[FM23] Benfica & the Curse of Bela Guttmann

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

the Benfica production line never stops!

I certainly hope that's the case

[warlock]

First job offer, declined obvs

[warlock]

Fair to say, it's been a good start to the season

It perhaps goes without saying I won manager of the month, too.

Still a couple of days to go until the transfer window closes and I'm still nervous about losing one of the strikers. Full update on the month and the window in the morning.

[warlock]

September 2024

Transfers

I talked about our situation at right-back with backup Bah not really impressing but first-choice Gilbert wanting a big pay increase, which I was reluctant to offer. But offer a new contract I did in an effort to clarify the picture. He wanted a 3-year deal (not on) and to go from £30k a week to £80k a week (also not on). Rather than have an unhappy presence in the camp I listed him and Crystal Palace immediately offered £15m - somewhat below his book value but I was happy to take it. Especially as I knew there was an upgrade available we could afford:

Southampton had dropped out of the Premier League so I was happy to pay Tino's relegation release clause of just £25m, which seemed like a no-brainer. Bah's position is still under consideration but in pre-season he stepped up a level and he's safe for now, subject to review in January.

The big question of the window concerned the future of our two strikers - losing one would be bad; losing both would be disastrous. But as the summer wore on there were no bids forthcoming. In the meantime, I had identified young Brazilian Vitor Roque as one possible replacement; and Rasmus Hojlund as the other. In the event, Hojlund signed a new deal at Dortmund that removed a minimum fee and doubled his price to around £50m, making his signing much more difficult. And then Roque signed for Man Utd, making his signing impossible for this season. Retaining Araujo and Leonardo become even more important.

While that dragged on, Arsenal popped up out of nowhere with an offer for AMR Conceicao that will eventually rise to £30m, meeting his release clause and we were powerless to stop him going. Fortunately, we had a suitable replacement on the shortlist:

Celtic's Israeli international was very interested in a move to Lisbon and I was happy to sign him up for £22m. He settled in immediately and boasts one goal and two assists from one start and one sub appearance.

I was also considerting moving on DM Dominguez but my coaches suddenly started singing his praises and I decided to hold fire on that situation.

We still had no offers for Leonardo, and those that eventually arrived for Araujo were either insultingly low or came from clubs he had no interest in joining. I also had money burning a hole in my pocket so I made a move I'd been considering for a while:

We paid £18.5m - and the board think I overpaid - but having seen his development in my Brentford save I'm pretty sure he'll turn out to be a bit of bargain.

Which left me sweating for the remainder of the window because with just £24m remaining in the transfer kitty we'd struggle to replace either striker. And then it all kicked off.

Napoli starting spamming bids for Araujo that rose to exceed his release clause so we had to accept. And he turned down the contract, not just once but twice. He's still holding out for Real Madrid but they dropped out of the running early when we rejected their bid of around half his value. And then Chelsea came in with a bid for Leonardo that met his MFRC and he was keen to go.

I decided to try to talk him into staying and asked what it would take. £100k a week was the answer. Done, I said. And we removed the release clause in the process. He signed the new deal, Chelsea were refused, and all is well in Benfica land. But I've never been happier to see a transfer window close.

Early form

As indicated in the previous post, we've started rather well. The closest game of the month came in our opening fixture, the Supertaca against Sporting:

Our finishing was woeful and it took CB Pavlovic to put us in front, converting a Shopov corner early in the second half. It wasn't enough, though, and Sporting found an equaliser midway through the half to send us to penalties. Marcus Edwards missed their first but Shopov missed our fourth. Then Vlachodimos made himself a hero by saving Porto's fifth and we bagged our first trophy of the season.

After that, we were spectacular in the league:

Four wins from four, with 18 goals scored - although I'm less happy about conceding three.

We also received notice of our fixtures in the new Champions League format - RB Salzburg, Roma, Lyon, Ferencavaros, Villareal, Man City, Dinamo Zagreb and Panathanaikos. Not easy, but I guess it never is.

 

[Hootieleece]

I think you will do fine in the Champions League and just accept losing to Man City, but the rest are winnable. Concentrate on the Champions League play rotated squads in the league if you have to......

[Dong21]

Great news that you were able to retain Araujo and Leonardo. Good ‘tried and tested’ recruits as well. Form is looking good. Fingers crossed this is your year in the CL, or at least you get one step closer.

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Dong21 said:

get one step closer

I'd be happy enough with the semis. We've gone from R16 to quarters last time, so another step forward would be fine.

