Carlos' champions league challenge (The Pentagon Challenge)

Oh well I didn't notice you already got the job :p Silly me. But that's awesome :D Now you have a real chance of rounding up the European part of the challenge in the next few years.
 
Season 9 (2018/19)
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I'm slightly concerned that it's been a few days since my last update and nearly a week since I posted about any matches actually being played so I will start to post bi-annually (game time, of course.) If you'd like updates even more frequently then feel free to ask.

Also, I took another NT job. I am now the manager of Brazil as well as the manager of FC Porto
Competitions:
Again, the Champions' League is the one I want but It's nice to know what's there to win.
Supertaca
Taca de Portugal
Premier League
League Cup
Champions' League
Copa America (Brazil)

Supertaca:
This is the equivalent of the Community Shield in England/Wales and was ours to lose after a wonderful draw against second division side Naval. We'd already won this 19 times.


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Supertaca: FCP 4-1 Naval (Otamendi, Willian, Yamano, Lubo o.g.)


Taca de Portugal:
As the current holders are in the second division, I didn't quite know what to think of this competition, but, I guess we could make it 19 times winners this season.

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Round 3: FCP 5-0 Lousada (Varane, Rossi [4])

Round 4:Trofense 0-6 FCP (Willian, Cleverley, Padinha, Varane, Yamano, Oxlade-Chamberlain)
Round 5: Beira-Mar 0-3 FCP (Yamano [2], Cleverley)



League Cup:
A relatively young competition with the first victors crowned in 2008, we've won this four times, we haven't played any games in the competition so far this season.

Premier League:
I'm not going to write every fixture like in the cup, but I will post a picture of the league as it stands nearly half-way in.
View attachment 267254

I'm beginning to hate Sporting Lisbon.

Champions' League:
We enter at the group stage with Inter Milan, Hamburg SV and Dinamo Kyiv
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Group Stage: FCP 3-0 HSV (Willian, Hulk [2])

Group Stage: Inter 1-4 FCP (Hulk [2], Yamano, Fernando)
Group Stage: FCP 1-0 Kiev (Cleverley)
Group Stage: Kiev 0-3 FCP (Willian [2], Cleverley)
Group Stage: HSV 1-3 FCP (Moutinho, Yamano, Padinha)
Group Stage: FCP 3-3 Inter (Yamano [2], Freitas)


Those fantastic results left us topping the group:

View attachment 267255

Just a quick note to end on, I'm collecting my AS results on Thursday, so to anyone else getting AS, or indeed any other, results then good luck.

If I fail I blame football manager... ;)



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Season 9 (2018/19)
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Just a quick transfer window update, I'll catch you up on the Champions' League first knockout phase draw and the latest cup results.


Transfers:
Out: Rafael (GK) - to At. Madrid, £7.5M
View attachment 267419

In: Diego Noble (CM) - From Lanus, £8.5M + Installments
View attachment 267420

A highly successful transfer window saw us get a handsome fee for a third-choice 'keeper and pick up a top quality central midfielder for a reasonable price.

Champions' League:
After qualifying easily I was hoping for a nice draw, no such luck.

1st KO Phase: FCP vs Manchester City

I had knocked out Man City last year, but that was fortunate. But I have a stronger team in better form and higher morale.

Taca de Portugal:
Getting to the business end of the cup now

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Sixth Round: CD Feirense 1-6 FCP (Yamano [5], Cleverley]
Semi-Final Leg 1: Leixoes 1-3 FCP (Rossi [2], Noble)
Semi-Final Leg 2: FCP 3-0 Leixoes (Paulinho o.g, Rossi [2])


League Cup:
We were drawn in the Group Stages with Leixoes, Vit. Setubal and Nacional de Madeira

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Group B: Leixoes 0-3 FCP (Hulk, Willian, Rossi)
Group B: FCP 2-0 Vit. Setubal (Rossi, Varane)
Group B: FCP 2-1 Madeira (Cleverley, Otamendi)
 
Season 9 (2018/19)
I'd like to start this update by saying that this save, and as manager of FCP in particular is the most fun I've ever had on football manager, when it got to the business end of the season I suddenly found myself cheering every goal we scored and heartbroken when we lost.

Also I'm sorry if I rush through the domestic competitions I just didn't care much about them...

Transfers:
I realised that if we didn't win the CL in the next two years I'd have to wait a while longer, so I signed a couple of promising youngsters who I hoped will be the FCP stars of the future.


In: Ivan Lala (15) - Lyon - £2.3M
In: Tobias Skov (16) - Lyngby - Free
In: Roberto Marsetti (17) - Quito - Free

Three great young players at bargain prices, genius, next...

