After my Red Star Belgrade save corrupted I thought I would try and go to a league that not many people choose to have a career in and who better to pretend to be than the mercurial Ronaldo de Assis Moreira otherwise known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaucho.
Why the Brazilian league? I know the calendar is packed full with the state championship and then the 38 game league championship plus cup games on top of that but I am an old romantic and surely on paper this is one of the most competitive leagues in the world as the teams just roll off the tip of your tongue - Flamengo, Sao Paulo, Internacional, Gremio, Santos, Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Vasco da Gama, Fluminense, Palmeiras etc.
Also back in the day I remember in CM96/97 if you had a top player like Alan Shearer or Ryan Giggs they moved to Brazil and I would like to change that and hopefully get the Brazilian league to the top of the world charts.
Ronaldinho the player started off his career with Gremio before moving onto PSG and then moved to Barcelona where he helped nurture a very young Lionel Messi. He then moved to AC Milan before having spells at Flamengo, Atletico Mineiro, Queretaro and finally Fluminense. For Brazil he played 97 times and scored 33 goals.
Honours? He had a few. Too many to mention tbh but 2 Spanish Leagues, 1 Serie A title, 1 Champions League win and 1 Copa Libertadores victory were won as a team at club level while with Brazil he won a World Cup, Copa America and a Confederations Cup. Individually he won dozens of awards (check out his Wikipedia page) but most importantly he won the Ballon d'Or in 2005.
So you all know about the player but will he be able to manage?
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GREMIO FC
Ronny will manage Gremio - his first club which has a rich history in Brazilian football. They have won 2 Copa Libertadores which is decent but surprisingly only 2 league titles and 5 Brazilian Cups. However they have won the state championship an amazing 36 times although their fierce rivals Internacional have won it 45 times.
Gremio have one of the biggest stadiums in Brazil as the Arena Gremio holds over 55,000 and they have decent facilities so that all looks good plus in the squad they have 2 thrilling players in Arthur (off to Barcelona in real life) and Luan plus a couple of decent youngsters.
So the aims are to dominate both Brazilian and South American football (all the leagues in South and North America are loaded as view only) plus raise the Brazilian league to number one in the world. Obviously I would love to win the FIFA Club World Cup so we could be named the worlds best club side.
Also I would love to manage Brazil and dominate international football with them - I actually don't think I have ever won the Copa America in FM tbh.
A young Ronaldinho at Gremio
PRE-SEASON
This was a strange pre-season - firstly we went back in time as the start date for the save was late November 2016 and add that to the fact that I have not a clue at the relative strengths of the teams and the players. I know some of the players who become good and I know some of the big names in Brazilian football but it was a struggle but to be fair I only had a budget of over £1m so there wasn't much to spend anyway.
I had to seriously overhaul my backroom staff and appointed nearly 30 people but alas I couldn't get Ronaldo to rejoin Ronaldinho as a scout as he felt that Gremio wasn't the standard of club that he wanted to join!!!
Other than that it was a case of getting to know my squad and seeing who will fit in to my formation etc.
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PLAYERS IN
Just 2. I did try and bring former Man Utd midfielder, Anderson, back to the club but he joined Nice in France but I didn't really need him anyway tbh as I have loads of CMs and I actually agreed to sign former Arsenal CM Denilson but I pulled out of that too. That said my first signing was 18y/o CM Farinha who joined from Vitoria on a free. My other signing was 17y/o RB Vitinho who joined from Cruzeiro on a £525,000 deal. Whether Farinha will get a chance I am not sure but I have high hopes for Vitinho. View attachment 51961View attachment 51960
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PLAYERS OUT
Just the one - a useless CB called Denilson for a humungous £13,000 fee lol.
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SUMMARY
Looking at my first team squad I am a bit light at CB and I am not overly happy with the RW, AMC and ST positions. Luan's natural position is as an AML but he will play ST until I can bring someone else in which could take a while!!
Obviously Arthur and Luan are the main 2 players but in Marcelo Grohe in goal, Geromel at CB and Alisson on the wing I should have enough quality to cause most teams problems.
So the season is about to start with the state championship where we will face mainly non league sides and there is also an extra competition I see called the South-Minas-Rio which looks like some sort of Brazilian super cup involving 12 teams and group stages!!!
****** bonkers so it is.
As an aside - a target is for a striker of mine to score 100 goals in a season - with so many games I hope that is achievable.
Sao Luiz are a non league side so I was expecting a comfortable victory and that's exactly what I got with Luan netting a hat-trick. Arthur even missed a stoppage time penalty. Alisson got injured here and is out for a few weeks but Maicosuel came on and scored with his 1st touch.
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Gaucho State v Gremio 3 (Maicosuel 43, Geromel 68, Jael 72) Internacional 0
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Bressan, Geromel*, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel (Cicero), Everton, Thaciano, Maicosuel, Luan (Jael)
This is the big derby match and I have just noticed that Internacional are actually in the 2nd division so the rest of this competition should be a breeze. We dominated here and Luan had a goal disallowed.
Gremio EB are also in the 2nd division so to win 5-0 away from home is encouraging. I think we are the only top division side in the Gaucho State championship at the minute. Luan scored his 2nd hat-trick of the season.
I still don't know what this competition is all about or how important it is but we won here comfortably against 2nd division Figueirense. Cicero missed a penalty here.
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Gaucho State v Caxias 1 (Tulio Renan 45) Gremio 3 (Luan 6, Everton 45, Vinicius Lima 90)
Caxias are a non league side and actually gave us our toughest match of the season so far to date.
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SUMMARY
The first month is over and it was a very successful month as we won all 5 games and scored a few goals also. I am still learning about my team and players tbh. My AMC, Thaciano, is on loan and struggled at times while I have had injuries to my CBs so am yet to field my first choice pairing.
That being said I did strengthen my defense with the signing of Ricardo Graca from Vasco da Gama. He has some great stats for one so young and will hopefully develop into a player. I paid £1.5m for him and that's all my money spent lol. View attachment 51844
That deal was funded by the sale of Maicon to Shandong for £1.6m. The 31y/o was an influential member of the squad but the chance to cash in on a veteran where I have plenty of other options was too good to turn down.
