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?

Previous episodes: Episode 1

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1 August 2016

The La Liga season kicks off with two matches later this month. We travel to San Sebastian for our opening match away to Real Sociedad, before hosting Celta Vigo at the Bernabeu a week later. We don’t play Barca or Atletico until later in the season, so hopefully we can win most of our early matches to get some momentum going.

6 August 2016

An offer is received for Nacho from West Ham in England. I discuss the potential move with him as we both know he isn’t first choice here, with Ramos, Varane, and Pepe ahead of him in the pecking order. However, he tells me he would rather stay and play in the Champions League rather than move to a mid-table English team, so that’s that.

11 August 2016

Two more offers for our players. First Manchester City (who’ve already signed Claudio Bravo from Barca) want yet another goalkeeper in Casilla. While he’s no. 2 here behind Navas, I would rather keep him here to compete with the Costa Rican and keep him on his toes.

The second offer is for Asensio from PSG. It’s a pretty substantial amount – €44.5 million for a player who has just recently broken into the first team – but I think the lad is special and could be worth double that in a few years. No deal.

21 August 2016

Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid

Opening day of the La Liga season and we are in lovely San Sebastian. Navas starts in goal, with my first choice back four of Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, and Carvajal ahead of him. Modric, Kroos, and James are the midfield trio, while Isco fills in for Bale in a front three with Benzema and Ronaldo.

Benzema’s first half goal ends up being enough to give us a winning start to the season. We were clearly the better the team but our shooting wasn’t great on the day. Ronaldo hit a decent effort against the post, while substitute Morata couldn’t beat Rulli one-on-one. Still, three points in the bag and hopefully we can score more goals in our next match.

28 August 2016

Real Madrid vs Celta Vigo

My first match at the Bernabeu and I get goosebumps as the anthem blares out prior to kick-off. Celta Vigo are the opponents, and I select the same team that won last week.

Much better this time as we score three first half goals to make it two wins from two matches. Ronaldo gets the first goal early on with a nice first time shot on the turn. He then doubles the lead with a clinical finish after being sent through by Man of the Match James. An own goal by Pablo Hernandez makes it 3-0 and we probably should’ve scored again in the second half. Benzema somehow balloons a shot over the crossbar from eight yards before Isco and Ronaldo are denied by Sergio. The win means we already have a 4 point gap ahead of Barca, who have drawn their opening two matches. Valencia are the only other side with two wins from two.

31 August 2016

Transfer deadline day has arrived. Tottenham, who have been involved in a saga with Manchester United over Harry Kane, have finally agreed to sell him. They then need a replacement and enquire about Karim Benzema. The €71 million offer is tempting, and had it come in before the season started I might well have said yes. But with only hours remaining in the window, I might not get a replacement in time so I have to say no.

Napoli meanwhile make a surprise €36.5 million bid for Navas. Once again, had this happened earlier I might have considered it (and maybe finally get David De Gea) but it’s too late to find a replacement now.

Besides Kane’s move to Man United, there aren’t many other big deadline day moves. The only big money deal involving a Spanish team is Atletico’s sale of Jose Gimenez to Chelsea for €28 million