometimes you just can't keep hold of 'em.

Transfers

Rodrigo Olivera, 18: we got a mini-Edinson Cavani ourselves. Despite the short height and the young age, Olivera is a deadly finisher and still has a lot to improve.
Óscar Cataldo, 19: when you see an opportunity to steal a player like this, you do it. And if you are stealing from your championship rival, even better. I caught Vélez napping on his release fee and grabbed one of their most promising centre midfielders.
Maxi Blanco, 20: even though we certainly don't have a shortage in the attacking mid position, it looked like a pretty good deal and we got him. He will be sent out on loan.
Eric González, 18: he is a winger, but I'm determined to transform him into a centre mid. He's got some inconsistent passing abilities that have to be trained, but otherwise, he's a promising player.
Adrián Lencina, 19: the defensive ball playing midfielder is set to be a great player in the future. Excellent mental attributes, good on the ball, and fairly physical.


As mentioned, European eyes are growing over our players. We made some big sales to the old continent, with another record-breaking deal, this time involving the departure of our star Thiago Chiappa, who's left to be a great player for Inter. Fontana left us to be a star in Portugal, and Malpartida left us to be a star in France.

Superliga Argentina - Rounds 22 to 38

An invincible streak that certainly didn't feel like it. With a set of awful uneventful games and other unnecessarily eventful ones, we kept ourselves alive in the title fight. Many of the 1-0 victories came in the last minutes, or from a penalty, or both.

Highlights

R22 Gimnasia 3-1 Racing: in a 40-minute game, we managed to dominate and control of one the biggest teams at the beginning of the story.
R25 All Boys 2-3 Gimnasia: we started fast and they responded even faster. Within 25 minutes, we opened the scoreline, they turned it around and we tied it back. In the second half, Cataldo finally closed the deal for us.
R26 Gimnasia 2-0 River: the scoreline doesn't look anything like what the game was. The moments when we play bad and are not punished are rare, but this is one of them.
R27 Gimnasia 3-0 Aldosivi: speaking of rare, another rare specimen for you to wander: we playing actual dominant football against someone.
R28 Gimnasia 1-0 Boca: in a tough game, we kept Boca under control for 80 minutes without being able to score. When the disappointing 0-0 tie was almost certain, Vega finally broke the deadlock.
R30 Huracán 2-2 Gimnasia: after a bad start, the young Olivera managed to turn it around in our favor. And our joy lasted for two minutes. And that was it.
R34 Talleres 2-2 Gimnasia: another one of those games that could give you an anger management certificate. After opening the scoreline at the end of the first half, it took them two minutes to turn it around. Then we had to work our asses off to tie a game that we were winning.
R35 Estudiantes 0-2 Gimnasia: as tense as a Clásico should be, the opening goal came only 84 minutes into the game. Ruiz found another one at the 94th minute, right before the final whistle.
R36 Gimnasia 1-0 Vélez: in a tense title decider, we managed to lift the trophy after a 85' minute goal.

San Esteban's Clásico Platense Count: 9-4-1
All Time Clásico Platense Count: 59-68-67

Superliga Argentina - Final Standings

In the end, a demoralized Vélez stumbled and allowed us to get the title some rounds in advance, even losing the second position to River. I still can believe that we managed to convert poor football in a league title this season. We got a lot of annoying 1-0 victories throughout the second half of the season, and these annoying victories proved themselves to be life-saving. In the saddest part of the table, Rosario Central is wiganning their place in the league, scaping relegation once again. Lanús, on the other hand, got relegated at the first try, a sad moment for a team that ended Copa Libertadores as runners-up seven years earlier.

Supercopa Argentina

Final San Lorenzo 1-3 Gimnasia: it is weird to face San Lorenzo in Rosario. Both Nuevo Gasómetro, San Lorenzo's home turf, and Gigante de Arroyito, the biggest stadium in Rosario, are particularly narrow. So we addressed this game as any regular game away from home in Boedo: occupy the whole pitch and give up on opening the plays. We started bad, as Agustín Hausch opened the scoreline for the Boedo side, but then we managed to get the game back and control it.

Recopa Sudamericana

1st leg Vasco 0-0 Gimnasia: in a tedious game against the Brazilians of Vasco, champions of Copa Sudamericana, the only thing we got was a little bit of sleep.
2nd leg Gimnasia 3-1 Vasco: we started the game with a shock, as Vasco got the first hit. Two minutes later, however, they fixed it themselves. The newly signed Cataldo, then, managed to get two and get this right for us.

