Welcome back, folks. The first season of my Football Manager 2020 career with Sporting CP is coming to an end, and there’s still some silverware on the line for us. (There will be major spoilers from the start, so if you haven’t caught up with Part 5 yet, please read that first.)
So… can Big Phil fire us to Primeira Liga glory, and maybe even help us win the Europa League as well? Or will it all come crashing down?
SPORTING vs BENFICA (Primeira Liga – Match 29)
Here’s a quick reminder of how the Primeira Liga looked as we headed into our final six matches. Sporting were narrowly leading the way with a game in hand on Lisbon rivals Benfica… but next up was a potential title-decider against the Águias.
We had defended Benfica twice before this season – once in the season-opening Supertaça on the Algarve, and then again at the Estádio José Alvalade in our home league game. The boys in red exacted revenge in the Taça da Liga Semi Final in Braga, and now they welcomed us to the Stadium of Light. (Not the one in Sunderland, obviously.)
YIKES! That’s why Benfica are the defending champions… and also why Sporting haven’t been champs since I was still at school.
We couldn’t have dreamed of making a worse start, as playmaker Manuel Ugarte conceded a penalty after shoving Benfica striker Carlos Vinicius. Forward came the Primeira Liga’s leading scorer, whose abilities made this penalty a piece of Pizzi.
The hosts then gave us a dose of our set-piece medicine. Our positioning to defend Rafa’s 26th-minute free-kick was all over the place, which allowed the highly-coveted Portugal centre-half Rúben Dias to head home for 2-0.
Long-range specialist Miguel Luís gave us fresh hope in the 31st minute by reducing the deficit to 2-1 – the same scoreline we’d beaten Benfica by at the Alvalade. Alas, we soon went 3-1 behind, as Pizzi sent Haris Seferovic clean through for a simple finish.
Getting a point back looked beyond us, but I hoped we could at least get back within one goal, so that we would have the edge over Benfica on head-to-head away goals if we finished level on points. With that in mind, I encouraged my players to push forward more in the second half.
So… erm… the Águias scored twice more after the break. A couple of killer crosses from Germany midfielder Julian Weigl enabled left-back Álex Grimaldo to power home #4 and Carlos Vinicius to head in #5 from a tight angle. After going 19 league matches unbeaten, our run had ended spectacularly.
Benfica had retaken top spot, and even if we won our game in hand, they would still lead on head-to-head. To have any chance of ending our league drought this season, we needed one of the Eagles’ final four opponents to clip their wings.
But after such a heavy league defeat, squad morale had taken a heavy hit. There was no guarantee that, even with such a big advantage over Braga and Porto, we’d secure a top-two finish… or that we’d get past AEK in the Europa League Quarter Finals.
AEK vs SPORTING (Europa League – Quarter Final, Leg 1)
“Ah-ek.” That’s how you should pronounce AEK, but that’s also roughly what I was saying after a frustrating night in Athens.
It was a pretty bruising affair, too, with nine players (including five of ours) receiving yellow cards. There was one moment of beauty just before half-time, though. Luciano Vietto glided past an AEK player before cutting the ball back to Miguel Luís, whose through-ball was lashed in by Jesé!
Sadly, Jesé’s strike didn’t give us an away win. As the game reached the hour mark, Eduardo Henrique conceded a costly free-kick on the edge of our box. Daniele Verde’s delivery into the area found his fellow winger Christos Albanis, who beat several Sporting defenders to the header and pegged us back.
Miguel came closest to winning us the game with a 68th-minute strike that whistled inches wide. Ultimately, we would return home with a score draw, though we were still favourites to progress. A home win – or even a 0-0 draw – in the second leg would do it.
SPORTING vs BELENENSES SAD (Primeira Liga – Match 30)
I wasn’t quite so happy with this 1-1 draw. Belenenses might have been battling the drop, but we made a real mess of what should have been a straightforward victory. From the moment Luiz Phellype had an early penalty saved after being pushed in the area, our usually lethal frontman went downhill.
We wasted several more chances before I put Big Phil out of his misery. Typically, his replacement Andraz Sporar broke the deadlock four minutes after coming on. He might have played only three games in two months, but once the Slovene connected with Jovane Cabral‘s low centre into the six-yard box, there was no chance of him missing.
And then our defence went and spoilt it all just five minutes later. Cristián Borja carelessly lost the ball on our left wing, allowing Belenenses’ wing-back Diego Calila to cross into our box. Colombian frontman Mateo Cassierra’s header came back off Luís Neto‘s noggin, but he pounced on the rebound, following up with a powerful low finish.