I found out that we are in the Copa Libertadores and in our group stage we will face Lanus of Argentina, Zamora of Venezuela and a winner from a yet undecided qualifying match. For my board btw I have to be around the top of the league at the end of the season, win the state championship and reach the semis of the Copa Libertadores. Cant remember what I am expected to do in the Brazilian Cup - as for that other tournament I don't know and don't particularly care lol.
A weird game - we absolutely battered them - 26 shots to 2 but we only managed to score 1 goal thanks to a penalty from Arthur. Juventude are a 2nd division club so I suppose it was always going to be a tougher game.
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Gaucho State v Gremio 4 (Everton 23, Luan 35, Arthur 68pen, Jael 86) Sao Paulo (RS) 0
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda (Ricardo Graca), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton*, Thaciano, Alisson, Luan (Jael)
Another game where we had over 30 shots against poor opposition. God knows how many goals we will be scoring once I get a decent team on my hands. This was a fan day and the board were happy how things went.
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Gaucho State
v Novo Hamburgo 2 (Edson 45, 90) Gremio 5 (Arthur 19pen, Everton 30, 66, 69, Hernane 90)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda (Kannemann), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton*, Thaciano, Maicosuel (Thonny Anderson), Jael (Hernane)
Everton was the star of the show here as he scored a hat-trick and assisted the 5th too. This win means we qualify for the quarter-final - I thought it was just a straight league competition!!!
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Gaucho State v Sao Jose (RS) 0 Gremio 2 (Vinicius Lima 75, Everton 87)
I thought I would rest most of my players here as Sao Jose are rock bottom. We dominated but struggled to score but finally got 2 late goals for victory.
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South-Minas-Rio Group D v
Gremio 2 (Everton 56, Michel 76) America (MG) 0
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel*, Everton, Thaciano, Maicosuel (Thonny Anderson), Luan (Hernane)
This win secures qualification to the quarter final. We were pretty poor in the 1st half but stepped up a gear in the 2nd.
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SUMMARY
2 months in and we still have a 100% record so I have no complaints. In the state championship we just keep winning and we qualified for the quarter finals which flabbergasted me as surely we didn't need cup games on top of the league stage! Never mind.
I wonder how many games it is possible for a team to play in Brazil - if we were Sao Paulo you would have an extra 6 games in the state Championship!!!
Universitario of Peru were the side who qualified for our Copa Libertadores group so that should be fun. I don't really have much knowledge of who is strong in the South American countries apart from say the big 3 Argentine sides - Boca, River and Racing.
Veranopolis have been the best of the rest after ourselves and Internacional which is some going for a non league side up against a few 2nd division sides (there is a 3rd division). They actually have a player I have heard of before too - Filipe Mattioni who played for AC Milan, Espanyol and Doncaster lol.
Anyway with 2 games in 3 days I played my backups here.
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South-Minas-Rio Group D
v
Fluminense 2 (Marcelo Oliveira og67, Patrick 77) Gremio 3 (Vinicius Lima 38, 42, Hernane 85)
Finally we come up against some top division opposition but I couldn't play my full strength side due to the sheer amount of fixtures in such a short space of time. I dunno if they played their strongest side but I am delighted with the win and Everton starred again as he assisted all 3 goals.
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Copa Liertadores Group B
v
Gremio 7 (Thaciano 7, 45, Michel 25, Luan 28, 53, Arthur 32pen, Alisson 38) Lanus 0
Unbelievable. I don't know if Lanus are much weaker than I thought but we were unstoppable here. We scored 6 in the 1st half and had a Luan strike disallowed too and added another in the 2nd half. Their back 4 was all valued at over £5m so it was a decent side we played against and we destroyed them.
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Copa Libertadores Group B
vhttps://www.bing.com/images/search?...88CD4DC180FAEDE7AF6E93F6005981F50&FORM=IQFRBA
Universitario 0 Gremio 4 (Paulo Miranda 35, Thaciano 37, Jailson 41, Geromel 69) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur*, Jailson, Everton, Thaciano, Alisson (Maicosuel), Luan (Jael)
2 games played in the Copa Libertadores, 2 wins, 11 goals scored and none conceded. Fantastic!!!
Our best month yet. In the Gaucho State we won easily enough but it was our performances in the Copa Libertadores - South Americas equivalent of the Champions League - which thrilled as we demolished Lanus of Argentina 7-0 and Universitario of Peru 4-0. Also we played against a top division side in Brazil for the 1st time and an under strength side defeated Fluminense 3-2 which was great also.
Off the field I sold 34y/o midfielder Douglas for £325,000. He was never going to get a game for me so I am pleased to cash in and that helped me fund a new contract for Everton who has been immense so far this season.
Finally one of my loan players, Thonny Anderson, was recalled by their manager as he didn't get enough football apparently. He wasn't amazing but I may need to replace him none the less. I have an amazing looking LW out on loan in Turkey but have to wait over a year to get him back frustratingly.
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton*, Thaciano, Alisson (Maicosuel), Luan (Hernane)
At half-time I was a bit worried at 1-0 down as I didn't expect to be losing to a side from Venezuela but we battered them in the 2nd half and ended up thrashing them. That's 16 goals in 3 group games amazingly.
First leg of the final and after 20 straight wins we finally fail to win with a draw here but it was a good result against our bitter rivals as we got an away goal and were down to 10 men.
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Gaucho State Final 2nd Leg
v
Gremio 3 (Luan 14, 88, Thaciano 78) Internacional 2 (William Pottker 71, Roger 72) (Agg: 4-3)
What a match!!!! We were a goal up and comfortable and we were just seeing out time but then they scored 2 goals in as many minutes and defeat was staring us in the face. Thaciano equalised and then I went to the overload formation and thankfully Luan scored to win it for us. Ramiro got sent-off in stoppage time which made it a nervy ending.
We win the State Championship!!!!
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SUMMARY
The games to month ratio seemed to pick up this month as we played 7 games this month I think but there will probably be months with more games in the future! In the Copa Libertadores we demolished Zamora of Venezuela to qualify for the next round while in the Gaucho State Championship we made it through the knock-out rounds and in the final we just edged out our bitter rivals Internacional thanks to a late comeback.
