The UEFA Champions League Challenge

[Klippybo]

THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CHALLENGE

Going to give this a good bash lol. This is the Champions League Challenge that I came up with a couple of years ago where the goal is to win the Champions League with every club that has won it before and points are rewarded for the difficulty of the team. There are 22 available teams from 10 different countries to choose from so there is something for everyone here.

I will use this thread for my story but also people can post entries onto this thread and I will make up a leaderboard with points etc

Here are the available clubs..

The points system is as follows...…..

5pts - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern Munich

10pts - Chelsea, Manchester United, Inter Milan, AC Milan

15pts - Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, FC Porto, Benfica

20pts - PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Aston Villa

25pts - Feyenoord, Hamburg

30pts - Celtic, Nottingham Forest

50pts - Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade

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RULES

The only rules are that it has to be done on 1 save. You cannot start a save with say Chelsea, win it with them and then start a new save with Barcelona and win it with them. For points to be tallied up you have to do it with one manager on one save.

Points are awarded on an individual basis per club - winning it twice with Steaua Bucharest will only give you 50pts and not 100.

Your manager can have as much qualifications as you like

To post an entry for the leaderboard you have to post a screenshot of the final and your managerial history to prove that you ain't cheating lol.

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So please get involved both with my story and posting updates of your own. I myself will be starting at Juventus - one of the favourites at the start. Normally I do one club saves and develop younger players but here it is all about short term thinking on the most part.

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CAREER OVERVIEW

2019-20 - Juventus - Serie A Winners, Supercoppa Winners, Coppa Italia Winners, UEFA Champions League WInners = 5pts

2020-21 - SL Benfica - Liga NOS Winners, Allianz Cup WInners, Taca de Portugal Winners, UEFA Europa League Winners

2021-22 - Real Madrid - La Liga Winners, Supercopa Winners, Copa del Rey Winners, UEFA Champions League Winners = 5pts​

 

[Klippybo]

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HISTORY

Despite being the 5th most successful side in Europe regarding trophies won and Italy's most successful side, Juventus have only won the trophy twice. They beat Liverpool 1-0 in 1985 in the game which had the Heysel disaster and then 11 years later they defeated the holders Ajax on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Despite having "only" won the trophy twice the club holds the record for finishing runners-up the most times as no less than 7 times have Juventus failed at the final hurdle.

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PRE-SEASON

It might be strange to say but I have misjudged the strength of Juventus - the plan was to hopefully win it in my first season and have a year wtih Cristiano Ronaldo before he diminishes and then swan off to pastures new but it is going to be harder than I thought methinks.

The problem is squad depth. The first XI I have no problems with whatsoever apart from maybe RB but if we get injuries we will struggle as almost all of my decent backups are loaned out. That being said we are the favourites for Serie A and one of the favourites for the main prize - the Champions League itself!

I didnt have to do much reorganizing re the backroom staff etc as Juventus are a ready made club built for success and that is exactly what I hope to bring to the table.

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PLAYERS OUT

Juventus had a really old squad when I arrived so I moved to make amends to that straight away. Naturally I was happy to keep Buffon, Ronaldo, Chiellini and Bonucci but the others had to go.

Guangzhou Evergrande came in with their checkbook to sign both Sami Khedira (£16.5m) and Blaise Matuidi (£22m). Both were 32y/o and I had 4 other CMs so it was time to cash in.

Manchester United (unfortunately a future destination) paid £31m to sign Juan Cuadrado while another future destination club, Real Madrid, paid £54m to bring back Gonzalo Higuaín. Higuain is a great striker but he wasnt quick enough for me and I prefer to play with an advanced forward.

And that was that!!!!

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PLAYERS IN

To play my formation I needed to buy 2 AMCs as I only had Dybala who could play there and I am going to play him up front! So straight away I bought James Rodriguez from Real Madrid for £42.5m. Rodriguez is a world class player and hopefully he will hit the ground running.

Backup to him is Gustavo Scarpa who I brought in from Palmeiras for £19m. I think I overpaid for him tbh but the fact he has Italian nationality and speaks Italian is a plus point. As an aside this save will make my manager learn several new languages.

To replace Higuaín I went back to Real Madrid and brought in Mariano for £14.5m. He is pacey, a good finisher and will fit into my tactics far better.

My next big signing was that of Yari Verschaeren who I signed from Anderlecht for £15m. The 18y/o will be my backup LW and can also feature at AMC. This save as I have said leads towards a short term approach for the big clubs but this could be a decent present for the future of the club.

Finally I brought in LayvIn Kurzawa as my backup LB for just £2.9m. Kurzawa is of a decent standard and will be a good option for me although with Alex Sandro and De Sciglio I have other good options too.

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SQUAD

I am not over the moon with my entire squad but I am with my first XI. Buffon and Szceszny will do battle in goal, Danilo will be RB although he is the weakest member of my team while Alex Sandro will be on the left. At CB it will be De Ligt and Bonucci as Chiellini has a long term injury. If he didnt have that injury I would probably have tried a new formation with 3 CBs tbh.

Pjanic and Rabiot will be my CMs with James Rodriguez playing in the hole while Cristiano Ronaldo will be out on the left and Douglas Costa will be my RW. That leaves Pablo Dybala as my striker.

First XI is world class - but in the attacking areas I lack cover.
​

 

[Klippybo]

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci (Rugani), Alex Sandro*, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez (Scarpa), Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

WTAF????

I don't think I have ever had a left back score a hat-trick before and certainly not with all 3 goals coming from open play. All 3 of his finishes were superb and he almost got a 4th. I am naturally a bit annoyed that we conceded 3 goals and that put a dampner on Gianluigi Buffon's record breaking day as he becomes the clubs oldest player.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt (Rugani), Bonucci (Merih Demiral), Alex Sandro, Pjanic*, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala

We got off to a perfect start here with Dybala's 1st minute goal. Douglas Costa and Pjanic both scored screamers while Cristiano Ronaldo had a nightmare match.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt (Merih Demiral), Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot (Ramsey), Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

On paper this is a good point but Cristiano Ronaldo missed a stoppage time penalty so I am pretty ****** off that we didn't win in the end.

