[FM21] FC Porto

[noikeee]

I have a new boss... uhhh... what?

[noikeee]

Transfer window roundup. I also sold centerback Diogo Leite (28.5M€ + clauses to Everton) and midfielder Sergio Oliveira left the club on a free.

Centerback Hendriksen and striker Lira I already shown in the previous page, they're very promising, new backup goalkeeper Javier Belman isn't all that interesting. The 2 other BIG new names are the following:

 

 

By this stage I'm just taking the ****, as to how stacked with talent we are from midfield onwards (well there's no "onwards", we're strikerless). Here's the squad as it stands:

 

 

We have started the season well, as you'd expect:

 

Champions League group is slightly tricky. Chelsea, RB Leipzig and Marseille.

[noikeee]

Our best 11 at the moment:

Almada has a pretty serious injury so I'm thinking Fekir might play instead of him most of the CL group stage.

[noikeee]

Breaking random records.

[noikeee]

Uhh.. guys.. I'm sorry if this isn't very entertaining to follow, as I guess it's not the most challenging career I've ever played.

All wins so far this season, we've literally won every single match.

 

The league table is hilarious with Sporting 7th and Benfica 13th. Not brilliant for football in Madeira with Marítimo and Nacional battling relegation.

 

 

Lads, it's Tottenham next.

 

Some bizarre things going on in stats as Fábio Vieira is top scorer (eh?) and Otávio is adding up an absolutely sensational number of assists... yet is probably about to depart the club as he complained he's not playing enough football and I decided to promise to sell him as he's already 29 and we have too many players.

I would be open to selling a few, Diogo Jota has largely been a disappointment, Asensio has done nothing yet (not considering selling him yet but he needs to step up soon), Evanilson is doing okay but seems overvalued by the game and is complaining about not enough games too. In fact that's pretty much a pattern throughout most of the squad, which is what you'd expect when I stack tons of talent in a huge squad and rotate a ton. I'm sorry, I can't help it, happens every career.

[noikeee]

This is a thing, that has happened.

[Rikulec]

It's going quite well, I see.

[noikeee]

13 hours ago, Rikulec said:

It's going quite well, I see.

I've had worse runs.

[john1]

Some impressive statistics to look at with your players form! Should smash Spurs  

[deltablue]

That's quite a run. I had something similar wih my Schalke team where one season I think we won every match in the first half of the season.

[noikeee]

On 04/06/2021 at 22:54, john1 said:

Some impressive statistics to look at with your players form! Should smash Spurs  

Well that was an impressive bit of foreshadowing as you're about to see. 

On 05/06/2021 at 09:50, deltablue said:

That's quite a run. I had something similar wih my Schalke team where one season I think we won every match in the first half of the season.

It's easier in a "smaller" league like this, pulling it off in the Bundesliga is quite impressive.

[noikeee]

This was worrying. Spurs finished our undefeated run (although by this stage we had already drawn two matches in the league), and put our chances of proceeding in the CL seriously in jeopardy with a 3-1 win in the first leg.

 

But it took us 10 minutes to turn the tie around and start winning on away goals. Then we added another.. then another.. then.. then.. well...

 

It was a magnificent performance from Brazilian winger Sávio with an hat-trick and an assist.

 

In other news, we won the league cup, we're in the cup final, and apparently we're 1 point from winning the league with 2 months to go.

The league has been hilarious this season, sure there's zero challenge but I've been very amused by what's happened to Sporting and Benfica. Braga, Rio Ave, Belenenses and Famalicão fighting for a CL spot is the Universe I want to live in.

[noikeee]

I forgot talking about the January transfers, but there was nothing particularly meaningful other than we poached this kid for the future:

 

 

Speaking of kids there's a new generation brewing out, most of whom are out on loan.

Let's start from the 2 stars we bought the last 2 seasons, Colombia's Arias and Ivory Coast's Akoukou. They're both progressing really well and it might be time to take them as part of the senior squad for next season:

 

 

For me it's pretty clear Arias will fight for the wide playmaker slot we play on the right wing, and Akoukou for the mezzala role.

