THE SCENARIO: It is July 2016. Despite recently leading Real Madrid to a record 11th European Cup win, coach Zinedine Zidane has suddenly resigned, reportedly due to a dispute with club chairman Florentino Perez over the club’s transfer policy for the upcoming season. Perez has appointed Spanish coach Diego Lima as Zidane’s replacement but will he be able to win the respect of his star studded team and lead them to success or will internal politics unravel Los Blancos’ hopes of becoming the first team to successfully defend the Champions League?

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1 July 2016

Senor Perez has summoned me for a meeting to discuss the club’s objectives for this season. To no one’s great surprise he wants us to win La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. This is Real Madrid after all. Somewhat surprisingly we haven’t won La Liga since 2011/12 despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s consistent brilliance. We’ve done better in Europe, with two Champions League titles in the last three years. The added incentive for winning it again this season is that we would be the first team to successfully defend the title in the Champions League era.

The transfer budget is about €160 million but with such a strong squad already, I’m not planning any major additions unless Perez forces me to sign David De Gea or Eden Hazard or someone else I don’t really need.

Real Madrid Squad

(*) indicates new signing

Goalkeepers: Carlos Abad (on loan from Tenerife), Kiko Casilla, Keylor Navas

Defenders: Dani Carvajal, Fabio Coentrao, Danilo, Nacho Fernandez, Achraf Hakimi, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Raphael Varane

Midfielders: Marco Asensio, Casemiro, Isco, Mateo Kovacic, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez

Forwards: Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Mariano, Alvaro Morata*, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lucas Vazquez

Loaned Out: Burgui, Raul De Tomas, Alvaro Jimenez, Diego Llorente, Marcos Llorente, Borja Mayoral, Martin Odegaard, Lucas Torro, Jesus Vallejo

Available for Loan: Alex, Sergio Diaz, Aleix Febas, Enzo Fernandez, Philipp Lienhart, Alvaro Tejero, Nikos Vergos, Ruben Yanez

I’m quite happy with this squad so it’s unlikely there’ll be any changes, unless Perez forces some new signings upon me.

7 July 2016

Segunda side Nastic offer to take our young midfielder Enzo Zidane Fernandez on loan. I like Enzo, I think he’s a good young player. Sadly I don’t think he likes me as I’m the nobody who’s just replaced his legendary father as the coach. It’s definitely awkward between us so hopefully a spell away will help defuse the tension.

We also agree to loan young Greek striker Nikos Vergos to French side Auxerre for the season.

13 July 2016

Our pre-season preparations will take us to South Korea to play in the Invitational Cup. We’ve got a strong following in Asia so hopefully we can score lots of goals for the fans. Our group includes England’s Tottenham Hotspur, Italy’s Roma, and Korean team Suwon Bluewings. The top two teams in the group will qualify for the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have made a huge €48.5 million bid for Raphael Varane. I have no intention of selling the Frenchman however, as I want to play him alongside Ramos this season while I transition Pepe into a reserve role.

16 July 2016

Real Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur

The first match sees us take on Tottenham, whom Bale and Modric previously played for. Casemiro fires us into an early lead in the 5th minute before their goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman frustrates us with a series of fine saves. We finally get another goal in the second half when Ramos’ shot is diverted in by Christian Maghoma for an own goal. James wraps up a comfortable 3-0 win with a cool finish through the goalkeeper’s legs in the last minute.

19 July 2016

Roma vs Real Madrid

The next match is against Roma and we put on a blistering first half performance that yields five goals. Benzema gives us the lead with a scuffed shot past Wojciech Szczesny before Ronaldo doubles the lead from the spot. With only 25 minutes played Benzema makes it 3-0 with a glorious lobbed finish over Szczesny. Roma pull one back through Alessandro Florenzi but Lucas Vasquez immediately restores our three goal advantage. Isco then scores the pick of the goals with a beautiful curled finish from outside the box. It’s only pre-season but I hope we can repeat this kind of performance when the matches count.

20 July 2016

We send a few more young players out on loan. Alex joins Reus Deportiu, while Alvaro Tejero joins Numancia. Aleix Febas heads to SD Huesca and Philipp Lienhart joins Red Bull Salzburg.

We also reject some offers for our central midfielders who are suddenly in demand. Barcelona try a naughty bid for Kroos while our other rivals want Casemiro. Needless to say I don’t bother entertaining either offer. A third midfielder, Kovacic is wanted by Dortmund but I’d rather not sell him as he’s still young and could one day replace his compatriot Modric.

22 July 2016

Real Madrid vs Suwon Bluewings

The next match against Suwon Bluewings is another goal fest as we score five yet again. Mariano opens the scoring in the first half before Morata scores a second after an awful throw from the Korean goalkeeper. Isco scores a third with a similar effort to his goal against Roma, before Ronaldo nets a brace to finish the scoring. Three wins from three means we top the group and play Napoli in the semi-finals. Roma will play Japanese team Vissel Kobe who surprisingly won their group ahead of Napoli.

24 July 2016

Real Madrid vs Napoli

The semi-final against Napoli is a tightly contested match with few chances in the first half. The best chance falls Napoli’s way but Navas does well to deny former Real forward Jose Callejon. In the end, the match is decided by two goals in five second half minutes. Modric nods in from Marcelo’s cross and then Morata scores after Ronaldo’s shot is deflected into his path. We’ll play Roma again in the final after they beat Vissel Kobe 3-1. No doubt they’ll be looking to exact some revenge for the heavy defeat we inflicted on them.

25 July 2016

Isco’s brilliant pre-season form hasn’t gone unnoticed as Bayern Munich make an offer to take him to Germany. He’s too important for me to lose however, so I tell them to get lost. Benzema is also in demand as we receive a surprising bid from Bilbao. I thought they only signed Basque players? Regardless, I’m not selling one third of the BBC to another Spanish team. Lastly, Atletico don’t seem to get the hint that I don’t want to sell them my players as they make a bid for Marco Asensio that is swiftly rejected.

I do accept a couple of loan offers though, as Sergio Diaz joins Girona and Ruben Yanez joins English team Shrewsbury.

26 July 2016

Real Madrid vs Roma

The final against Roma turns out to be a much closer match than our group game, but two goals in five minutes from Danilo and Benzema set us on our way. The Brazilian had been booked earlier for a lunge on Diego Perotti, and receives a second yellow before half-time for fouling the same player. I can only assume Perotti insulted his mother, or maybe Danilo has some anger management issues I don’t know about. Despite being down to ten men, we score a third goal via a trademark Ronaldo free kick in the 69th minute. The Italians don’t give up however, and goals from Bruno Peres and Edin Dzeko give them hope of an unlikely comeback. Benzema finally finishes them off with another goal and it finishes 4-2. It’s been a good pre-season trip, the only negative as we head back to Madrid is an injury picked up by Bale. He’ll miss the first few matches of the league season, but we should be able to cope.