Rising to UCL glory.

[Jxck]

I haven't decided on who to do this story with yet and I don't know how to add a poll so just asking for opinions on which team to use.


SL Benfica
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Possibly the best team I have picked to attempt this challenge with however they also have the tougher domestic league with Porto. Inspired after last night becoming their 8th consecutive loss in a European final I will attempt to dominate Portugal and break the 'Bela Guttman' curse.


FC Basel
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Basel have had some memorable European nights recently, beating Man United and this season Chelsea home and away. Although dominating the Swiss league should be straight forward Europe will not be. The aim with Basel will be to maintain dominance in Switzerland but also win a Champions League.


Plzen
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Up against Sparta Prague in the league and champions league minnows the challenge will be very tough with Plzen. The aim with Plzen would be to challenge Sparta Prague for dominance domestically and also win some European honours.


Please leave a reply on which team you would like to see me attempt this with. (Or if anyone knows how to make a poll so you can vote)​

 

[Bakestar]

my vote would be Plzen however i think the story would be more of a challenge if you started with a team in the second division of the big leagues...

German L2
French L2
Spanish L2
English L2
Russian L2
Italian L2

up to you thou... i will follow

 

[evo87]

fc basle

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[Jacob7777]

Plzen

 

[coolmcool]

I chose Benfica, the bane of my life for any FM story i do, i always seem to play them in Europe every season no matter who i am more so than any other club, I like the story behind the curse as well, you will only have to wait another 48 years to win the Champions League!

 

[Jxck]

Benfica

I decided to go with Benfica in the end, this is mainly because of the challenge in the league and the battles I can have domestically with Porto so lets get to it...

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The Manager
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Antonio Veloso takes charge of Benfica. Veloso made over 500 appearances for Benfica and also won a fair few caps for Portugal so is a legend at the club.
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I did give him a previous playing experience of an international footballer but this is something that's true and with no plans to leave Benfica and travel around this won't really contribute to the outcome of the story.


The challenge

The challenge obviously is to eventually win the champions league multiple times with Benfica and end this curse they currently have over them. However with domestic rivals like Porto I decided I could also add to the challenge and try to regain dominance of Portugal from Porto.

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As you can see we have a very rich history with 32 league titles and 2 European cups, we also have a wealth of other domestic trophies.

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In comparison to Porto's trophy cabinet we have 5 more league titles and 8 more Taca de Portugal's. We also have 4 more Portuguese League Cup's however this is a fairly new competition. The Supertaca is the equivalent of the community shield so isn't something I'm too worried about catching them with.

However...
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As you can see the last 10 years in the league have been completely dominated by Porto and this dominance is something I want to bring back to Benfica, Benfica's league dominance started drying up in the mid 80's early 90's and reinstating this dominance is something that I strive to achieve.

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The main goal however is fixing this. Back to back European success's in 61 and 62 and since then 7 successive European finals lost. 8 if you include last nights defeat. For those who don't know this is known as the 'Bela Guttmann' curse. Bela Guttmann was the man who steered Benfica to these consecutive European cups. He then requested a pay rise which was turned down to which he responded, 'Not in 100 years will Benfica win a European Cup'. 52 years on and still no European Cup.

Will Veloso be the man to change that?

I will begin playing tomorrow and will post my first update.
Also please leave some feedback as to what you think of the story


​

 

[Jxck]

July/August

Pre-Season & Transfers
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A pretty disappointing pre-season in my opinion however much of it was spent experimenting players and different tactics. The loss to Guangzhou was a very disappointing result and then two draws against poor teams followed.

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The outgoings aren't much to talk about just a few loans and a termination. Florenzi I think is a great signing even at that price however most of it is being paid monthly and his value has already risen to 18 million. At 22 years old and a star player already he will be a huge player for years to come. Cabella I believe I overpaid for massively and not sure why I did it. He is a brilliant player with massive potential just I'm not sure its a fitting price tag however we shall see.

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After an experimental pre-season I ended up with my favoured tactic of a controlling possession style 4-2-3-1 that also really suits the balance of players within this team.

The Season
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We started slowly first game of the season however we progressively improved and could of scored more than 5. Rio Ave scored 2 with 3 shots so I'm not concerned about conceding 2 however a dominant attacking display.

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A routine win against Guimaraes. Once again our attacking quality was second to none and despite conceding we could easily of had double figures. Solid performance.

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6 again and once again it could have been many more. The tactic seems to have worked and the players are creating bags of chances and going forward we look unstoppable at times. Also a clean sheet in another solid win.

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A perfect month scoring 17 in 3 games. Also Porto lost 1-0 to Braga so we already have 3 points on them and a superior goal difference. If we keep this form up we can make top spot ours.

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1st, 2nd and 3rd in Player of the Month and my personal pick Salvio wasn't even in there.

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Unsurprisingly I also got manager of the month being the only 100 per cent team of the month.

Europe
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Definetly could have had an easier group however it's one I remain confident we can progress through. As long as we win all 3 home games and avoid defeat away at Atletico and Galatasaray we'll progress to the knockout stages.

Some feedback would also be appreciated​

 

[Timmzeh]

Looking good man! Florenzi is a great signing as well, good luck on breaking the European curse!

 

[Jxck]

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September
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Poor start to the month, Setubal sat back all game and frustrated us and then hit us late on the counter to end our 100 per cent win record.

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A great performance against Galatasaray, this result was what we needed all the players were fresh and it made resting some key players against Setubal worthwhile.

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A European hangover clearly, each time we took the lead we took our foot off the gas and never killed them off costing us 2 points.

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Much better way to end the month scoring 6 again. Just what we needed after two draws to go back top.

Summary
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A topsy turvy month in the league with 2 draws however we recovered well at the end to hold on to top spot and our scoring is still incredible.
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Atletico snatched a win at the death against APOEL to leave us top on goals scored, however we have a tough trip to Atletico next and will be hoping to ****** something there. If we win at Atletico we then play APOEL back to back so could have qualified after four games if all goes to plan.

Player of the month
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Only one man in contention for this, didn't play against Setubal so only played 3 games. However he still scored 6 goals and is in incredible form this season. Averaging 2 goals a game in 2 months is incredible and lets hope he can keep it up!

Any feedback is much appreciated​