Carlos Alberto, a European champion with FC Porto, came out with one of those lines that stick: if they played in Brazil’s Série B, Real Madrid would not win it.
Yahoo Esportes decided to test the theory the most obvious way: a simulation in Football Manager 2019.
The rules
The Spanish giants entered Série B in place of Guarani, then bottom of the table. To make it harder for the galácticos to adapt, they played at the Brinco de Ouro da Princesa, the stadium of the team they replaced.
Because of the CBF’s foreign player limit (a maximum of five per game), some players were given dual Brazilian nationality so that everyone was available.
The Paulistão
Just like in reality, the season began with the São Paulo state championship, in a group with São Bento, São Caetano and São Paulo.
In the first stage, Los Blancos collected 8 wins, 3 draws and one defeat in 12 games. Only Ponte Preta beat them, and there were draws with Palmeiras and the “giants” Oeste and Novorizontino.
Until the end of the competition, there was only one more defeat, in the quarterfinals at the Morumbi against São Paulo, whom they then knocked out at home with a 3-0. Palmeiras in the semis and Corinthians in the final followed, both dispatched with wins in both legs.
Trophy in hand, but no individual awards. Santos’s Arthur Gomes was the best player of the state championship and Ricardo Goulart the top scorer, with the same six goals as Gareth Bale but one game fewer.
The team of the season was a different story: Keylor Navas, Carvajal, Nacho, Modrić and Bale were all there, with three Palmeiras players (Bruno Henrique, Lucas Lima and Ricardo Goulart), two from Santos (Felipe Aguilar and Jean Mota) and one from Corinthians (Ramiro).
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”38″ gal_title=”Paulistão”]The Série B
It was a stroll. With seven games left, Real Madrid were already champions, and they finished on 100 points, breaking the competition record (85, set by Corinthians in 2008).
Only two defeats prevented an unbeaten season: against América Mineiro, in a game where most of the squad was away on international duty, and against Sport Recife.
This time the awards came too. Sergio Ramos was the league’s best player, followed by full-backs Álvaro Odriozola and Carvajal. Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo were the breakout players. Five Madrid players made the Série B team of the season: Navas, Ramos, Kroos, Dani Ceballos and Bale.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”39″ gal_title=”Serie B”]Other trivia
Real Madrid created 493 goalscoring chances, 129 more than second-placed Sport Recife. In passing, the gap was even bigger: 11,740 completed passes, against Ponte Preta’s 8,739.
So, Carlos Alberto, at least in FM, it did not quite work out that way. Do you agree with the result?
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Fonte: Yahoo Esportes