 

However our youth isn't restricted only to the players I've scouted and poached over the years, we've also been churning out some HG players. Pinto and Yordane are 2 players I haven't mentioned yet, because I didn't like the look of them and didn't think much of them, but they're reaching levels I never thought were possible:

 

 

They're both wonderkids, both out on loan to Celta. Pinto seems to me like yet another player that would slot in for the WP role, but this is starting to look super crowded with Otávio, Marco Asensio and Arias I've just screenshotted above, fighting for it. Yordane is also tough to fit in because he doesn't suit our system - we need attack-minded fullbacks and I definitely don't want a centerback with jumping of 6. He's also not good enough on the ball to play as our defensive midfielder, which I use on DLP role.

 

But wait. There's more.

 

An actual non-regen real player, Vasco Sousa is another that seems to be reaching levels I didn't expect. With 17 passing/17 vision and also decent finishing and pace, he could be an extra weapon for any of the shadow striker, mezzala, or wide playmaker roles.

If I weren't chasing the Champions League, I'd get rid of the likes of Asensio, Otávio, Diogo Jota, opening up places for all these kids in my midfield, but I want to get the big shiny cup first.

 

The final player I want to mention - and I could mention quite a lot more, our academy has churned out quite a few Colombians thanks to a partnership we had with a Colombian club - is Portuguese-Swiss goalkeeper Eugène Hanslimann:

 

A few steps below the others in development, Eugène isn't making the first team squad soon, but at the age of 18 and with a lot of potential, I do expect him to eventually make it.

[noikeee]

Champions League draw. Quite happy with that, we should be favourites over Ajax in the quarters.

[john1]

Delicious win over Spurs  Not bad draw against Ajax, should breeze past them.

Can I see your scouting set up/scouts assignments?

[HugoLazgo12]

4 hours ago, noikeee said:

Champions League draw. Quite happy with that, we should be favourites over Ajax in the quarters.

wow you beat tottenham by 7-0 and you get ajax wow too easy from porto

how you creating that tactic and how braga is doing at table

what happen to benfica and sporting did they lose all the games or something

[deltablue]

10 hours ago, noikeee said:

Well that was an impressive bit of foreshadowing as you're about to see. 

It's easier in a "smaller" league like this, pulling it off in the Bundesliga is quite impressive.

Oh I didn't just mean in the league. I located the fixture screenshots and aside from a defeat in the final Champions League group game every single match in all competitions was won up until the first Champions League knockout match!

[noikeee]

Sorry for only answering now guys, I'm really only loading up FM like once or twice a week these days, so the thread is super slow.

On 12/06/2021 at 14:04, john1 said:

Delicious win over Spurs  Not bad draw against Ajax, should breeze past them.

Can I see your scouting set up/scouts assignments?

It's really nothing special at all, just as many scouts as I can get, scouting mostly Europe and the Americas:

On 12/06/2021 at 17:09, HugoLazgo12 said:

wow you beat tottenham by 7-0 and you get ajax wow too easy from porto

how you creating that tactic and how braga is doing at table

what happen to benfica and sporting did they lose all the games or something

The tactic I created over the course of the first few seasons, after being absolutely **** at the beginning. Once I noticed the team was playing great and it worked in 95% of matches, I just never touched it again.

Braga are 2nd. I have no idea why Sporting and Benfica are suddenly so bad this season.

On 12/06/2021 at 21:05, deltablue said:

Oh I didn't just mean in the league. I located the fixture screenshots and aside from a defeat in the final Champions League group game every single match in all competitions was won up until the first Champions League knockout match!

Yeah I understood you, I meant it's harder to win that many matches when you're in a much tougher league like the Bundesliga. Lots more tougher matches to play through the season.

[noikeee]

The manager I'm facing in the next league match against Louletano!