Having saved a point with their only shot on target, Belenenses SAD were feeling GLAD… but I was MAD, because my goodness weren’t we BAD.
To make matters worse, Benfica had won 2-0 at Vitória de Setúbal and built a clear lead at the top (even taking our game in hand into account). Porto overwhelmed Gil Vicente 5-1 and cut their deficit on us to six points, but Braga conceded a late equaliser at Tondela, which meant we needed one more point to guarantee a top-three finish.
Unfortunately, our task was made more difficult when a groin injury ended Miguel Luís’ season. This had been the 21-year-old playmaker’s breakthrough campaign – with seven goals, eight assists, and a 7.48 average rating. As a young man who loved the big games, his impact would be hugely missed against AEK especially.
SPORTING vs AEK (Europa League – Quarter Final, Leg 2)
The second leg wasn’t as full-blooded as the first, and neither was it as close. The fact that all our starting XI scored match ratings of 7.0 or better (even goalkeeper Luís Maximiano!) tells you everything about how dominant we were.
Yannick Bolasie began the rout in the 12th minute, taking full advantage after AEK goalie Vasilis Barkas had spilt Sebastián Coates‘ header straight to him. The Greek number 1 looked barking mad again when Luiz Phellype headed Marcos Acuña‘s free-kick home to register his 15th goal of the campaign.
A third goal not long before half-time put us in total control. Bolasie turned provider with a brilliantly weighted cross for Vietto, who needed about three bites at the cherry before eventually beating Barkas.
Teenagers Eduardo Quaresma and Rodrigo Fernandes got some extra gametime late on as the outcome became even clearer. 18-year-old Quaresma slotted in as a central defensive partner for 36-year-old Jérémy Mathieu, who scored the fourth goal that secured our first Europa League Semi Final since 2012. AEK’s Greek tragedy then ended with them losing left-back Hélder Lopes to a second yellow.
We were now just 180 minutes away from the Final, with only A German Team standing between us and our tickets to Gdańsk. Indeed, an all-Portuguese Final in Poland was still on the cards, as our omnipresent foes Benfica were playing my beloved Arsenal in the other Semi.
PAÇOS DE FERREIRA vs SPORTING (Primeira Liga – Match 31)
But after the sublime came the sub-standard. Frankly, this was another pitiful result that saw our championship hopes slip even further away.
In one of our most boring games this season, we enjoyed plenty of possession but never did much with it. By contrast, Paços de Ferreira had a clear gameplan; they tightened up and then launched the odd promising counter-attack whenever an opening emerged.
As full-time neared, though, I was hopeful that we could at least hold on for a point that would at least secure 3rd place at worst. That was until we Tanqued in injury-time, as Douglas Tanque’s left-wing cross into the box was headed home by Welthon, who outjumped Ugarte to break our hearts.
The rest of the top four had all won again, so Porto and Braga were now only three and five points behind respectively. We HAD to get back to winning ways the following weekend, where anything except maximum points in our game in hand at Marítimo would crown Benfica as champions.
MARÍTIMO vs SPORTING (Primeira Liga – Match 32)
You just knew it, didn’t you? José Gomes’ Marítimo continued their late surge towards the European places by doing the double over us.
A thrilling but nerve-shredding encounter saw its first goal six minutes before the break, when Cameroon striker Joel carved in a first-time square ball from Bebeto (not that one). Vietto didn’t take long to restore parity from Acuña’s corner, but all was not well in the Sporting camp.
With Mattheus Oliveira sitting this game out, his dad’s namesake was causing us all sorts of issues from right wing-back. Just over 10 minutes into the second half, he floated a cross into the box for left-back Rúben Ferreira, whose header restored Marítimo’s lead.
To be fair, we showed great resilience to fight back again. In the 76th minute, Macedonian right-back Stefan Ristovski pumped a free-kick long to our other Slavic star. Sporar raced through on goal and then comfortably beat the keeper for 2-2.
But when Marítimo moved back ahead for a third time, our resolve was broken for good. Young playmaker Xadas had won our previous meeting at the Alvalade all the way back in August with a penalty. This clincher eight minutes from time was a more spectacular first-time strike from just inside our area which left Maximiano flapping at air.
Marítimo? Urgh. More like Bogítimo.
We were now in a full-blown meltdown. In just three weeks, we had thrown the title away to Benfica and allowed Porto to move within three points of leapfrogging us. If we didn’t get our act together in our final league games against Gil Vicente and Rio Ave, we wouldn’t be playing in next season’s Champions League…
…unless we somehow won the Europa League. Despite our recent domestic struggles, we knew that anything was possible in a competition where we were still undefeated. And let’s not forget that we’d only lost once at home all season. Perhaps that would bode well for our first leg against Gladbach?
