El Dorado, the City of gold, a Columbian mythical city, supposedly teeming with Spanish gold to be precise, we are in Madrid, not El Dorado, but Spanish gold is what we seek nonetheless.
Season 9 continues, at Atheltico Madrid after my big move, a club steeped in history, but living under the shadow of the might Real Madrid, friendly neighbours we are not.
The boards expectations are high, win the league, win the cup, reach the final of the UEFA Champions League, all under the guise of Legendary difficulty, and the FIFER v3 mod, with enhanced difficulty game play, no small feat.
The small matter of a Champions League quarter final beckoned, and who other than the neighbours to be our opponents, this would be a hugely important derby match.
The first leg was away at the Bernabeu, and after going into an early lead, Real equalised then went 2-1 ahead, we pulled level, only for Jovic to bag a late header to seal a 3-2 first leg win for Real.
Back to the Wanda Metropolitano for the second leg, knowing we only needed a 1-0 win to go through on away goals, I had confidence, and talked our chances up at the pre-match press conference, which seemed to go down well with the players, a small morale boost the result.
here are 2 of the 3 goals we scored in a resounding 3-0 thumping, to send us through to the semi-finals 5-3 on aggregate:
The league is a different proposition, we have won 9 matches on the bounce, but only managed during that 27 point run, to claw back 3 points in the chase for the top spot, Barcelona top the table, with a ridiculous record, closely followed by Real, we sit in third, miles ahead of 4th place.
Any other league or season, this form and points tally would be enough for a championship, but the way Barca and Real keep winning, I doubt I will close that gap then mount a strong enough lead in the 7 matches remaining.
Ironically my 2 final fixtures of the season are Barcelona and then Real Madrid, interesting times.
I’ve spent less than a season at Athletico so far, but already been head hunted, and offered the job at Man City:
It took me 0.0000000004 milliseconds to reject the offer, i absolutely despise the club in real life and that carries over into the pixelated footy world, a team that buys their way to the top, breaks all the rules in doing so and relies on chequebook managers to guarantee success, no thanks.
Next up was the Copa Del Rey Cup final, we face Valencia, having recently beat them 3-1 in the league:
Cup Champions!!!
Our 2nd trophy in less than a season, adding to the FIFA World Club Cup we won back in December.
And look, an actual big shiny trophy, being presented, held aloft, fireworks, ticker tape cannons, medals, trophy parades, a fitting and welcome reward for slogging it out and winning the competition, take note Con-ami.
I will leave you with a very short clip just showing a couple of nice ‘bits’ from the game, a screamer of a goal from my CM, Palacios who really is a distance shooter, a sniper, a classic Centre midfield goal-getter, the new penalty cam, as part of the new GFXMod deluxe dynamic broadcast cam mod, and star player, Jao Felix, despatching a sweet dipped free kick.
FIFAFX.com 
Have you seen the FIFA 21 trailer and pitch notes Paul? Kind of puts the PES 21 DLC in the shade.
LikeLike
Yeah seen all the gameplay features trailers and pitch notes. Simple changes but good ones, waiting for the deeper dive on career mode.
LikeLike
What are the odds on nGs current rebranding of his site introducing a FIFA theme 🙂
LikeLike
Slim Chris99 – NG’s always gone for the retro style PES banner, its been the cornerstone of his blog for years, doubt that would change.
LikeLike
been a few days away from fifa for me, mini turf is minecrafting, and i’ve discovered cricket captain 2020 on ios. Still the same game underneath but much improved around the edges. I still can’t move away from how quickly I go all out attack on cricket games. It’s like F1, I just don’t have the patience to build up and hold back when appropriate – it’s flat out all the time. Which goes wrong obviously. I doubt I’ll stick with it.
LikeLike
Turf – Just fnished season 9 on FIFA 20, took Athletico to FIFA World Club Cup glory, won the Spanish Copa del rey Cup, and finished 3rd, just a few points behind Real MAdrid and Winners Barca.