[noikeee]

Ajax scored first in both matches, but after the dominant display in the 1st leg (and in the 2nd too, we just struggled to score in Amsterdam), this was never in doubt.

 

We reach the semi-finals for the 3rd consecutive year. In 2023 we lost to Man Utd and in 2024 to Man City, those 2 teams face each other in the other semi-final whilst we're up against another English side, Liverpool. Is it finally time for my first CL final appearance with Porto?

 

[john1]

Great win over Ajax

[noikeee]

In Anfield we took the lead the 1st minute but they quickly turned it around and went into halftime winning 2-1.

I eventually did some changes bringing on Chong and Fabio Vieira from the bench, and this time it worked. Both would score to give us a very nice advantage into the 2nd leg - definitely our best chance yet of making the Champions League final.

 

Back home it was a tense match and they got the goal first through Ansu Fati, who had already scored one in the 1st leg. We went into half-time losing 0-1, knowing one extra goal would put them ahead.

But no, this time it went our way. We had a lot of chances, Almada and Jota scored and we're through to the final!!!

 

 

 

This will be our first final in 21 years, the last one being the one Mourinho won for us. Prior to that we'd only been in the 1986 final as well, which we also won beating Bayern Munich.

Man Utd won the 2021 and 2023 titles, so will want to add a 3rd one in 5 years. The Nou Camp is a lucky stadium for them of course, given it was the place of the 1999 final miracle.

Edited June 19, 2021 by noikeee

[HugoLazgo12]

On 19/06/2021 at 02:09, noikeee said:

In Anfield we took the lead the 1st minute but they quickly turned it around and went into halftime winning 2-1.

I eventually did some changes bringing on Chong and Fabio Vieira from the bench, and this time it worked. Both would score to give us a very nice advantage into the 2nd leg - definitely our best chance yet of making the Champions League final.

 

Back home it was a tense match and they got the goal first through Ansu Fati, who had already scored one in the 1st leg. We went into half-time losing 0-1, knowing one extra goal would put them ahead.

But no, this time it went our way. We had a lot of chances, Almada and Jota scored and we're through to the final!!!

 

 

 

This will be our first final in 21 years, the last one being the one Mourinho won for us. Prior to that we'd only been in the 1986 final as well, which we also won beating Bayern Munich.

Man Utd won the 2021 and 2023 titles, so will want to add a 3rd one in 5 years. The Nou Camp is a lucky stadium for them of course, given it was the place of the 1999 final miracle.

Wow Porto are in final from third time in 21 years holy bananas

[noikeee]

Prior to the Champions League final. This is how we stand.

It's obviously been a good season for the club. We've cleared out all domestic trophies (league, cup, league cup and supercup), beat our league points total record by going a 2nd consecutive undefeated season in the league, and have only lost one football match all season long, away to Tottenham in the CL last 16.

 

The squad stats look like this:

Winger Sávio has been top scorer again, whilst Fabio Vieira has surprised with a massive 19 goals from the mezzala position, despite not even being part of the first XI. We have struggled for goals a little from all the shadow strikers with no outstanding player in the position, even still Almada, Fekir, Jota, Evanilson all just about managed to clear the 10 goal mark. Almada has had a bit of a bad season but that was due to being injured for a long time.

Otávio has been a surprise overachiever, with a monstrous 21 assists from the wide playmaker position. I have been sitting Marco Asensio on the bench due to this - the experienced Brazilian player has been outstanding even if the average rating doesn't show it.

Centerback Huub Hendriksen has been the signing of the season. He is our best CB at the age of 20, and is already being chased by PSG and Barcelona.

[noikeee]

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL KICK-OFF TIME

I've put on my shirt and tie and clinched my fists. It's game time.

 

My assistant manager is playing 4D chess and telling the press we're afraid of the opposition. The players reaction? They love it and are pumped for the match. Makes total logical sense. Never change FM, never change.

