Mahtal was now just over one-quarter of the way through his Alphabet Challenge, having added A to the previous success at clubs beginning with E, L, P, S and U. He was also approached by Inter Milan and, intriguingly, Neuchatel Xamax but chose to head to England.
The homegrown stars of 1. FSV Mainz racked up consecutive Bundesliga titles and showed their ability to compete with Europe's best in an exciting 2038/39 campaign. Now, Roberto Lazaró was looking to make it three in a row as he mulled over this being his final season in football management.
The small city of Mainz, on the outskirts of Frankfurt in western Germany, wasn't accustomed to throwing huge parties. But you wouldn't have known it as seemingly the entirety of its 220,000 population took to the streets to celebrate their heroes lifting 1. FSV Mainz's maiden Bundesliga title in 2038. The city's streets flowed with Pilsner and the parties went on for what felt like weeks.
Roberto Lazaró joined in the Champions League celebrations for a few days before returning to work to start plotting how to close the gap to the mighty Real Madrid and Barcelona, who'd shared the last 7 Spanish titles.
The big two of Barcelona and Real Madrid seemed near-invincible as they both racked up over 100 points in 2029/30. And, despite Valencia having the best 2 players in the league, they finished a massive 27 and 29 points behind the pair.
Atalanta BC shocked Italy as their superstar attack of Ronaldo, Raúl, Álvaro Recoba, Vincenzo Montella, Domenico Morfeo and Juan Román Riquelme blitzed them to a maiden Serie A title with 128 league goals in 1999 (2028). And those exploits saw Montella and Recoba installed as Atalanta legends.
Valencia CF's team of young, predominantly homegrown talents continued to exceed expectations as they split LaLiga's "big three" for the first time in Roberto Lazaró's fourth season at the club. But Lazaró was looking for some of his hot prospects to step up in the next couple of campaigns.
After 103 years at their historic home, Valencia Club de Fútbol bid farewell to La Mestalla as they ushered in a new era at the 55,000-capacity Nuevo Mestalla, but they would do so without their inspirational homegrown captain.
Zambian manager Trebor Mahtal etched his name into the history books as he led a pretty scary Spain side to World Cup glory in 2070. The 86-year-old manager tendered his resignation and was swiftly offered roles by Nigeria, Senegal, Uruguay and, most intriguingly, Argentina and Brazil. But he was done with management and decided to retire on a high.
Trebor Mahtal was building a superb young team at Baník Ostrava, dominating Czechia and coming so close to Europa League glory in 2064. But the 80-year-old Zambian manager was intent on testing his team's abilities against Europe's finest.
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