Been watching youtube videos of the new 2K Sports PGA Tour 2K21 golf game, think I’ll pick it up, used to love the Tiger woods games from EA, but 2K presentation is superb.
Not as good as Tiger woods on the Wii though, that is a cult classic.
LikeLike
No Post this week.
Only 3 comments all week on this post, none of ehich were anything about the content I posted, which leads me to assume there is little or no interest in what i posted.
To this effect there will be no more FIFAFX posts until the release of FIFA21 in october.
LikeLike
Tbh Paul I think I might be about to give upon gaming. Mini turf has wanted a PS4 of his own and I’m playing so little I might let him have mine. There’s just too many other things to do in the small time I have free – endless drama series on Sky,Netflix,etc, loads of books I should get round to reading, my brother has just passed on an electric guitar – I should go back to the drums as well, and I’ve signed up to play tennis as the chances of taekwondo resuming are small.
So, in that classic romcom way, it’s not you it’s me. I’ll still have all my games loaded on the newly moved PS4 so I’ll be able to play if the urge takes me but it just isn’t the way it did from the age of 11. 37 years is a decent innings but it’s time for me to become the scorer.
LikeLike
I am in a similar boat to Turf. How old is your little one Turf? Mine is nine on Monday. You do have some responsibility here as I have slowly lost the PS4 since you mentioned Dreams. I purchased it around the time of lockdown as a purchase for both of us. It was too complicated for my ageing brain. However, the little one has become a whizz and can do all sorts on there. Not played on the PS4 all week and am enjoying more hours sleep as a result.
Strange times as it looks like NG has done one and Paul is now not posting till October.
LikeLike
10 Darryl, and likewise is now doing things with the controller I haven’t been able to achieve since the early days of mortal kombat. I stopped joining in his fortnite games as I couldn’t even follow how quickly he was building. I used to think the players who kept killing me must be hardened you tubers but it now looks like they probably were primary school kids. I’m clinging on with a bit of minecraft as he is currently really into showing me how shit my world is compared to his and I will play a bit of footy when the new season kicks off and I can simultaneously listen/play but I’ve still got the ps2 if I really feel the need. The first thing I really think of if I have free time now is usually catching up on tv.
LikeLike
Turf / Darryl – Completely understand, your free time is precious, dont get much of it, so it makes sense to spend it doing whatever satisfies you best, without feeling tied down to one particular recreation, such as gaming.
I haven’t been playing as much lately because of the warm weather we have had, ther ehave been other ways to spend my time, and I’m in a slightly different situation where I still enjoy my gaming, and also don’t have any kids to have to divide my time over, so once the autumn months arrive,w hich wont be long, and days get cooler and nights darker, the option of delving into a good game is a nice one to have.
I just think with the way things are at the moment, and the strange year we are all having, everyone is a little pent up, frustrated and fed up with whats become the new normality.
As a little update, in my first season at Athletico, I won the FIFA World Club Cup, and Spanish Copa Del rey cup, and finished 3rd in La Liga, and also won the UEFA supercup.
I planned to stay, and had designed some pretty tidy new kits for Athleti, but then the job at Arsenal got offered to me, and I missed the premier league and day time matches, so I’m now back in England, at Arsenal.
I never flip-flop between clubs in my career modes, so true to form of this strange period, everything is upside down.
I only plan to play this one last season on FIFA 20 before having a footy gaming break, in order to revisit FIFA 21 renewed, with a fresh vigour.
To that effect I won’t be posting any more FIFA content until FIFA 21 in Oct, but this Thursday, 21st, see’s the release of 2k21’s new PGA Tour Golf game, which looks superb.
I was a huge fan of the old EA Tiger woods games, so plan on picking this up and perhaps doing a little PGA tiur career mode video blog, which I could post here in pure video format, if thats something any golf fans on here would like to see?
I also hope NG hasn’t gone for good, I thought he said he would be posting today? Maybe I was mistaken, maybe its not until next week, either way, I’m sure he’ll be back in some capacity, the blog has been a staple of his life for many years, it would be hard to just drop it like that think.
