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FM 2009: Official S.L. Benfica Thread


GavinLP1987

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Club Information

Nation - Portugal

Founded - 1904

Club Status - Professional

Club Reputation - Continental

Chairman Status - Loves the club

Club Legends - Sven-Göran Eriksson, Eusébio

Club Icons - Mário Coluna, Rui Costa, Humberto Coelho, Michel Preud'Homme, António Simões, Toni, Fernando Chalana

Favoured Personnel - Bella Gutman

Fierce Rivals - Porto, Sporting Lisbon

Other Rivals - Belenenses

Finances - Secure

Average Ticket Price - £11

Average Season Ticket Price - £376

Season Ticket Holders - 35,000

Estimated Value - £141M

Continental Competition - UEFA Cup

Media Prediction - 3rd

Squad Personality - Very Determined

Captain - Nuno Gomes

Vice Captain - Luisão

Stadium and Facilities

Capacity - 65,674 (All Seater)

Condition - Very Good

Under Soil Heating - No

Roof - No

Pitch Condition - Perfect

Corporate Facilities - Top

Training Facilities - Top

Youth Facilities - Average

Sport Lisboa e Benfica, commonly referred to as simply Benfica, S.L. Benfica and in many fan anthems as "SLB" is a multisports club based in Lisbon, Portugal, best known for its football team. Founded in 1904 by a group of twenty-four men, the club's main stadium is the Estádio da Luz in the Luz area of Lisbon.

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They were founding members of Portuguese Liga in 1933, and, together with FC Porto and Sporting CP, they have never been relegated from the Primeira Divisão. Benfica is the most successful and popular club in Portugal with a total of 31 Portuguese Liga, 27 Portuguese Cup, 4 SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira, 2 UEFA Champions League and 1 Latin Cup. The club has 7 UEFA Champions League finals and one UEFA cup making it the Portuguese club with most International Competition finals. SL Benfica has the biggest fan base among Portuguese clubs, having also the largest number of supporters outside of Portugal for a Portuguese club, with a total of 14 million Benfica's fans worldwide and over 160,000 registered paying supporters, a world record according to the Guiness Book of World Records.

The Golden Era (1960-1970)

Benfica was the first team to break Real Madrid's dominance in the early European Champions' Cup. Having won two European Cups in a row against FC Barcelona (1961) and Real Madrid (1962).

During this decade Benfica would reach another 3 European Champions' Cup finals, but the Lisbon club never managed to win a European trophy again. Having lost against A.C. Milan (1963), Internazionale (1965) and Manchester United (1968).

In 1968, Benfica was considered the best European team by France Football despite its defeat in the Champions Cup. Many of its successes in the 1960s were achieved with all-time football great Eusébio playing for the Lisbon side. In fact, the 60's were the best period of Benfica history, in which the club won an astonishing 8 Championships (1960, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68 and 69), 3 Portuguese Cups (1961, 64 and 69) and 2 European Champions Cup (1961 and 62).

New Era - Current Years (2004-Present)

In 2004 the club regained some of its sporting prowess, with a new president and the manager Jose Antonio Camacho, winning the first title in eight years (the Portuguese cup, won against Mourinho's FC Porto in the final), and in 2004–2005 the first national championship in eleven years, this time with Giovanni Trapattoni as coach. In 2005/2006 Benfica won the Portuguese supercup for the 4th time.

