Alphabet Challenge | Part 59, Club 28 | Xamax Chase Swiss Double

Trebor Mahtal’s Project X, his bid to tick off the final letter of his Alphabet Challenge, began pretty well as he led Neuchâtel Xamax to a 2nd-place finish in Raiffeisen Super League and caused a few upsets in the Europa League.

The next step in Project X was to strengthen his squad and close the gap on runaway champions Young Boys while attempting to reach the Champions League. That began with traitor Danilo Zaccagnini going to Young Boys on a free, before selling off a few older players for a £20m profit, including midfielder Joao Santos going to Famalicao for £3.7m. However, Mahtal’s task wasn’t helped as AC Milan triggered midfielder Abdulrahman Sharaheli’s £6.75m minimum fee release and, on deadline day, Nottingham Forest paid a ludicrous £15m for 27-year-old centre back Samir Hadzic, more than doubling the club’s record sale.

Mahtal signed exciting attackers Federico Romero for £6.5m from Defensor Sporting and Qatari/Mexican Ethan Battiston for £7m from Monterrey, as well as winger Eduardo Carvalho for £1.5m from Atlas, midfielder Kévin Tchami for £100k from Cotonsport and centre back Nemanja Petkovic for £2m from Partizan. He also promoted exciting centre back Alain Ballamann and striker Guido Kappeli, then signed Ayrton Govaerts for up to £7.5m from Anderlecht as a Hadzic replacement.

Mahtal was now working with a seriously young squad containing 12 teenagers, seven of which were starters. He slightly tweaked his 4-4-2 approach, dropping the centre midfielder back into a holding role to try and be a bit more robust and Ballamann stepping up to replace Hadzic. But he retained an attacking threat through Battiston, Romero and Carvalho and last season’s star man Luka Biskup.

Second Season At Xamax

The bookies didn’t rate Mahtal’s transfer business, predicting Xamax to finish 7th but still with title odds of 33/1. Young Boys are 6/4 favourites to retain the title followed by Thun (2/1), FC Zurich (10/1), Basel (13/1) and St. Gallen (14/1). But the seasoned Mahtal wasn’t convinced he trusted their opinion.

Mahtal’s second season at Xamax began with a tough test at Basel, but two of last season’s stars Tim Crivelli and Hadzic secured a 2-1 win. Carvalho’s first goal nicked a 1-1 at home to Zurich and Biskup struck twice to down Luzern 2-1 away, but forced rotation due to European efforts (see below) saw them fall to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Lausanne. Kappeli’s first goal nicked a 2-1 win over Winterthur, who are much worse than bookies seem to think, before winger Óscar Gispert and Tchami secured a dominant 2-0 win at Thun.

Fittingly, Mahtal celebrated the 2,500th match of his illustrious career with winger Tim Crivelli, Tchami and Romero inspiring a 3-0 win at his former club Zurich. Xamax’s good form continued, and a 2-2 at home to Young Boys kept the two sides level on points at the top of the table in mid-November. But they finished the decade strongly, dominating Aarau 3-1 away and Baden 3-0 at home to open up a 4-point lead.

European Qualification Exploits

Xamax’s European venture began in the Champions League second qualifying round. Battiston and Romero scored their first goals in a 2-1 win at Levski Sofia before Petkovic and Santos, in his final game for the club, earned a 2-0 home success. A tougher task followed as they faced Rennes, but a great defensive effort and Carvalho and Battiston strikes earned a 2-2 in France. However, the French side came out flying in the return leg, scoring a screamer after 6 minutes before Romero hit the post and Biskup’s delicious chip hit the bar. Mahtal fired his team up, and Romero curled in a beauty from 20 yards and Gispert fired past the keeper from a narrow angle. Rennes had a few chances, but a clever short free kick saw Parisot tee up holding midfielder Leonardo González for his first senior goal. Rennes immediately got one back but couldn’t prevent a shock defeat.

The reward for that was a sweet one as Xamax faced off against Mahtal’s former club Queen’s Park in the playoff round for a place in the Champions League. Mahtal’s return to Hampden Park was a real cracker as González scored again before Tchami’s first goal doubled the lead inside four minutes. Queen’s Park came firing back and led 3-2 before Biskup equalised and a delicious Romero strike nicked a 4-3 thriller. Back in Switzerland, Xamax got a flyer as Tchami’s shot was deflected in by a defender after 130 seconds. A defensive disaster gifted an equaliser but they went down the other end and Romero fired in another beauty before Hadzic powered in a header from a corner and Biskup converted Carvalho’s cross just before halftime. Xamax continued to boss the game but settled for an impressive 4-1 victory.

That gave Xamax their first taste of the Champions League proper, and their reward was some tough fixtures. They began by entertaining Leverkusen and, despite a solid defensive effort, lost 1-0. A trip to Greece was arguably their only winnable match, and a stunning Biskup performance saw him bag a hat trick in a 4-1 victory over Olympiacos. Next up, they entertained Mahtal’s former club Juventus and Xamax more than held their own as Tchami earned an impressive 1-1. But they got dominated 3-0 at Strasbourg, got a 0-0 in a dire match at Salzburg and lost 3-1 at home to Sevilla. In the new year, a rotated side got thumped 7-1 at Arsenal before an impressive 3-2 win at home to 2061 European champions Fiorentina. But, despite that, they were knocked out in 27th place.

