Despite only losing once in the first half of the 2028/29 Serie A campaign, Empoli FC found themselves trailing leaders Napoli by five points. But there were certainly shoots of optimism at the young side’s improving fortunes against Italy’s traditional big boys.
We did very little transfer activity in January, only bringing in a backup goalkeeper from financially ruined Roma after doubling our money on Antonio Prats, who went to Barca for £7.5m. We also sold centre-back Carmelo Agnelli to Hertha for £7.5m. But the big business was locking star player Claudio Echeverri down to a new contract, making him the first £100,000 per week player in club history.
Looking To Keep The Pressure On
2029 began in emphatic fashion as we put five past Verona, including Echeverri celebrating his new deal by scoring two after laying on goals for Nelson Weiper and João Veloso. That gave us the foundation for a strong start to the year, including a win for the fans as Echeverri’s sublime double, including a free-kick from fully 30 yards, led a 3-1 win over rivals Pisa.
That strong form continued and we hit the top of Serie A after 25 games. A good indicator of our improvement was welcoming Juventus to Stadio Carlo Castellani and winning 2-1 through a wondergoal by midfielder Raúl, who collected a Juve corner in his own box and ran around their entire team to score, then Sebastián Miglioli’s late winner. However, we lost Veloso for six weeks with a knee ligament injury and immediately lost 1-0 at Torino. But we recovered from that with arguably our most impressive performance yet, racking up 26 shots and 4.27 xG in a 3-1 win over Atalanta.
Champions League Knockouts
Going into the final two league phase games, we were guaranteed a playoff place. I fully rotated for a pointless trip to PSG and we lost 3-1. More important was a home game against Besiktas. We made a bright start as Valadéz was gifted a goal, Veloso scored a screamer and left-back Yvan Boulesteix wrapped up an easy win. However, that wasn’t quite enough to make the top eight for the first time.
The playoff round saw us drawn against Sociedad, who gifted us the lead as Raya dropped a cross to the feet of Damián Valadéz before Zubeldia scored an own goal. However, Primoz Kompara obviously felt sorry for them as he threw the ball into his own net then let in a 30-yarder. But we made up for it at home as Weiper’s brilliant four-goal haul sent us through. I thought we’d avoided all the big teams in the last 16 draw, only to realise the last club remaining was PSG. Oh dear. I had to rotate and we got thumped 4-0 at home then somehow held them to 0-0 in France.
10 Games From Glory
With 10 games remaining, we found ourselves still top of Serie A. We went to beleaguered Roma, who’ve just had a takeover, and Raúl nicked a 1-0 win while our closest challengers Napoli and Milan both lost 2-1 at Lecce and Atalanta respectively. That teed up a huge match at home to Napoli, who scored from their first attack but we battled back through Weiper. We improved after the break and looked to have nicked it as left-back Yvan Boulesteix sent Miglioli through to smash the ball home. However, in the fourth minute of injury-time, the referee awarded Napoli a scandalous penalty. It’s an absolute disgrace.
We put that disappointment behind us by racking up 16 shots and winning 3-0 at Lecce with a stunning pair of long-range strikes by our little Argentinian genius Echeverri and striker Víctor Álvarez ending his 31-match goal drought! That was swiftly followed by a much tougher away day at Inter. We made a bright start as a short free-kick from Echeverri to Veloso caught Inter napping and the latter set up former Milan right-back Adam Bakoune to score. We offered nothing after that, bar Echeverri shooting inches over, but Inter barely troubled us either and we held on for a huge 1-0 victory.
Next up was the Arno Derby at home to Fiorentina, who were apparently top of the form table. But we blew them away with three goals in the first 11 minutes through João Paulo’s screamer and a Weiper double. VAR denied us a penalty and Weiper’s hat-trick before Echeverri scored a stunning goal with the outside of his right foot from the edge of the box and Miglioli wrapped up a crushing 5-1 win.
Unexpected Cup Final
Given the league demands, I threw changed 11s in for all our Coppa Italia matches and we snuck past Bari and Atalanta on penalties to reach the semis. Juve also rotated as we drew 1-1 at home then 3-3 away and beat them 8-7 on penalties to somehow reach Empoli’s first-ever Coppa Italia Final.
Awaiting us was Lazio and I put the first team back in but immediately wished I hadn’t bothered as they conceded after 20 seconds. We got level from a corner as Fernando Barreira leaped highest at the back post only to concede to a near-post corner before Weiper restored parity just before half-time. We were better after the break but Lazio scored from another corner, this time to an unmarked player on the edge of the box, to deservedly nick it 3-2.