MÖNCHENGLADBACH vs SPORTING (Europa League – Semi Final, Leg 1)
Kinda. Despite Gladbach bossing the opening stages, it was us who took the lead after just 18 minutes. Acuña crossed deep to the far post, where Cabral used his pace to slip past visiting left-back Stefan Lainer and open the scoring.
But then came a fateful error from Maximiano, who had been very solid until he decided to come forward and try catching Florian Neuhaus’ free-kick into our box. French striker Marcus Thuram (Lilian’s lad) flicked a header past our unwitting keeper and then tapped into an empty net.
Yet it was our frontmen that let us down the most. Cabral, Bolasie and Luiz Phellype each had three shots on target, but only scored once between them. Sadly, Bolasie looked as comfortable on a Europa League Semi Final stage as you’d expect from someone who was playing Championship football for Aston Villa last season.
And so, despite having way more chances than our opponents, we had to settle for a draw. We would need to score in Germany to have a chance of reaching the Final.
There was a timely boost before our final home match of the season. Acuña had been linked with a move to England since January but had now committed his future to Sporting by penning a new four-year deal.
Unfortunately, Acuña was suspended for the game against Gil Vicente after picking up too many bookings, as was Jesé. Even without our star left-flankers, though, we were widely expected to make light work of a Galos side who would be relegated if they failed to win.
SPORTING vs GIL VICENTE (Primeira Liga – Match 33)
We won, but boy did we make a meal of it. After scoring once from 12 shots on target against Gladbach, we ‘improved’ that to one in 10 here. (And as UB40 will testify, one in 10 is not always something to be happy about.)
Our solitary goal came in the 16th minute, as 17-year-old forward Joelson Fernandes marked his first league start with an assist. He squared the ball into the centre circle for midfielder Rodrigo Battaglia, who then dribbled up to around 25 yards from goal before driving the ball low past the keeper.
Joelson’s shooting was rather less impressive, while Cabral’s crossing was largely ineffective and a frustrated Luiz Phellype was shut out by the away defence. A more competent team would’ve punished us, but Gil Vicente only gave our second-choice keeper Renan Ribeiro one shot to worry about and were relegated without a fight.
Our top-three place was now set in stone, but Porto’s 5-3 win over Santa Clara meant the battle for 2nd would go to the final day. We merely needed a draw at mid-table Rio Ave to finish runners-up, but if we lost, we needed to hope that Porto had not won their final game at Marítimo.
There was a two-week wait between our final league games. In the meantime, we made a trip to Germany knowing that we realistically needed to win at Gladbach – or at least get a high-scoring draw – to reach the Europa League Final.
SPORTING vs MÖNCHENGLADBACH (Europa League – Semi Final, Leg 2)
It wasn’t to be. Having only scored once at home to the worst team in Portugal’s top flight, we were predictably toothless against one of the Bundesliga’s best.
At the very least, though, we went out fighting. Acuña’s crossing was a real threat from left-back in his first game since signing that new contract. Had our attackers been more confident, perhaps we would’ve reaped the rewards – but Sporar looked particularly short of match sharpness as he sent two great early chances begging.
Gladbach weren’t much better. Neuhaus fired their best opportunity into Maximiano’s hands in the 14th minute, while Thuram also struggled up front. Unfortunately for us, Die Fohlen’s defence was solid and their midfield kept the ball well enough to keep us at bay.
With the scores still goalless, the ref’s full-time whistle sent us out of the Europa League on away goals, with Gladbach advancing to face bloody Benfica for the title. Still, we could hold our heads high, having not lost any of our 14 matches in this season’s competition.
I was confident we could enjoy another deep run in Europe next term… but in which competition? Could we get that last league point we needed to get back in the Champions League?
RIO AVE vs SPORTING (Primeira Liga – Match 34)
Of course, we couldn’t.
Our attack once again disappointed in the first half, so it was instead up to a midfielder to provide another of our trademark long-range stunners. January arrival Ugarte came up with the goods just before half-time, sending us into the break with a narrow lead.
We were now in a pretty solid position, especially as Joel had given Marítimo a 32nd-minute opener at home to Porto. There now needed to be at least four goals in the second half – two from Rio Ave, and two from Porto – to knock us off 2nd.
I expected a resurgence from the Dragões, so we needed to focus on our game and not do anything stupid defensively. Like, say, let Rio Ave striker Mehdi Taremi race past you and score a league-best 14th goal of the campaign. I’m afraid that time was probably up for 36-year-old Mathieu at centre-half.