[Jogo Bonito]

A very good transfer window for sure! And the retention of your star strikers and new-season form shows all is positive there for you!

 

[Carambau]

You will have the league pocketed by February if you continue like that  In the Champions League it often depends on your form on that day so nothing is impossible for Benfica I´d say  

[warlock]

September 2024

Another positive month but one that saw us drop our first points of the season.

We ran riot against Academico in the league, but turned in an equally impressive performance against Salzburg to open our Champions League campaign. The away game at Vitoria de Guimaraes was something else:

Despite dominating the game we struggled to put our chances away, not helped by a suspected knee ligament injury to Leonardo that forced me to bring him off. After his yellow card I instructed Dominguez to ease off tackles - and he did - but in a midfield tussle he got too tight on an opponent who went down easily. The second yellow was harsh but off he went. However, we immediately took the lead as RB Bah nodded home a Danjuma freekick and I was hopeful that we could hold out for the victory. Unfortunately, a Vitoria attack saw us outnumbered at the far post and they found an unmarked player to tuck away the equaliser. A 24-game winning streak comes to an end.

Inevitably, after the final whistle it turned out that Leonardo was not actually injured, as witnessed by his performance against L2 opponents Santa Clara - he found the net 5 times in a rout.

October opens with a tougher test in the Champions League as we travel to Roma, which is curiously appropriate as I will be making the same trip on Thursday for a long weekend in the eternal city. Let's hope Benfica enjoy their visit as much as I'm sure I will.

[SixPointer]

Seimen is a bargain at that price, he cost me a fortune but he pulls off some saves! He does have games he decided to lose the plot though!

Form is on fire! It’s building nicely towards something special. Love that against Salzburg my hatred from my time in Austria lives on.

Pain in the ass when big teams hit the release clauses but suppose it adds to the realism off it all.

 

[warlock]

4 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Seimen is a bargain at that price, he cost me a fortune

Exactly my thought process - we didn't *need* hiim right now but his price was only going to increase. And as it happens, in my most recent staff meeting the coaches now rate Vlachodimos as only an L2-level 'keeper so the transition might happen sooner than I thought.

I'm happy to give Salzburg a mugging for you

[SixPointer]

4 hours ago, warlock said:

Exactly my thought process - we didn't *need* hiim right now but his price was only going to increase. And as it happens, in my most recent staff meeting the coaches now rate Vlachodimos as only an L2-level 'keeper so the transition might happen sooner than I thought.

I'm happy to give Salzburg a mugging for you

He is worth every penny when hes in this sort of form!

[warlock]

8 hours ago, SixPointer said:

He is worth every penny when hes in this sort of form!

Excellent stuff! I can only hope he develops the same in my save... and doesn't take too long to get there

[Jogo Bonito]

All of us that have managed Seimen (me at Stuttgart) have had great performances from him in FM23.

On 04/09/2023 at 00:26, warlock said:

October opens with a tougher test in the Champions League as we travel to Roma, which is curiously appropriate as I will be making the same trip on Thursday for a long weekend in the eternal city. Let's hope Benfica enjoy their visit as much as I'm sure I will.

Enjoy Rome. Has been a bit 'stormy' in these parts yesterday and today but hopefully Rome will be far enough way to be safe and calm. Ironically I'm off to Lisbon again in a few weeks time (and hopefully in that week will have a few days in Oporto also). It's like we are all visiting places that come up in FM23 - other than anybody going to Innsbruck of course 

[warlock]

8 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

hopefully Rome will be far enough way to be safe and calm

Looks like - forecast is constant 32deg temps and all-day sunshine. And enjoy Lisbon - oddly enough, I'll be there at the end of the month for a couple of days. It's a tough job being retired

I had hoped to update before I left but things got in the way. Should be in bed now - taxi is due in 6 hours!

Cheers, all.

[lfds89]

@warlock and @Jogo Bonito I'm from Porto, so if you guys need any help while you are here, feel free to DM me.

[Jogo Bonito]

5 hours ago, lfds89 said:

@warlock and @Jogo Bonito I'm from Porto, so if you guys need any help while you are here, feel free to DM me.

Thanks for that, very kind. I've been to Lisbon quite a bit in recent years so comfortable there, but nice to have that offer - especially if I do get to Oporto! 

@warlockWe will have to compare dates, we might even be there in Lisbon at the same time.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

On 07/09/2023 at 14:57, lfds89 said:

if you guys need any help while you are here, feel free to DM me

Thanks for the offer . I'm not sure we'll have time to visit Porto but I am sure we'll be back again some time in future.