 

We go full strenght for the match, no unavailable players, most of the first XI is fully match fit. Nabil Fekir (still on loan from Liverpool) and Otávio get the nod over the likes of Diogo Jota and Marco Asensio, as they've done so in recent weeks. Likewise centerback Nordi Mukiele over homegrown CB David Vinhas, on the basis of a little extra pace and no "doesn't enjoy big matches", although he's slightly weaker in the air.

 

Solskjaer's Man Utd, have just sealed the Premier League title and arrive with the experience of having won 2 Champions Leagues in the last 4 years, wanting to make it 3. But, they are without Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho, both injured.

 

 

PEEP PEEP! It's kickoff!

[noikeee]

FIRST HALF

22 seconds: Lautaro pings a long pass for Adeyemi...... He's through!!!!

 

 

GOAL!! MAN UTD!! 1-0!! Oh no! We're not even 1 minute into the game and they're already in front!

 

5 minutes: Both our fullbacks Esteves and Pellegrini have seen yellow cards already. This is really a poor start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25 minutes: 3 shots to Man Utd, 0 to Porto. Well that's not what we need. I'd actually take a more interesting game and more things happening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

37 minutes: Corner for Man Utd... Godfrey heads it.... HITS THE BAR!!! Nearly 2-0 there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALF TIME: Guys, we've not turned up.  

 

[noikeee]

SECOND HALF

 

48 minutes: Out goes Nabil Fekir, in comes Fábio Vieira. He'll play as mezzala and Zaniolo is promoted upfront to shadow striker.

 

52 minutes: Freekick to Utd... they ping it around... find Greenwood in the area!! Tipped over by Diogo Costa! He saves again in the following corner, a header from Adeyemi.

 

 

57 minutes: Thiago Almada is having a poor match, I sub him off for Evanilson.

 

62 minutes: Another big chance for Utd. They steal the ball in our midfield and Lautaro breaks into the area, but fires it wide.

 

69 minutes: We ping it around.. Evanilson tries a shot from just within the area... De Gea tips it over the bar! Our best chance in almost 70 minutes, we've been so poor today. But Utd seem to be retreating slightly and we're playing a bit more in their midfield. There's still time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

74 minutes: Sávio is off for former Man Utd player Tahith Chong. Maybe he'll get revenge over his former club.

 

 

75 minutes: Utd cross to the area... big chance Diogo Costa parries it... goes for a rebound... Rashford to Adeyemi... 2-0!! GOAL FOR UTD!! Seems like we're just way outclassed today.

 

77 minutes: Chong takes a freekick... headed away... back to Chong, shoots! Over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

88 minutes: Pellegrini... Chong... runs to the byline crosses low... Zaniolo has the ball in a great position!!! Scrambled away

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

94 minutes: Fabio Vieira has a corner... Utd clear it.. Cucurella has it and goes for a counter... The ref whistles it!! MAN UTD ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE YET AGAIN!  

 

 

FULL TIME: We just didn't turn up for the crucial match. Oh well, at least we still went one step further this season than the seasons before.

 

[Rikulec]

Ouch. There's always next season though!

[noikeee]

Top 5 players of the season:

1. Sávio (ML) - Perhaps not quite as outstanding as last year, but 22 goals and 9 assists.

2. Huub Hendriksen (DC) - Magnificent centerback establishing himself as one of the best in the world at the age of 20, in his 1st season in Portugal. Worth every cent of his 26M€ transfer fee last Summer.

3. Nicolo Zaniolo (MC, AMC, MR) - Still one of our elite players despite having a slightly quieter season. 11 goals, 10 assists.

4. Otávio (MR, MC) - Ratings don't show his ability, but the 21 assists were absolutely freakish.

5. Fábio Vieira (MC, MR, AMC) - The ultimate supersub, managed to get 19 goals and 11 assists from the mezzala position even though I played Zaniolo over him.