Winning the State Championship is a decent achievement but to be fair we had no top division opposition so I would have been disappointed had we not won the competition and it ends Internacionals hold on the tournament after they won the last 5 titles.
v Gremio 5 (Everton 8, Luan 25, Alisson 36, 45, 88pen) Coritiba 2 (Kleber 20, Robert 62) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson (Leo Gomes), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano, Alisson*, Luan
FINALLY OUR FIRST LEAGUE GAME!!!!
It was about 20 games in coming but we kicked off the league campaign here and thankfully got a victory and a very convincing one too! Coritiba are a team I have heard of but have no real knowledge of.
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Copa Libertadores Group D v Gremio 2 (Jael 39, Ricardo Graca 65) Universitario 0
With qualification assured and a league game just 2 days away I played my backups here and we won easily enough.
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v Palmeiras 0 Gremio 4 (Luan 6, Alisson 13, Michel 24, Everton 27)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Everton*, Thaciano, Alisson, Luan
2 league games played, 2 wins and 9 goals scored - not bad!!! I thought Palmeiras would be much stronger opponents tbh.
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Brazilian Cup 5th Round 1st Leg v Gremio 0 Atletico Mineiro 0
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro*, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre, Michel, Everton (Maicosuel), Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Alisson, Luan
Meh. Vinicius Lima had a late goal disallowed but I am not overly upset with this result.
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v Gremio 2 (Michel 11, Maicosuel 44) Bahia 1 (Joao Pedro 88)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro*, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre (Cicero), Michel, Everton, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Maicosuel (Vitinho), Luan
Thaciano got injured here and is out for 2 months which is a big blow.
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Copa Libertadores Group D v Lanus 0 Gremio 4 (Vinicius Lima 7, Luan 18, Everton 77, Hernane 88pen)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel (Jailson), Everton, Vinicius Lima, Luan*, Jael (Hernane)
This game rounds off the group stage where we won all 6 games and scored 26 goals while only conceding once!
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v Ponte Preta 1 (Bruno Pelissari 15) Gremio 1 (Luan 78) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Vinicius Lima (Cicero), Maicosuel, Luan
Disappointing result but maybe Ponte Preta will be up there at the end of the season - I have not a clue how good they are!!!
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Brazilian Cup 5th Round 2nd Leg v
Atletico Mineiro 0 Gremio 3 (Arthur 64pen, Maicosuel 89, Paulo Miranda 90) (Agg: 0-3)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson (Leo Gomes), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur*, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Cicero (Patrick), Maicosuel, Luan
Excellent. We were in a tough match until they had a man sent-off early in the 2nd half and then they were even more generous when they conceded a penalty. We scored 2 goals late on to add a nice gloss to the victory.
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SUMMARY
We had some novel occasions this month as not only did we start the actual league campaign but the Brazilian Cup kicked off for us too!!! We played 4 league games and got 10pts which is not too bad plus scored a load of goals and in the cup we drew with Atletico Mineiro before thumping them 3-0 away in the 2nd leg.
In the Copa Libertadores we finished off our group stage and in the 2nd round we will face the Colombian side Medellin - there is a month between the 2 legs!!!
Finally I thought I was going to be able to grab a few players on free transfers upon their release from European clubs but I forgot that we moved back in time and will have to wait until June 2018 as that is when players contracts run out!
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre, Michel (Jailson), Everton*, Vinicius Lima (Kaka), Maicosuel, Luan (Jael)
A good win this. It was a very tight game and we were actually down to ten men when we managed to score as Everton broke free on the right and finished superbly.
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Maicosuel, Alisson (Patrick), Luan*
Now this is a fantastic result and performance. Tbh Cruzeiro played quite well but we were ruthless and Maicosuel scored a beauty. Cruzeiro I thought would be a strong side but they are near the bottom of the table.
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v
Gremio 2 (Luan 30, 49) Avai 0
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Maicosuel (Kaka), Alisson, Luan*
Avai don't have a player near the worth of £1m so I expected a victory here and that's exactly what we got.
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v Atletico Goianiense 1 (Cristhyan 81) Gremio 1 (Alisson 90) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel (Jailson), Everton, Maicosuel*, Alisson, Luan (Jael)
It seems we just don't want to get beat. We battered them here and I was livid when they took a late lead and thought our first defeat was finally here but Alisson pounced deep in stoppage time to give us a point.
Everton got injured and is out for over a month which is a nightmare.
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v
Vasco Da Gama 2 (Paulo Vitor 6, Giovanni Augusto 49) Gremio 1 (Maicosuel 90) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcos Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Maicosuel, Vinicius Lima (Kaka), Alisson, Luan (Jael)
A defeat!!!!! After 34 games unbeaten since I took over we are finally beaten and deservedly so as we were pretty awful tbh.
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v
Gremio 1 (Luan 87) Vitoria 0
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Cicero), Maicosuel (Vitinho), Vinicius Lima (Kaka), Alisson, Luan
Vitoria came into this game 1pt ahead of us at the top and unbeaten but we got the 3pts here thanks to Luan's late strike. Fantastic.
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v Chapecoense 0 Gremio 2 (Vinicius Lima 12, Arthur 22pen)
A bad day at the office as Wanderley Luxemburgo gets one over on me after our war of words in our cup matches. We were awful.
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SUMMARY
This was a truly special month as we had a month free of cup games!!!! 8 league games were played and we did quite well although we did suffer 2 defeats and we end the month just behind Vitoria - who we defeated during the month - in 2nd place.
You may have noticed that I signed a new player - a former team-mate of Ronaldinho - Kaka!!!! He had announced his retirement and was available on a free so I brought him in as I needed backup and I thought he would be a great tutor for my youngsters. View attachment 51598
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel (Kannemann), Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Maicosuel (Vitinho), Vinicius Lima, Alisson, Luan*
Back to winning ways and in fine style as Luan scored a great hat-trick to win us the match. His 2nd goal was brilliant as he exchanged short passes through the defence with Vinicius Lima before finishing.
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Copa Libertadores 2nd Round 1st Leg
v Independiente Medellin 0 Gremio 1 (Arthur 78)
We just edged out this match as Arthur got his 9th goal of the season - all of the other 8 have been penalties!!!
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v
Gremio 1 (Luan 26) Flamengo 0 Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel (Ricardo Graca), Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Maicosuel, Vinicius Lima, Alisson (Kaka), Luan
Flamengo are doing well and we just managed to edge them out here but only because Marcelo Grohe saved a penalty of theirs.