Rome was great but very hot. And pasta and gelato did nothing for my diet but "when in Rome..."

[SixPointer]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

Rome was great but very hot. And pasta and gelato did nothing for my diet but "when in Rome..."

When in Rome indeed my friend! Life’s to short not to indulge 😀

[warlock]

October 2024

Another month with a fairly easy workload, and another good month in terms of results:

The away trip to Rome could have ended badly - after we opened the scoring inside 5 minutes, the Italians took the lead inside 10 minutes . Some slack defending allowed them a rapid-fire one-two punch and, in traditional Italian fashion, they set out to defend and frustrate. But just as I was resigned to returning home empty-handed, our young AMC Veloso got on the end of a David Neres through ball and made no mistake with his shot from the edge of the penalty area:

In a very even game I was pleased to grab a deserved share of the spoils.

A routine win against Estoril followed, and then a cup tie against lower-league opposition that gave some of our prospects the chance to shine. And shine they did, racking up a comfortable 5-1 victory.

We ended the month with another step on the road to - hopefully - Champions League glory against Lyon:

The match stats tell the story, although we could probably have won by a bigger margin. Once again Leonardo showed his value to the team, opening and closing the scoring by converting two Neres assists and claiming a hat-trick in the process. But the whole team was impressive and if you discount the penalty from their xG you can see we barely gave them a sniff.

It's still early days but we couldn't have asked for a better start to the season - we're dominating the attacking stats and only Sporting have a better defensive record (conceding just 3 goals in their first 7 games).

The only worry is wonderkid CB Antonio Silva, who is 'concerned' that he has only started 8 games (only Vlachodimos and Leonardo have started more). But I need to keep him happy as Chelsea and Real Madrid are already talking up a transfer move in the media. And on that subject, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd are regularly scouting Leonardo. I need to do more work in firming up some transfer targets of my own as potential replacements.

 

[Dong21]

Good to see you’ve picked up where you left off - strong start to the season and more of the same to come, I am sure. 

[warlock]

More good news for our future:

[SixPointer]

Marcos Leonardo must be drawing some serious interest he’s so prolific!

back to business and doing what you do best already!

[mannojunior]

Leonardo looks class for you! What sort of figure would you accept for him?

[warlock]

5 hours ago, mannojunior said:

Leonardo looks class for you! What sort of figure would you accept for him?

That's a good question. We removed his release clause when he signed a new deal in the summer but he's currently valued at around £40m:

There's no way he leaves for that, though. I'd want a guaranteed £50m and some serious additional clauses - there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be a full 5* player in a few years.

When we had to sell Goncalo Ramos to Spurs he went for £70m, and Leonardo might just be better.

And speaking of Ramos, Spurs are ruining him:

Four months into the season and he hasn't started a single game for them

[SixPointer]

19 hours ago, warlock said:

That's a good question. We removed his release clause when he signed a new deal in the summer but he's currently valued at around £40m:

There's no way he leaves for that, though. I'd want a guaranteed £50m and some serious additional clauses - there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be a full 5* player in a few years.

When we had to sell Goncalo Ramos to Spurs he went for £70m, and Leonardo might just be better.

And speaking of Ramos, Spurs are ruining him:

Four months into the season and he hasn't started a single game for them

Ramos return?? I would be keeping a very close eye on him 

[warlock]

3 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Ramos return??

Would love to have him back, and I am indeed keeping a close eye on him. Unfortunately, even without regular gametime his value is still at around £114m . And three years remaining on his contract, so I'm not optimistic.

In better news, we have this youngster:

The coaching staff already rate him as L1-ready, if not yet quite at the level of the Benfica first eleven. But I'm considering moving him into the first-team squad and giving him some minutes in the new year.

[warlock]

December 2024

Another month completed and we remain undefeated in all competitions this season:

We left it awfully late against Ferencvaros in the Champions League. They came to Portugal determined not to lose and almost pulled it off:

Against Villareal, though, we were lucky to get away with a draw:

We didn't set up to defend but we couldn't get anything going in attack. It looks as though the media attention is getting to Leonardo; he was pulled off after 75 minutes but that wasn't his first bad performance this month:

Compounded by this:

That would be doubly annoying because United snatched one of my prime target replacements for Goncalo Ramos in Vitor Roque and aren't playing him. I wonder if a swap deal might be possible? It's also annoying that United are struggling and likely to exit the Champions League, having won only one of their five games so far, including a 1-2 loss to Bodo/Glimt and a draw against FC Kobenhavn.