Little recap of where we're at after 5 seasons:

Season 1 - 2020/2021
Domestic:
2nd place in Liga NOS
Taça de Portugal semi-finals
Allianz Cup winners
Supertaça finalists
Continental:
Champions League quarter-finals

Season 2 - 2021/2022
Domestic:
2nd place in Liga NOS
Taça de Portugal 6th round
Allianz Cup semi-finals
Continental:
Champions League group stage
Europa League quarter-finals

Season 3 - 2022/2023
Domestic:
Liga NOS winners
Taça de Portugal semi-finals
Allianz Cup finalist
Continental:
Champions League semi-finals

Season 4 - 2023/2024
Domestic:
Liga NOS winners (undefeated)
Taça de Portugal winners
Allianz Cup winners
Supertaça winners
Continental:
Champions League semi-finals

Season 5 - 2024/2025
Domestic:
Liga NOS winners (undefeated)
Taça de Portugal winners
Allianz Cup winners
Supertaça winners
Continental:
Champions League finalists

[noikeee]

FIFA Club World Cup time!

[john1]

Unlucky in Champions League Final  

[noikeee]

Player fitness just became an absolute joke as the entire team was incredibly tired through this tournament, and even still we nearly managed to hold on to a 1-0 lead over Man City, only to concede in minutes 90 and 94. Not a classic performance.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2025/2026

A busy pre-season as I've revamped the squad a fair bit, trying to improve my starting XI to get the missing edge that could let us finally win the Champions League.

Forwards Diogo Jota, Evanilson, Luis Diaz, midfielders Otávio, Marco Asensio, Romário Baró, Nabil Fekir, defenders Davinson Sanchez, Angeliño, Hector Bellerin and goalkeeper Javier Belman, have all left us. We have collected a total 182M€ which doesn't include the Otávio and Sanchez moves which happened before the previous season ended, and this will become even more cash once the loan moves for Diaz and Asensio become permanent. Although many of these players were class, almost none were quite guaranteed starters (apart from Otávio who was already 30, and Fekir who was 31 and only on loan), some were underperformers.

With this money we have massively invested in specially 3 players that I expect to hold on starting positions (Reinier, Lorenzo Pirola who is a new record signing, Eddie Salcedo), plus a few others that add depth at a high level (Gollini, Garner, Bard, Gonzalez), and I also opened up squad places for 5 players who were out on loan last year and now become first team members.

Over to the new faces:

Real Madrid were mental to not use him, I see him as the perfect mezzala allowing Zaniolo to move upfront and play as shadow striker (I could also do it the other way around if it doesn't work).

The new record signing is an upgrade on the CB position and will play next to Hendriksen, although Vinhas and Mukiele are also excellent players, we are incredibly strong in this area of the squad.

I am not entirely sure he's the ideal shadow striker as he might just be sliiiiightly below the level I want here, however the price was brilliant, he's still 23, and the likes of Jota, Evanilson and Diaz just weren't performing to the expected standard, so we didn't lose out on anything. Plus Salcedo has started brilliantly already with 3 assists and 1 goal.

Slight upgrade on the backup keeper position, came in as a free transfer, I keep on making money out of backup keepers so this is a nice little side hustle if I sell him in 1 or 2 years time for say 10M€ or 15M€.

This Argentinian kid doesn't quite have the profile I want in a fullback as I want better crossing and dribbling, however the potential is immense, he's either footed and can cover a few other positions as well. For 8.5M€ it was a no-brainer.

I figured he was a slight upgrade on Romario Baró for the DLP position. I'm not sure "gets forward whenever possible" is the trait I want in a DM, but we play all-out-attack and all about the runs from the center anyway. Should push Vitor Ferreira for the starting spot.

Pretty much interchangeable with Angeliño which was the previous backup LB I have, however he's younger, has the potential to still get much better, and accepted mere "squad player" status. I missed out on an incredible deal for a LB days later after signing him, Nuno Mendes became available for 40M€ but I couldn't justify bringing him to the club as the upgrade on Pellegrini (our starting LB) would've been negligble.

