SL Benfica

When I arrive at the club, its value is 274M €. Increasing this value will be another of my goals. To achieve this goal I have to take my budget perfectly.

In spite of being one of the best Portuguese teams and be considered as a rich equipment, the transfer budget is quite limited. My transfer policy will be signing young but prominent players that can grow in the club and this way have benefits that give me economic stability and allow me to get good sports results.

When I arrived I have a budget of € 20M and 100% of income from transfers. I think that will be enough ...

That's a good solid start in terms of finances. This was one of our SUSIE challenges a little while ago and a lot of people had some great success!

Will be following, good luck

Good luck with Benfica I enjoyed managing them when I was doing Susie challenge.

I like to play with a 3-4-3 tactic. I meet with my staff to see what kind of players are on the team

POR: Artur, Oblak, Paulo Lopes
DFC: Luisão, Garay, Jardel, Mitrovic
CD/MEC: Matic, Fejsa, Martins, Enzo Pérez, Amorim, André Almeida, André Gomes
MEI/MED: Silvio, Siqueira, Maxi Pereira, Cortez, Djaló, Salvio, Ola John, Markovic, Urreta, Gaitán
DLC: Sulejmani, Djuricic, Cardozo, Funes Mori, Lima, Rodrigo

Some players will have to adapt to their new positions. It seems that the weakest area is defense. I like the strikers have great pass and be quick. The attacking midfielders can adapt well to this type of play.

In the summer transfer market, four players have left the team on loan:

Urreta and André Almeida stay in the Portuguese league. They will play in Vitoria Guimarães.
André Gomes was sent on loan to Steaua Bucarest to play Champions League
Nico Gaitán played at Tottenham to play Europa League and Premier.

Two midfielders and two wingers. There were many players for those two positions.

About signings, three players come:

Leandro Damião, from Internacional. 24 years old. Striker. Signed for 7M€ and 2M€ per year until 2018.
Manoel, from Atlético Paranaense. 23 years old. Center back. Signed for 3'1M€ and 1'6M€ per year until 2018.
Denswill, from Ajax. 20 years old. Center back. On loan

The first two will be important first team players.
The third will be used in the squad rotation system.

I think the planning was successful. Hopefully results. I still have a € 4M budget.

October 20, 2013

I've played 7 games in the Portuguese Liga. My results are very good, and I've won every game. Although I have not yet played against FC Porto and Sporting ... 22 goals scored and 4 goals against. However my team is not the leader ... FC Porto have won all their matches too.

In the Champions League we play in a very balanced group: R.Sociedad, CSKA Moscow and Olympiakos. For now we have got a draw in the field of R.Sociedad and a victory against Olympiakos.

Also we have started to play the Cup of Portugal. It was an easy match against Santa Clara.

Rodrigo and Leandro Damiao are highlighting in attack, with 7 and 8 goals respectively. Garay and Luisão are also helping with head goals due to their physical strength. 5 goals between them.

Oblak; Garay, Luisão, Manoel; Matic, C.Martins, Siqueira, Salvio; Rodrigo, L.Damião, Cardozo are the 11 most used players.

I also decided to let go Artur, the reserve goalkeeper, who is 32 years old. The player wants to take minutes, but it is difficult being Oblak on the team. In the winter transfer market he leaves to Feyenoord. Our club gets 3'1M € for the transfer.

December 11, 2013

The first bad results begin. Marítimo surprised me with a 2-0 in their field. This setback makes me losing the rhythm of FC Porto, who keeps winning and winning ... In the next days I was going to face Sporting and FC Porto, so I could return to the fight.
2-0 win against Sporting, with goals from Funes Mori and Salvio. Several regular players missing (Manoel, C.Martins, Cardozo and L.Damião) but we could win the game. First saved obstacle.
But against FC Porto we lost 3-0 in their field. They get away further.
Then comes a game where facing Sporting and FC Porto, in which they draw. I take this opportunity to get closer to FC Porto. But in a apparently easy game against Rio Ave in my stadium we are not able to score any goal and ended 0-0. Again 6 points behind the leader ...

In the Champions League we have better results. We won the next three games to classify us mathematically. The last game, and more relaxed, got a draw. We finished the group stage as leaders with 4 wins and 2 draws. We hope to have luck in the draw.

In the Portuguese Cup we move nicely into the next phase. 6-1 against Leixões. Arouca awaits us which won 11-0 at Moura!

The signing of Leandro Damiao seems a success. 13 goals in 16 games make him my best striker. The great work of C.Martins in midfield and assists from Siqueira and Salvio from the wings (11 in all) are the highlights of the team.

Oblak; Garay, Luisão, Manoel; Matic, C.Martins, Siqueira, Salvio; Rodrigo, L.Damião, Cardozo are still the 11 most used players.

Winter transfer market

I take the month of January to make some moves on the team.

Leave the team:
- Artur leaves to Feyenoord as I advanced.
- Ola John leaves the team on loan. Ola John was sent to the Turkish league, to Eskisehirspor. In a smaller team, our player can always be a starter.
- Djuricic also leaves the team on loan. In this case the player is going to a great team of the Italian Serie A, Inter Milan. The goal is that the young player has an experience in an important team.