It's all making me very grumpy.

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

Would love to have him back, and I am indeed keeping a close eye on him. Unfortunately, even without regular gametime his value is still at around £114m . And three years remaining on his contract, so I'm not optimistic.

In better news, we have this youngster:

The coaching staff already rate him as L1-ready, if not yet quite at the level of the Benfica first eleven. But I'm considering moving him into the first-team squad and giving him some minutes in the new year.

Looks to have it all. A bit work on the strength and his physically already there at 17! 

[SixPointer]

50 minutes ago, warlock said:

December 2024

Another month completed and we remain undefeated in all competitions this season:

We left it awfully late against Ferencvaros in the Champions League. They came to Portugal determined not to lose and almost pulled it off:

Against Villareal, though, we were lucky to get away with a draw:

We didn't set up to defend but we couldn't get anything going in attack. It looks as though the media attention is getting to Leonardo; he was pulled off after 75 minutes but that wasn't his first bad performance this month:

Compounded by this:

That would be doubly annoying because United snatched one of my prime target replacements for Goncalo Ramos in Vitor Roque and aren't playing him. I wonder if a swap deal might be possible? It's also annoying that United are struggling and likely to exit the Champions League, having won only one of their five games so far, including a 1-2 loss to Bodo/Glimt and a draw against FC Kobenhavn.

It's all making me very grumpy.

Roque went to man United in my save also and never got played. 

[warlock]

51 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Roque went to man United in my save also and never got played

When the FM24 roadmap talks about squad development I'm praying that this kind of problem is what they're going to address. It's one of my (very) few complaints about the game.

[mannojunior]

Another good month! If you can’t get Roque on a swap have you got anybody else lined up? Also hoping for an improvement in the AI transfers in FM24

[Jogo Bonito]

On 13/09/2023 at 19:02, warlock said:

When the FM24 roadmap talks about squad development I'm praying that this kind of problem is what they're going to address. It's one of my (very) few complaints about the game.

I just read about FM24 today and agree it does seem to suggest that (hoping so). Double pain on Ramos and Roque, 

Seriously good form as usual, but those concerns over Silva and now Leonardo would be unwelcome if they come to anything.

Keep up the good work mate, and pleased to hear you enjoyed Rome again!

[warlock]

57 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

pleased to hear you enjoyed Rome again!

How could one not? It's one of my favourite places iin the world and has everything I like - great food, great wine, great icecream, and a ton of ancient history

The unwanted transfer business is a pain but I guess it goes with the territory, and you can't say its unrealistic! On the upside, for example, Liverpool just paid us another £8m as part of the Darwin Nunez transfer - £79m so far and counting. Whoever negotiated that deal was a genius!

[warlock]

January 2025

December turned out to be a very mixed month, including our first defeat of the season... and our best result of the season.

That best result came in the Champions League when Man City came to Estadio da Luz:

By and large in the Champions League I've opted to play our usual system, occasionally dropping from 'positive' to 'balanced' mentality. For this one, I decided to go full-on counter-attacking, turning off the counter-press and dropping our lines, allowing them possession in their own half but going for the jugular when we picked off passes in defence. It worked perfectly - every time we had the ball we were in on goal and perfectly matched our xG with all of our front three finding the net. In return we allowed them nothing. The only downside was the injury to Joao Veloso, who suffered a knee injury that will keep him out for at least a month.

Two weeks later came the worst result with a thoroughly lacklustre performance against a poor Familicao side:

We took the lead but allowed them two quick goals in reply. As the match stats suggest, our passing was poor and our finishing was abysmal. It may be a coincidence but we trained on Christmas Eve, travelled on Christmas Day, and played the match on the 26th, and the whole team looked like they'd rather have been at home for the festivities.

My dissatisfaction with this performance was made clear to the team and at least they responded with a much better showing next time. Boavista were pushing for a European spot but we demolished them with 5 goals in the opening 25 minutes. Leonardo also scored to show signs that he is putting his recent poor form and goalless streak behind him. Fingers crossed.