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UEFA Champions League Group G

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala (Mariano)

This is what its all about - the Champions League. We totally dominated the match but only had a Cristiano Ronaldo goal to show for it but a win is a win.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala

A brilliant result and performance. Finally everything clicked into a full 90min and we converted a load of chances. Adrien Rabiot scored the pick of the goals with a screamer from outside the box.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Kurzawa), Pjanic, Rabiot, Bernardeschi, Rodriguez (Gustavo Scarpa), Cristiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala*

We fell behind here but responded brilliantly to win easily. Dybala was clinical while Bernardeschi also popped up with a goal - he and Douglas Costa are having a right battle for the RW spot. Buffon broke the club record for league appearances here.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo (De Sciglio), De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic (Ramsey), Rabiot, Bernardeschi (Gustavo Scarpa), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

How we didn't win this I will never know as we battered Inter here and 2 defensive mistakes cost us dearly. Apart from those mistakes we dominated throughout.

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SUMMARY

So my first competitive month is done (well the SPAL game was in August but the rest were in September) and I am happy with how things are going. We are suspect defensively but going forward we look very dangerous with CR7, Dybala, Douglas Costa and Bernardeschi impressing and even Alex Sandro popped up with an incredulous hat-trick on the opening day. James Rodriguez has been poor though.

This save though is all about the Champions League and we have been drawn alongside Borussia Dortmund, RB Salzburg and Galatasaray and I don't expect to have any problems there tbh. Obviously I will take a keen interest in Dortmund as they are a future destination.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
PAULO DYBALA

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SERIE A

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[Klippybo]

OCTOBER

UEFA Champions League Group G

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot (Ramsey), Bernardeschi (Douglas Costa), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

Simply not good enough. Salzburg more than matched us here and deserved their point. They also drew with Dortmund so maybe I am underestimating them but I expected a win here and rightly so.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa*, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

That's better!!! Douglas Costa came back into the first XI and banged in a hat-trick as we got another big league win. I would have preferred one of the goals to have been donated to our previous match though!

--

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo*, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Verschaeren), Gustavo Scarpa (Ramsey), Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

Mariano to the rescue!!! Well I say that but we battered them and had 24 shots to their 1 which goes to show our dominance in a match away from home against one of the top Italian sides.

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UEFA Champions League Group G

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Kurzawa), Ramsey, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala (Mariano)

We finally put a marker down in the Champions League as we beat Dortmund here. I cant remember a more perfect way to start a game as we were 2-0 up after 2min and CR7 went on to complete his hat-trick.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Kurzawa) (De Sciglio), Pjanic (Bentancur), Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala*

Another top notch performance. In the league so far Douglas Costa has 7 goals in 7 games while Dybala has 9 in 9.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic (Ramsey), Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez (Bernardeschi), Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

From some great performances to a poor performance and we had to rely on a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty to get the win. Having said that their keeper got the MOM award and we did have 34 shots to their 1 so maybe I am being a bit harsh.

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SUMMARY

Things are going well and with 8 wins and 2 draws in the league I cannot complain. Our defence isn't great but we have scored more than double than Atalanta who are the 2nd highest scorers. That being said we are amazingly only 2nd in the league behind Atalanta and we are due to play them next.

In the Champions League we had a very poor result in a 0-0 draw against Salzburg but then we put things right by beating Dortmund 3-1 thanks to a Ronaldo hat-trick.

So far none of my future destination teams have sacked their manager but its early days and anyway - I aint going nowhere until the Champions League is won.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CRISTIANO RONALDO

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SERIE A

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[Klippybo]

NOVEMBER

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Ramsey, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Gustavo Scarpa, Verschaeren (Cristiano Ronaldo), Dybala (Mariano*)

This could be a huge win as we go top of the table and inflict Atalanta's first defeat of the season. CR7, Rodriguez and Pjanic weren't fit enough to start so I rested them for the upcoming Dortmund game although in desperation for the win I brought on CR7 in the hope that we would get a winner and we did.

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UEFA Champions League Group G

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Ramsey (Bentancur), Rabiot, Bernardeschi, Rodriguez (Gustavo Scarpa), Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala

This win secures our qualification into the next stage as we blitzed Dortmund with 3 goals in the opening 19min. We have scored 7 goals in the competition so far and 6 of them are from Ronaldo. I hope by the time I get to Dortmund they still have Sancho and Haaland.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo (De Sciglio), De Ligt*, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Bernardeschi, Rodriguez, Verschaeren (Gustavo Scarpa), Dybala (Mariano)

Meh. I would have taken a point beforehand so it is a decent result but not too much when you consider they played most of the 2nd half with 10 men. Danilo got injured and will be out for a month.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic (Bentancur), Rabiot, Bernardeschi, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala*

For half an hour everything was going wrong. CR7 missed a penalty and we fell behind to Sampdoria's only shot of the game but from when Bernardeschi levelled there was only one winner and when they had a man sent-off that just made things a certainty - we still had to get the goals though.

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UEFA Champions League Group G

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt, Rugani (Merih Demiral), Kurzawa, Pjanic*, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Gustavo Scarpa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

We laboured to victory here as we struggled to beat Galatasaray despite them being down to 10 men after only 12min and they even had the cheek to take the lead!!!

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SUMMARY

While we weren't at our free flowing best this month but we got some big results including wins over Atalanta in the league and Dortmund in the Champions League. We are sitting pretty on top of both Serie A and our Champions League group so we head into December in fine fettle.

The board have even given me more money to spend but nothing substantial tbh and I cant envisage too much happening in January but you never know! There have still not been any sackings involving future destinations.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ADRIEN RABIOT

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SERIE A

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[Klippybo]

DECEMBER

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Rugani, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Kurzawa), Ramsey, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez*, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Bernardeschi)

Despite falling behind we managed to get the win here with Rodriguez getting his first goal for the club and his first decent performance for us too.