In the 2005-06 Champions League, Benfica managed to reach the quarter-finals, defeating Manchester United 2-1 in the decisive group stage encounter, and then overcoming the 2005 European champions Liverpool F.C. 3-0 on aggregate. However Benfica lost in the Quarter Finals to the eventual winner F.C. Barcelona by an aggregate of 2-0, both goals coming during the second leg in Camp Nou. In the 2006 -07 season Benfica found themselves again facing Manchester United in a decisive Champions League group match in which the winner would advance. However, this time it was Manchester United who prevailed, gaining revenge in a 3 - 1 win. On 20th August 2007 Jose Antonio Camacho returned to SL Benfica on a 2-year contract, following the sacking of Fernando Santos after only one match in the league (a tie against the recently promoted Leixões), at time when Benfica was facing a vital Champions League qualifying game against F.C. Copenhagen. Benfica granted a place in the Champions League after defeating F.C. Copenhagen for 1-0, but eventually exited the competition at the group stage. They then parachuted to the UEFA Cup where they were defeated by Spanish debutants, Getafe CF. Camacho resigned a few months later, in March, with Benfica 14 points behind the leaders Porto in the Portuguese League. Benfica failed to gain a top three finish in the Portuguese Liga 2007-08, placing the team in the UEFA Cup for the upcoming season.

On May 22nd 2008, the former Valencia manager, Quique Sanchez Flores was appointed as the clubs new manager for the new season.

In 2008, Benfica launched its own TV channel, called Benfica TV.

Finances

Continental Qualification

£6.75M + £500K p/w

Title Challenge

£8.5M + £575K p/w

Winner

£9.25M + £575K p/w

Squad

Quim - GK

Moreira - GK

Luisão - DC

Miguel Vitor - DC

David Luiz - DC

Sidnei - DC

Kostas Katsouranis - DC/DM/MC

Maximiliano Pereira - D/WBR, MRC

Jorge Ribeiro - D/WBL

Hassan Yebda - DM,MC

Binya - DM, MC

Ruben Amorim - DM, MC

Carlos Martins - MC

Balboa - AMR

Jonathan Urretaviscaya - AMRL

Ángel Di María - AMLC

José Antonio Reyes - AMLC, FC

Pablo Aimar - AMC

Nuno Gomes - FC

David Suazo - ST

Marcel - ST

Oscar Cardozo - ST

Strengths and Weaknesses

I will go through the team as though you are playing a basic 4-4-2.

Benfica is home to two very strong goalkeepers. Quim and Moreira. Quim (32) is the better of the two and starts the game competing with Ricardo of Betis and Hilario of Chelsea for the starting berth in the Portuguese international team. Moreira is the younger of the two (26) and is more than capable of filling Quim's shoes should you decide to sell him.

Right full back is a problem area for the team, with only Pereira able to cover there (Accomplished) so this is a position that needs addressing in the transfer market. I recommend Micheal Chretien who has done a very good job for me.

The starting left back berth belongs to Jorge Ribeiro. A brave, hard worker with 9 Portuguese caps to his name. There is no decent back up and this is an area to invest in.

The team have very good, established center backs in Luisão and David Luiz. They are complimented by the budding talent of Sidnei who turns out to be one of the best in the game. Another option is Miguel Vitor, who is dubbed as the "next Humberto Coelho".

The right midfield spot can go to Equatorial Guinean Balboa or Uruguayan Jonathan Urretaviscaya. Of the two I would recommend 18 year old Urretaviscaya, who is quick and determined and will improve with time. Balboa is very good coming off the bench for me and grabs a few goals in my experience. Freddy Adu is out on loan and will be very useful when he returns.

The Left midfield spot can go to Reyes or Di María, two of the best players in the Benfica squad. The wide role probably suits Reyes more imo as he's quick with good dribbling/crossing skills and has the ability to create something out of nothing.

Defensive central midfield players include first choice Greek Kostas Katsouranis (who has performed a key role for me and played superbly), Frenchman Hassan Yebda, Cameroonian Binya, or young portuguese Ruben Amorim (who is the likely candidate to take over from Katsouranis when he gets too old).

This leaves the attacking midfield role to newly signed Argentinian, Pablo Aimar. He is the creative force of the team and is an expert at dribbling and finding the killer ball to the strikers.