We end the year in good shape, sitting comfortably atop the league:

January will be a crucial month, if only because of the transfer window... if we can make it to February with the first-team squad intact I'll count that as a major victory. If we do lose Leonardo I'm not sure I can replace him - the likely targets are either uninterested in joining us or out of our budget. But my coaches are suggesting that Liel Abada is a 4* advanced forward - the same as Leonardo - so I'm leaning towards moving him into a striker role and looking for a new AMR. of whom there are multiple targets, including Palace's Michael Olise who would be affordable with a good fee for Leonardo. But I've also been scouting this guy, who looks a likely candidate and perhaps a more suitable Benfica signing:

 

[rich ruzzian]

Interesting player the Santos guy. 

[Carambau]

Damn Rio Ave! Its always the smaller teams, right?  Angelo form Santos looks like a typical Benfica signing of course  

[SixPointer]

On 15/09/2023 at 02:37, warlock said:

January 2025

December turned out to be a very mixed month, including our first defeat of the season... and our best result of the season.

That best result came in the Champions League when Man City came to Estadio da Luz:

By and large in the Champions League I've opted to play our usual system, occasionally dropping from 'positive' to 'balanced' mentality. For this one, I decided to go full-on counter-attacking, turning off the counter-press and dropping our lines, allowing them possession in their own half but going for the jugular when we picked off passes in defence. It worked perfectly - every time we had the ball we were in on goal and perfectly matched our xG with all of our front three finding the net. In return we allowed them nothing. The only downside was the injury to Joao Veloso, who suffered a knee injury that will keep him out for at least a month.

Two weeks later came the worst result with a thoroughly lacklustre performance against a poor Familicao side:

We took the lead but allowed them two quick goals in reply. As the match stats suggest, our passing was poor and our finishing was abysmal. It may be a coincidence but we trained on Christmas Eve, travelled on Christmas Day, and played the match on the 26th, and the whole team looked like they'd rather have been at home for the festivities.

My dissatisfaction with this performance was made clear to the team and at least they responded with a much better showing next time. Boavista were pushing for a European spot but we demolished them with 5 goals in the opening 25 minutes. Leonardo also scored to show signs that he is putting his recent poor form and goalless streak behind him. Fingers crossed.

We end the year in good shape, sitting comfortably atop the league:

January will be a crucial month, if only because of the transfer window... if we can make it to February with the first-team squad intact I'll count that as a major victory. If we do lose Leonardo I'm not sure I can replace him - the likely targets are either uninterested in joining us or out of our budget. But my coaches are suggesting that Liel Abada is a 4* advanced forward - the same as Leonardo - so I'm leaning towards moving him into a striker role and looking for a new AMR. of whom there are multiple targets, including Palace's Michael Olise who would be affordable with a good fee for Leonardo. But I've also been scouting this guy, who looks a likely candidate and perhaps a more suitable Benfica signing:

 

Tough defeat in the cup of all things, very unforgiving. 
 

Angelo 100% a Benfica signing. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Agree on what has been said about Angela, that is so Benfica! He has a really good reputation IRL as one to watch, so think this was a great signing.

The loss to Rio Ave was a shock (the polar opposite of Man City i guess), but the overall form continues to be very strong. 

[warlock]

February 2025

January turned out to be an excellent month, both on and off the pitch.

From a performance point of view it couldn't have been better with four wins from four domestic games, and another two Champions League victories.

The Sporting game was rather more exciting than I would have liked:

We dominated the first half but allowed them back into the game with a flurry of goals just after half-time - they pulled one back within two minutes of the re-start, Danjuma restored our two-goal lead with his second a minute later, before we allowed them a second three minutes after that. Sporting threw everything at us in search of an equalizer and found one on the stroke of normal time before Danjuma - sealing a brilliant hat-trick - secured the three points with virtually the last kick of the game in the 95th minute.

But events off the pitch were just as crucial. We suffered an early blow as Man City came in with an offer for CB Strahinja Pavlovic. This was rejected as it fell short of his value but he wanted the move and we agreed to sell him if City came back with an improved offer. And they did, eventually meeting our agreed value of £33m - okay business for a player who cost us £11.75m just 18 months earlier. After considering the potential replacements I opted against a permanent signing because we have two or three really good prospects at CB. Instead, we brought in a natural left-sided defender in Chelsea's young Levi Colwill on loan for the remainder of the season:

He's the kind of player I'd like to sign, but not at £60m-plus!

Elsewhere, we had to fend off interest in strikers Araujo and Leonardo, AMs Alex Scott and Andreas Schjelderup, and right-sided CB Antonio Silva. The latter we had to agree to sell for £69m but happily no offers at that level were received. It was a similar story with Leonardo, whose £58m fee deterred a lot of suitors but he was certainly distracted by the interest, turning in some mediocre performances in his four appearances in January, failing to find the net in any of them. We were fortunate that Araujo was happy to stay and stepped up when required, bagging 7 goals in his 4 starts this month. He has now matched Leonardo's 17 goals for the season.