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Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic (Bentancur), Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Gustavo Scarpa, Verschaeren (Douglas Costa), Dybala (Mariano)

Meh. We huffed and we puffed but we couldn't get the job done and had to settle for a point frustratingly.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt*, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot (Ramsey), Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

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UEFA Champions League Group G

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio (Merih Demiral), De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Ramsey), Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala*

I actually meant to play my backups here as we have already topped the group but hey ho. We finish top of the group on 16pts with Dortmund finishing 2nd with only 6pts!

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt*, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Ramsey, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Gustavo Scarpa, Verschaeren, Dybala (Mariano)

De Ligt's early goal got us the win here and Udinese were restricted to just one shot such was our dominance. We are still unbeaten in the league this season and in all competitions in fact.

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Supercoppa Final

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo (Merih Demiral), De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Ramsey (Bentancur), Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala*

We win the Supercoppa thanks to a fine 1st half performance. The only bad thing was the injuries to Danilo and Ramsey.

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SUMMARY

2019 is over with and we end the year top of the league but Atalanta just wont go away!!!! It certainly looks like it is going to be a 2 horse race and the plucky underdogs are pushing us all the way so far. In the Champions League we rounded off the group but unfortunately we have been drawn against Liverpool in the next round so that will be extremely tough and possibly I will have a 2nd year in Turin. Having said that my first XI is a match for anyones.

Lucien Favre was sacked as manager of Borussia Dortmund - the first of my future destinations to become available but naturally I am not interested lol.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MATTHIJS DE LIGT

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SERIE A

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[Klippybo]

JANUARY

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Kurzawa, Pjanic, Rabiot (Ramsey), Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

Not the best way to start 2020 but what a match it was. We were 2 up and cruising and all of a sudden we were 3-2 down. CR7 levelled and when they had a man sent-off I felt it was just a matter of time before we got the winner but they went up the park and scored but fortunately Mariano levelled and we got a point.

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Lineup - Buffon, Danilo (Merih Demiral), De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Bentancur), Pjanic, Ramsey, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez*, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

James Rodriguez scored a stunning free-kick to win us the match here and although Fiorentina were reduced to 9 men we couldn't capitalise more on that. Dybala has only 2 goals in the last 10 league games and they came in the same match.

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Coppa Italia 1st Round

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic*, Ramsey, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala (Pellegri)

Nice and easy. Pietro Pellegri came off the bench to make his debut here.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt, Merih Demiral, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Ramsey, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala (Pellegri)

We fell behind here but bounced back and thumped SPAL thanks to a fine hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo. Rodriguez scored a great goal and has scored in his last 3 league games.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral, Bonucci, Alex Sandro*, Pjanic, Ramsey (Rabiot), Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cirstiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala

Dybala finally gets a goal as we narrowly edge out Cagliari who only have 9pts and are bottom of Serie A.

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Coppa Italia Quarter-Final

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot*, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Pellegri)

We march into the semis with a good victory over AC Milan who never really troubled us in truth.

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SUMMARY

We emerge from January still unbeaten in all competitions, 6pts clear at the top of the table and into the Coppa Italia semi-finals. We won every game this month apart from a crazy 4-4 draw away to Sassuolo and we are getting fine results without being particularly brilliant tbh but I am not complaining!! We go into February looking forward to our Champions League tie with Liverpool and that will be one tough match.

Regarding transfers there was some movement both in and out. I decided to sell Wojciech Szceszny to Brighton for £26m. I thought that to have such a sellable asset on the bench was just a waste and I thought I could strengthen my squad even further with the money brought in.

Incoming in Szceszny's place was Marco Sportiello from Atalanta who joined on loan to be my backup keeper.

I then went looking for somebody U21 and put in a random bid for Pietro Pellegri never imagining that it would be accepted and it was!!! I paid £7.5m to bring in the striker and he will obviously turn into a world star if he gets regular game time.

Then my Director of Football arranged for the transfer of Thiago Almada for an initial £3.3m rising to £9m. I thought why not? He is again a future world class player and alongside Verschaeren and Pellegri will be my leaving presents when I am eventually successful here.

I then on deadline day arranged a transfer for the end of the season. I have agreed to sign Atalanta's other keeper - Pierluigi Gollini for £12m to replace Buffon. He will remain at Atalanta though.

Finally Max Allegri took the Dortmund job while Nottingham Forest also sacked their manager - Ian Holloway was appointed.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
JAMES RODRIGUEZ

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SERIE A

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[Klippybo]

FEBRUARY

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt*, Bonucci, Kurzawa, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Verschaeren (Fagioli), Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

A fantastic result and performance as we demolish Lazio. Fagioli came off the bench to make his debut - he is a decent looking prospect.

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Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt, Bonucci (Rugani), Kurzawa, Pjanic, Ramsey, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez*, Cristiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala

We win and Inter lost so our lead at the top is extended to 9pts.

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Coppa Italia Semi-Final 1st Leg

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Kurzawa), Ramsey, Rabiot (Bentancur), Douglas Costa, Verschaeren, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala (Pellegri)

This win should see us into the final although their away goal is a slight worry. Ronaldo missed a penalty to deny him his hat-trick which was a shame.

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Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral, Rugani, Kurzawa, Ramsey*, Bentancur, Bernardeschi (Douglas Costa), Almada (Gustavo Scarpa), Verschaeren, Mariano (Dybala)

With our sizable lead in the table and with the Liverpool game coming up next I decided to rest my first team and played my backups. Disappointed not to win but we are still unbeaten. Thiago Almada made his debut for us here.

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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic (Bentancur), Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

My first defeat of my career but I suppose it aint all bad as we have 2 away goals. We took the lead through Danilo and then collapsed for 4min as we quickly found ourselves 3-1 down. Fortunately CR7 pulled a goal back towards the end.

--

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Ramsey (Bentancur), Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez*, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

We go 10pts clear with this win and you might as well give us the trophy as we are looking so strong in the league.

