FC Porto

Founded on 28 September 1893, Futebol Clube de Porto is one of the "Big Three" teams in Portugal – together with Lisbon-based rivals Benfica and Sporting CP – that have appeared in every season of the Primeira Liga since its establishment in 1934. They are nicknamed Dragões, for the mythical creature atop the club's crest, and Azuis e brancos (Blue-and-whites), for the shirt colours. The club supporters are called Portistas. Since 2003, Porto have played their home matches at the Estádio do Dragão, which replaced the previous 52-year-old ground, the Estádio das Antas.

After four straight titles for SL Benfica, FC Porto finally became Portuguese champions last year. We will be directly qualified for the Champions League group stage and our first competitive game will be the Supertaça against Aves.

The economic situation in the club isn’t the best and we have a very limited transfer budget for the first season. We won’t be making any transfers this window, but the club has already brought in a few players at the start of the save.

Board expectations:
Supertaça: Not important
Taça da liga: Not important
Taça de Portugal: Final
Liga NOS: Title
Champions League: Round of 1/16

As earlier mentioned, we did not have enough money to buy new players. But with the likes of Militão and Pepe the squad should be at least as strong as last year.
It's important to have players for rotation because we are playing in 4 different tournaments during the season. Our first game will be the Supertaça (Supercup) against Aves. The league will start at home against Chaves.

Looks interesting. Goodluck. And you've got a couple of players to cash in on in the future.

Best of luck with Porto. They have some very talented players in their ranks and a great history behind them. Nobody will ever forget their triumph in Europe under Jose. Let's hope you can replicate that great feat in time.

As the reigning champions we played the cup-winners Desportivo Aves in the Supercup. It was a dramatic game with both goalline-technology and VAR being used. We dominated the game from the beginning but couldn't score within 90 minutes. In the extra-time Yacine Brahimi stepped up and secured the first trophy of the season.



We stay unbeaten through our first three games in the league despite not playing very well. In the first game both teams had many chances and the 1-1 draw seemed to be the most fair result.
In the second game we played Braga who are a top team in Portuguese football. Aboubakar scored after only 27 seconds but in the second half the home team turned the result around. Thanks to Luizao we managed to get one point back to Porto.
In our third game we took on Rio Ave in a game we only had to win. The game finished 2-1 but we were dominant throughout the whole game and deserved our first victory in Liga NOS.
The player of the month is Héctor Herrera. He played in every game and dominated the midfield. The 28-year old Mexican didn't let us down and he got to score one goal in the game against Rio Ave. With his experience and leadership he will be a very important player for us this season.

I love those graphics, first of all. The results could be a little better, but an unbeaten start is still something to take away and remain positive about. Winning a piece of silverware already is a fantastic way to start your legacy in charge at Porto, too.

The Champions League-draw decided that we should face Juventus, Viktoria Plzen and Galatasaray in the group stage. It's a group that we definitely can go past but we must not underestimate Viktoria Plzen and Galatasaray.

Round 1:
FC Porto - Galatasaray
Juventus - Viktoria Plzen

Round 2:
Viktoria Plzen - FC Porto
Galatasaray - Juventus

Round 3:
FC Porto - Juventus
Galatasaray - Viktoria Plzen

Round 4:
Juventus - FC Porto
Viktoria Plzen - Galatasaray

Round 5:
Galatasaray - FC Porto
Viktoria Plzen - Juventus

Round 6:
FC Porto - Viktoria Plzen
Juventus - Galatasaray

September were a better month for us than the previous in Liga NOS. Aboubakar began to hit his form and he scored 4 league goals in September. We had pretty easy opponents but it was important for us to start getting those wins. Benfica are currently first with six games won and they are looking extremely good at the moment.

In the Champions League we got of to a very good start. We took on the Turkish giant Galatasaray and outperformed them. Aboubakar gave us the lead in the 20th minute and just before halftime the guests got a red card. Galatasaray were passive in the second half because of the red card and Marega secured the three points with his goal in the 68th minute.
In the other game Juventus won against Viktoria Plzen at home with 2-0. In the next round we are going to the Czech Republic and if we manage to get the three points we look good to go through.

