[FM13] C.D. Constància: Trading places

edu1878 : Balotteli at Betis? No way. Unlucky string of teams to play after your streak, but you will get there. Be patient and Keep it up.

There is not much to do about a schedule like that. It just to take the beating like a man and hope to get out alive on the other side.

The Mario Balotelli career story might be interesting to take a look at.

Bad luck not much you can do against Barça and Real but I see that your attendances were full for the game (because you rarely get EXACTLY 10K twice in a row) which would have given you some cash. And I agree with Edu, how did Balotelli end up at Betis?

lwalter66 : Bad luck not much you can do against Barça and Real but I see that your attendances were full for the game (because you rarely get EXACTLY 10K twice in a row) which would have given you some cash. And I agree with Edu, how did Balotelli end up at Betis?

Since we moved up into the LIBA BBVA the stadium has been close to full for every home game (never below 94% for any game) so we are actually leaving a lot of cash on the table as we could have sold more tickets for most games.
The new stadium will be ready in the summer of 2022. That will be a 19.752 capacity stadium in a city with a population of just above 25.000.
Guess we have to steal some fans from R.C.D Mallorca while they are still in the LIGA adelante.


The Mario Balotelli story will be coming next.

A row of tough results mate... Hopefully you can turn it back and start again to win soon!

Balotelli's story sounds interesting...

P.S. Unfortunately you were right about Constancia in my save: they got relegated the very first season and couldn't manage to come back...

Balotelli is often underrated on my saves

Love Balotelli, unlucky run of results- but hopefully you can bounce back!

Tough results to handle but Constancia bounce back like always!

gambit84 : A row of tough results mate... Hopefully you can turn it back and start again to win soon!
Balotelli's story sounds interesting...
P.S. Unfortunately you were right about Constancia in my save: they got relegated the very first season and couldn't manage to come back... :/

Sorry to say that the Oviedo story in my save is almost equally depressing. Will get back to that.

Louis O. : Balotelli is often underrated on my saves :/

Almost done with his story from this save. Will post later tonight.

Okikos : Love Balotelli, unlucky run of results- but hopefully you can bounce back!

Thanks for reading Okikos
It’s not against Real Madrid and Barcelona we are going to get our points.

k1rups : Tough results to handle but Constancia bounce back like always!

Are you available as the official C.D. Constància mental coach?

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/CDConstagravencia_zps42f3d47b.jpg

The Super Mario Betis story

So what was Mario Balotelli doing in Seville on a pedestrian Real Betis team?


We all remember that the last time we heard about Balotelli back in 2012-13 he was playing for Manchester City and we also remember his shaky relationship between Balotelli and Mancini that was well documented.
Robert Mancini kept Balotelli on the team but used him only as a substitute behind Edin Dzeko and Sergio Agüero.
The team won the EPL in both 2012/13 and 2013/14 but for Mario Balotelli it was a bittersweet experience as he didn’t start a single league game in those two seasons. In total he played in 45 games scoring just nine goals in those two years always coming off the bench.


2014/15 was more of the same for Balotelli still not part of the starting lineup and only brought on by Mancini in garbage-time.


What happened next not many people around the world of football saw coming. Left on the bench in Manchester it was no surprise that Mario Balotelli wanted out but it was the team that came looking for him that took many by surprise.


The only club that showed any interest in the Italian enfant terrible was Arsenal F.C now lead by no other then Josep Guardiola after the retirement of Arsène Wenger.
Arsenal started out by making a loan deal for Balotelli for the remaining of the 2015/16 season. The ink on the Mario Balotelli contract was still wet when the news came that Guardiola had been sacked after a loss in the Champions League to Fenerbahçe SK. It was the final straw in a terrible start to the Arsenal season.


The new manager Guieseppe Pillon was not a big fan of Balotelli and he was back on the bench only playing in five games scoring just a single goal for the remaining of the season. That was not the new start Balotelli had hoped for.


After the season Arsenal and new manager Guieseppe Pillon looked at Balotelli again and decided to give him another chance and Arsenal FC paid Manchester City €7.5M for the player.
A surprisingly lofty fee for a striker with a scoring problem but still a long way away from the €28M Manchester City had paid Inter back in 2010.
The Manchester team was just happy to get rid of his salary.


For the start of the 2016/17 season Mario Balotelli was finally back in the starting lineup.


But it was not the same old Balotelli. Yes the scandals were the same. More parking and speeding tickets and more bathroom fireworks.
But gone were the goals.


As a starter in Emirates Stadium he struggled and scored just five goals in 18 starts and when the transfer window opened around Christmas Arsenal decided that they had to make a move.