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v Sport Recife 0 Gremio 2 (Luan 5, Maicosuel 17)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson*, Ricardo Graca, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel (Jailson), Maicosuel, Vinicius Lima (Kaka), Alisson, Luan
Sport Recife lay in 3rd place going into this game but we showed them who is boss here by beating them easily. They had a man sent-off immediately after we scored but we didn't punish them for that unfortunately.
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v Gremio 2 (Vinicius Lima 6, Luan 58)
Corinthians 1 (Rodriguinho 3)
Old man Kaka strikes to save us!!!!! Once again Marcelo Grohe saved a penalty which meant that we got a point as if Felipe Gedoz scored we would have been 2-0 down and after the save in the same move we went up the pitch to equalise.
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v
Gremio 4 (Maicosuel 6, Jael 8, 90, Arthur 58pen) Sao Paulo 2 (Anderson Martins 47, Brenner 61) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Leo Gomes), Ricardo Graca, Geromel, Cortez, Arthur, Michel, Maicosuel*, Vinicius Lima (Kaka), Luan (Patrick), Jael
This was a very entertaining match. We surged into a 2 goal lead and then they had a man sent-off but that seemed to inspire them as they pulled a goal back but we managed to score a couple more with them replying again and we won easily enough.
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Brazilian Cup Quarter-Final 1st Leg v
Vasco Da Gama 1 (Caio Monteiro 85) Gremio 0
For the 2nd time this season Vasco beat us and once again I can have no complaints as we were dismal and have it all to do in the 2nd leg.
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v
Santos 1 (Bruno Henrique 51) Gremio 0 Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano, Alisson, Luan (Lincoln)
2 defeats in a row!!! This was a bit harsh on us tbh but going into the game with a 8pt lead I cant complain.
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SUMMARY
This month was mostly good but it did have its problematic moments as we ended it with 2 defeats on the trot which also leaves us with a bit of work to do in the Brazilian Cup. In the league we end the month 6pts clear which is great - especially since I promised Arthur that we would win the league to keep him at the club!!!
There was a bit of movement in the transfer market for us (I still have no clue how it works - had 3 deadlines so far!). Firstly I sold unhappy CB Walter Kannemann to Palmeiras for £2.1m. His contract was due to expire in 12 months and he was unhappy so I was happy to cash in considering he was 4th choice.
I hardly got any of that £2.1m as we are £10m in debt but I got enough to bring in a franchise player who could be a star for us for years to come if he doesn't want to move to Europe!! I paid the £275,000 release clause to bring in forward Lincoln from Flamengo. He is only 16y/o and looks an amazing prospect. If Luan does leave for Europe he will step in and I plan to give him plenty of minutes before unleashing him in the Gaucho State Championship next year. View attachment 51504
The president won his re-election campaign and he offered me a new deal which I duly signed after a bit of negotiations so all is looking good in the Gremio front.
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v Coritiba 1 (Joao Paulo 21) Gremio 3 (Everton 13, Luan 36, Lincoln 68)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda (Ricardo Graca), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton*, Thaciano, Alisson, Luan (Lincoln)
A fine victory and it was pleasing to see young striker Lincoln get his first goal for us. Everton and Lincoln - can I get any more English football teams in my squad? lol
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v Gremio 5 (Lincoln 64, 85, Jean Pyerre 69, Everton 78, 90) Palmeiras 2 (Willian 71, Borja 77)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Everton*, Thaciano (Kaka), Alisson (Maicosuel), Lincoln
What a final 25min of a game that was!!! For an hour it was boring but then it was goals galore as Lincoln and Everton tore Palmeiras apart. Everton scored 2 and assisted 3!!!
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Copa Libertadores 2nd Round 2nd Leg v Gremio 4 (Michel 9, Hernane 43, 46, 86pen) Independiente Medellin 3 (Zuniga 65, 90, Murillo 71) (Agg: 5-3)
Its safe to say that 4th choice striker Hernane took his chance!!! He was immense as he scored a hat-trick as we advance into the next round. Unfortunately Maicosuel got injured and is out for 2 months.
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Brazilian Quarter-Final 2nd Leg v Gremio 4 (Arthur 16, 42pen, 90pen, Michel 70)
Vasco Da Gama 1 (Rafael Galhardo 49) (Agg: 4-2)
This was certainly a thriller!!! We took a 2 goal lead and all looked good but then they scored to lead on away goals. We scored a 3rd but then they piled on the pressure and for once I changed tactics to go more defensive and in stoppage time we won another penalty which Arthur converted to complete his hat-trick.
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v Bahia 1 (Edigar Junio 62) Gremio 5 (Lincoln 21, 71, 75, 85, Paulo Miranda 49) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Vitinho), Paulo Miranda, Geromel (Ricardo Graca), Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton, Thaciano, Alisson, Lincoln*
What a player Lincoln is!!! He has been immense in his short time with us and has already paid back his transfer fee. He scored 4 goals here and 2 of the finishes were superb as he even managed to outshine Paulo Miranda who scored on his birthday.
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Leo Gomes, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton*, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan, Lincoln
Luan returned from injury here and I played him in his natural position and role on the left wing in order to keep Lincoln in the team and it worked as Luan arrived at the back post to score the 2nd. Everton was immense here as he scored twice.
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v Botafogo 5 (Luiz Fernando 33, Leandrinho 39, Geromel og75, Joao Paulo 79pen, Ezequiel 83) Gremio 5 (Lincoln 2, 50, 69, Everton 5, Arthur 16pen)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan, Lincoln*
WTF happened here?? We were 3 nil up and 5-2 up yet we managed to somehow draw this game and tbh we should have scored 9 or 10 goals given how many chances we missed. Lincoln scored another hat-trick though which is scary,
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South-Minas-Rio Quarter-Final v Gremio 1 (Alisson 45) Criciuma 0
Lineup - Paulo Victor, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre, Michel, Everton*, Thaciano, Alisson, Lincoln
Remember this tournament? About 6 months after our last game in it we play the quarter-finals!!! Due to Brazil playing Marcelo Grohe missed out this game - the first Gremio match he has missed all season.