LikeLike
He’s just angling for more home videos from us lot…; ). I can understand both of you taking a break. Life is still not quite adjusted to any kind of balanced norm for us and I’d never have the stamina to do a blog. I’d have definitely taken that arsenal job, I don’t dislike FIFA so I might carry on very slowly – for me there is little attraction in 21 from what I’ve read.
I bought Rory mcilroy a couple of years back and haven’t even played it. I used to love golf games, once again it’s purely down to time.
LikeLike
Fair enough Paul, it can’t be easy having to meet a deadline to post different content every time.
Have a good break, and I hope you come back refreshed for FIFA 21.
LikeLike
back from a couple weeks holiday in the Scottish borders, a bit less exotic than our original plans, and into season 13 on FIFA19. Season 12 finished with a domestic treble but Champions League semi final exit to an amazing Leipzig side. Have also almost finished Red Dead Redemption 2
Makes sense Paul, I’m sure you’ll enjoy a break from weekly blogging plus a bit of golf. I do have a feeling that not-Greg won’t be back, at least for a long while, he was clearly getting weary at the general tone of comments on his blog
LikeLike
Congrats on the treble Abbeyhill.
As I mentioned back then, which I dont want to stir up again, people have different opinions and if you don’t like them, then running a blog is not for you. The fay you start to censor and close down people for having an opinion is the day the blog with comments becomes null and void.
LikeLike
Well done on getting that far with red or dead 2, it ultimately went the way of metal gear for me in that the open world feel isn’t really that and without really quite strict mission sequences you simply can’t do certain things. Amazingly immersive world and I loved the whole hunting, shooting, fishing thing but ultimately I got bored. I’m sure now I’m about to surrender the PS4 as I just don’t see the point in letting mini spend £250 on a second home PS4. Leaves me with the ps2 though and perhaps an opportunity to revisit some old friends.
LikeLike
And completed it last night Turf. As you say the world is amazingly immersive, stunning graphics, I could happily wander round on my horse for hours with soulful country music twanging in the background. On top of that I thought the story, characters and dramatic development had an epic feel. In typical Rockstar fashion the actual missions were complete shit but you can’t have everything
My 8 year old has also taken over the PS4 and indeed changed the name of my PSN account to play Fortnite with his pals
LikeLike
It’s the way it goes – usurped by the new king. I’ve started clearing out my games that I won’t play again – I can get a few quid for some of them. Fifa, Skyrim and one or two others are staying but the other long winded rpgs are going. I never took to the Witcher, and I’ve found the books getting increasingly dull. Lots of Lord of the Rings style padding. I’ll charity shop my PS4 pes’s because they are frankly a disappointment that no child deserves. Still leaves a huge lump of ps2 master league though. Bought a new controller for him today as well, the old two must be original and are constantly disconnecting and pretty lifeless. I hugely resent how much they charge for them. Retro is the future.
LikeLike
Been away on holiday for a week so just catching up on a few comments.
Got the new 2K PGA Tour game, pretty decent, nice deep career mode with sponsors, targets to meet, qualifications to earn your PGA tour card etc. Is a nice change of pace, just licking on the PS4 and smashing a few balls down a fairway whilst birds cheep away in the background, quite relaxing.
Will try to get a new post up thursday with some video in.
LikeLike
Welcome back Paul, hope you had a relaxing week. Also had the week off, but unfortunately not in Greece as planned. Out of interest, why are you licking your PS4?
LikeLike
Cheers Chris. Just a few days in a secluded cabin in the new forest. So unfortunately not Cyprus as planned either.
Luck, flick, whatever works.
LikeLike
Only just down the road from me then. Hope you didn’t drive round a blind corner and find an obstinate pony in the middle of the road.
LikeLike
Pretty much acclimatised to the random wildlife.justbwandering in the roads now Chris. And what a beautiful place to live.
