Gloopy Yarbles (#1) -V- De Bruyne Trousers (#5)
Gameweek 16:
Saturday 14th December – Monday 16th December
The BFFA Champions League has a propensity to set-up fantastic stories. This competition has once again created a re-match with the potential to explode! This year it has pulled together two of last season’s Semi-Finalists, and put them into the Big Game instead.
This will be Gloopy Yarbles’ third consecutive Champions League Final.
⚽ In 2021 they bowed out in the First Round as Group D’s last-placed side (even though they scored more matchpoints in the first round than all eight Group B & C teams!)
⚽ In 2022 they turned it around, won Group D and went all the way to lift the trophy with a 45-38 win over Fergi Time (albeit in a Replay and after a World Cup interlude).
⚽ In 2023 Yarbles topped Group B (edging out Fergi Time by four matchpoints), won a tiebreaker in the Quarters (71-71, 4-1 on goals scored), KO’d De Bruyne Trousers in the Semis, but lost 47-32 in the Final to Sporting Wicker Park.
🥅 Now this year – they appeared in Group D again and won the group again. They burned through the knockouts, recording treble-figure aggregate scores in both rounds, and got theselves to the Final once more.
De Bruyne Trousers have a much shorter history, but it has been a very impressive story already. Currently 11th in the World Rankings, eleven places higher than the next-best third-season team, they have beaten some big names including Gloopy Yarbles in the Second Round of the BFFA Cup just ten months ago.
🥉They qualified for the 2023 Champions League after finishing Third in their debut season. They made it as far as the Semi-Finals where, as we know, they were shown to the door by this weekend’s opponents
🥈That season they improved in the League and finished Second, automatically qualifying for the Champions League again.
🥅 DBT are currently top of the Championship and, as you can see below, they won their CL group with a 5-1 record and went through to the knockout rounds almost effortlessly. In both the Quarters and the Semis, DBT progressed with a win-one-draw-one showing, but marched on with ease nevertheless.
Match Results – Gameweeks 1-15:
Below is a comparison of their seasons so far. As we approach the halfway point of Season Eleven, there isn’t a whole lot between these two sides. Had DBT picked up a single point more in each of those three draws, they would have identical W-D-L records. And while the Yarbles are #1 in the rankings at the moment, their scoring has been inconsistent. The Champions League Final might be decided by which Gloopy Yarbles team shows up this weekend – the Yarbles that averaged 63 FPts between GWs 9-13, or the Yarbles that only scored 40 and 27 in the last two weeks.
The Road to the Final
Preview:
The Premier League’s Gloopy Yarbles have returned to the same 3-4-3 formation that they used in both legs of their Semi-Final, with Mo Salah due back from a windy week off and Nico Jackson in contention to face Brentford. Since the Semi-Finals, they have transferred out three defenders and a midfielder. Dawson (who appeared for Gloopy in the 2023 Champions League Final) scored a pair of own goals in GW14 and was accidentally brought off the bench to replace Jackson, scoring -4FPts. Since the Semi-Finals, Gloopy have let go Dawson, Damsgaard, Young and Braithwaite in favour of: Hall, Huijsen, Barnes and Semedo.
Challengers De Bruyne Trousers have lined up in a 5-3-2 for the first time this season. Leif Davis was let go and made room for Lamptey this past week. Estupiñán, who won the Champions League Final with Gloopy Yarbles in 2022, returns to the main event in the colours of DBT. Last week he scored an assist and a bonus point for the Championship side, and Chris Wood scored a goal and a bonus point too. This weekend Brighton host the weird bird-based “derby” rivalry, and Forest are at home in a midlands close-range match against the Villa.
Just as with the IML Final last week, both teams have started with the same ‘keeper, this week Mats Selz, and an outfield player, Mo Salah. Unless either fail to appear, they will simply cancel each other out.
It might also be worth noting that Hall, Cunha and Jackson (Gloopy) are also in DBT’s Big One starting XI, and both classic teams line-up with Aït-Nouri and Salah, who feature in the CL Final). Plus, both have chosen the exact same forward three of Cunha, Jackson and João Pedro. This weekend is going to be bittersweet for someone!
The Final
Saturday
There were two players on the bench at the kick-off, both Gunners, both supposed to be starting for DBT – Trossard and Jesus. From early on, it looked like it was going to be a difficult game for Liverpool, and by extension DBT, as Fulham scored first, denying Trent a clean sheet, and then the Reds were reduced to ten men when Robertson was sent off. Aït-Nouri got his fifth booking just before the half time whistle and thus will also be unavailable next week.
The second half of the 3pm’s added some magic to the Final, and it all seemed to go in favour of those Gloopy Yarbles. Lewis Hall got two assists inside the first five minutes after the break, Cunha scored on 72′ and Mo Salah also got an assist, although this boosted both teams. Similarly, Sels was keeping goal for both sides this afternoon, so neither team really minded when Durán took the lead in the second half.
Meanwhile, DBT had no enjoyment from watching Trossard & Jesus came on for Arsenal and do nothing else, nor seeing Aït-Nouri decide to have a scrap after the final whistle, earning himself a second yellow and finishing with negative score. There was no joy for them in the evening game either. Forest were limited going forward and when Chris Wood did get the ball over the line, it was disallowed for offside. A miserable first day for DBT, a great outing for Gloopy Yarbles who go into day two with a greater number of players still to come.
Gloopy Yarbles 31 – 10 De Bruyne Trousers
Sunday
Unfortunately there was only one piece of good news for De Bruyne Trousers. After Brighton let down both finalists in the early game, Joško Gvardiol opened the scoring at the Etihad and gave DBT a glimmer of hope of a comeback. Doku smartly got himself subbed off in the 76th minute, avoiding both United’s goals and claiming a midfield clean sheet, but unfortunately there was nothing more to come and Gvardiol couldn’t do enough to earn any bonus points.
And that was it for them. a lowly 21 FPts was not enough to challenge for the silverware and the rest of the day was left to Gloopy Yarbles to improve on what they already had. Pedro Porro helped Spurs keep a clean sheet against a poor Southampton side and Jackson put Chelsea two up at home against brenford in the late kick-off. He earned two bonus points, and Chelsea hold on to second place.
With Dean Huijsen unavailable on the Gloopy Yarbles bench, the Final ended with Nico Jackson’s bonus points. The only thing that happened on Monday was the BPS re-valution. Jackson gained 3BPS points, and became the man of the match, +1 BP, and Cunha got an additional 6 BPS points, but gained nothing as he was already holding 3BPs.
Overall, it was a dominant performance for the returning Champions from start to finish. That headline performance from Lewis Hall early on in the weekend gave them a huge lead and DBT never recovered. Gloopy Yarbles reclaim the Champions League Trophy.
Gloopy Yarbles 51 – 21 De Bruyne Trousers
The Final Score
| Gloopy Yarbles | De Bruyne Trousers | |
| Score | 51 | 21 |
| Goals | 2 | 1 |
| Assists | 3 | 1 |
| Yellow Cards | 2 | 0 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 1 |
| G/D Clean Sheets | 2 | 0 |
| GK Saves | 1 | 1 |
| Minutes Played | 844 | 776 |
| Bonus Points | 9 | 0 |
| Team Performance (Total BPS) | 191 | 72 |
| Substitutions | 0 | 0 |
| Man of the Match | Lewis Hall (59 BPS) | Joško Gvardiol (20 BPS) |
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