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SUMMARY

We resumed Champions league football this month and got an average result against Liverpool as we lost 3-2 away but our hopes of going through are in the balance in truth. We go into the 2nd leg confident and hopeful but who knows. A 2nd season in Turin could well be on the cards.

Domestically we are dominating. We are still unbeaten in the league, 10pts clear and have 1 foot in the Coppa Italia final so I can have no complaints whatsoever. We have even kept clean sheets in our last 5 games in the league.

Regarding future destinations - PSV Eindhoven sacked their manager.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CRISTIANO RONALDO

--

SERIE A

​

 

[Klippybo]

MARCH

LIneup - Buffon, Danilo (De Sciglio), De Ligt, Bonucci, Kurzawa, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez (Almada), Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala (Mariano)

We win but it could have been different as they had a stunning goal disallowed because apparently someone blocked the view of our keeper while in an offside position.

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Coppa Italia Semi-Final 2nd Leg

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Kurzawa, Pjanic, Rabiot*, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez (Almada), Cristiano Ronaldo (Verschaeren), Dybala (Mariano)

Into the final we go. It was never in doubt really. I would have played my backups but I want to rest my 1st team for the Liverpool game so will rest them in our next fixture.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral (Chiellini), Rugani, Kurzawa, Bentancur, Ramsey, Bernardeschi, Almada, Verschaeren*, Pellegri (Mariano)

If ever a game was to show our domestic superiority then this is it. Here we were playing a backup side against a strong Napoli side and we wiped the floor with them. De Sciglio got his 4th of the season (not bad for a backup RB) to set us on our way and Verschaeren scored his first 2 goals for the club to wrap things up. Chiellin finally returned from injury here too.

--

UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, De Ligt, Bonucci, Chiellini, Pjanic, Rabiot*, Douglas Costa (Bernardeschi), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

YES!!!!!!!!

Through we go into the quarter-finals as we just edge out Liverpool. We struck twice in the 1st half and after that it was all about keeping them out which we did. I am delighted to make it through as when the draw was made I was unsure whether or not we would be able to beat Liverpool. Due to suspension I was without Danilo and Alex Sandro and due to registration reasons I was missing Kurzawa so Chiellini had to play as a makeshift left back!

--

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo*, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Kurzawa), Pjanic, Rabiot (Bentancur), Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Pellegri)

We won but I expect much better against a pish poor side who were reduced to 10 men early doors.

--

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt (Chiellini), Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic (Bentancur), Rabiot, Douglas Costa*, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Pellegri)

The league is a procession now - 14pts clear we be.

--

SUMMARY

March was very successful as we were unbeaten, all but sealed the Serie A title, reached the Coppa Italia final but more importantly we defeated Liverpool in the Champions League. Too edge out Liverpool was fantastic but if we are to win it this year we are going to have to do it the hard way as we have been drawn against Man City in the quarters and even if we beat them we will face PSG or Real Madrid in the semis!!!!

I only got 2 youth intake players. One was decent and one looks like a potential world class centre half!!!! Quite possibly the best Albanian footballer of all time lol.

Bayern Munich and Steaua Bucharest sacked their managers this month.


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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CRISTIANO RONALDO

--

SERIE A

​

 

[Klippybo]

APRIL

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral (Muca), Chiellini (Rugani), Kurzawa, Bentancur, Verschaeren, Bernardeschi (Douglas Costa), Almada, Gustavo Scarpa, Mariano

FFS. My first defeat in the league and it was totally deserved as my backups were hopeless. The only positive point was the debut for my recent youth graduate Muca who becomes the clubs youngest player. Bernardeschi got injured and will be out for nearly 2 months.

--

UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa*, Rodriguez (Gustavo Scarpa), Cristiano Ronaldo, Mariano

I am delighted to win this naturally but I am annoyed that we didn't take full advantage of them having Aguero sent-off. They even had a last minute equaliser disallowed so this tie is far from over.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral (Muca), Chiellini, Kurzawa, Bentancur, Ramsey, Gustavo Scarpa, Almada, Verschaeren, Mariano

On one hand I am pleased that my backups got a point against Roma despite playing over an hour with 10 men but on the other hand I am raging with regards to their equaliser as a short pass back was latched onto and Kalinic walked it in from 30 yards!

--

UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot (Bentancur), Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mariano

Into the semis to go and Real Madrid lie in wait. We fell behind but we matched them stride for stride and deservedly levelled through CR7 with his 30th goal of the season and that was enough to see us through.

--

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Merih Demiral, Alex Sandro, Pjanic*, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Borzillo), Rodriguez (Almada), Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

With Dybala back from injury he went into the side and was *****. Mariano came on and scored twice lol. My other decent youth intake player, Borzillo, came off the bench for his debut here.

--

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Chiellini, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Gustavo Scarpa), Rodriguez (Almada), Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala (Mariano)

Torino are the surprise package of the season and are in 2nd place and they held us to a point here.... but we absolutely battered them. They had no shots, we had over 20 and Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty. One of those days.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral (Muca), Chiellini, Kurzawa, Bentancur, Ramsey, Gustavo Scarpa, Almada, Verschaeren (Borzillo), Mariano

Humiliating!!!!

With Real Madrid coming up I chucked this game in by hoping that my backups could do us a turn - they didn't and we lost our 2nd league game of the season. Losing the game is one thing - getting thrashed is another.

--

UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 1st Leg

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo (De Sciglio), De Ligt, Bonucci (Chiellini), Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

If you offered me 3 away goals beforehand I would have bitten your hand off and while I am gutted that we conceded the late equaliser I am pretty happy with the result.

--

SUMMARY

While I wouldn't go as far as to say that this month was horrific it was pretty awful. We only won 2 out of our 8 games and while most of the non winning matches were when I put out my backups it was still not good enough. The only saving grace was that we are still going strong in the Champions League and we are reaping the benefits of being able to completely rest my first team before our Champions League matches.