Up front we have club captain, Nuno Gomes. He is getting on a bit, but is still a quality player who possesses good mental and technical stats for an attacking player. Another option is Paraguayan, Oscar Cardozo. An awesome technical player who is capable of scoring some absolutely fantastic long range goals and free kicks. Back up for those two would be Gremio graduate Marcel, who is strong and a decent header of a ball. A quicker option than those three would be loanee David Suazo from Inter Milan.

Areas to strengthen (Possible options)

RB (Chretien, Zambelli)

LB (Razvan Rat, Insua on loan)

RM (D'Alessandro, Battaglia, Elano at a stretch)

All this info was based on the 9.02 database. Hope anyone who tries a Benfica save has fun :) Don't be shy, post away!

Thanks to Hopey for letting me do this :thup:

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Season 1

Transfers

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Stengthened the defence heavily with Chretien slotting in at right back and Zambelli being used as cover for Katsouranis or Chretien himself. Thiago Silva has been fantastic for me and at £4M was a bargain. Zuculini is young and not yet ready so he was loaned to Gil Vicente for exposure to first team duties.

Zoro was the main departure. Leaving more game time for four center backs that will be with me for a long time.

League

Expectations – Title Challenge

Finish – 3rd

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Pretty gutted about the final placing. Hard to take considering I only lost two games but too many draws killed us off. I’m looking for much more of a killer instinct next season in order to finish games off.

It goes to show that a Benfica game isn’t as easy as people think :)

Notable Results – Four games and three wins against the other big teams. The away games were the first two fixtures of the season.

Porto – Home 0-0, Away 0-1

Sporting – Home 2-0, Away 1-2

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Cups

Used a lot of fringe and young players in the cups as the board didn’t put any emphasis on them. Although it was a nice break from the league winning the League cup.

Portuguese Cup

Expectations – Not Important

Finish – 6th Round

Notable Results – Beating Porto away 0-1 in the 4th round. Di Maria scoring.

League Cup

Expectations – Not Important

Finish – Winners

Notable Results – Semi Final. Beating Porto away 0-1 yet again. Oscar Cardozo scoring the winner in the 94th minute.

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Europe

Expectations – 2nd Knockout Round

Finish – Semi Final

Very proud of exceeding the expectations by a large margin, yet I cant help feel disappointed at not going further. The route to the final seemed straight forward against an average Portsmouth side but they totally destroyed me at Fratton Park. Bit of a wet squib after brilliant results against Paris St Germain in the Quarter final and Valencia in the 1st knockout round.

Notable Results – Beating Valencia 3-1 at home in the 1st knockout round. Nuno Gomes (2) and Thiago Silva with the goals.

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I'm looking to get a lot of money for the reserve players that started on loan. Marcel for example, can be sold for 4/5 million as can Mantorras.

I think I need a new goalkeeper (looking at Enyeama) and I want to keep Reyes if I can.

edit - Reyes wont join me full time :( Freddy Adu is on his way back tho :cool:

I feel very lonely in here :p Anyone playing as Benfica?

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Thiago Silva will be a god for me at center back for the next few years. Will fast become Captain I'm sure :thup:

Nuno Gomes is good for a season. He's falling away in my game now. Cardozo is really strong and brilliant technically but I cant get him to score regularly :confused:. After that its Suazo, who lacks determination which affects his other stats I feel, or Makakula who I cant really judge as he plays a game for me then gets injured :thdn:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I always play with them. I use to begin with 2 managers 1 at benfica and the other unnemployed.

In my current save, only one season finished, I´ve won the league (1 point ahead Oporto) and the uefa cup and I was semi-finalist in portuguese cup and runner-up in liga cup (sporting was the winner on penalties).

I think it was a good season for me... but next season I want to win everything in Portugal and be in the last 8 of the champions league at least...

In my previous game with them with 9.1.0 I´ve win everything in just 3 seasons!

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I started my 9.3.0 game as Benfica.