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SUMMARY
This month saw us play 8 matches in various competitions. We managed to extend our lead at the top of the table to 15pts so its just a matter of time before we are confirmed as Champions of Brazil - the highlight and lowlight of the month was the crazy 5-5 draw with Botafogo.
We overturned a first leg deficit to eliminate Vasco in the Brazilian Cup (Sao Paulo next), knocked out Medellin in the Copa Libertadores (Flamengo next) and beat 2nd division opposition in that weird competition that I don't understand (Atletico Mineiro next).
Obviously the goalscoring exploits of Lincoln cannot be ignored as my 16y/o forward has been immense so far and scored 10 goals during the month - it is a huge loss that he is not registered for the 2 main cup competitions.
SEPTEMBER
Brazilian Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg v Sao Paulo 1 (Marcos Guilherme 8) Gremio 3 (Jael 70, Kaka 80pen, Jean Pyerre 81)
Lineup - Paulo Victor, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda (Bressan), Ricardo Graca, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre, Michel, Everton, Thaciano (Kaka), Alisson (Vinicius Lima), Jael
I am delighted with this win as we were still without our players on international duty and it looked like we were going to lose but in the last 20min we stepped up a gear and scored 3 goals in 11min. Paulo Victor then saved a penalty fortunately for us.
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Brazilian Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg v
Gremio 2 (Thaciano 42, Jean Pyerre 78) Sao Paulo 1 (Marcos Guilherme 72) (Agg: 5-2)
Lineup - Paulo Victor, Ramiro (Leo Gomes), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano, Alisson, Jael (Hernane)
We reach the final where we will play Chapecoense. Michel got injured and is out for over a month however.
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South-Minas-Rio Semi-Final v
Gremio 1 (Lincoln 84)
Atletico Mineiro 1 (Hyuri 58) (Atletico Mineiro win 9-8 on penalties) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda (Ricardo Graca), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Jailson, Vitinho, Vinicius Lima, Luan (Kaka), Lincoln*
Aaaaggghhh!!!! I suppose this is actually a blessing as if I won everything in the 1st season that would be a bit underwhelming however I really don't get on with their manager Wanderley Luxemburgo so to lose to him is annoying. I didn't realise there would be no extra-time which was a surprise but better than a replay!
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v
Gremio 0 Cruzeiro 1 (Murilo 89) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Ricardo Graca, Bressan, Cortez, Jean Pyerre, Cicero (Victor Bobsin), Vitinho (Leo Gomes), Vinicius Lima (Patrick), Kaka, Jael
With games coming every 2 or 3 days I decided to rest my 1st team for the more important Copa Libertadores match next up. A bit annoying to lose so late on but we can afford a few losses.
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Copa Libertadores Quarter-Final 1st Leg v
Gremio 4 (Geromel 35, Luan 68, 90, Kaka 90) Flamengo 1 (Denilson 27)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Jailson, Everton (Alisson), Thaciano (Kaka), Luan*, Lincoln (Jael)
This win better make sure that we are in the semis as we put 4 past Flamengo. Kaka is retiring in a few months but he keeps showing that he can still do a job.
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Brazilian Cup Final 1st Leg v
Chapecoense 1 (Osman 81) Gremio 2 (Luan 55, Jael 78) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Ricardo Graca, Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Jean Pyerre, Cicero, Everton*, Thaciano (Kaka), Alisson, Luan (Jael)
With games coming thick and fast I am constantly having to chop and change my team. Fortunately we were just good enough here to take the advantage into the 2nd leg.
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v
Gremio 2 (Jailson 21, Patrick 68) Atletico Goianiense 0
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Ricardo Graca, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur*, Jailson, Vitinho, Thaciano, Alisson (Patrick), Lincoln (Jael)
They are rock bottom of the league so we got an easy win - would probably have been by much more if I had my full strength side but hey ho.
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Copa Libertadores Quarter-Final 2nd Leg
v Flamengo 0 Gremio 3 (Everton 37, 50, Geromel 67) (Agg: 1-7)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre, Jailson (Cicero), Everton*, Thaciano (Kaka), Luan, Lincoln
Into the semis we go!!!! Flamengo sacked their manager immediately after this game.
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v Vitoria 0 Gremio 3 (Arthur 3pen, Everton 12, Jean Pyerre 87)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Jailson, Everton*, Vinicius Lima (Patrick), Alisson (Maicosuel), Lincoln
A very nice victory. It hasn't gone unnoticed that my 16y/o striker sensation Lincoln has stopped scoring goals! Hmmm.
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Brazilian Cup Final 2nd Leg v
Gremio 2 (Everton 60, 76) Chapecoense 0 (Agg: 4-1)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Ricardo Graca, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Jailson, Everton*, Vinicius Lima (Kaka), Alisson, Luan
WE WIN THE BRAZILIAN CUP!!!! By winning it it means that we retain the trophy and we qualify for next seasons Copa Libertadores - not that that was ever in doubt lol.
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v Avai 2 (Rafinha 31, Wendel 64) Gremio 1 (Thaciano 6) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Ricardo Graca (Bressan), Cortez, Arthur, Jean Pyerre, Vitinho (Madson), Thaciano, Maicosuel (Patrick), Lincoln
Pathetic. Avai are 2nd bottom and should never be beating us even if we were under strength - they even missed a late penalty.
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SUMMARY
This month was fricking crazy as we had 11 matches in all competitions which meant we averaged a game every 2 and a bit days!!! Added to that we also got the youth intake which was a pleasant surprise as I had no clue when that was happening.
In the league we had some decent wins but ended the month with a bad defeat to lowly Avai but considering we are 12pts clear but it was still annoying. We progressed in the Copa Libertadores and have a tough fixture in the semis as we will face River Plate.
In the domestic cups we were defeated in that silly cup on penalties by Atletico Mineiro but we managed to win the Brazilian Cup by defeating Chapecoense easily in the final.
As for the youth intake we got a couple of decent players but nobody I am ecstatic about but this guy looks decent. I also got a player called Cristiano Ronaldo!! View attachment 51307
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Gremio 4 (Vinicius Lima 8, 22, Alisson 19, Luan 39) Chapecoense 1 (Luiz Antonio 54) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Bressan, Ricardo Graca, Marcelo Oliveira, Cicero, Jailson, Everton, Vinicius Lima*, Alisson (Maicosuel), Luan
We bounce back from our awful defeat to Avai to win here comfortably enough. I loved Vinicius Lima's goal as he dribbled past a couple of players before rounding the keeper to tap in.