In other news Gianluigi Buffon signed a pre-contract deal with Shakhtar Donetsk and as we have secured Champions League qualification we have a transfer budget of £67m - lets hope I am not around here to spend it.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH/BEST OF A BAD BUNCH
MARIANO

--

SERIE A

​

 

[Klippybo]

MAY

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Meri Demiral, Chiellini (Rugani), Kurzawa, Bentancur, Ramsey, Gustavo Scarpa, Almada (Barrenechea), Verschaeren, Mariano*

We are on the brink of securing the championship now as Mariano scored a superb hat-trick to give us victory.

--

UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Gustavo Scarpa), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala (Mariano)

We reach the final!!! We surged into a 3 goal lead and it was all over tbh. Alex Sandro scored his 4th goal of the season - his first since he scored a hat-trick on the opening day.

--

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo*, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro (Kurzawa), Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Gustavo Scarpa), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

CHAMPIONS!!!!!

Dybala's goal sealed the title for us here with 2 games left to play in the league. Will play my backups in them to keep my first XI fresh for the Champions League final.

--

Coppa Italia Final

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo (De Sciglio), De Ligt, Bonucci (Chiellini), Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa (Ramsey), Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Dybala

WE WIN THE COPPA ITALIA!!!!!

The domestic treble was secured here as we beat Lazio at their home ground. We went 2-0 up and although they pulled a goal back we were always in control when they had a man sent-off. It was just a pity that it took so long to get the killer 3rd goal.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral (Rugani), Chiellini*, Kurzawa, Bentancur, Ramsey, Bernardeschi, Almada, Verschaeren (Gustavo Scarpa), Pellegri (Mariano)

Chiellini and Gustavo Scarpa got their first goals of the season here. We almost through the game away in truth as Sassuolo had a stoppage time goal disallowed.

--

Lineup - Buffon, De Sciglio, Merih Demiral (Rugani), Chiellini, Kurzawa, Bentancur, Ramsey, Gustavo Scarpa*, Almada, Verschaeren, Pellegri

We round off the league campaign with a victory which will be noted by the fact that Pietro Pellegri got his 1st goal for the club.

--

UEFA Champions League Final

Lineup - Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Pjanic, Rabiot, Douglas Costa*, Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala

WE WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!!!!!

Douglas Costa was the star of the show as he fired in a hat-trick to singlehandedly win us the trophy. We more than matched Barcelona and fully deserved the victory.

--

SUMMARY

This month was all about the Champions League which sounds weird considering we also won the title and the Coppa Italia this month but my eyes were firmly on the Champions League. We edged out Real Madrid in the semis and an inspired performance from Douglas Costa won us the final as he got a hat-trick against Barcelona.

We saw out the league campaign easily enough with our win over Udinese sealing the title. My backups saw out the rest of the campaign and got victories too. While in the Coppa Italia we defeated Lazio in their own stadium to claim the cup too.

End of season post to follow!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DOUGLAS COSTA

​

 

[Klippybo]

END OF SEASON POST

Well its safe to say that this season couldn't have gone much better as we won all 4 trophies that were available to us - Serie A, Supercoppa, Coppa Italia and of course the UEFA Champions League!!!

In Serie A we ended up winning it by 8pts and were on course for an unbeaten season but in one of the games where I played my backups we lost. AC Milan also handed us a 4-0 thrashing but in truth the season was over by February. Atalanta pushed us for half the season and kept up with us before falling away.

The Supercoppa was won against Lazio and we also defeated them in the Coppa Italia in their own backyard to complete the domestic treble. It was however in the Champions League where I was putting all of my concentration on.

We sailed through the group stages and then reached the final by defeating Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid - a tough tough run and we probably only made it through due to me being able to rest players for every single knockout tie which I think gave us an advantage. We rocked up in the final against Barcelona with my players having had a 2 week break and we beat them 3-0 with Douglas Costa putting in the performance of his life to make us claim the trophy with a fine hat-trick.

Now the hard work begins. In the Champions League Challenge the first one is usually the easiest as you can pick a really strong team for the Champions League. Now I have to rely on other jobs to become available for me and they wont all be ready made for success.

--

SERIE A TABLE

--

SQUAD

Goalkeepers - Gianluigi Buffon was the only keeper who played and he was decent enough. The old man finally got his hands on the Champions League and he is off to Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer.

Defenders - Alex Sandro was a beast down the left hand side and he memorably scored a hat-trick on the opening day of the season. Danilo was a huge surprise and performed much better than I could have imagined on the right hand side. Bonucci and De Ligt were my preferred CBs although Merih Demiral, Daniel Rugani and Giorgio Chiellini all got games too.

Midfielders - Arguably our player of the season was Adrien Rabiot as he was immense in the centre of midfield alongside Pjanic. Ramsey did ok although Bentancur was disappointing. James Rodriguez was the creative hub at AMC but he only scored 6 goals which is shocking. On the wings CR7 scored 35 goals in 45 starts which is amazing - yet he didn't appear to have a great season weirdly enough. Douglas Costa had a fine season on the RW and would have been pushed harder by Bernardeschi but he suffered from injuries. Youngsters such as Thiago Almada and Yari Verschaeren got games to develop too.

Forwards - Really only had 2 for most of the season. Paulo Dybala was on fire for the first half of the season but was pathetic in the 2nd half and he should have scored far more than 22. Mariano was a capable deputy while I brought in Pietro Pellegri in January and he appeared occasionally.

My Player of the Season - Cristiano Ronaldo
My Young Player of the Season - Matthijs De Ligt
My Donkey of the Season - Daniele Rugani

--

PRE-SEASON PLANS

Well here is the thing. I can move on now!! The Inter Milan job is available and I would be all over that except they are not in the Champions League next season so I would have to wait 2 years at least to get the end goal there. It is tempting though. With the Euros coming up in the summer there may be some openings coming up after that so might hold on until then.

I could of course just stay at Juventus and see what comes up during the season. Whatever happens I will be reshaping the squad to try and weaken them slightly but to put in a younger team - its just a pity I cant sign players from any future destination as Donnarumma is transfer listed at AC Milan but I need him to stay lol.​

 

[Klippybo]

KRIS STUART RESIGNS AS JUVENTUS MANAGER!!!!