Copa Libertadores de América - Group Stage

We were drawn into a group with the Brazilians of Corinthians, the Venezuelans of Táchira, and the Bolivians of The Strongest. The probable outcome of this group is predictable: Corinthians and Gimnasia decide who wins the group, Táchira and The Strongest decide who gets the Copa Sudamericana spot.

R1 Corinthians 2-1 Gimnasia: in a tight opener, Corinthians got it over us with a late goal. Regarding our intentions to avoid stronger opponents in the second round, this goal was a tragedy for two reasons: (1) we lost against a direct rival, so we're gonna have to beat them back; (2) Corinthians will probably win both games against each of our other opponents, so the race is on for the goal difference.
R2 Gimnasia 3-1 Deportivo Táchira: our goal difference race didn't start really well. We could get much more over this rival, but a lazy finishing got us only 2. On the other game, Corinthians got a 3-0 win in Bolivia.
GD Race: Gimnasia 1-4 Corinthians
R3 Gimnasia 7-0 The Strongest: for a club with such pretentious name, they should have played better. Instead, we managed to get a nice boost to our goal difference race. Corinthians got a whooping 6-2 victory over Táchira on the other side.
GD Race: Gimnasia 8-8 Corinthians
R4 The Strongest 1-4 Gimnasia: an awful first half almost got everything down the drain for our ambitions. In the second half, however, after I dissed my players into shame, Sebá Rodríguez woke up and got a hat-trick. Other match: Táchira 0-3 Corinthians.
GD Race: Gimnasia 11-11 Corinthians
R5 Deportivo Táchira 0-4 Gimnasia: it was time for Leonel Vega to get his hat-trick in a comfortable win in Venezuela. Other match: Corinthians 5-0 The Strongest
GD Race: Gimnasia 15-16 Corinthians
R6 Gimnasia 2-0 Corinthians: it all comes down to this. A simple win would get us the win over the group, as we would exchange a goal with Corinthians in the race. Sebá Rodríguez got it with an early goal, and the safety goal came with Malo in the 90th minute.


We won the group, and among the 8 possible second-placed teams that we could face in the second round, we will face Grêmio once again.

Replies

@ScottT that was sure the best squad this club has ever had, so it is only fair

@Jack & @TheLFCFan they gotta respect us now

@OneMoreGame we'll play it in the next episode

@Wolf quite a sloppy one for our standards, but the most important is that everything turned out fine

Europe comes calling once again! What a nightmare. You do continue to ensure there is a conveyor-belt of talent coming through every season though which is rather impressive. Although the conveyor-belt does seem to just ultimately lead to a move into Europe eventually. What can you do though? It will be interesting if there ever comes a time when that can be rectified more often than not somehow.

Plenty of success which we're now becoming accustomed to. Lovely stuff.

Well that really is some record this part of the season, incredible! Almost there with Clasico's as well

More money coming in from Europe is how I see it. You know when a player is doing well and impressing the likelihood is he will be moved on. It keeps the squad fresh and doesn't seem to be stopping you from dominating domestically and on the continent itself. Good work!

Cash injections from Europe is perfect for the club owners, not for you. However you found a way to get a clean sheet in 12 of 16 matches, WOW! Another trophy, great achievement once again!

For the second time ever, FIFA organized the Club World Cup. Differently for the recent yearly formats, with all champions of all confederations, or even earlier, when only Europe and South America participated, this competition is played each four years, with 24 clubs, just like the World Cup was played between 1982 and 1994.

And different from the World Cup from 82 to 94, the CWC is played by 8 groups of 3, with only the winner of the group advancing to the knock-out stages.

With 9 European clubs in the competition and 8 groups available, it is fair to expect to play against any European team. European clubs are naturally my biggest concern in this competition since they are richer and can get better players, and, more importantly, it is always a bummer to be defeated by them.

In 2021, for example, only European clubs advanced to the knock-out stages, generating debates about the necessity of the tournament. According to the arrogant pricks, the competition was not needed and the trophy of champions of the world should be awarded to the winners of the UCL instead.

Preliminary Round

Auckland City 1-3 Olympique Lionnais

Groups

Good news: one of the groups had no European teams on it.
Bad news: we are not in it.

The groups are:


Our group is quite interesting. It's the only group where the three teams have a chance to go through, as Flamengo is a solid rival for Atlético de Madrid, as well as we are. This group of death might be interesting to see, as one of us may manage to beat Atlético but then get into the way of each other.

Group Stage

As the groups have an odd number of teams, we don't get to play in all three rounds. One game per round. The round that Gimnasia skips is the first round.

Round 1


A round of multiple overpowering wins. Barcelona sees two players jumping to the lead of the top scorers' table: Antoine Griezmann, who scored 6, and Mohammed Salah, who scored 5. Salah joins Manchester United's Lautaro Martínez. In our group, however, the Europeans didn't win: in fact, Flamengo beat them 2-1.