Swiss Title Race Heats Up

Mahtal bolstered his squad in the new year, including exciting striker Mansour Bayal for just £450k from Génération Foot. He was joined by fellow attacker Óscar Grossi for £6.5m from Rosario Central, winger Martin Michel for £4m from Slovan Bratislava and goalkeeper Matyas Nagy for £1.9m from TSC.

The 2080s began with González’s screamer nicking a 1-0 at St. Gallen before Carvalho and Gispert earned a 2-0 at lowly Bellinzona. That was followed by two huge games against Mahtal’s former sides in early February, and González again nicked a 1-0 at home to Zurich before Romero’s brace secured a 2-1 win at Young Boys and Xamax’s new favourite enemy Zaccagnini. Xamax’s stellar form continued unabated, including Bayal scoring twice inside 20 minutes on debut, the first of which was a wonderful run from 40 yards before a powerful finish, to lead a 3-2 win at Luzern. And they seized full control of the title race as an exhausted Young Boys side, who got thumped in the Champions League by Atalanta a few days earlier, were dismissed 5-0 led by a superb Gispert hat trick crowned by a sumptuous curled effort from 25 yards.

Game 1 – FC Zurich (3rd, away): The run-in began with a tired team losing 2-1 at Mahtal’s former club, which allowed Young Boys to close the gap to five points with a 2-1 win at St. Gallen.

Game 2 – Thun (5th, home): Young Boys closed the gap to 2 points by beating Basel 3-0. The next day, Xamax responded with Romero scoring the only goal after an hour.

Game 3 – Basel (6th, away): Xamax could potentially wrap up the title at Basel if results went their way. They started well as Gispert whipped a cross in for Romero to flick home on 23 minutes and Carvalho’s superb pass put Bayal in to double the lead before the break. The front two combined as Bayal’s low cross put a second on a plate for Romero and González smashed a superb 20-yard volley to seal a thumping 4-0 victory. But later that day, Young Boys beat Zurich 2-0.

Game 4 – St. Gallen (4th, away): That meant Xamax would win the league with a win at St. Gallen. Despite dominating the first half, they conceded the first shot and wasted chances. But substitute Batiston created the equaliser for Tchami and Gispert’s volleyed cross put a goal on a plate for Romero. And they held on for a 2-1 victory.

Neuchâtel Xamax won Raiffeisen Super League for the first time since 1988!

Xamax celebrated their title success by thrashing Young Boys 4-0 led by a Bayal brace. That saw them set a new Swiss league record 100 points, surpassing Basel’s 98 in 2036, after 34 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats, scoring 83 and conceding just 16. Bayal was the best player in the league with a 7.66 average rating and scored 11 in 14 games. Romero was the second-top scorer with 16, Carvalho led the assists with 14 and Nicolás Pandiani topped the clean sheets with 21 in 30, only conceding 11 goals.

96-Year-Old Mahtal Signs Out With A Cup Final

Xamax breezed through the Helvetia Schweizer Cup against Lancy, Cham and Lausanne, while Young Boys and Basel both lost in the third round. A big clash followed in the quarter final and Xamax eased past Thun 3-1 lewd by an early Gispert brace. A semi final followed against Luzern and Xamax took the proverbial mickey as Gispert scored after 13 minutes, Carvalho bagged a brace and Tchami smashed a wonderful hat trick of screamers to send them into the final.

The final game of Trebor Mahtal’s 56-year Football Manager career saw him lead Xamaz out against second-tier Yverdon in the Swiss Cup Final. He had no injury concerns so lined up:

Pandiani; Sunesson, Petkovic, Ballamann, Mace; Carvalho, González, Tchami, Gispert; Bayal, Romero
Subs: Biskup, Nagy, Govaerts, Grossi, Parisot, Delibasic, Oliveira

Xamax bossed the early stages and made it count as Tchami slipped Bayal in to find the bottom corner and Romero’s low cross was converted by his strike partner a few minutes before halftime. He went close to his hat trick late on, only to fire over before Ballamann was harshly given a second yellow. So Mahtal closed up shop to ensure he finished his career with yet another trophy and a second Swiss double.

Alphabet Challenge Completed At Xamax!

Mahtal had quickly built an exciting young team at Xamax, as proven by their Champions League overperformance and total domination of the Swiss league. The likes of Ballamann, Tchami, wonderkid González, Bayal, Romero and Pandiani had shown massive progress and were all well-set to become world-class. Indeed, Tchami, who as a reminder cost £100k in the summer!, won NxGn 2080 with Gispert 2nd, right back Viktor Sunesson 26th and Bayal 28th.

A Swiss double was a fitting way to call time on Mahtal’s illustrious career, lifting the 42nd trophy in his 56 years in management. Romero top-scored for Xamax with 21 in 47 followed by Biskup (17), Battiston (15), Gispert and Bayal (13), Tchami (11) and Carvalho (10). Carvalho led the way with 20 assists, followed by Gispert and González (13), Tchami (8) and Romero (6).

But the latest trophy success meant that Mahtal’s time in management was now at an end, as he won a major trophy with a club beginning with every letter of the alphabet. He departs Xamax after 675 days and 111 games, of which he won 77, drew 20 and lost 14, scoring 240 and conceding 101, with a 69% win ratio the eighth-best of his career.

With the Alphabet Challenge completed, we’ll return with one final blog of the series to review Mahtal’s long career on Friday!