I decided that I don't want to start the season with Juventus so have resigned on the day of the European Super Cup final. Why then? Well I wanted to spend as much time in Italy so too get my language skills up and apparently I can speak good Italian now.

I did go in for jobs. Inter Milan didnt want me as I was at a rival club, I thought about the Feyenoord job but decided against it. The FC Porto job became available and I was extremely interested in it but they went and appointed Maurizio Sarri instead so I have taken the decision to resign. I really wanted the FC Porto job as they have some amazing youngsters and I thought I would rip the Portuguese league apart and keep an eye out on bigger jobs but I would be content to stay. Never mind.

As for what I did with Juve in the summer - if I was to stay on I was going to sell Ramsey, Mariano, Kurzawa and Gustavo Scarpa so that's what I did. Ramsey went to Man Utd for £60m to join one of my future destinations.

I then decided to not transfer list anyone but sell anyone who I get a bid for that is at a future destination. So Paulo Dybala went to Liverpool for £125m and Daniele Rugani joined Borussia Dortmund for £23.5m leading to £35m!!!!! Apart from the pre-arranged deal for Gollini and the return of some loan players I didnt spend a penny.

I now just wait for a decent opportunity to arise...….....​

 

[Klippybo]

When I resigned I was delighted to see that Zinedine Zidane was the favourite for a job so I was quite excited at the opportunity to manage Real Madrid but in the end they appointed Thomas Tuchel from PSG and of course they are not a future destination so that job wasnt viable although I was the favourite.

The first job to become available for me was that of Steaua Bucharest - no thanks lol. Romania can wait.

Then I had a huge decision to make - Newcastle sacked Steve Bruce. Now they are not a future destination obviously but they are my beloved so I had to make a decision whether to try and improve their future in the short term while waiting for a bigger opportunity. So what I did was declare my interest in the job and wait and see what happens. In the end they offered me the job but I turned it down to be true to the save. I may go back later on but at the moment I am looking for some future destination jobs. Niko Kovac ended up getting the post.

Next up was Nottingham Forest - I ain't going to reject my beloved Newcastle to join a Championship side in Nottingham Forest!!!!!

Then came Feyenoord who at the beginning of November were 2nd bottom of the Eredivisie and were knocked out of the Champions League at the qualifying stages. They have nobody decent so the waiting goes on.

(I should say that I am continuing the game while I am watching the rerun of Newcastle beating Man Utd 5-0 lol - and typing job updates as they happen - by this time last season the Dortmund and Bayern Munich jobs were available. No such luck this year).

Aston Villa were the next team available but I cant stand them and wanted to delay that. So no thankyou.

And then on the 21st of December I accepted a job.........................

--

SL BENFICA

Now at first glance you might think why the **** am I accepting the Benfica job when I could get almost any job going but I was getting frustrated at not being in work and they were the first decent side since FC Porto that I could join. They have already been eliminated form the Champions League this season and will play in the Europa League and they are currently lying 4th in the league.

The thing that really swung it for me is during the interview they said I would have a starting budget of a whopping £150m!!!!! With the January window about to open surely I can build a side to win the league this season and possibly even compete in the knockout stages of next seasons Champions League.

Whats more, upon arrival, I find that they have already got a pre-arranged deal to sign Houssem Aouar from Lyon for £24.5m rising to £35m which is a great piece of business.

So here I go into Portugal. This undoubtedly is a great chance for me at one of the "lesser" clubs in the challenge but I must admit that if Real Madrid or Barcelona etc become available I may get itchy feet.

--

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HISTORY

Benfica won the competition twice in 2 years in succession in 1960-61 and 1961-62 beating Barcelona 3-2 and Real Madrid 5-3 in the finals respectively. They were also runners-up in 1962-63, 1964-65 and 1967-68.


​

 

[ImDonkey]

Great story, will be following.

 

[Klippybo]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So I arrive at Benfica and I have to say I am slightly disappointed with the strength of the playing squad. There are some decent players like Alex Grimaldo and Florentino Luis and I have promoted a couple of youngsters into the squad in the shape of Joao Resende and Ronaldo Camara. Obviously with the pre-arranged deal for Aouar happening in a few days time he will be a player that I build my side around!!!!

In the league we are currently sitting in a lowly 4th position....

6pts behind FC Porto and having played a game more - it is going to be tough to claw that back!!! We are still in both domestic cup competitions and in the Europa League we will play Shakhtar Donetsk.

My first game is a huge match against Sporting Lisbon. After that the transfer window opens and I can spend the best part of £200m!!!!!!​

 

[Klippybo]

DECEMBER/JANUARY

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Meunier, Martinez Quarta, Ferro*, Grimaldo, Luis, Gabriel (Weigl), Pizzi, Camara (Chiquinho), Cervi, Carlos Vinicius (Dyego Sousa)

I am naturally delighted to get off to a winning start against one of our deadliest rivals but the performance was poor in truth. Ronaldo Camara made his debut here. This was the last game to be played in December.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Martinez Quarta, Ferro, Grimaldo, Luis, Gabriel, Rony Lopes, Aouar, Cervi (Pedrinho), Kaio Jorge*

As you can see (well you cant I suppose since you don't really know the squad I started with lol) I played 3 new signings here. Aouar, Rony Lopes and Kaio Jorge. The latter two got debut goals but overall I was still a little bit disappointed in regards to the performance.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Martinez Quarta, Ferro, Grimaldo, Luis, Gabriel, Rony Lopes*, Aouar, Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

Very nice. Rony Lopes is certainly enjoying being back in his homeland as he struck twice here. My recent signing, Viktor Fischer, made his debut here and had a goal disallowed.

--

Taca de Portugal Quarter-Final

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Martinez Quarta, Ferro, Tavares, Luis, Sanches (Gabriel), Rony Lopes*, Aouar (Camara), Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

Rony Lopes is at it again!!!! He scored both goals here including a sensational free-kick to send us through to the semis. To beat Porto away from home is very encouraging too - all 4 of my games in charge have been away from the Stadium of Light as it goes.