 

Then there's the guys that return from loans:

I'm turning him into the wide playmaker on MR, as Otávio and Asensio have left I need options. He's one of 3 players I'm trying to fit in the position, the main one is Thiago Almada who I'm dropping deeper after a few seasons playing as shadow striker, the other is another kid I returned from a loan who I'm just about to show too.

Struggling to reach his incredible potential, I see him as a great mezzala in the making but he needs to improve a fair bit still to get into the team over the likes of Reinier (or Zaniolo) and Fabio Vieira.

Couldn't quite hold down a senior squad slot last year and I loaned him out to Brazil, I'm giving him another go and want to play him in the league matches as shadow striker, whilst the likes of Salcedo-Zaniolo play in the starting 11 for the big CL matches. Much like many of these youngsters he's "inconsistent" which drives me crazy as it means he plays half the matches below his level, he could become great if he drops that trait.

One of 2 youth players that finally make the senior squad. He could play pretty much anywhere in the final third, I see him best fitting the wide playmaker role on the right (I'm retraining), he'll fight for the position with Almada and Arias.

The other youth intake player that finally reaches the senior squad. Much like the Argentinian kid I just bought, he's not my kind of rightback, I would want him to be better going forward, however he's getting a bit too good to ignore, and I'm still trying to figure out whether him or Gonzalez is the best backup for Tomás Esteves as rightback.

Meaning this is our current squad, and our expected strongest 11 now:

The next obvious upgrade is at goalkeeper but I'm yet to find anyone better than Diogo Costa that I can afford, plus he's homegrown. That's the next move, I'm trying to accumulate enough cash until I can buy a superkeeper or something.

The season has started as you'd expect:

And the CL group is like this, wouldn't expect us to have any problems with it:

Edited June 24, 2021 by noikeee

[noikeee]

Mid-season report 2025/2026

State of things at the end of December 2025:

Pretty standard, however the 3 matches we didn't win were quite significant. In the cup we got nearly knocked out by Benfica but survived in the penalties. And in the Champions League we weren't good enough against Inter, which is slightly concerning. This meant we lost 1st place in the group and therefore got a tougher draw in the round of 16 as we'll play Real Madrid.

 

  

Looking at the player stats, it's the usual again everything well spread between lots of different players. I think Sávio deserves a special mention, he's been probably our best player the last few years, but has reached perhaps an extra level I hadn't see in previous years, already at 7 goals 11 assists (the assists are new) and a breathtaking 7.80 average rating.

Beyond that, Fábio Vieira continues to exceed his skills on paper, albeit he's helped by taking penalty kicks, and being played in the weaker league matches instead of starting in Champions League matches; and deep-lying playmaker James Garner has been a surprise as to how quickly he's started to perform for the club, with a wonderful 8 assists. Young striker (played by me as shadow striker) Lira has also returned quite well from loan, he was unimpressive when I first played him last year so I sent him on loan, but now he's already on 8 goals. Daouda Akouokou has also returned great from loan, already on 7 goals albeit he plays as mezzala which tends to be the position that scores the most in recent seasons (on par with the LW), this is benefitting new signing Reinier as well who is too on 7 goals.

 

[noikeee]

This is strange, he's good but I think he's the weakest player in my starting 11.  Happy for him, though.

[noikeee]

Few signings for the future in January:

 

 

I also got this guy earlier in the Summer and he's developing like crazy:

 

 

 

And a couple of our own youth players that are developing great too (we get Colombians because we had some weird partnership with a Colombian club, that sadly the board cut off):

[noikeee]

An insane couple of deals

So Man Utd came in with a big bid for Zaniolo (I think it was 90M€ or so). Then I negotiated up to 175M€ almost as a joke. They... accepted.

I had to follow through on it. Although Zaniolo is a sensational player, irreplaceable, he only had 18 more months on his contract and it wasn't looking like he'd renew. We therefore to an absolutely incredible player for us the last few seasons.