Reach the team:
- Matthew Ryan, from Brujas. 21 years old. Goalkeeper. on loan
- Ryô Miyaichi, from Arsenal. 21 years old. Left wing. on loan
- Willian José, from Grêmio. 22 years old. Striker. on loan

For every sale has been made for the signing team does not lose competitiveness. I hope Ryan can compete with Oblak to be the team goalkeeper. The other two players have more difficulty to break into the starting lineup.

Signing for next season:
- Dedryck Boyata, from Man.City. 23 years old. Center back. Free (he was in his last 6 month contract)

Team budget is now just over € 7M.

February 5, 2014

Our rival, Sporting, going 4th in league with 27 points. We do not care. We have 41 points. But we continue with a difference of 6 points with FC Porto. We drew with Vit.Setubal, and they did in Estoril. It is less than half of the season, and we know we can not fail by the end to have a chance of winning the league.

In the Champions League we have had to play against Napoli. It will not be easy ...

In the Cup of Portugal we have advanced two rounds and we're in semifinal. At the moment the way is being very easy. In 5th round we won 8-0 against Arouca. And in 6th round, we get another great result, 6-1 against Vit.Guimarães.

It has also started the League Cup. In our group play Marítimo, Estoril and Oliverirense. We have won all three games (2-0, 4-0 and 5-3 respectively). Our semi-final opponent is Rio Ave

The protagonists of the team are still the same. The other two strikers are highlighting too. Rodrigo has scored 16 goals in 30 games while Cardozo has scored 9 goals in 18 games (he was injured for 2 months). But the best is still Leandro Damiao, who has scored 25 goals in 25 games. Awesome!

Enzo Pérez increasingly playing more in the starting lineup. The victim is being Carlos Martins, who has already suffered a couple of injuries this season.

March 22, 2014

The league becomes impossible. A draw in Braga leaves me 8 points behind FC Porto. The following day, the FC Porto draw with Olhanense unexpectedly. I have an opportunity to recover the lost points. But Nacional da Madeira defeats me in my field. 9 points of difference. Later, Braga gets a draw with FC Porto and this time I took the opportunity to get back to 7 points. Now I had to play against FC Porto in my field. A match that I have to win if I want continue having some choice. I score first, but they draw. Again it's the same, 2-2. With 10 minutes, our team scores a goal through a corner. The minutes are finished and we have the victory!, but in the final minute FC Porto scored the goal. 3-3 and goodbye to our few options. 6 games left to play and 7 points to recover. It is a very complicated task.

The first match of Champions League is in Napoli. We got to leave our goal to 0, we bring a valuable draw away. The second match is also very close. A penalty goal scored by Salvio gives us the classification. Chelsea awaits in the quarterfinals ...

In the Portuguese Cup we have to play against FC Porto in semifinal. Again we have to face them. Win them means to have real options to get a trophy this season, despite being a minor trophy.

Rio Ave crosses again on our way and were eliminated in the semifinals of the League Cup. Another trophy escapes.

Strikers and midfielders are at high level. Leandro Damiao is still the best of the team (he has scored 27 goals in 30 games) together with Eduardo Salvio, who has helped the team with 7 goals and 10 assists in 28 games.

Enzo Pérez has definitely become one player in the starting lineup.

Gutted to see you conceded late against Porto

Good luck against Chelsea

Just my opinion, but maybe try and add some screenshots to make it more enticing for the reader. If you wouldn't like to do that maybe make your text stand out more, using bold or underlining etc.

The idea and content are good though.

Yes, that's my idea. But I had planned to do after the season. If I do it before, maybe people do not read the text and go directly to the images...

May 11, 2014

The first match is against Sporting. Comfortable match. We won 2-4 on his field. On the following day FC Porto and Sporting face, and the match ends in a draw. I take this opportunity to cut 2 points after winning 7-0 at Gil Vicente. The following day both teams win, there are only 3 ... Finally the team just giving points. Home draw against Vit.Setúbal. FC Porto win their game and mathematically win the league.

In Champions League, our dream continues. We managed a 1-1 draw in our stadium. Lampard scored a goal very soon, but we respond immediately with another of Cortez. In his field history repeats itself. Eto'o goal in the opening minutes. But the referee shows a red card to Terry in the 15th minute and the game changes. In the second part, Cardozo scores penalty goal. If all goes well we will go into overtime. Luck smiles at us. Ivanovic scores an own goal in the 85th minute.
We are in the semis! We have to play against Real Madrid. Reaching the final will be difficult, but we have to try. We lose 2-0 in their field. We won 1-0 in our field. I am happy to reach Champions League semifinals.

The first semifinal match of the Portuguese Cup against FC Porto we played in their field. We lose 2-1. We will have to win in our field. We put 2-0 in the opening minutes. But before the break, FC Porto draws the match. In the second part we are not able to score any goal. We're out of the Cup.