Another game - another debut. This time for Renato Sanches who I just brought back to the club.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis (Camara), Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar, Fischer, Kaio Jorge*

Todays new signing is Kurt Zouma lol.

We won this easily enough although they scored with their only shots at goal which is a worry.

--

Allianz Cup Semi-Final

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar, Fischer, Kaio Jorge*

We make it into the final and we cruised to victory in truth. Obviously we were helped by the fact they had a man sent-off but we were already ahead.

--

Allianz Cup Final

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches, Pedrinho, Camara, Fischer (Cervi), Kaio Jorge

We win the Allianz Cup here. I presume this is the Portuguese version of the league cup but it is another trophy onto my CV. We played pretty poorly tbh.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam (Meunier), Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar, Fischer (Pedrinho) (Camara), Kaio Jorge*

Another 4 goal haul in the league. Kaio Jorge missed a penalty to get his hat-trick but Rony Lopes tucked in the rebound. To show how much my signings have changed our season - Kaio Jorge has played 4 games in the league and is our level top scorer!

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro (Martinez Quarta), Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar* (Camara), Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

Another win - this Portuguese league is easy it seems! Not at all - we were very fortunate to come out on top here and it took a late penalty to give us the win.

--

SUMMARY

1 month into the job and we have won every game, clawed back the lead at the top of the table and won the league cup - not bad lol. Also I have transformed my squad with no less than 6 signings to strengthen the first team squad and after spending the best part of £130m we seem like we can over power most Portuguese sides - and I still have over £100m saved up in my budget!!!!

On the pitch we have been pretty impressive and my players seem to have adapted to my tactic fairly seamlessly. I suppose when you sign 6 players immediately after taking a job it is harder for the players currently in the squad to change lol.

Normally having won a trophy I would go on about it but I came in halfway through and just finished it off really.

So onto my transfers and the first one and the best one was already arranged as Hassem Aouar came in form Lyon for £29m rising to £35m. He is a potential world class player and should rip the Portuguese league apart.

Next up was Rony Lopes who I brought in from Sevilla for £30m. He started his career with Benfica although never played and he has hit the ground running so far.

For the same fee I brought back Renato Sanches to the club from Lille. Sure I could have brought in a better CM but he is a club favourite, still young and if possible I want as many of the top Portuguese players to be playing here as possible.

My new striker is Kaio Jorge who came in for £15.75m. I think the 18y/o will be a star and he has certainly impressed early on!

Kurt Zouma is up next. The Frenchman is a fine CB and to get him for under £10m initially is a steal. While not world class he is a step above of what I already have.

Finally £8m was spent on Viktor Fischer to become my LW. He was highly rated by my scouts and while I still have tens of millions to spend I am still prepared to find the right deal for the club.

As for players out I sold a heap. Pizzi went to Inter Milan for £16m despite scoring the only goal in my first game in charge. Haris Seferovic joined Sheffield United for £11m while I sold a few others for minor fees.

I think I can give it a good go here tbh. We have a starting squad that with 1 or 2 improvements could compete in time and with over £100m left in the transfer budget I am excited to see what I can do. Unless a huge job like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich etc becomes available I will stay put.


--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
RONY LOPES

​

--

LIGA NOS

​

 

[Klippybo]

FEBRUARY

Taca de Portugal Semi-Final 1st Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo*, Gabriel, Sanches (Weigl), Rony Lopes, Camara (Chiquinho), Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

That should be good enough to see us into the final. Famalicao have Simone Zaza, Jacob Murphy, Nir Bitton and Dale Stephens in their squad lol.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Martinez Quarta, N.Tavares, Luis, Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar, Cervi, Kaio Jorge*

A comfortable win with the only downside being the fact that Rony Lopes missed a penalty.

--

Taca de Portugal Semi-Final 2nd Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Meunier, Conti, Martinez Quarta (Antunes), N.Tavares, Weigl, Gabriel, Santos, Camara, Cervi (Jota), Carlos Vinicius (Resende)

I decided to play my backups for the 2nd leg as I had a 3-0 lead in my back pocket. We didn't win but we got through and I was able to give debuts to 16y/o Nuno Antunes and 17y/o Joao Resende.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis (Gabriel), Sanches, Rony Lopes*, Aouar (Camara), Fischer (Cervi), Kaio Jorge

I have never heard of Mafra before tbh and we easily beat them here.

--

UEFA Europa League 1st Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Martinez Quarta, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches*, Rony Lopes (Pedrinho), Aouar, Santos, Carlos Vinicius

I ****** up big tome as I presumed that I could register a whole new squad - apparently not. I knew this at registration time and went on holiday for a day to see what the CPU decides. It has decided that I cannot select Fischer, Conti, Zouma and Kaio Jorge. In the end it didn't matter here as we thumped Shakhtar thanks to a great hat-trick from Renato Sanches.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches, Rony Lopes*, Aouar, Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

It is becoming blatantly obvious that if you spend the best part of £150m in Liga Nos you will cruise most games. I still have £100m left to spend remember lol.

--

UEFA Europa League 1st Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam (Meunier), Ferro, Martinez Quarta, N.Tavares, Gabriel, Sanches (Weigl), Rony Lopes*, Camara, Santos (Jota), Carlos Vinicius

Through we go. Shakhtar's 2 keepers are Szczeszny and Buffon - my 2 keepers at Juventus last season lol.

--

Lineup - Svilar, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches, Pedrinho, Aouar (Camara), Fischer*, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

--

SUMMARY

A near perfect month. We are steam rolling teams domestically and are gunning for a domestic treble. My new signings have totally rejuvinated the squad and we are winning games for fun. I cant stop thinking ahead to the summer to see what I can bring in to strengthen the squad even more to make them able to challenge for the Champions League.

In the Europa League we dumped out Shakhtar Donetsk and we have a tie against Borussia Monchengladbach to look forward too.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
RONY LOPES

--

LIGA NOS

​

 

[Klippybo]

MARCH

UEFA Europa League 2nd Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Svilar, Dakonam (Meunier), Ferro, Martinez Quarta, Grimaldo, Luis (Gabriel), Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar, Santos (Pedrinho), Carlos Vinicius

A rare defeat but with 2 away goals I have to be confident that we can turn it around in the 2nd leg although with a weakened squad it will be tough.