Portuguese Premier League:
Last time I posted Sporting were running away with it, yeah, they went on a bad run. We did also, but to a lesser extent.
View attachment 267562

League Cup:
Group Qualification was secured when I posted last:
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League Cup SF: Benfica p0-0 FCP


We got knocked out, I didn't care.

Champions' League
Manchester City was our first challenge. When I met them last they were, over-rated.
​

1st KO round leg 1: Man C 2-2 FCP (Yamano [2])
1st KO round leg 2: FCP p2-2 Man C (Varane, Yamano)


Man City missed all four of their penalties in the shoot-out that we won 2-0​

Quarter Final - Inter Milan
We didn't have any trouble against Inter in our group, fingers crossed for the same here.

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QF leg 1: FCP 3-1 Inter (Yamano, Otamendi, Willian)
QF leg 2: Inter 0-0 FCP


We played out a bore draw at the San Siro to set up a semi-final first leg at... The San Siro.

Semi Final - A.C. Milan
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One Milan down, one to go. This really typified the Champions' League campaign we had, comfortable draws all the way through. No Barcelona, no Real Madrid, no FC Bayern. Could it be our year?

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SF Leg 1: Milan 1-1 FCP (Yamano)
SF Leg 2: FCP 3-0 Milan (Yamano, Hulk, Tiago Lima Pereira)


Incredible stuff, we set ourselves up for a dream final against Manchester United, but first...

Taca de Portugal:
This is like a Hollywood film. Can we become champions of Portugal on a Wednesday, and Champions of Europe three days later? The instructions for this game were definitely, don't get injured, don't draw.
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View attachment 267563
Things are not going to plan, we were supposed to win it all. Losing in the final, but worse, losing my star defender, then his replacement in the same game. This really hurt our chances in the Champions' League, the task was hard, it just got even harder.

Champions' League Final vs. Manchester United
The media was predicting a close game, I wasn't so sure:
View attachment 267565
We were praying for a miracle, maybe a flu outbreak in North-West England? Probably still beat us then.

Also, look who's back!
It really is a blast from the past, helping us win in the NACL with New England, scoring in the final and now Manchester United's key player!
View attachment 267566View attachment 267567

So... The match. I was massively nervous, how would my Portuguese champions fare against the best team in the world (yes, it's just a game, sometimes these things happen)

Teams:
A decent strength side despite the injuries and suspensions, although we were forced to play our second choice left-back at right-back, but attacking-wise we only missed Tom Cleverley, so in comes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. As for United, they field a very strong side with Rooney, Hazard, Hussain and Poli.

The Match:
The first half begins and understandably there is visible nerves on each side. Teams create chances and teams miss chances. A thoroughly forgettable first half...
Into the second half and my team starts to look more comfortable in the match until... Disaster! An injury to Willian, Rossi comes on.

Extra time...
We are no strangers to extra time, from here it's anyone's game to win or lose.

​
94 Minutes - Eden Hazard is booked, the free kick is taken to Otamendi and in rushes Hazard for the tackle...
95 Minutes - A real "WHAT HAS HE DONE!" moment, Hazard picks up his second yellow card in a minute, that's silly...
116 Minutes - Another moment... Hulk storms into the box, is met by Smalling and in the blink of an eye, Hulk is on the ground and FC Porto are one step closer to the trophy.
117 Minutes - This is a time where players show what they are really made of, can someone step up and score this penalty? The pressure is immense, Rossi steps up, and fires it into the top corner! GOAL! Porto lead and surely it's too late for United to do anything about it...
118 Minutes - Nothing
119 Minutes - Nothing
120 Minutes - Header from United in a dangerous position! It goes comfortably over the bar
121 Minutes - The final whistle goes! FC Porto are champions of Europe for the third time!


(I am jumping up and down, punching the air and laughing uncontrollably at this point)

That performance by Man Utd, especially in extra time, was the worst I've ever seen on fm, they had the quality to win the game, but they lost their discipline and gave us the win. Seriously, I've beaten teams by seven or eight goals and come out of the game with more respect than I do for Manchester United right now. I did not win that game, my opponents lost it.

Post Match:
View attachment 267568View attachment 267569
Ancelotti and Mourinho seem to think that was a pretty good performance... Not bad.

I'm sorry that you had to sit through 20 lines of my childish gibberish but I was quite pleased with myself after this...

As Always I'd like to give my Player of the year:
I would give it to Giuseppe Rossi just for that goal, or Hulk for winning the penalty, but there's only one person this can go to:

Naoji Yamano (ST)
It's not hard to score goals when You've got Hulk, Cleverley and Willian behind you, but this guy took goalscoring to the next level. He scored five goals in a game. Twice. Forty- six goals in Forty games, golden boot in three competitions, Asian young player of the year, the list goes on. It's just pure and simple, he scores lots and lots of goals.
View attachment 267570

Next up Copa America, then South America!