But the closest shave came on deadline day when Arsenal popped up with an offer for Alex Scott. This was also rejected but, again, we had to agree a price with the player and I thought we were safe when the fee agreed was a massive £83m. So I was stunned when the London club came back with an offer at that level and he was on his way out of the club. Fortunately, Arsenal had left it too late and the paperwork couldn't be completed in time . He remains a Benfica player for now.

Otherwise, everything in the garden is rosy:

We are doing well at both ends of the pitch, and the midfield continues to contribute both goals and assists - Danjuma and Scott are both in double-figures for goals, with Schjelderup just behind, while AMRs Abada and Neres are the main source of creativity with 24 assists between them.

 

[Carambau]

Perfect month, congratulations!  

I am pretty sure you will be able to find cheaper alternatives to Colville, I am not too convinced by his attributes for this level but he surely is young and can still improve!

[warlock]

March 2025

February turned out to be another good month, if not quite a 100% record then at least another unbeaten with some big wins along the way and only one goal conceded:

The draw against lowly Casa Pia was an unwelcome surprise, but we followed that with a thrashing of Estoril Praia to secure a place in the Allianz Cup final. The match was notable for a return to goalscoring form from Leonardo but more so for a fantastic hat-trick from Alex Scott, on as a 75th minute substitute. With additional goals against Gil Vicente, Chaves and Guimares he has now bagged a fantastic total of 16 goals in all competitions so far this season.

A week later we faced a tough challenge with an away trip to second-placed Porto:

It turned out to be a close, nervy match but AML Danjuma found the net after 35 minutes and we managed to hold them off for the victory.

The rest of the month was pretty much business as usual as our front four continued scoring for fun, but equally pleasing was our defensive solidity - GK Seimen racked up his 18th clean sheet from 28 appearances.

It would take a massive collapse to throw away the league title from this position. Of greater significance at this stage of the season was the draw for the round of 16 for the Champions League, and luck was not on our side:

The usual cliches apply - no easy draws, we have to beat the best teams to lift the trophy, etc. But I admit I was hoping for someone easier. We'll have to hope we can keep it tight in the away leg and then find a way to win at home. I did enjoy the subtle reminder of The Curse in the final paragraph, though.

 

[john1]

Tough draw against Barca!

[SixPointer]

Barcelona never an easy tie to navigate, but as you said you have to beat the best to be the best. With a little bit of luck on your side am sure it’s possible. 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, john1 said:

Tough draw against Barca

8 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Barcelona never an easy tie

Quite so. But we beat Man City, arguably stronger than Barca, in the early ties so you never know...

[warlock]

April 2025

Well, I called it...

On 04/10/2023 at 01:46, warlock said:

We'll have to hope we can keep it tight in the away leg and then find a way to win at home

We probably deserved to win the away leg, but for a ridiculously late penalty in the 5th of 4 added minutes . The ball went out to Raphinha inside the area but in an offside position and DM Rovella clipped him. Despite that we were great, restricting them to long shots and half-chances. We played the same counter-attacking system that saw off Man City earlier in the season and it worked beautifully again. In the final analysis, I was happy to take them back to Lisbon on level terms.

The home leg was a different story:

We reverted to our normal positive gameplan and our midfield ran the show. AMC Scott gave us an early lead before some sloppy defending on our part allowed Raphinha a free header from 6 yards out and he powered it past Seimen. With time running down towards a penalty shootout, young DM Luis set up Schjelderup to put us back in front before Scott and Schelderup combined in added time to put a cherry on the cake. A great performance to keep our Champions League dreams alive.

On the domestic front it was business as usual with another four wins from four:

Leonardo bagged another 7 goals from 2 starts to push his way back to the top of the league scoring charts, taking his season total to 27 from 26 starts, while Neres now has 22 assists from 21 starts :

The title is almost in our grasp, and I'm hoping we can maintain our unbeaten record in the league. April sees us face Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals, and we end the month with an Allianz Cup final against Sporting. Still plenty to play for!

[warlock]

Title secured:

Did it with five games to spare, too. But of course, the big one remains the Champions League.

[lfds89]

Congratulations!

Having the option to rest the players in the final stages of the season is great and might tip the balance in your favor. Good luck!

[john1]

Congrats!