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v
Gremio 1 (Cicero 52)
Vasco Da Gama 1 (Paulao 59)
Lineup - Paulo Victor, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Bressan, Marcelo Oliveira, Cicero, Jailson, Maicosuel, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Alisson (Kaka), Jael (Hernane)
Meh - we were without 8 first team players due to international duty and another 2 to injury so I will take a draw.
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v
Atletico Mineiro 0 Gremio 3 (Jean Pyerre 12, Lincoln 20, Paulo Miranda 42)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Ricardo Graca, Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Jean Pyerre*, Jailson, Everton, Thaciano, Luan (Maicosuel), Lincoln
Get it up ye Wanderley Luxemburgo or whatever your name is. We cant stand each other and he always says he wants to get one over us but we thumped them here and got revenge for our defeat in the silly competition last month.
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v
Gremio 4 (Alisson 5, Maicosuel 9, 18, 63) Fluminense 0 Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Ricardo Greca, Bressan, Cortez, Jean Pyerre (Victor Bobsin), Jailson, Maicosuel*, Vinicius Lima (Patrick), Alisson, Jael (Hernane)
I rested my players for the upcoming Copa Libertadores match and my backup players did great - especially Maicosuel who scored a fantastic hat-trick. He is on loan and is fighting to stay here.
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Copa Libertadores Semi-Final 1st Leg
v
River Plate 0 Gremio 3 (Lincoln 8, Geromel 64, Jailson 72)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton (Maicosuel), Thaciano*, Luan, Lincoln
I have to be honest - I thought River Plate may be better than us but we thumped them 3-0 away from home that now confirms to me that we are the top side in South America - the other semi-finalists are from Brazil and we have disposed of them domestically this season. Brilliant!!!
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v
Flamengo 0 Gremio 2 (Thaciano 50, Maicosuel 65)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda (Ricardo Graca), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Maicosuel, Thaciano*, Luan (Alisson), Lincoln
CHAMPIONS!!!!
Flamengo are 2nd in the table and we went to their home and won the match to go 19pts clear with 5 games remaining. Well done boys!!!
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SUMMARY
This month is summed up in one word - CHAMPIONS!!!!
We won Gremio's first title in 21 years and only the 3rd in their history as we beat Flamengo away from home. In any other big league etc we would be at the top with our points tally but no way would we be nearly 20pts clear. I thought the Brazilian league would be much tighter than the big European leagues too!
In the Copa Libertadores we thumped River Plate 3-0 to have one foot in the final and now all our focus goes into that competition. Considering the other 2 teams are Brazilian we have to be considered favourites. If the final is over two legs I am confident in beating any Brazilian team.
NOVEMBER Copa Libertadores Semi-Final 2nd Leg v
Gremio 5 (Arthur 22, 44pen, Luan 48, 68, Maicosuel 90) River Plate 3 (Scocco 18, 47, 55) (Agg: 8-3) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel (Ricardo Graca), Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton, Thaciano (Maicosuel), Luan, Lincoln
We were never really threatened in going out here and scored 5 goals to ensure our superiority - Atletico Mineiro and the hated Wanderley Luxemburgo lie in wait in the final.
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v
Gremio 0 Sport Recife 1 (Fabricio 32)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Arthur, Michel, Everton, Thaciano (Maicosuel), Luan, Lincoln (Alisson)
I presume my players over celebrated in getting to the Copa Libertadores Final as they were awful here. Not happy - standards have been set and I wont tolerate them dropping below an expected level - success or not.
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v
Corinthians 5 (Lucca 19, 79, Mateus Vital 62, Jadson 88, Rene Junior 90) Gremio 6 (Lincoln 15, Paulo Miranda 25, Michel 28, Luan 60, Vinicius Lima 67, Everton 84)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan, Lincoln
Bonkers!!! Even more bonkers than the 5-5 draw with Botafogo! Cant really explain it tbh lol.
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v
Gremio 5 (Lincoln 18, 57, Paulo Miranda 42, Luan 46, Everton 79) Atletico Paranaense 2 (Deivid 39, Jonathan 55) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton*, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan, Lincoln
A fine victory but it came at a cost as Lincoln got injured and is out for up to 2 weeks so may miss all of the Copa Libertadores final.
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Copa Libertadores Final 1st Leg
v
Atletico Mineiro 0 Gremio 4 (Luan 6, 45, Michel 36, 70) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Everton (Maicosuel), Thaciano, Alisson, Luan* (Vinicius Lima)
This should be enough for us to win the Copa Libertadores. We were excellent here and Michel's 1st goal was brilliant as he powered in a shot from distance. Unfortunately Luan got injured and is out for the remainder of the season.
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v Sao Paulo 1 (Marquinhos Cipriano 87) Gremio 0 Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Alisson (Maicosuel), Jael
Meh!
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Copa Libertadores Final 2nd Leg v
Gremio 3 (Jael 1, 75pen, Jailson 86)
Atletico Mineiro 1 (Roger Guedes 59) (Agg: 7-1)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano, Alisson, Jael*
WE WIN THE COPA LIBERTADORES!!!
It was important to win this match for 2 reasons - firstly to get one over their manager and secondly it meant that we won every single game in the tournament this year which is some achievement.
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SUMMARY
This was meant to be the last update of the season but no - we have games in December now - one in the league and now the Club World Cup as we won the Copa Libertadores!!!! That makes it 6 tournaments for the season. I think the new season starts in January so god knows when pre-season starts lol.
This month we scored plenty apart from when we lost 1-0 to Sport Recife and Sao Paulo but otherwise our performances were good. We scored plenty and conceded plenty too if I am honest.
Now to finish the season next month lol and who knows start the next season? I will do an end of season post when I know when the season ends lol - probably when Kaka retires.
DECEMBER & END OF SEASON REVIEW v Gremio 3 (Thaciano 6, 57, Alisson 55)
Santos 2 (Bruno Henrique 60, David Braz 90)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel (Ricardo Graca), Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Everton, Thaciano*, Alisson, Lincoln
That rounds off the league campaign. Thaciano scored twice to double his tally in the league for the season. All of my player values have rocketed but his hasn't as he is on loan I presume. Will try and buy him permanently next season.