The Gunners put €32M on the table and signed Robert Lewandowski from Dortmund to play next to Stevan Jovetic up front.
And after just half a season in the starting lineup Mario Balotelli had moved from being an expensive benchwarmer in Manchester to being an almost as expensive benchwarmer for Arsenal.


After just one season the divorce was a fact. Mario Balotelli stayed with Arsenal for the first half of the 2017/18 season but he started only a single game and it was just a question of time before he would be gone.


Arsenal was more than willing to abandon the failed project and didn’t mind talking a loss but in contrast to previous times Mario Balotelli had wanted out and the big clubs in Europa had come calling for his services, this time it was eerie quiet. None of the major power houses around Europa wanted to take on Super-Mario and his antics this time around. Teams were willing to stick up with a lot in return for goals but his behavior was not as appreciated when sitting on the bench.


So when Real Betis from the Spanish LIGA BBVA that showed up with an offer, neither Arsenal nor Mario Balotelli had much leverage and had to take the deal. And when the Spanish team was willing to pay €7M for the troubled striker, Arsenal jumped on the deal and could not believe there luck.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/MarioBalotelli_HistoryCareerStats_zps089dc9ad.jpg


At first Real Betis was ridiculed for paying that much money for a washed up striker but fighting for a place in the Europa League, Mario Balotelli gave the team an extra dimension up front and he scored six goals in sixteen games playing as the loan striker when Iago Aspas was not available.


The next season (2018/19) under a new coach Real Betis switched from a 4-2-3-1 formation to a regular 4-4-2 formation with Mario Balotelli lining up next to Juanmi. He started a career high twenty-eight games and scored double digit goals (11) for the first time since the 2011/12 season.
He had a big part in helping the team making the second knockout round in the Europa League and even won the first PoM award in his career.


The season after the Balotelli still as a regular starter posted his highest AvR (6.97) in seven year and he even added a new dimension to his game with four assists for the season. He was part of the Real Betis setup who won the Copa del Ray for the first time in seven years after an epic 4-3 win over Real Madrid in the final.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/MarioBalotelli_HistoryAchievements_zpse63b3ffa.jpg


So here we are today in 2021 just a few days after Mario Balotelli scored three goals in a match against C.D. Constància. What looked like a career in a tailspin ready to crash just a few seasons ago, now suddenly looked to be somewhat resurrected.

Mario Balotelli is now 32-years old and looks to finally have found his place in the football-world even if his profile is a bit scaled down compared to his heydays in England.

Wow, Great write up. It looks as though you guys played Balotelli back into form.

Well written, he didn't do to well in his career

edu1878 : Wow, Great write up. It looks as though you guys played Balotelli back into form.

Thanks edu,
He did get some playing time with Real Betis but his career never took off again.
As I have the power to look in to the future, I predict that he is back on the bench again next season.

lwalter66 : Well written, he didn't do to well in his career

Guess it was a curse to sit on the bench in Manchester for so long. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned for other footballers in this story.

2013-07-05 08:43#118140 Northwood :

lwalter66 : Well written, he didn't do to well in his career

Guess it was a curse to sit on the bench in Manchester for so long. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned for other footballers in this story.

Yeah true. Only a few players today play for the playing time not the pay cheque. Good bit of business by Betis too, I have to say.

2013-07-05 09:22#118156 lwalter66 :

2013-07-05 08:43#118140 Northwood :

lwalter66 : Well written, he didn't do to well in his career

Guess it was a curse to sit on the bench in Manchester for so long. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned for other footballers in this story.

Yeah true. Only a few players today play for the playing time not the pay cheque. Good bit of business by Betis too, I have to say.

This is especially true for young players because the need playing time and not a fat bank account. The only problem is that those young players are also mentally very venerable and should be properly surrounded with people who mean the best for them and want to fill there pocket quick on their back.

That's one of the reason's I'm not that happy with the Chelsea and other big teams approach to young talented players from 'smaller' teams they steal them and let them most of the time rot in reserve or youth team.

The should put a rule on that. or maybe the parents of those players should use a more common sense than just the size of theirs and their son bank account.

Caelis :
This is especially true for young players because the need playing time and not a fat bank account. The only problem is that those young players are also mentally very venerable and should be properly surrounded with people who mean the best for them and want to fill there pocket quick on their back.

That's one of the reason's I'm not that happy with the Chelsea and other big teams approach to young talented players from 'smaller' teams they steal them and let them most of the time rot in reserve or youth team.

The should put a rule on that. or maybe the parents of those players should use a more common sense than just the size of theirs and their son bank account.

It will be very interesting to see if Man City can do something about that problem with their new toy New York City FC.

I have still not signed a single player from the EPL in this save. There is simply no value to be found with the huge inflated salaries for every single English player. Even backup players and youngsters stuck in the reserve teams is making crazy-money.