Grêmio FBPA - Season 3: Eternal Glory

@J_ames I am equally delighted! It was sad that they bought over such a sympathetic club as Bragantino, and now we have an energetic drink taking a spot that could be enjoyed by a club with actual fans

@Jack it was really nice to get back to Libertadores so soon, as we technically only missed 2022 (we got knocked-out at the preliminary play-offs in 2021). Let's see how it pans out!

Amazing stuff, I had no idea Gremio was going through this, but luckily for them they have found Marco, and he has completely changed them for the better. A promotion and a cup win at the first time of asking is not for everybody. Best of luck in the top division and Libertadores!

@Maxporto fun fact: two clubs have already won the Copa do Brasil from Série B. But they didn't get promoted lol

And thank you, it will be fun to see how things pan out and how much impact we can do in a higher level.

I. Picking up where we left off

Season 2: Redemption (Part 1)

João Paulo Defilippis, our new president, is no different than the last. As long as he finds a manager that he can trust, he delegates everything. It was easy to convince him to let me take over many areas of the club, which is a blessing for me, but I worry that someone in my position could do whatever they want and no one would try to stop them.

It has already ended in tragedy before.

I have a huge responsibility towards this club, so it’s time to get to work. First, with Série B behind us now, we can think about picking up where we left off before entering the bizarre downward spiral that got us to that tragic position. And no, it has nothing to do with continuity. As contradictory as it may sound, the only way to pick up where we lift off is to break up with the old ways.

We have excellent youth facilities, and rest assured that we’ve been using them. But the history of complementing the youth of our squad with experienced players - and using the word “experienced” with a rather broad meaning - has left a remarkable missing middle in our squad. We have old. We have young. But apart from Kenedy, there is simply nobody else in our squad between their 25s and 30s. We have plenty of players who have either a lot of energy or experience, but with the exception of Kenedy, we don’t have anyone that has both. We lack players on the top of their form.

Arrivals


Our squad needed more options in order to become competitive, and I mean silverware here. Even though our competitors have more money than us, it is really hard to win all championships for grabs in Brazilian football, so we must have a good squad for when the opportunity shows up (as last season proves my point). Three of these players are expected to cause immediate impact:

Facundo Torres, attacking midfielder/striker, 22 years old: our biggest signing before the season starts is the talented Uruguayan, who’s been long overdue for a transfer to a higher level. He cost double our budget, so I had to do some fiscal arrangements using next year’s budget in order to bring him. He’ll be worth it, I’m positive.

Matheus Reis, left-back, 28 years old: I am never comfortable bringing players on loan, as they take a spot that could be used to develop a player that can render money in the future. In this case, however, in order to have a competitive squad, I had to sacrifice this principle and bring on loan an excellent player.

Ezequiel Ponce, striker, 25 years old: we had to be creative up front, bringing our striker from Russia. He arrived too late to be registered for the group stage of Copa Libertadores, but I think Igor Paixão can do the trick while Ponce sits out.

We didn’t have many departures worth mentioning, apart from Jhonata Robert leaving for Cuiabá for R$ 5,75M.

Pre-season competitions


We were helpless against Atlético in the Supercup, showing that we still trail against the top clubs in our level. But in the end it's just a single game, and we need a bigger sample before jumping to conclusions.

Our rivals seem to be less and less a parameter against which to compare ourselves. What happened at the State Championship finals was, depending on the perspective from which you watch it, delightful or just unacceptable. A Brazilian Série A side can’t just overwhelm their rivals like this. I simply don’t know to which point we are coming strong or they have a lot to catch up.

2022 Série A Preview

Our showings before the season starts have made pundits regard us as the 3rd best club in the league, not far from Palmeiras and Flamengo, the two clubs that have been more consistently on the top of Brazilian football. Atlético Mineiro, the holders of the league, come only 5th, as their massive investments in the previous seasons have worn out the club's finances.

The results in your pre-season fixtures are absolutely NUTS! There's some phenomenal wins in there, and the Grêmio fans must be salivating at the possibilities on offer this season. Some solid business in the transfer market, and it's always pleasing to see names in there that I recognize Here's hoping that Ezequiel Ponce will net you 20+ goals this season.

Best of luck mate!

A great performance in the State Championships! I recognise Ezequiel Ponce from his recent impressive spells with Athens and Spartak Moscow (and also his less impressive loan spells with Granada and Lille) so hopefully he can help you on your way to meeting the press' expectations of Gremio!

@J_ames the stakes are higher as they were last year, that's for sure

@Jack let's see was Ponce has to give! Since it became clear that we wouldn't be able to afford for Borja to stay, he is the kind of striker that can score our goals. We'll see

My first football gala

As strange of a concept as it is, football galas are never something you dream about when you join this sport. There are just so many other things… footballier than this, as no goal will be scored nor will points be added to anyone’s record tonight. But when in Rome, do as the Romans, I guess.