Round 2

Atlético de Madrid 2-2 Gimnasia: at the first look at the groups' draw, I'd never think I'd get a draw against Atleti. And I never thought I'd be disappointed from it. We started strong with a 2-0 lead at the 27th minute, but then Atleti found their pace and got a tie back. With this result, I'll have to beat Flamengo to advance. Atleti is surprisingly out, without grabbing a win.


Some interesting results there. Atlético Mineiro didn't manage to beat Al-Sadd and now will have to beat the Chinese of Guangzhou for more than 3 goals. Santos beat Atlanta United for the same number of goals that PSG did, so it's game on for the last round. The rivals of Manchester tied against each other, and City will be forced to beat the Congolese of TP Mazembe for 8 goals or more.

Round 3

Gimnasia 3-1 Flamengo: only a win could see us through the group stages, and it didn't look good to us when Anderson Talisca got the first one for Flamengo at the 30th minute. In the second half, however, the lads showed great personality to turn it around and still have time for a comfort goal on the break.


And Atlético, the only South American club to fall into a group without Europeans, bottled it. The group favorites missed chances, didn't get a win, and the home team of Al-Sadd will go through. In Group D, Corinthians got a 0-0 with Barcelona, but Barcelona still advances with an advantage of 9 goals of GD. Chelsea was eliminated by OL, and City fell one goal short to catch up to United. The biggest surprise has seen Grêmio beating the powerhouse of Bayern and winning Group H.


Our next opponent will be Barcelona. The end of the road is nearing.

Knock-Out Stages

Quarter-final

Gimnasia 2-0 Barcelona: but not now. With a fantastic performance, we kept the talents of Mo Salah, Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling, Kevin de Bruyne, and Antoine Griezmann at bay and got a 2-0 winner with a double from the Uruguayan youngster Rodrigo Olivera, knocking out the recently-crowned European champions.

Other results:

Al-Sadd 1-4 Liverpool
Olympique Lionnais 0-1 Manchester United
PSG 3-0 Grêmio

Grêmio caused an upset once but did not cause it twice. Al-Sadd and Grêmio are out and now it's only the Europeans and me.

Semifinal

Liverpool 4-3 Gimnasia: as soon as Kulusevski opened the scoreline at the 10th minute, I realized that our only fight in this game would be for our honor. And at least that we got. We were all over the place for the entire game and the Reds opened 3-0 at the 69th minute. Without a penny to lose, I sent them attacking and we got one back, then conceded again. The cleaner result only came within the added time, when we got two consolation goals.

The other result:

Manchester United 2-1 PSG

In a story of rivalry, the championship of the world will be decided by a bitter rivalry. Of course, not our bitter rivalry, but a bitter rivalry still. Liverpool and Manchester United face each other and the winner lifts the world.

Third place match

PSG 1-1 Gimnasia (3-1 after p.s.o.): we got a predictable loss from an unpredictable game. We got one ahead with a belter from Juan Pérez, but Kimpembe found PSG an equalizer after a corner at the beginning of the second half. We were awful at the 11-meter mark and PSG got the consolation award.

Final

Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United

Less a thrilling game than it seems, Liverpool took control of the game and conceded a late consolation goal to make things look like they were harder. Liverpool lifts the world for the second time around.

Around the world

Some fun out there: Arsenal finally got another European cup since the European Cup Winners' Cup 1994, and Everton lifted a cup that was not meant for them. In fact, the only opportunity when the winner of the cup was not from the top 5 leagues, was in 2024, when Young Boys got the trophy.

In the national realm, surprises keep rising in Colombia, with Tolima and Envigado lifting the trophies. RB Leipzig has finally bought clinched the Bundesliga.

Replies

@ScottT for competitions such as the CWC, it is crucial to keep the talents coming, but we have to stop the bleeding. Keeping talents home would be important for 2029

@Jack we had to compensate, hadn't we?

@TheLFCFan the down-side of all of that is that we lack experience. Our squad is overwhelmingly young and that comes to bit us in the ass from times to times

@OneMoreGame good news then: clubs in South America seldom have owners. We rather see ourselves as associations of civilian society. So the money comes 100% to us.

Absolutely no shame in that performance. None at all. Great work!

I think you can be pretty pleased with your efforts. Some major scalps to celebrate and a hard-fought battle all the way.

Certainly not a waste of time that playing and beating some of the best teams in the world. A good effort now time to focus back home.

To beat Barca is an immense achievement in itself, you came so close to taking on Liverpool too! You've certainly made waves across the globe now though.

Fantastic run, and I really like how you present your updates!