LikeLike
My summer route home (pre-lockdown) takes me through The Forest in order to avoid the holiday makers. Each animal comes with it’s own vehicular threat. Cows will do the most damage, ponies could kick out as you drive slowly past them, but the deer are the most unpredictable and can run out in front of a car even if they’ve already seen it.
LikeLike
Laughing at how much these Barcelona goings on are going to bollocks up game covers. They’ll maybe play it safe with lewandowski! What a shit final btw.
Played just a couple of fifa matches to keep it ticking on. Still baffled that I got sacked from stoke so mindful that I might have the same outcome at Blackburn. I also fired up the first of my ps2 options – 2011. Unexpectedly fast, but scored two absolute humdinger long rangers. That’s what’s missing nowadays. Haven’t started an ml yet, likely won’t till the new footy season starts as we are about to replace a kitchen and a bathroom which I know is going to be chaos.
LikeLike
Turf – Is it your kitchen and bathroom? I’d imagine the chaos would be even greater if it were a stranger’s.
LikeLike
Turf. Amusing to see Messi finally throw his toys out. He seems to think he’s bigger than the club, and that the recent years failings are everyone else’s thought, meanwhile he went missing against Liverpool in the UCL, wondered round the pitch shrugging as captain instead of firing his team up against bayern and were slaughtered, now he’s 35 and wants 500k a week still. Ridiculous.
Haven’t played fifa for 2 weeks. Balls deep in pga tour 21 right now. New Post coming tomorrow on that.
Pes 11 on ps3 was superb, a reboot if the game, fluid passing, superb ML, but the ps2 ver is vastly different. Just the same game as any other ps2 PED but with new teams and players.
LikeLike
But does it have elephant touch Paul? I don’t think I’ve ever played it on ps2, I’d gone up To ps3 by then.
Chris 99 – lol, yes, ours, that would be a bit weird unless I was a builder.
LikeLike
Not sure turf, never played the ps2 version of PES 2011.
If you have a win kicking about, grab a classic controller and get pes 2013 for the win, superb game.
LikeLike
Wii* not win
LikeLike
Paul – Totally agree with you about Messi as I have always found him to be overrated. A world class player isn’t judged on spectatlor goals or scoring a scoring a hat-trick in games you are comfortably winning. It is how you perform under pressure and on the big stage and huge occasions. Messi consistently underperform in this regard. Ronaldo is by far the best player I have seen.
LikeLike
Darryl – I always had that opinion too but subjectively looking back over his stats, there is definote foundation for ‘one of the greatest to ever play the game’ claims, and seeing what he’s done in matches, theres no question that Messi is a truly special talent, but the last few years maybe not so much.
634 goals in 714 games, 4 champions league winners medals, 6 baloo’n dor titles…… cant really argue that but my gripe is that he’s only ever done it in La Liga, where there are 4, maybe 5 teams that compete, and in recent years., Barca under his captainship have always choked in UCL matches.
He scored a great free kick against Liverpool last year,but in the second leg, VVD and Robertson had him in their pocket all game, he was anonymous.
Also in matches Barca have been losing this season, he doesn shout at players, instruct them, motivate them, he wanders round the pitch with his arms on his hips, shrugging and looking lost.
I’ve seen both Ronaldo (CR7) and Messi play live, Ronaldo run the show, Messi looked totally average, and CR7 has done it in portugal, england, spain and italiy’s biggets leagues and continues to perform at an elite level.
There are so many grown men on social media though that, at the drop of a hat, would bend over and greatfully be bummed by Messi that its worrying, grown men, that wont have a bad word said about him. Strange.
And at 33 years old, who in their right minds would pay the 770 million euro release clause, then match his 980k a week salary? Only one team…. Man City, and thats because they are a club with a chequebook manager, Baldy Fraudiola, who doesn’t know how to change tactics, inspire players, develop players, or recruit players to fit a system, all he does is throws ludicrous amounts of cash at the team, and hopes they win, which is why they always get found out in the UCL, because Fraudiola doesn’t have the skills to adapt his team to the opposition.
LikeLike