--

View attachment 493487

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro (Conti), Zouma, Grimaldo*, Luis, Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar, Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

Kurt Zouma should have been the star man here as he scored twice but he also missed a penalty to deny him an unlikely hat-trick. As it was Alex Grimaldo stole the show with 3 assists. Kaio Jorge had a goal disallowed.

--

UEFA Europa League 2nd Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Arsenio, Grimaldo, Luis (Weigl), Sanches, Rony Lopes (Pedrinho), Aouar, Santos*, Carlos Vinicius (Jota)

We weren't great at all here and were lucky to win but win we did and we make it through to the next round.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Meunier*, Ferro, Zouma, N.Tavares, Luis, Gabriel (Weigl), Rony Lopes (Pedrinho), Camara, Fischer (Cervi), Kaio Jorge

Once again it wasn't great but we got the job done. That's 13 league wins in a row now as we lead the way at the top of the table.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Martinez Quarta, Zouma, Grimaldo, Gabriel, Sanches*, Pedrinho (Santos), Camara, Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

Renato Sanches had an eventful game as he got 2 goals and then promptly got sent-off!!!! I rested some of my players for the upcoming FC Porto game here.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Meunier, Ferro, Zouma, Rodrigues, Luis, Gabriel (Weigl), Rony Lopes*, Aouar (Chiquinho), Fischer (Cervi), Kaio Jorge

A fantastic victory which moves us 6pts clear at the top of the table. We scored 3 goals in 6 1st half minutes which blew Porto away in truth. I am surprised at how comfortable it was as we were missing a few players and I had to give a debut to 19y/o LB Rafael Rodrigues.

--

SUMMARY

We were excellent yet again this month. Sure we lost to Borussia MGB in the first leg of our Europa League tie but we came back to win the tie overall so I can live with that. In the quarter-finals of that competition we have drawn against FC Porto who we just beat 3-0 in the league.

In the league we have been outstanding. We have won our last 15 matches all told in Liga Nos and have opened up a 6pt gap at the top of the table so everything is looking good on that front. We have qualified for the Champions League for next season but the transfer budget isn't extended by anything - its still £100m.

The youth intake was pretty **** tbh.

Interestingly both Marseille and Borussia Dortmund sacked their managers during the month. The Dortmund job definitely interested me but I am onto a good thing here with Benfica and have a healthy budget and in all honesty I think we will have a stronger squad than them next season.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
KURT ZOUMA

--

LIGA NOS

​

 

[Klippybo]

APRIL

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo (N.Tavares), Luis (Gabriel), Sanches, Rony Lopes, Aouar (Camara), Cervi, Kaio Jorge*

An important win this. Braga matched us for 45min but in the 2nd half we showed our class and easily won. Renato Sanches has really impressed me since his arrival. Hassem Aouar was the marquee signing but he has probably been the most disappointing one lol.

--

UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Arsenio, Grimaldo, Luis, Sanches, Pedrinho (Camara), Aouar, Santos (Jota), Carlos Vinicius (Chiquinho)

A horrible performance but an adequate - at best - result. We had a goal disallowed through Ferro and that was as good as it got for us. At least we didn't lose or concede an away goal. If I could play my 1st team I think we would have trounced them again.

--

View attachment 493812

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Meunier, Ferro, Zouma, N.Tavares, Luis, Sanches, Rony Lopes, Camara, Fischer, Kaio Jorge*

Unbelievable. That's all I have to say really. They just appointed a new manager too.

--

UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam (Meunier), Ferro, Martinez Quarta, Grimaldo, Luis (Gabriel), Sanches, Rony Lopes (Pedrinho), Aouar*, Santos, Carlos Vinicius

We progress into the semis with another away goals rule victory. When we went 2-0 up it was game over and despite them pulling us back level they were never going to complete their comeback to win the tie.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Martinez Quarta, Ferro, Grimaldo, Luis (Gabriel), Sanches, Rony Lopes (Pedrinho), Aouar, Fischer, Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

It seemed that Rio Ave were going to be the 1st team to stop us winning in Liga Nos since I took charge but we got a penalty in the last minute of stoppage time and Carlos Vinicius converted to give us the win.

--

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Dakonam, Ferro, Zouma, Grimaldo, Luis (Weigl), Gabriel, Pedrinho, Camara*, Fischer (Cervi), Kaio Jorge (Carlos Vinicius)

Ronaldo Camara got his first goal for the club here and he was superb as he finally put In a great performance although admittedly he has mainly been a sub for us. I rested some of my 1st team players for the upcoming Arsenal game - was still a strong side because half my team cant play in the Europa League lol.

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UEFA Europa League Semi-Final 1st Leg

Lineup - Vlachodimos, Meunier, Ferro, Martinez Quarta, Grimaldo, Luis (Gabriel), Sanches (Weigl), Rony Lopes, Aouar (Camara), Santos, Carlos Vinicius*

What a win this is!!! To beat Arsenal by 4 goals with an under strength side is some achievement and it goes on to show how good my Benfica side really is and I say again - I still have at least £100m to strengthen it!!!! Carlos Vinicius was the hero of the hour with a fabulous hat-trick.

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SUMMARY

The final month of the season is destined to be a frantic one. We go into it 1pt away from securing the league title, in the domestic cup final and have a 4-0 lead going into the Europa League semi-final. We had 2 stupendous performances this month as we beat Sporting Lisbon 6-0 in the league and Arsenal 4-0 in the Europa League which reiterates my point - with £100m to spend in the summer before player sales are taken into account - we have a great team in the making here!

A special shout out goes to my backup striker Carlos Vinicius who not only got a hat-trick against Arsenal but also got the last minute winner against Rio Ave but also scored against Moreirense and FC Porto during the month!!!!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CARLOS VINICIUS

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LIGA NOS

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