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FIFA Club World Cup Semi-Final v Pachuca 2 (Gonzalez 31, 89) Gremio 5 (Thaciano 15, 88pen, Lincoln 42, Murillo og48, Everton 56) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira (Cortez), Arthur (Jailson), Michel, Everton*, Thaciano, Alisson (Madson), Lincoln
Into the final we go!!! Arthur actually missed a first half penalty so it could have been a bigger winning margin.
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FIFA Club World Cup Final v Gremio 3 (Ramos og16, Lincoln 42, 73) Real Madrid 0 Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda (Ricardo Graca), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton, Thaciano (Kaka), Alisson (Maicosuel), Lincoln*
UNBELIEVABLE - WE WIN THE CLUB WORLD CUP!!!
Just how good are we? We just demolished Real Madrid 3-0 in a cup final. We were excellent - Everton was continually breaking free down the right, Arthur was pulling the strings and Lincoln was clinical although he missed a penalty in stoppage time to deny him a hat-trick on his 17th birthday.
Thaciano got injured and that gave me the opportunity to give Kaka his final ever appearance against his old club and what a fitting way to end his career.
I cant believe we just thumped Real Madrid!!!!
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END OF SEASON REVIEW
WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW.
We won the league, cup, Gaucho State, Copa Libertadores and finally the World Club Cup to have an almost perfect season trophy wise. I thought it would be much tougher than it was but we performed amazingly well as you will see in the table below. In the league it was tight until halfway through when we broke away and ended up winning the league by a colossal 18pts - and I feel we should have done better.
Tbh I think there are so many teams who are at the same level that they keep beating each other. If one can break free then we will have a battle but money is short in Brazil and that will probably mean that a team needs an incredible youth intake to step up.
In the State Championship we strolled it as you would expect as we were the only top division side there while in the Brazilian Cup we won it easily although we did lose 1 game along the way.
The South-Minas-Rio Cup was the only one that evaded us as Atletico Mineiro beat us on penalties in the semis. There is a genuine hatred between ourselves and them (they beat us once in the league also) and that adds extra spice and for them to deny us the clean sweep is annoying.
The Copa Libertadores - the Champions League of South America - was easy. We scored loads and strolled through, even walloping River Plate of Argentina, as we won the title for the 3rd time and even sweeter, we beat Atletico Mineiro in the final.
Finally we won the Club World Cup - which I did not expect to do at all. We sailed past Pachuca but surely Real Madrid would be too good for us but not so as we trounced them 3-0 to win the showpiece event. They must have had an off day while we were on fire and it was amazing to have the highlight of the season on the final day.
Easily the winners although we lost 7 games which means that we didn't have it all our own way. If another team could put a run together there would be a battle.
What to say? An incredible 82 games played with keeper Marcelo Grohe playing in 78 of them. Luan was top scorer with 42 goals and he also got 15 assists which was not bad but the standout player undoubtedly was Everton who scored 34, assisted 40 (never seen that before) and got 21 MoM awards (again never seen the like).
Arthur was amazing, while my CBs impressed and finally my young teenage sensation Lincoln, who I bought for £275,000, was superb when he came into the team.
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LINCOLN
View attachment 51000
(I am only counting teenagers in this award - Jean Pyerre was a contender)
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PRE-SEASON PLANS
I got an unexpected surprise when I actually looked at the length of Maicosuel and Thaciano's loan deals as Maicosuel is here for another year and Thaciano's deal ends the season after - yet there are no buyout clauses. Anyway a few players will leave and hopefully I will bring in a few players to strengthen ourselves.
Looking forward to June/July where I can maybe get a decent player on a free transfer from Europe.
Not only did Everton win everything but Luan and Arthur made up the top 3. Now this is pretty unrealistic obviously. Everton was amazing and probably had the highest ratings etc but for 3 of my players to be above Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar etc is stupid.
PRE-SEASON
Well after a long break of a fortnight my players are back and raring to go. I think I have learned that if you need to do drastic business you don't need to wait until the transfer window as after all the European window is open.
Anywho I brought in a couple of players and sold a couple and released a couple and overall I am happy with how things look and I still have about £4m to spend plus want to sell a couple.
Other than that the board agreed to all my requests for improving everything from youth and training facilities to youth recruitment which is fantastic and befitting a club that is top of South American football.
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PLAYERS OUT
Bressan left for China for a fee of £2.1m but about 90% of the fee went to a third party while Hernane left for £625,000 and Cicero for £300,000. Other than that I loaned a youngster out and released a few and cancelled a few loans. One of the loans that I cancelled was Maicosuel's for reasons that are about to become apparent.
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PLAYERS IN
One standout signing - Rodrygo came in from Santos for £1.2m which was his release clause. He has just turned 17y/o and looks to be a star for the future. He is a natural LW so will be up against Luan and Alisson there but I have sold Hernane also so he may get a few games up front too. I am delighted with this signing. View attachment 50984
I also brought in a CB and am actually looking to bring in another tbh. I paid £500,000 to Al-Ahly for Saad Samir. He has some decent stats for a CB and was a cheap replacement for Bressan and offers a chance of selling him on for a profit. View attachment 50985
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HOPES FOR THE SEASON
Win everything!!! After last season where we won everything apart from the South-Minas-Rio Cup the only way we can improve is by winning every trophy going.
Apart from that it is all about keeping my best players. I recently managed to get Everton to sign a new deal and I will now look to make others sign new contracts.
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan, Lincoln
Not a great start to the season but a satisfactory one. Internacional - our bitter rivals - got promoted last year and we really should have won this match as Arthur missed a penalty.
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Gaucho State
v
Gremio 5 (Thaciano 1, 31, 55, Lincoln 11, 32) Sao Luiz 0 Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Ricardo Graca, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel (Jailson), Alisson, Thaciano*, Luan (Rodrygo), Lincoln
Not bad. Hopefully Thaciano's hat-trick is a sign of things to come.