 

 

That completely smashed the Portuguese transfer record - still belonged to João Felix's 126M€ move from Benfica to Atlético.

Now, although there was no matching player for him on the market, I still wanted to bring someone in. The closest thing I could find, would cost me an extraordinary amount of money as well, specially in wages (although I still made a big, big profit in transfer fee, even if I broke the Portuguese transfer record for signings too). Say hello to the next big thing in Brazilian football, Dionathan.

 

At the moment I am planning to play him as mezzala, pushing up Reinier to shadow striker where Zaniolo was playing this season. Giving us the current starting XI:

 

We're starting to look very Brazilian, with Dionathan, Sávio and Reinier all Brazilian national team stars leading the line for us.

The main concern is whether players will want a raise now, because Dionathan is being paid so much more than everyone else now.

[john1]

Insane offer for Zaniolo! But good replacement for him  You can beat Real Madrid!

[noikeee]

Situation going into the Real Madrid last 16 match:

I have a funny feeling we're going to be knocked out. Always get a dip in form this time of the season after smashing everyone in January and February.

They've got a bunch of world class players as you'd expect but the guy that scares me is Mbappé.

[john1]

[noikeee]

6 hours ago, john1 said:

We did it  

[noikeee]

Ok so this went better than Belgium-Portugal. Sealed it in the first leg, Mbappé was nowhere to be seen.

 

 

This sets up a match against the other big team from Spain, Barcelona. We beat them in the last 16 round 2 years ago, and in the groups 3 years ago, so at least the recent history is positive in our favour. Chelsea or Leipzig if we go through.

 

In the league, the prospect of a full season only with wins, no draws no defeats, is starting to look real. We've recently broken past the mark of 100 consecutive league matches without losing, currently 101 and counting.

[noikeee]

First leg was a spectacular match in Catalonia, we had Reinier to thank for with an inspired hat-trick, this put us in a comfortable position to go back home.

At home we got a bit of a scare as they went a goal up, but the season's other huge signing Dionathan showed up big, scoring twice. They still equalised near the end, but we were through to our 4th consecutive CL semi-final.

 

Chelsea in the semi-finals are beatable, we overcame them in the groups last year, it's the Manchester clubs I fear. This year they've both been eliminated, so it might the opening we need to finally win the competition.

 

In the league we're mathematical champions and chasing the 100% wins record, 4 matches to go. Playing Benfica away in between the Champions League semi-final 1st and 2nd leg, is the one that might stand in the way of the record.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by noikeee

[wynter]

Love ya work, boss!

[abulezz]

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona in one go - I bet the fans in Porto are in partying it up right now, lol. 

[noikeee]

8 hours ago, wynter said:

Love ya work, boss!

Cheers boss.

1 hour ago, abulezz said:

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona in one go - I bet the fans in Porto are in partying it up right now, lol. 

Nah with all the winning in recent years I bet they've all become entitled and turned into cynical bastards. "How could we lose in Madrid" "Unacceptable to let 2 goals in at home to Barcelona" etc 

I've said it a few times but again, I know this thread is boring but I just really want to win the CL with my club for once in FM 

Edited June 28, 2021 by noikeee

[noikeee]

In the 1st leg our Brazilian talent showed their ability once again, Reinier continues to have a magnificent CL run and scored twice, whilst Sávio added the other. Much like against Real Madrid, we sealed our qualification at home here.

In the return leg, both goalscorers (Reinier and Sávio) were unavailable due to injury and couldn't travel to London. It was a scruffy, even match, they scored the only goal, but we held on to make our 2nd consecutive Champions League final.

 

We will play Bayern in a repeat of the 1987 final, in which we won our first European trophy. We haven't played them in recent seasons so I'm not sure what to expect. 

 

 

[noikeee]

Build-up to the Champions League final:

We have achieved the 100% wins season in the league. Currently on a string of 36 consecutive wins and 108 matches unbeaten. Benfica nearly stopped this run but we got a couple late goals in that match to seal it. Likewise the Portuguese Cup final was tight, but Salcedo showed up late with an excellent 2 goals.