As Geromel announced his retirement at the end of the season, he came along, as he was invited to a small celebration in tribute to his fantastic career. Not every player can retire at the age of 38 and say that they are retiring because they want to stop while in their prime. He’s been the captain of our 2017 team, the best in the Americas, as he has been relegated, as he has been promoted with us. Simply a legend in our colours.

I was really glad that he was there. Not only because of the tribute that he was given (he deserves even more than tributes), but because he is a dorky funny fella, and being with my captain made the evening less boring. The interesting part took some 10 minutes, tops.

2023 Copa Libertadores - Group Stage Draw

Brazil had an overwhelming majority of clubs in pot 1. Ourselves, Flamengo, Atlético Mineiro, Palmeiras, São Paulo and Santos. Argentina had only Boca, as River did not qualify to this edition, and Uruguay had only Peñarol.

General rules of the draw: clubs from the same country can face each other in the group stage, as long as one of them qualifies to the group stage through the preliminary rounds. Clubs are sorted by their position at the 2023 Conmebol Ranking, but the four clubs that qualify through preliminary rounds go to pot 4, regardless of their rank.

The draw went as such:

Group A

Flamengo
Junior
O’Higgins
Winner of Path 3: Guaraní / Colo-Colo / River Plate (URU) / Municipal

Group B
Grêmio
Vélez Sarsfield
Barcelona
Winner of Path 4: Cerro Porteño / Aragua / Emelec / Bolívar / Corinthians / Universidad Católica

Group C
Atlético Mineiro
Estudiantes
Libertad
Alianza Lima

Group D
Peñarol
Internacional
Palestino
Deportivo Lara

Group E
São Paulo
Sporting Cristal
Argentinos Juniors
Winner of Path 1: Independiente del Valle / Unión Santa Fe / Independiente Medellín / Blooming

Group F
Boca Juniors
Nacional
Oriente Petrolero
Winner of Path 2: Fortaleza / Caracas / Deportivo Cali / UTC / Progreso

Group G
Palmeiras
San Lorenzo
Liga de Quito
Deportivo La Guaira

Group H
Santos
Olimpia
Atlético Nacional
The Strongest

2023 Copa Libertadores - About Our Group

It could be easier, for sure. Although we kept our spot in pot 1, despite the relegation, the clubs that we were drawn to are not that far from our level. Vélez had a horrific season in the 21/22 season, but are doing way better in the 22/23 season, added to the fact that they are the current champions of the Copa Argentina. Barcelona, as the clubs from Ecuador usually are, is a mystery, and you never know how they will show up: they may behave like a sparring, being there just for anyone to hit them for easy points, or they may surprise and top the group. Last but not least, a club from the preliminary rounds, that may as well be Corinthians. As we didn’t face many Série A sides last season, it remains a mystery how my team will behave against better opposition. Other dangerous sides, as Cerro Porteño and Universidad Católica, can come out as well.

This remains to be seen in the next episodes.

take back cebolinha please

Noooooooooooooooo, Geromel CANNOT retire Overall, that looks to be quite a good draw for you, and I'm reasonably confident that you'll progress to the next round.

Don't let me down!

@deadzpool we would love to take him back, specially because it hurts our eyes to see the mister playing such a talented inverted striker as a wing back

@J_ames in the end of the day, it's more a case of being glad that we had him than being sad to see him go. Players do retire eventually, and we got very good replacement in our squad

And I won't let you down!

That is a tough group to begin with, with possibly the exception of Barcelona in your group. From my knowledge, Cerro and Corinthians are the teams you might want to avoid in the pathway, but I'm sure you have enough quality regardless to pull yourselves through.

@Jack Barcelona is either tough or shitty, no middle grounds. And in the end, with the current financial gap between Brazilian clubs and the rest of the continent, it will be hard to see Corinthians knocked out before the group stage

II. Feels good to be home again

Season 2: Redemption (Part 2)

The Copa Libertadores is a crucial part of Grêmio’s DNA, that is just undeniable. It is by far the favourite competition for every Gremista standing over the surface of Earth (maybe if we cared a little bit more to the league we wouldn’t have been relegated, but I digress), and it feels so good to be home again.

With the group stage draw taking place in January, for the last time before the preliminary rounds, we were still to know who would be our last rival in the group. No surprises: Corinthians took the last spot, meaning that we have pretty much the group of death in front of ourselves.

More difficulties came through inconsistencies in the calendar, as the deadline to submit our list of players for the group stage came before the opening of the international transfer window, meaning that Matheus Reis, Facundo Torres and Ezequiel Ponce will sit out until the knock-out rounds.

With that in mind, I took a more defensive approach to the group stage, especially away from home against Corinthians and Vélez. It does not necessarily mean that we’ll be facing these matches with a defensive mindset, but it is a step back when compared with our usual attacking preference.


