After one season in Germany, Robaato Rasamu had worked his magic to inspire VfB Stuttgart to their highest league position in 34 years and European Champions League qualification. So it was feasible – unlikely – but feasible that he could wrap up this Pentagon Pursuit inside 19 years of management.
Not one to get too carried away, Rasamu was more focused on strengthening Stuttgart in key areas and bringing a few more of the club’s promising youngsters into the first team picture. He began the summer of 2041 by selling more of the players he didn’t fancy or were too old, raising £20m for eight players. He also made nearly £4m in staff being poached by Dortmund and Leipzig, then replace them with even better staff members!
That gave Rasamu a transfer kitty of around £80m, of which he spent £26m. His best signing may be wonderkid winger Spasoje Kocic for £9.75m from Partizan plus promising Ecuadorian right back Armando Carrasco for up to £11m from Saint-Étienne and rapid attacker Henrik Bek Hansen for £3.2m from AaB. He also turned to Scandinavia for some bargains, snapping up centre back Gonzalo Delgado for £2.5m from Rosenborg, attacking midfielder Havard Fuglehaug for £2.8m from Molde, holding midfielder Martin Glover for £3.5m from Lillestrom and 6ft 4in centre back Marcus Johansson for £2.3m from Malmo.
Rasamu decided to stick with the 4-2-3-1 approach that had worked well last season. But he was looking to upgrade his centre back roles to a libero and ball player given the step up in quality he felt he now had.
Bundesliga Season 2
Rasamu thought he’d done a decent job in the transfer window and the bookies agreed, predicting Stuttgart to finish 6th (up from 10th last season) at 50/1 to win Bundesliga. However, Bayern showed their determination to win 30 consecutive titles by blowing £294m on six players, including signing Rasamu’s former Paranaense wingers Rodrigo Bracamonte and Claudio Saavedra, and are huge 1/10 favourites. That’s unsurprising considering their annual wage spend of £220m is three times more than any other German team and eight times more than Stuttgart, and they have 18 players on over £100k a week.
Stuttgart started the season well as striker Dejan Vujicic scored inside 17 minutes at Frankfurt but twice blew the lead to lose 3-2. The also started their first home game brightly as Vujicic’s super finish from 20 yards fired them in front after 12 minutes against Hertha. The visitors obviously scored their only attack but Kocic won a penalty that Vujicic converted to secure all three points. They suffered another narrow defeat at Wolfsburg but Vujicic maintained his strong start with a hat trick to down Hannover 3-1.
Stuttgart made a solid start to the season, winning seven of their first 11 games. However, they were rocked by star player Ángel Galeano suffering damaged cruciate ligaments on international duty, which would rule him out for the rest of the season. Luckily, Vujicic was well and truly stepping up as the main main without the Paraguayan. The striker bagged back-to-back braces to inspired consecutive 3-0 wins over Bochum and Gladbach to lift his side into 2nd ahead of a huge clash with undefeated Bayern. The champions were likely to be well up for it given they got spanked 5-0 in Stuttgart last season but the hosts started well, restricting Bayern to no shots on target in the first half. They offered a little more after the break but Stuttgart again kept a clean sheet to gain a creditable 0-0.
Carrasco got his first goal for the club in a 2-0 win over Koln before ending in 2041 in disappointing fashion with a 3-0 defeat at Dortmund. That left Stuttgart sitting 5th in what is again shaping up to be a really tight Bundesliga. Bayern look nailed-on for a 30th consecutive title with a six-point lead but behind them the next five teams are separated by just four points.
Rasamu’s First European Champions League Campaign
Rasamu’s first taste of the final competition on his Pentagon Pursuit wishlist began with the Champions League group stage. They got an interesting set of fixtures with the biggest tests being trips to Man UFC and Milan and entertaining Real Madrid.
They began at home to Crvena Zvezda and Vujicic’s fine form continued with a delicious free kick arrowed into the top corner. They bossed the game and Galeano doubled the lead in first half injury time then Christopher Asare’s long range effort made it three 90 seconds after the break. Matchday two took them to Portugal and a quiet second half was followed by two goals in five minutes early in the second as Kocic’s first for the club was quickly cancelled out. And they were a little lucky to come away with a point.
Rasamu’s biggest test yet came as Real Madrid, who have five players earning £400k a week or more and 12 on more than £250k, visited Mercedes-Benz Arena. Madrid bossed the game and opened the scoring after 26 minutes. Neither side created a great deal and Madrid killed it off late on as Rasamu pushed for an equaliser. Another big test took them to Old Trafford to face Man UFC, who had Rasamu’s former Pachuca midfielder Jason Gattini in midfield and former Paranaense stars Nicolás Monserrat and Abel Aguilar. Stuttgart kept UFC out in the first half but Aguilar scored eight minutes after the break and the visitors couldn’t mount a response. But Rasamu was relatively pleased that they didn’t disgrace themselves against two of the best sides in the world.
Next up was a trip to Denmark and FC Kobenhavn, who’ve somehow kept hold of Roony Bardghji, now 36, throughout his entire career. Vujicic won and missed a penalty on 28 minutes but Glover headed home his first goal for the club from the resulting corner. He should have doubled the lead after an hour but his midfield partner Pereira made sure of the victory with a late 25-yard effort. They backed that up by easing past Club Brugge 2-0 with an early Hansen goal and midfielder Moriké Kanté’s curled strike.
Stuttgart find themselves 13th with two games remaining in the group stage, just two points off the top eight and, interestingly, three points ahead of moneybags Bayern.
Rasamu was really excited about how things were progressing at Stuttgart. It was pretty clear they were nowhere near ready to compete with Bayern and Europe’s big boys but they were definitely heading in the right direction. Proof of that was Vujicic, who’s scored 15 in 22 this season, winning the Kopa Trophy.
Could Rasamu lead Stuttgart into the latter stages of the Champions League? And could anyone prevent Bayern winning 30 Bundesliga titles on the bounce? Join us on Friday to find out!
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