In the league cup we took on Moreirense in the first round. We rotated the team a lot but still managed to get the win thanks to Hernani's goal in the second half. The league cup is divided into four groups with four teams in each. The teams will face each other only once and the group winner will advance to the semifinals. The other teams in our group are Vitoria Guimaraes and Feirense. They drew their first game (0-0).
Our player of the month is Vincent Aboubakar. It stood between him and Alex Telles who had a fantastic month, but with Vincent's crucial goals in the league he just had to get the award. He managed to score four in the league and one in the Champions League. He have to be at his best if we want to win the league this season.

A perfect set of results in all competitions, you couldn't ask for more! That result against Galatasaray could be very important in terms of the placement in the group, given I would class them as your nearest rivals for second position, with Juventus likely to top the group. Although, it's not impossible that you can pip them to first, given your strong unbeaten start thus far. Momentum can be very helpful in football.

We played only two league games this month but one of them were the big derby of Portugal. In the first game against Nacional de Madeira we managed to get the three points thanks to Moussa Marega's goal in the 28th minute. We had a lot of chances but were not effective enough.
In the second game we traveled to Lisbon and Estadio Da Luz to face Benfica who looked unbeatable at that moment. They had 7 wins in the league and had beaten Bayern München just four days before the derby. We knew how hard it was going to be but the guys went out on Da Luz fearless and managed to beat Benfica. We got an early lead through Jesus Corona and after that Benfica never managed to organized themselves. We had many chances and in the 88th minute Hernani managed to secure the win for us. A Benfica win here would have been devastating for us and they would have gone 7+ in the league. This win makes the difference only 1 point and we remain the only unbeaten team in the league!
Here's how the table looks after 8 games played in the league. Benfica have been extremely good and they keep the first place despite losing to us in the last game. The other two big teams Sporting CP and Braga have struggled and they are both missing out on the European spots at the moment.


We remain unbeaten in the Champions League as well after three games played. In the first game away against Viktoria Plzen we totally outplayed them and had 31 shots but we just couldn't score. In the other game Galatasaray drew with Juventus which made it even harder for us.
We traveled to Italy and Ronaldo welcomed us with a goal after just five minutes. In the second half we got two early goals but just three minutes later Chiellini scored for the home team. We had both a shot in the post and crossbar but didn't manage to beat the Italian champions.
Here is how the CL-table looks after three games played. We are still on top after the 2-2 draw against Juventus. Galatasaray did beat Viktoria Plzen away and if we don't beat Juventus at home we are going to have a real battle for the second place when we travel to Istanbul in November.

In the third round of the Portuguese Cup we faced Merelinense from the third division. I gave the chance to many reserves and we still managed to beat them by four goals. In the next round we will take on Boavista in a city-derby.

In the second game of the league-cup we face Vitória away. Our schedule was very busy so I had to rotate the team a lot. I feared a loss here and that would have put us in a bad position to go through. In the second half I made some changes and we managed to outscore Vitória and win with 4-0! In the last round we will take on Feirense at home and a draw will be enough for us to reach the semifinals.
The player of the month award goes to Hernâni. My intention was not to play him regular this season but to use him as a substitute. But Hernâni has deserved a place in the starting eleven and he was a important player for us this year. He is the first Portuguese player to win be our player of the month this season.
Thank you "ScottT" and "SonOfAnarchy" for your kind comments!

Some great results domestically, especially the win over one of your main rivals in Benfica. A shame about the Plzen draw, but a point against Juventus has more than made up for it. An incredibly tight group at the moment, with plenty to play for.

After 7 straight wins in the league we finally dropped points away in Guimaraes. We started off the month by beating Santa Clara at Dragao by 3-0. In the game against Vitória we had the lead two times but only for a minute. It was frustrating to concede two goals right after scoring and it's not the first time it happened this season.



We are on the top of the table for the first time this season. Benfica, who looked unbeatable before the derby, has lost to both Sporting and Chaves and they are now three points behind us. But we have a long season to go.