In this system, we have both wing backs supporting the attack with speed and crosses, Jean Pyerre as a deep-lying playmaker, laying even behind our ball winning midfielder. Campaz, who usually plays as an attacking mid, will start from behind and support Kenedy at the left wing as a Mezzala. Kenedy will play open, as a good-old winger, whilst Douglas Costa will be cutting to the inside. Igor Paixão will just bag goals.

Considering how these players play, this formation can easily be transformed into a 4-2-3-1.

2023 Copa Libertadores - Group B

Matchday 1 - Corinthians x Grêmio

We could have started off strong, had Igor Paixão’s first minute goal not been denied by the linesman. Instead, we started on the backfoot as Madson sent a throw-in to our penalty box and after some kick-about, Araos found a weird header that somehow chipped Brenno in the 14th minute of play.

We didn’t trail for long, however. Even though Villasanti is a BWM, he can work well as a box-to-box, which has been proved by his one-two play with Douglas Costa. After he squared the ball to the middle of the penalty box, Campaz had only the job to bury her in, finding the equalizer in the 25th minute.

Right before half-time, we found the comeback with another collaboration from Villasanti, this time finding Igor Paixão in a future spot. Our diminutive goal scorer will never lose on pace, and he’s shown top quality by just rolling the ball by Cássio.

In the second half, we could get back to our more defensive formation, and we managed to cancel out Corinthians’ attempts. Igor Paixão had time to have another goal disallowed, and we went home with a solid 1-2 win away from home against our potentially toughest rival.

Matchday 2 - Vélez Sarsfield x Grêmio

We would have our 2 toughest games in the first two rounds. With the win conquered in São Paulo, we flew to Buenos Aires knowing that a win here would probably mean the upper hand for the rest of the group.

And now we managed to get a comfier start, after Campaz sent a tense cross to the area and Igor Paixão checked her in with 17 minutes of play. In another Campaz-Paixão connection, the Colombian found a sensational through ball and our striker got a cheeky chip over the keeper in the 62th minute.

In the added time, Vélez found a consolation goal after Geromel failed to cut out a cross from Garcia, leaving Lucas Jansen free to score in the 90+1’. Redemption came for Geromel one minute later, beautifully heading her to the top corner after a cross from Jean Pyerre. With two away wins against our tougher rivals, the upper hand was definitely ours.

Matchday 3 - Grêmio x Barcelona

Every other season, Barcelona comes as a great surprise, eliminating richer clubs and reaching the semifinals twice in 2017 and 2021. This season, however, is not theirs, despite a 2-2 draw against Vélez in the first round. Igor Paixão banged a hat-trick, and Salcedo and Jean Pyerre completed a strong 5-0 victory.

Matchday 4 - Grêmio x Corinthians

From now on, what our team showed was sheer class. We overpowered Corinthians in the first half, closing it with a 4-1 lead, as Campaz, Paixão, Salcedo and Kenedy scored our goals, with Róger Guedes scoring theirs. Kenedy even found another one in the second half to close an amazing 5-1 victory.

Matchday 5 - Grêmio x Vélez Sarsfield

If what we did to Corinthians was incredible, wait to see how we treated Vélez. It was ridiculous, even. With goals from Paixão, Campaz (2), Villasanti, Salcedo, Kenedy, Ferreira and Bruninho, we got another 8-0 victory this season. Argentine football has surely plummeted in the past few years, but this is just something else.

Matchday 6 - Barcelona x Grêmio

With pretty much nothing to play for, we sent an alternative squad to the last match, only sending Paixão as a way to help him in the top scorer fight. And it worked: even though Barcelona opened the scoreline with Hoyos, he scored twice, Ferreira scored another and Rildo completed our tally. 1-4, 6 wins in 6 matches.


Guys, I don’t think Ponce will be our main striker this season. Igor Paixão has been ruthless, despicable, cruel, and cold-blooded in front of the keepers, scoring 10 goals in these 6 matches of the not-so-much-group of death. Campaz has also been brilliant, but as Douglas Costa is showing signs of fast decline, he can be allotted to the right-wing and Torres can be brought to the midfield. Matheus Reis will surely take over the left-back spot. He’s just better than Guilherme Guedes.


The powerhouses of the recent years remain powerhouses today. Flamengo, Palmeiras, Grêmio, Internacional and Atlético Mineiro all topped their groups, and Argentina keeps their terrible moment a-go, losing three clubs to the group stage, with only Boca and Estudiantes moving forward.

We had a fair share of surprises, with Alianza Lima getting a Copa Sudamericana spot over Libertad, Caracas qualifying over Nacional, Liga de Quito qualifying over San Lorenzo, and the Bolivian side of The Strongest topping a group with Santos (3 times winner), Atlético Nacional (2 times winner), and Olimpia (3 times winner).

A highly successful Copa Libertadores campaign so far, although I'll admit that I was surprised that you elected to change your tactical set-up for it. It's worked a treat, which shows you were right to do it, and hopefully we can see continued success in the knockout stages too!