Phew. Thanks.



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Season 9 (2019)
After resigning from Porto I had a chance to win more silverware before tackling the Copa Libertadores. The Copa America would be no mean feat as we faced the challenge of world cup winners Uruguay and world number one Argentina if we wanted to win.

The Team:
GK - Luis Guilherme (27) - Our weakest part of the team but Luis Guilherme was more than adequate at doing a good job.
RB - Antonio* (23) - Our strongest area, and our second strongest player behind Neymar
CB - Iuri* (24) - A good solid centre-back, I'm surprised at the quality of regen defenders in Brazil.
CB - Jonatas* (25) - Another good regen defender. Very impressed.
LB - Romario (25) - The only real player in my defence, more comfortable at right-back but still very good.
DM - Lorran (26) - There are many quality defensive-midfielders in the team, this is the one I chose.
CM - Wesley* (25) - A quality player, equally adept as a striker but we needed him more at CM
CM - Anderson (31) - Yes, United's Anderson, Now playing at Roma and still at the top level of football at the ripe old age of 31
AM - Marcao* (22) - Lucas Moura's development was not as I would have hoped but this youngster will do just as well
ST - Panda* (25) - A good player, not a great player. Still keeping Pato out of the side.
ST - Neymar (27) - Playing his thirteenth year at Santos, the star of the side.

Group Stage (Venezuela, Chile and Ecuador) :
Three distinctly average S. American sides, though Chile are the hosts, which can be dangerous.

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Group Stage: Venezuela 1-2 Brazil (Panda, Romario)
Group Stage: Ecuador 2-3 Brazil (Jonatas, Marcao, Iuri)
Group Stage: Chile 0-0 Brazil


Two nervy games to start, going 1-0 down to Venezuela and 2-1 down to Ecuador could've proved costly but we did well to fight back and win, an early qualification meant we could relax for the Chile game, which proved to be a bore draw.


Quarter Finals (Mexico):
The team that knocket me out of the 2014 World Cup, I was back for revenge...


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Quarter Final: Mexico 0-1 Brazil (Neymar)


Neymar's first (and only) goal of the competition sent us through to the semi's against World Champions Uruguay....

Semi-Finals (Uruguay):
Uruguay are a good team, after winning the World Cup for the first time in 88 years they were out to add another trophy to their collection.


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Semi Final: Uruguay 0-1 Brazil (Marcao)


A truly magnificent goal from Marcao seperated the sides at the end, the scoreline could've been very different if not for the post in the 93rd minute...

Final (Argentina):
The world number one and still boasting an attack force including the likes of Messi and Aguero...

First half:
A relatively quiet first half, two very well-matched teams going toe-to-toe and they just cancelled each other out for the first 45 minutes, or should I say 44 minutes...
HT Argentina 1 (Messi 45) - 0 Brazil

Second Half:
A chance for some inspirational words so the team can go out and turn it around...
GOAL! Argentina 1 - 1 (Marcao 56) Brazil
We had equalised! A chance for us to get back into the game with Marcao scoring another fantastic goal
GOAL! Argentina 1 - 2 (Panda 62)
A relatively quiet tournament for Neymar and Panda with only three goals between them, but with 28 minutes to go will it be a decisive third? Will there be a fourth?
FT Argentina 1-2 Brazil
In answer to the above questions: Yes, No
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View attachment 267880


Player of the Tournament:
Easy decision this time, Marcao was simply superb all the way through. He fed the strikers chance after chance but when they were wasted he dug out his own shooting boots to help us win the Copa America!
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View attachment 267879

Now it's time to finish my challenge by getting the final Champions' League in South America! Unless the Copa America counts :p
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View attachment 267881




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If you're following, sorry for the slow going but my laptop crashed and I lost my Copa America win and with it all motivation to keep going, I'll try and give it another go in the next few days if anyone wants me to finish this off.
 
carloshcfc said:
If you're following, sorry for the slow going but my laptop crashed and I lost my Copa America win and with it all motivation to keep going, I'll try and give it another go in the next few days if anyone wants me to finish this off.
Click to expand...
I'd like you to finish it off and I know what it's like if you lose motivation and sorry about the laptop crash.
 
After returning home from uni I decided to dig out my old laptop and find this save, so, since I have some spare time between now and christmas when I'll be getting FM14, I'll finish off this challenge.

As I booted up the save I found myself manager of Argentina, having left Brazil after Copa America. I resigned and the manager of River Plate in Argentina takes over, so, guess who I'm managing now.

View attachment 443229
 
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