Onto the player stats:

We have 9 different players on double figures of goals, which is the sort of thing I enjoy a lot. Would've been 10 players had Zaniolo stayed a little longer and scored 1 more goal.

The standouts have probably been, like the last couple of seasons, Sávio (17G 20A) and supersub Fábio Vieira (20G 17A). I don't understand why Fábio Vieira is so good, consistently outperforms his attributes.

Onto the CL final, in which we should play our strongest XI apart from Luca Pellegrini who is injured - in comes Melvin Bard.

[noikeee]

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL FIRST HALF

No Pellegrini means Bard is in, other than that it's our strongest XI:

Bayern are also a fair bit decent... Bailey and Sane is a wonderful combo of wingers, and midfielder Elezi is a youngster I've been following for a few years, one of the best mezzalas in the world:

 

Minute 5: Sané gains the byline, crosses, there's a big mess in the area... cleared!

 

Minute 8: First yellow card and it's for their rightback Özdemir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 24: Salcedo steals the ball... goes on the counter alone.... passes it back... we lose the ball again...

 

.... SALCEDO REGAINS THE BALL!! GOES IN THE DIRECTION OF THE OPPOSITION'S GOAL!!! 1-0 GOAL FOR PORTO!!

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 32: We regain the ball... Almada in acres of space... PLAYS THE THROUGHBALL TO REINIER!! HE'S THROUGH!! 2-0 GOAL FOR PORTO!!

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 34: Another quick regaining of possession in Bayern's midfield... ball drops to Salcedo... FINDS DIONATHAN WITH A THROUGH BALL!! 3-0 GOAL FOR PORTO!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 42: Bad backpass from Vitinha, Sané gains the ball... runs down the left flank... tries to shoot from an angle... saved by Diogo Costa.

 

 

Minute 43: Almada... hopeful throughball for Dionathan.. he's in some space... TRIES TO LOB THE KEEPER!!! 4-0 GOAL FOR PORTO!!! INCREDIBLE GOAL BY DIONATHAN!

 

 

Half time: Wow, this could've hardly gone any better! Bayern have been playing into our hands giving us space for our throughballs, and we just took all of our chances. 45 minutes stand between us and the European Cup, provided something very weird doesn't happen.

 

[noikeee]

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL SECOND HALF

 

 

Minute 65: Nothing has happened in 20 minutes, this is brilliant for us. I take off Sávio for Conceição as he's tired after a long season.

 

 

Minute 70: Goalscorer Reinier is also tired, out for the pace of Tahith Chong.

 

 

 

Minute 71: Esteves.. Chong.. Almada.. THROUGHBALL FOR SALCEDO!! 5-0 GOAL FOR PORTO!! ANOTHER WONDERFUL LOB OF THE KEEPER!

 

 

 

Minute 81: Almada... Salcedo... ANOTHER GLORIOUS THROUGHBALL FOR DIONATHAN!!! 6-0 IT'S AN HATTRICK!!

 

 

 

Minute 83: Out goes the tired hat-trick man Dionathan. Worth the 118M€ transfer fee, every euro. In comes Fábio Vieira as a reward for his wonderful season.

 

 

 

Minute 84: Chong tries to dribble past Pavard in the area... it's a penalty!

 

 

Goes to VAR... confirms the decision!

 

 

Salcedo will take it...

 

 

7-0 FOR PORTO IT'S ANOTHER HATTRICK!!

 

Minute 86: Bayern subs Malcom and Vignato combine, Vignato is free!! Wide!! Nothing comes out right for Bayern tonight!

 

 

Minute 87: Almada... Salcedo... Chong is free!!! Tipped for a corner by Livakovic, nearly 8-0.

 

 

 

FULL TIME

 

 

Well that was much easier than I could've ever expected. That's the career's main goal achieved right here. European champions once again!