Another Exciting Title Race
Empoli’s great form sent us into the final five games with a five-point lead over Napoli and a seven-point lead over Milan. However, we had Milan on the final day and a few potentially tricky fixtures, while Napoli and Milan also had to play each other.
Match 1 – Palermo (19th) away: We started well again as, on 16 minutes, Echeverri picked the ball up, drove forwards and unleashed from 30 yards for yet another screamer. He then lofted a ball for Veloso to drive into space and finish excellently into the far corner to seal an easy 2-0 win. Elsewhere, Napoli beat Parma 3-0 and Milan won 2-1 at Sassuolo, then Milan beat Napoli 3-0 before our next match.
Match 2 – Sassuolo (7th) away: We started well again thanks to Veloso’s brilliance as his delicious chipped throughball sent Valadéz through to score after 11 minutes. We played superbly without creating huge amounts but got our reward as Valadéz dropped deep and floated the ball over the top for Echeverri to race onto it and slam it into the top corner. Only our second win at Sassuolo in six attempts took us seven points clear with three games remaining.
Match 3 – Torino (10th) home: That meant we would be Champions of Italy if we beat Torino at home. We got another flyer with a brilliant goal, as Weiper tracked back to win the ball on the edge of our box then got himself back up front to finish off the counter for his 30th goal of the season. Another excellent team move ended up with Echeverri sliding Boulesteix in to finish superbly and we looked to be cruising. However, Torino won a penalty then undeservedly equalised so I went on the attack and pushed Echeverri forward. And he quickly rewarded me by getting free down the right and firing home from a narrow angle. I went defensive and we held on to win 3-2.
Empoli FC were Champions of Italy for the first time!!
We went to Lazio three days after the Coppa Italia Final and the lads were clearly on the beach as they did nothing and lost 2-0. And we paraded the Serie A trophy around Stadio Carlo Castellani ahead of a pretty tepid 0-0 final-day clash with Milan. That stalemate saw us finish on a new club-record 89 points, four clear of Milan and eight clear of Napoli.
Analysing A Champion Campaign
For the first time, Empoli had the best attack in Serie A as we scored 85 goals, overperforming our xG by a massive 18.41. We were also the most clinical team in the league, getting 52% of shots on target and converting 20% of our opportunities, plus having the 3rd-best cross completion (19%), the 2nd-most chances (186, only bettered by Napoli’s 229) and the 4th-most shots on target (216) despite only having the 9th-most shots (412). We also massively improved from set pieces, scoring 10 from corners a league-high two from direct free-kicks and three from indirect free-kicks.
Our 36 goals conceded was only bettered by Milan’s outrageous 25 and our 14 clean sheets was also 2nd to Milan’s 20. We conceded four times from corners, zero direct free-kicks but, slightly worryingly, five from indirect free-kicks, which was the 2nd-most in Serie A, and five penalties. We made the 2nd-fewest fouls (326) and had the highest tackles won ratio (79%) and, yet again, broke our own record for fewest yellow cards with just 19 and didn’t get a single red! That’s one booking every other match, which is ridiculous and I don’t know how we’ve done it. And the below news item is a nice addition to FM24.
Echeverri deservedly defended his Serie Player of the Year and also won Goal of the Year for his wonderstrike against Palermo and Premio Gentleman as he didn’t get a single booking. Weiper became the first Empoli player to be Serie A Top Goalscorer, scoring 21 goals in 36 games with Echeverri second with 19 in 37 and Tammy Abraham third with 18 in 37. Kompara again won the F.Pulici Goalkeeper of the Year award, but wasn’t in the Team of the Year, which included an entire back four of Javier Fiaschi, Diego Coppola and Bakoune, a midfield of Echeverri and Veloso and Weiper up top. Empoli also won the Fair Play Club of the Year award yet again and the Best Club of the Year award.
Weiper again led our goalscoring chart with a new club-record 31 in 46 followed by the exceptional Echeverri (20), slightly underwhelming Valadéz (15), Miglioli (12), Veloso (7) and Paulo and Bakoune (4). Impressive left wing-back Boulesteix led our assists with 16 followed by Echeverri (13), Valadéz (12), Miglioli (11), Bakoune and Veloso (9) and Raúl (5). Weiper also had our best average rating of 7.34 followed closely by Echeverri (7.30), Boulesteix (7.24), Veloso (7.22) and Miglioli (7.20).
I thought about continuing this Beta save, especially as the board announced the Antonio Di Natale Arena will be completed in 2031. But Echeverri broke his ankle in the next pre-season and I really didn’t fancy plodding along without him for another season.
Thank you for all the support on this Beta save, it’s been a blast managing in Serie A again and hopefully we’ll be back in Italy to kick off FM25 and possibly even sooner!
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