The people of Cataluña, traditionally accustomed to following the Blaugranes of FC Barcelona, had a new group of heroes as they celebrated the unexpected of Los Quadribarrats. One of their own, Oriol Ribas, had transformed Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu from fourth-tier anonymity to the very elite of the footballing world, as the former Ultras leader turned manager and his team of exciting youngsters became Champions of Europe in 2038.
Ribas was right in the thick of it as captain Luis Marín and fellow homegrown heroes Norbert, Genar Iglesias and Razvan Gogu led an open-top bus parade around every town and village of Cataluña. The Catalan people partied like they’d never partied before, as this latest chapter in the growth of UE Sant Andreu saw them take one small step towards their Turf Wars mission to usurp the might of FC Barcelona. Indeed, the European success saw Sant Andreu move up 4 places in the club coefficients to 3rd behind Barcelona and PSG.
Ribas soon came down to earth as he focused on his next task, which he viewed as one far more difficult than winning the Champions League, usurping Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético, who’d won every title for the last 34 years and all but three since 1984. The club’s financial growth continued as taxable profits of £163m over the last year saw the bank balance surge to a new high of £260m. Furthermore, the club’s reputation was boosted by the expansion of Sant Andreu Stadium to a new capacity of 38,062, alongside state-of-the-art training and youth facilities.
The finances were boosted by a new club record sale of £38.5m as backup striker Ricardo Espínola went to Saudi, where he was joined by long-serving midfielder Pedro Rodríguez, now 30, who departs for £10.5m after playing over 300 games in 8 years. Ribas also sold wantaway midfielder Rabah Bensalem to Brest for £15m and backup attackers Alejandro Hurtado and Nikolaj Handsen Pihl to Chelsea and Liverpool for £10m and £12.5m. With that business done, the bank balance grew to £330m.
Ribas sealed a long-term target in attacker Ricardo for £12.5m from Flamengo and his latest Brazilian left back Leandrinho for £53k from Corinthians. He also promoted pacey striker Rai Barberá, who signed for free from Barcelona last summer, and 17-year-old Italian defender Marco Liotta.
Ribas obviously stuck with the 4-3-3 approach that won the Champions League. However, Tomislav Adolf Bonacic replaces Pedro in midfield and Freddy Skogfoss steps up as first choice centre back alongside Peter Digha.
Taking on a Relentless FC Barcelona
The Spanish bookies now had them as 3rd favourites to win LaLiga with title odds of 18/1, only behind Barcelona (5/6) and holders Real (5/2) and ahead of Atlético (18/1) and Sevilla (25/1). The season began well with the homegrown trio of Iglesias, Norbert and Marín putting them 3-0 up at Almería, who were lucky to get two late goals back. They built on that as Marín scored twice in a 4-0 thumping of Vallecano, his midfield partner Quentin Jansen inspired a 3-1 win at Osasuna, and they won their opening five games before a 2-0 loss at Real.
A big test of their credentials came with the visit of FC Barcelona. After a tame first half, striker Sam Docherty headed them in front 90 seconds after the break and hit the post 4 minutes later, only for Barca to go down the other end and equalise. The visitors then went in front with a weak penalty decision but, just as the game looked lost, Jansen sent former Barca man Barberá through for a dramatic but deserved late equaliser.
San Andreu headed into 2039 trailing Barcelona and Real by 6 points, but started the new year well as Jansen’s brace led a 4-0 win over Almería before beating Osasuna 2-0. That good form continued through to a big game at home to Real, which Sant Andreu completely dominated with 11 shots in the first half and eventually scored as Docherty glanced in Ricardo’s cross. And the improving Brazilian also laid on a late second for Gogu to seal a huge victory.
That put Sant Andreu top of LaLiga by 1 point from Barcelona, who had a game in hand, and 11 points clear of Real with 12 games remaining. A 1-0 defeat at Valladolid handed the initiative back to Barcelona, but Docherty’s hat trick, a Norbert brace and four Iglesias assists led a 6-0 demolition of Alavés and Marín bagged a hat trick to crush Athletic 4-0. However, Barca just kept winning, including a 3-0 El Clásico win over Real the day before Sant Andreu lost 2-1 at Atlético. And the title was all but confirmed as a rotated Sant Andreu side lost 5-0 at their city rivals.
They went on to lock down 2nd place with the club’s best top-tier tally of 81 points after 26 wins, 3 draws and 9 defeats, a massive 17 behind Barcelona but 12 ahead of Real, who finished in a lowly 6th. Jansen was the best player in the league with a 7.63 average rating and was 2nd only to Yamal with 18 assists with Igleisas 7th on 12. While Marín was 6th top scorer with 18 in 34, well behind Franculino’s 34 for Atlético, and Docherty was 10th with 16. As a result, Jansen was the first Sant Andreu player to win Spanish League Player of the Year and Roy Álvarez won Goalkeeper of the Year.
First Champions League Defence
The season began with more silverware as late Marín and Jansen goals sealed a 2-0 win over Spurs to lift the UEFA Super Cup. In December, they took on Saudi side Al-Nassr in the Club Intercontinental Championship Final, and Docherty’s header on 66 minutes was enough for a 1-0 victory. And that latest success saw Ribas take his place as the 9th best Spanish manager of all time.