After the two away draws to Viktoria Plzen and Juventus we shared the first place with the Italians going in to the second half of the group stage. In the home game against Juventus we got off to a dream start and 20 minutes in we were up 2-0. But as many times before we couldn't hold on to our lead and Juventus came back to 2-2 just before the half, and that's how the game ended. In the other game, Galatasaray lost at home to Viktoria Plzen, and they were forced to beat us at home in the next round.
The game started in the worst possible way for us as Mitroglu scored within the first minute. We worked our way into the game and after two screamers from Hector Herrera we found ourselves in a very good position. Galatasaray didn't give up and in the 91' minute they got an very cheap equalizer, meaning we would share the points with our opponents for the fourth time this group stage.



We still haven't lost a game and we have everything in our own hands in the last round of the Champions League. If we beat Viktoria Plzen at home we will advance to the knockout stages.

In the Portuguese Cup we took on Boavista in a city-derby. With two goals by Mbemba and one each by Militao and Kelvin, we advance to the next round where we are going to face Rio Ave away.
I wasn't sure about who deserved the player of the month award for November but with his crucial goals against Juventus and Vitória, Moussa Marega gets it.

Okay I love the graphics, what did you use to make them?

Four wins out of four in the league means that we keep the first place in the league. We are in an unbelievable form right now with 12 straight league wins.

Benfica have stuggled a lot lately which means that we are nine points clear in the table and we are the only unbeaten team. Sporting, Braga and Chaves have all had good runs and they are closing in on Benfica.


We were forced to at least draw in our last group stage game at home against Viktoria Plzen to keep the Champions League dream alive. We dominated the game and took revenge for the 0-0 draw in the first game against them.


In the other game Juventus played against Galatasaray in Turin and a draw would have been enough for us to top the group. The turks took an early lead and held it until the 74th minute when Dybala equalized for Juventus. As expected they couldn't hold out and Dybala scored another one at stoppage time to give Juventus the three points and the first place in the group.

In the 1/8 final of the Champions League we will face Paris Saint-Germain. It's a very tough draw and PSG are a team that are aiming for the title. They struggled a bit in the group stage winning only 3 out of 6 games. We go into the game as underdogs just as against Juventus where we managed to get two good results. The first game will be played at home.
Juventus got drawn against Valencia who finished second in PSG's group. Even though Valencia is a good team it's a much easier draw and we were unlucky to not get the first place in our group.


In the 1/8 final of the Portuguese cup we faced Rio Ave away who turned out to be a lot tougher opponent than expected. We took the lead through Marega but lost it just five minutes later. We couldn't get the win within 90 minutes but in the extra-time Hernani stepped up and sent us to the quarterfinal.
The quarterfinal draw gave us another hard task, Vitória SC away.


We finished the group stage with a game away at Feirense. One point was enough for us to get through and thanks to two goals from Marega we managed to get all three.
The final four will be played in Lisbon at Da Luz which means that Benfica will play both the semifinal and final at home. On top of that they got drawn against Rio Ave, while we will have to face Braga to get to the final.
Moussa Marega is the first player to become Player of the month for the second time. Marega has really shown how important he is to us with his 7 goals this month and there is no surprise that many clubs are interested in him.
mgriffin2012:Thank you. I use photoshop for all the graphics.

Another good month for us despite our first loss in the league. We had a tough schedule and we didn't manage to get any points back from Lisbon. It was a close game were we had two shots in the crossbar but Sporting's good start were too hard for us to fight back from. We were dominant in the other three games and Marega scored 7(!) league goals this month.


After more than half the season played we have a 9 point lead. Considering that we are playing Braga, Sporting and Benfica at home, we are clear favourites to win the title. Now when the league cup is over we have less games to play and more focus can be put on winning the league.


We had a tough game away in Guimaraes in the quarterfinal of the Portuguese Cup. We dropped points here earlier this season but this time we won thanks to the goals scored by Aboubakar and Marega. In the semifinal we will face Sporting CP. The round will be played over two legs and the first game will be played in the capital.


We are champions of the league cup! It was a good feeling to lift the trophy in front of the Benfica fans at their own stadium. We kept two clean sheets and the final was won on penalties. We had a good league cup run this year scoring 8 goals and not conceding a single one. This is the first league cup title for Porto ever and my second title since I came here.

I'm not sure if I have to explain why Marega gets his third consecutive award? With 7 goals in the league and one in the Portuguese Cup, he obviously is the player of the month.