Football Season Guide

Serie A
Brazil
Serie A
2018
Botafogo FR
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Botafogo FR

In


Luiz Fernando (mid) (Atletico Goianiense), Rodrigo Aguirre (att) (Udinese), Arnaldo (def) (Penapolense), Roni (att) (Cruzeiro), Brenner (att) (Internacional – on loan), Kieza (att) (EC Vitoria), Moises (def) (Corinthians – on loan), Marcelo (mid) (Maccabi Tel-Aviv – on loan), Renatinho (mid) (Mirassol), Yago (def) (Corinthians – on loan), Pachu (att) (Santa Cruz – loan ended)

Out


Emerson Santos (r)(def) (Palmeiras), Bruno Silva (r)(mid) (Cruzeiro), Camilo (sp)(mid) (Internacional), Roger (r)(att) (Internacional), Vinicius Tanque (sp)(att) (Atletico Goianiense), Renan Fonseca (sp)(def) (Ponte Preta), Emerson Silva (r)(def) (Atletico Paranaense), Airton (sp)(def) (Fluminense)

The Botafogo fans have seen it all over recent years. Their team, still one of the big names in Brazilian football, dropped to the Serie B at some point, but the revival showed their potential. The team from Rio de Janeiro claimed the Serie B title back in 2015, but that wasn't all. Botafogo finished fifth in Serie A only one year later, which resulted in ambitions at the start of the 2017 campaign. The last season wasn't that impressive however as Botafogo finished tenth. Manager Alberto Valentim will be at a crossroads at the start of the new campaign. The fans will demand a top five classification again, but it remains to be seen if that will be a realistic goal. The current squad surely contains quality, but Botafogo didn’t push the quality within the squad to a higher level. Emerson Santos for instance left the club to play for Palmeiras, while Bruno Silva joined Cruzeiro. The staff did add a decent number of new players to the team, but most of them still have everything to prove, which is a tricky situation to be in.

Target


Botafogo should be able to claim a top ten spot again, but demanding more doesn't seem realistic. A Copa Libertadores ticket will be the main mission.