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Gaucho State v
Ypiranga (RS) 1 (Igor 63) Gremio 7 (Thaciano 1, 12, 36, 87, Lincoln 23, Luan 29, Arthur 58pen)
Thaciano!!!! Methinks I will have to try and sign him permanently now as that's 7 goals in 2 games from him. He didn't score much more than that last season!
We suffered a shock when we fell a goal behind but 2 penalties from Arthur and a fine finish from Luan won the day for us.
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SUMMARY
A decent start to the season although after winning every game in the State Championship last season it was disappointing to draw with Internacional first time out. Other than that we were pretty good tbh.
Speaking of being pretty good, Thaciano was outstanding and scored 3 in one game and 4 in the next game which prompted me to pay £2.7m for him and make him our record signing - so modest!!!!
12-0!!!! Make no mistake we are 20 times better than Passo Fundo but to win so comfortably is very pleasing. Lincoln scored a double hat-trick and when I think about it I would have been delighted with just 6 goals but we doubled it.
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Recopa Final 1st Leg v
Corinthians 1 (Kleber 85) Gremio 1 (Thaciano 34)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel (Ricardo Graca), Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton, Thaciano, Luan (Alisson), Lincoln (Rodrygo)
Another new trophy!!!! God knows how you qualify for it! Thaciano scored his 10th goal of the season here - he scored 13 last term!!
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda (Ricardo Graca), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton, Thaciano, Luan, Lincoln (Rodrygo)
Well I didn't see this result coming! 2nd Division side Juventude get a point off us thanks to Yuri Mamute who is on loan from us!!!!!! Arthur missed a penalty which would have made it 3-1 but it was not to be.
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda (Samir), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton, Thaciano, Luan, Lincoln*
That's better. Lincoln scored his 3rd hat-trick of the month while Saad Samir made his debut for us.
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Recopa Final 2nd Leg
v
Gremio 4 (Luan 12, Everton 27, Lincoln 36, Alisson 90)
Corinthians 1 (Romero 44) (Agg: 5-2)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel*, Everton, Thaciano, Luan (Alisson), Lincoln (Rodrygo)
We win the South American Recopa which I have figured out is their version of the European Super Cup. Anymore new tournaments to play in this season I wonder?
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Ricardo Graca, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Victor Bobsin), Everton, Thaciano*, Luan, Lincoln
Thaciano and Lincoln are having their own personal battle to see who will be top scorer it seems. Lincoln now has 14 while Thaciano is on 13.
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Copa Libertadores Group A
v
Gremio 6 (Lincoln 6, Everton 56, Michel 57, 60, 65, Jael 90) Nacional 1 (Bergessio 51)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Ricardo Graca, Samir, Marcelo Oliveira, Jean Pyerre, Michel*, Everton, Vinicius Lima, Luan (Alisson), Lincoln (Jael)
We kick-off our defence of the Copa Libertadores with an emphatic victory. When they equalised it seemed to anger us and we scored 4 in a 9min spell which included a hat-trick from Michel no less.
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SUMMARY
Overall this was a great month with the only negative being the surprise draw against Juventude in the Gaucho State. The highlight was the 12-0 victory over Passo Fundo where we absolutely destroyed the minnows and Lincoln helped himself to a double hat-trick.
We won the South American Recopa easily enough and generally apart from the draw with Juventude we thrashed everyone. My front 4 of Lincoln, Luan, Everton and Thaciano are scoring goals aplenty and even Michel and Arthur are popping up regularly.
Atletico Paranaense 0 Gremio 4 (Everton 6, Michel 12, Thaciano 32, Lincoln 80pen) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Everton, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan, Lincoln*
This win makes us qualify for the quarter-final and its nice to see us beat top division opponents so easily.
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South-Minas-Rio Group B v
Coritiba 2 (Iago Dias 7, 83) Gremio 4 (Paulo Miranda 19, Michel 28, Everton 34, 74) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro (Madson), Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton*, Thaciano, Luan (Alisson), Lincoln (Jael)
A nice win and we scored 3 screamers here - especially Michel's strike.
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Gaucho State
v
Gremio 4 (Vinicius Lima 41, Luan 46, 48, Rodrygo 53) Cruzeiro (RS) 1 (Alex Silva 25) Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Ricardo Graca, Samir, Cortez, Jean Pyerre, Jailson (Victor Bobsin), Alisson, Vinicius Lima (Patrick), Rodrygo, Luan*
This win ensures qualification and it was a nice win as I played some backups. Rodrygo scoring his 1st goal for us on his 1st start is pleasing too.
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Copa Libertadores Group A
v
Atletico Nacional 1 (Renteria 90) Gremio 2 (Lincoln 20, 66)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Madson, Paulo Miranda (Ricardo Graca), Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel, Everton*, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan (Alisson), Lincoln
This is a good win but it should have been by 5 or 6 as we missed sitter after sitter and we hit the woodwork a few times too.
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Gaucho State
v
Gremio 6 (Lincoln 3, 30, 67, Thaciano 27, Michel 38, 89) Gremio EB 0 Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Geromel, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur (Jean Pyerre), Michel, Everton, Thaciano, Luan, Lincoln*
Not bad. Lincoln scores yet another hat-trick while Michel scored a double as he has started this season brilliantly too and has actually been playing much better than Arthur.
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Gaucho State
v
Sao Paulo (RS) 0 Gremio 7 (Lincoln 17, 75, Paulo Miranda 24, Arthur 29pen, Everton 39, 66, Vinicius Lima 82)
Lineup - Marcelo Grohe, Ramiro, Paulo Miranda, Ricardo Graca, Marcelo Oliveira, Arthur, Michel (Jailson), Everton*, Thaciano (Vinicius Lima), Luan (Rodrygo), Lincoln
A fine 7 goal victory. Part of me thinks I should have played Rodrygo more from the start but I cant not play Luan. I suppose there are probably another 60 odd games to play anyway lol.
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SUMMARY
4, 4, 4, 2, 6 and 7 - the numer of goals that we scored in each game this month - 27 in total which is just crazy. The game where we scored twice we even should have scored 5 or 6!!
In the South-Minas-Rio Cup we have been drawn against our bitter rivals Internacional which will be fun and we are shortly about to find out our opponents in the Brazilian Cup.
Chelsea are sniffing around Arthur which is a worry. He already wants a move to a bigger club but I have him on a contract until 2021 so have him for a few more years yet.
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