I have bought the following players:-

Joao Carlos(GK), Matej Rapnik, Alex (RB from Wolfsburg), Marek Suchy, Sergey Krivets, Gabriel Torje, Razvan Ochirosii, Alexandr Prudnikov, Robert Lewandowski, Fedor Smolov.

I have played 11 games (inc. friendlies) and won all of them. However Porto and Sporting have also won their opening 3 league games. Will keep you posted on progress............

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How much did you pay for all of them? And did you sell anyone?

Didn't sell anyone. Adjusted the budget as wages were well under so ended up with about £11M to spend.

Prudnikov was the most expensive at £3M. Lewandowski, Suchy, Torje etc all around £1.5M.

Currently have played 15 games in season 1 (7 friendlies, 6 league games, 2 UEFA Cup games) and have won all of them. Only conceded once in 6 league games - however am still not top of table as Porto are also 100% and have scored more. Am finding the Tactical Thoerems and Frameworks tactics (from the tactics forum) invaluable (either that or 9.3.0 is way easier than 9.2.0). I use their 4-4-2 standard or 4-4-2 attacking mostly and it works a treat.

The new players were all with the future in mind mostly so the best starting line up tends to be:-

GK: Quim, DR: Alex, DL: J.RIbeiro, DC: David Luiz, DC: Luisao, MR: Torje, ML: Di Maria, MC(def): Katsouranis, MC(att): Aimar, SC: Nuno Gomes, SC: Cardozo

Prudnikov debut was in the Uefa Cup against Beitar Jerusalem and he scored a hat-trick. I mostly make the new signing available for the reserves with the aim of playing them occasionally in cup competitions and then hopefully see them gradually break into 1st team over time.

Cardozo is fantastic so far. Scores for fun.

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Just started a save with Benfica 9.0.3.

Bought Sneijder(ajax), Santon(Inter), Lavezzi(napoli) and kolarov(lazio). Zucullini(racing) will come at the end of the season.

Sold Moretto to Juventus for 3,5M and Marcel to Al-hilal 3M.

My start eleven is Quim, Pereira, Luisão, David L, Kolarov, Reyes, Katso, Aimar, Balboa, Lavezzi, Cardozo or Suazo if I want to play faster.

With 12G played 11W 1D top of the league already beat Sporting:cool: away.

I'm also top in uefa group.

Highlights to cardozo top league scorer and Pablito Aimar with a lot of assists to goal.

Things look pretty good so far.

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Well i'm trying to make reyes the right winger with new position training, a friend did that and said he does the job quite well. But balboa is doing well for now and things are working pretty well as they are.

Nevertheless di maria is playing a lot to as he can do aimar place or as a forward behind cardozo.

Or just because i'm mad at him in reality, last game he always made the wrong decision with the final pass:mad:. He made everyone in the stand go crazy.

He is such a talent, but he isn´t the smartest guy on the field, when it comes to make a right game decision.

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Well i'm trying to make reyes the right winger with new position training, a friend did that and said he does the job quite well. But balboa is doing well for now and things are working pretty well as they are.

Nevertheless di maria is playing a lot to as he can do aimar place or as a forward behind cardozo.

Or just because i'm mad at him in reality, last game he always made the wrong decision with the final pass:mad:. He made everyone in the stand go crazy.

He is such a talent, but he isn´t the smartest guy on the field, when it comes to make a right game decision.

Real life is different that in game. Di Maria is great in FM ;)

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Yeah, I know I was joking:thup:.

If reyes adapts to the right, then he will become my left winger. Although he makes a lot of assists when he plays behing cardozo, i could let him play there. But as i said i bought lavezzi to the place.

Let's see how things work untill january.

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Hi,

I´m starting a save with Benfica in patch 9.3.0, and only bought three players (I think that should be in reality, if only Rui Costa read this...): D. Santon (1M€), R. Rat (2.9M€) Full backs, and the "Star" of 9.3.0 striker Vagner Love (18M€).

I use Tyler_bode táctics.

Gona try to update soon.

Bye.

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