European champions Sant Andreu, which still felt wrong to say, were made 50/1 outsiders to defend their crown, with Chelsea 11/2 favourites ahead of Liverpool and PSG (6/1 and 7/1). They began their defence at home to Arsenal and, with the team rotated to give a few players a rest, they lost 2-0. A 1-1 at home to Roma followed, before running riot in a 7-1 demolition of Osnabrück, in which 18-year-old academy midfielder Dimitrije Radojicic scored his first two senior goals. Barberá scored his first goal for the club in a tight 2-1 win at Shakhtar before earning a 0-0 at Spurs. But a 5-2 defeat at Napoli left them struggling down in 17th with 2 games remaining. But a Barberá brace led a 4-1 win over Salzburg and Ricardo scored a hat trick in a 6-0 thrashing of Marseille to lift them to 10th.
They swiftly faced Marseille again and rotated sides won 5-3 on aggregate. That set up a tough last 16 tie against Chelsea, but a dominant home display saw Docherty, Norbert and Bonacic earn a 3-0 victory, before Barberá scored twice in an absolutely wild 4-4 draw back in London. A repeat of last season’s final followed in the quarters, and a tired and rotated team did well to only lose 2-1 in Naples. But the first 11 returned to earn a comfortable 2-0 home win through Docherty and Marín.
In the semis, both Catalan sides faced English opposition, with Sant Andreu taking on Spurs and Barcelona playing Liverpool. The first leg was at home and Sant Andreu dominated from start to finish, with Marín scoring from close range after 7 minutes then, after winning the ball back straight from kick off, rifled in from 20 yards 40 seconds later. Spurs got one back but Radojicic hit a delicious 20-yard volley to make it 3-1 in injury time. Ribas rested the first 11 for the weekend league game, and was rewarded with another superb 3-1 victory in London with goals by Marín, Docherty and Jansen.
That sent the holders into a third Champions League Final in five years and, for the second time, they took on Turf Wars rivals Barcelona, playing their fifth final in seven years. And the streets of Belgrade were awash with red, yellow and blue as 52,000 fans travelled 1,200 miles from Barcelona to the big game at Stadion Rajko Mitic. Ribas had a clean bill of health, so lined up:
Álvarez; Christoforou, Digha, Skogfoss, Suleiman; Bonacic; Norbert, Marín, Jansen, Iglesias; Docherty
Subs: Barberá, Rianco, Samper, Ricaro, Gogu, Radojicic, Leandrinho, Hoxhaj, Guerrero, Liotta, Dudzinski, Herrera
The first half was pretty tame until a wonderful flowing move from back to front ended with Jansen hitting the post in first half injury time. But the Belgian made up for that miss 6 minutes after the break, dropping deep then threading Iglesias through to curl past the keeper from 20 yards. Terrible marking gifted Barcelona an equaliser and they began to take control. So Ribas changed things up, moving Jansen up front and bringing Gogu on for Docherty to drop into a 4-1-4-1. And that worked nicely, as Iglesias found Gogu to neatly finish into the far corner with his first touch. Barcelona came back into the game, with their best effort being a freekick fired just wide, and Jansen had a goal disallowed in injury time. The referee’s whistle blew and Gogu, the homegrown hero who was the club’s all-time record appearances holder, was mobbed by his teammates, who ran towards their loving Catalan supporters to celebrate in style amid a sea of red and yellow.
Sant Andreu beat Turf Wars rivals Barcelona to win consecutive Champions Leagues!
Sant Andreu Savour Turf Wars Bragging Rights
Ribas was delighted with the efforts of his exciting young squad to go back-to-back in the Champions League, despite fading away domestically. Jansen was very much the main man this season, scoring 16 goals with 21 assists and a 7.52 rating in 48 games. Catalan star Marín impressed again with 25 goals and 10 assists, along with Docherty (20 goals and 11 assists), Iglesias (18 assists and 7 goals), Barberá (13 goals and 1 assist), Norbert (13 goals and 13 assists), Ricardo (10 goals and (13 assists) and Christoforou (9 goals and 5 assists).
Sant Andreu’s efforts saw Marín come 2nd to Nico Paz in the Ballon d’Or 2038 (yet somehow wasn’t deemed good enough to be on Goal50). Docherty maintained his award wins, picking up the Fifa Best U21 Men’s Player in addition to winning European Golden Boy and NxGn. And he was succeeded by Jansen in winning European Golden Boy, which a Sant Andreu player won for the 6th time in 8 years! While Ricardo succeded both of them to win NxGn 2039, with Leandrinho 12th, 16-year-old Apostolos Nikoliadis 46th and defender Patrik Blazek 50th.
Sant Andreu got another solid intake led by elite prospects midfielder Rai Pardo and Portuguese left back Rivaldo Sequeira, who both made 2 league appearances at the end of the season. While midfielder Fallou Sagna and Argentinian attacker Claudio Michailidis were well worth keeping an eye on.
Both Barcelona-based sides won trebles this season, with Sant Andreu’s continetal triple haul matched by Barcelona doing the same domestically. Sant Andreu’s ticket prices have gone worryingly high, with the cost of a season ticket spiralling over £1,000, which Ribas really wasn’t impressed by.
However, the Champions League win saw Sant Andreu climb above Barcelona to become the most reputable club in world football. And that, effectively, meant Ribas’ work was done in his objective to usurp the city rivals. But he wasn’t done yet, as he still had his eyes on that elusive domestic title, and they were still a long way behind Barcelona domestically.
Could Sant Andreu move any closer to Barcelona on the domestic front? Join us on Friday to find out!
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