Its time for me to reveal how Rui Costa coped with his first six months of managementm here at Sporting Lisboa e Benfica.
Pre-season
The pre-season was pretty good, despite the two losses, we scored plenty of goals and had three solid victories. Cardozo and Saviola impressed me so I will be looking at one of those two to kick start our season.
August - Games 1-5
We kicked off the season with a bang, and a massive win at home to Maritimo. Cardozo and Gaitan were very impressive, both getting hattricks to give us an emphatic win. A home loss to Kiev was very disappointing for me and I could tell that the players had not gelled with each other. This was followed by a stinking loss at Leiria which I was disgusted with. It did not get any better as we were battered by Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine and they showed us an exit from the Champions League at the earliest opportunity. Finishing the month with a steady two goal victory at Gil Vicente will hopefully have settled the lads nerves and given them a bit of confidence.
September - Games 6-10
We started off the month with a home game in the league against Guimaraes, where we outclassed them, as Oscar was star of the show once again. Next we ventured into the Europa League, where we had been drawn in an easy group alongside Metalist, FC Vaslui and Red Bull Salzburg. We started our campaign with an impressive win against Vaslui. This was followed by a very disappointing visit to Madeira, where we scored two but failed to win. Our final league game of the month came against Pacos Ferreira and we murdered them. Cardozo with four goals ripped them apart. The final game of the month was in the Europa League as we travelled to take on Metalist. Aimar's half hour strike was cancelled out on the hour mark as we gained one point from the game.
October - Games 11-15
October was the month of goals. We started off the month in an away trip against Beira-Mar. Five goals to us gave us a great win and we went on rolling. The next game was our first round match in the Taco de Portugal where we took on minnows Porto da Cruz. I unleashed the first team on da Cruz and we returned with a somewhat satisfactory 9-0 win. Another victory followed int he Europa League as we dispatched of Red Bull Salzburg by four goals to one. The same scoreline belonged to us as we took on Braga at home in the league, Aimar impressing me very much. We finished the month with a nervy but good victory against Vitoria Setúbal.
November - Games 16-19
We started the month in the Europa League with a trip to Austria to face off against Red Bull Salzburg. a goal from Pablo Aimar was enough to see us walk away with another win. The next game in the month was a home league game against Olhanense. Four goals scored by us was enough to see us walk away with another emphatic win. The third game of a short month for us came up against Santa Clara in the Taco de portugal as we travelled to face off against Orangina opposition. An impressive Willian performance saw us through as we walked over them for a 5-2 win. We finished November with a very disappointing result as Rio Ave held strong to deny us even a point.
December - Games 20-24
The first game of the festive month of December was our penultimate Europa League group game against Vaslui. Braces from Saviola and Willian aswell as a Gaitán goal were just about enough to see off the brave Romanian outfit. The next game came up against Olhanense in the Taco de Portugal. Despite having twenty more shots than their opponents, it was the visitors who advanced through to the next round as somehow, Benfica could not find the back of the net. The first league game of the month was probably their most crucial home game of the season so far, against rivals Sporting Lisbon. Despite pegging the visitors into their own half for much of the match, Oscar Cardozo's goal was cancelled out by a Rubio goal, yet the home side could not find a winner. Our final Europa League group game came next and despite already qualifying as winners, I still wanted a win. I got one. Gaitan's goal was all that seperated the two sides but it was one that sent us through with an impressive 16 points. We finished the year in impressive fashion as we travelled to Academica. A brace from Aimar, added to Saviola and Gaitan goals saw us triumph emphatically to end the year with a win.
Tables
After being dumped out of the Champions League, we entered the Europa League into what looked like a pretty easy group. It proved to be. Five wins out of six saw us come away group winners and I am very impressed with the side for getting the job done.
The first knockout round draw gave us a very hard tie. I think we will need to get an away goal in Madrid to give us a nice chance and I believe with the freedom we are scoring with, we can do it. Pretty confident despite facing off against a good side.
Just less than half way, we lie two points behind. Porto have played like machines, going thirteen games without losing and only conceding four, but they haven't played us yet. If we can turn them over at our place, I have a lot of confidence we can take the league. Very impressed with what I have seen so far from our players.