Ristovski’s Sporting days also looked numbered when the right-back upended Nuno Santos in our area four minutes from time. Taremi could’ve cranked our anxiety up to the maximum by scoring the penalty, but a stunning save by Maximiano kept us on track for that decisive point…
…until it all went wrong for another Sporting defender in stoppage time. I’d taken a big risk in giving Quaresma his full league debut, but the rookie was outmuscled by Rio Ave midfielder Nikola Jambor, who headed in a late winner for the hosts.
We’d blown our chance to secure 2nd. Now we REALLY needed to hope Porto hadn’t “done a Portsmouth” by scoring two late goals to usurp us at the death.
They hadn’t. I probably owe José Gomes a drink.
And so we achieved possibly the least convincing 2nd-place finish in Primeira Liga history! We had collected just four points from our final six games, but it didn’t matter. After three years away, Sporting CP were back in the Champions League… well, the qualifying rounds at least.
SEASON REVIEW
Primeira Liga runners-up and Europa League Semi Finalists. That has to be considered a good first seaason, right?
The board aren’t quite so sure. While they’re obviously pleased about our continental performances, we had failed to launch a strong enough title challenge in their eyes. To be fair, we finished 11 points behind Benfica, having been level with just six games to play.
Frankly, our late-season collapse – while not on the scale of others I’ve had in previous Fuller FM stories – was unacceptable. We need to attack smarter when opponents sit deep against us, and we have to handle pressure a lot better if we want to end our title drought next year.
On the plus side, the board are satisfied that we at least challenged for some silverware. To be fair, I achived that objective by reaching the Semis of the Allianz Cup (Taça da Liga) – a competition they didn’t even consider to be that important. Make of that what you will.
I’ve also held up the club’s tradition for playing attacking football. Considering I’ve only bought one player so far, it’s perhaps too early to be judging my record in the transfer market.
Next season, our aim must be to topple Benfica, who claimed a domestic clean sweep. As well as retaining the championship, they defeated Braga in both cup Finals… but the ‘curse’ of Béla Guttmann remains intact after they lost the Europa League to Gladbach in extra-time. Ha!
One player dominated our end-of-season awards – and that man was Miguel Luís. I’ve already written about how impressive the playmaker’s season was, and who knows what would’ve happened if that dodgy groin hadn’t cut it short. Unsurprisingly, one of Miguel’s long-range stunners – namely this one at Braga in November – was voted our Goal of the Season.
Our Signing of the Season was Ugarte, by account of his being my only signing, but he was still an impressive acquisition after arriving from Fénix. The defensive midfielder averaged 7.22 over 13 games, catching the eye by winning 78% of his tackles and completing 95% of his passes. Rest assured, Manuel, that you’ll definitely be in my next European squad!
Luiz Phellype led the way for goals with 15, while Jesé and Mattheus Oliveira also hit double figures. Sporar managed eight in an injury-ravaged campaign, while Pedro Mendes‘ haul of six goals in 15 games will surely warrant more first-team chances next term.
With his 11 assists, Acuña was our only player to hit double figures on that front. Fellow left wing-back Borja wasn’t far off on nine assists, though the Colombian’s more consistent overall performances meant he snuck into our Team of the Season. Miguel Luís and Cabral were next on eight assists apiece, while they created 19 and 25 chances respectively.
Our best-performing centre-half was Coates (7.16 average rating), though our captain also had our worst disciplinary record, with nine yellow and two red cards. I guess that’s what happens when you dive into tackles too recklessly. Mathieu was pretty solid too, but the French veteran has indeed decided to retire and must be replaced.
And while FM’s ratings invariably screw goalkeepers over, I was encouraged by Maximiano’s performances in his debut top-flight campaign. Though the 21-year-old conceded 46 goals in as many games, he kept 16 clean sheets and made only one major error (unfortunately, that was in the Europa Semi). If Luís can stay clear of injuries, he’ll only get even better with time.
PLAYER-BY-PLAYER STATS
Oh boy. That was not a fun end to Season 1.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed the opening chapters of this Football Manager adventure. After a long break from the series, it feels great to be playing and writing again – and I’m already looking forward to the second season.
Speaking of Season 2, that will kick-off on Monday evening. Part 1 will include a transfer window round-up and a fresh squad review as we prepare for (hopefully) another title challenge. Don’t forget to hit the ‘Follow Fuller FM’ button and/or follow me on Twitter @Fuller_FM to be notified when that goes live.
“Obrigado por ler!”
Fuller FM 
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