retired_puly1364

4th of June 2018

The holidays had started already for us. But before I went off to spend one week in Milano and then another in Thailand for a vacation with the family and a third one in America with Maria's parents I had to take care of one thing.

We had arrived with owner Miquel Pons and our team of lawyers in the Madrid today evening as we prepared the final things to come up with. It was going to be a regular court process and we had a chance to offend Real, while they had the chance to defend themselves. It was going to be a tough one, but I was hoping that our lawyers could somewhat top Real and in the best sceinaro a demotion was possible for the giants.

But also there were chances that only the individuals, and not Real Madrid will get punished.

I had my person hotel room with Maria & Martin. It was a nice sweat on the 28th floorof a luxury hotel that was built couple of years ago. I just wanted to try it out and see how luxury it really is. All the big quests of Spain, political etc, all the famous people, stay in here usually so it had to be good.

And it was! Bubblebaths, big bed, top class food, lots of TV channels, some nice extra rooms. I would've not mind to live in here no doubt.

Before going to sleep I obviously brushed my teeth and took a shower. Or more like going to bed as sleep we didn't get in the first couple of hours. She obviously ain't that young anymore, but she is still elegant, beautiful and should I say godess in some other things.

5th of June 2018

A huge yawn started my day. Then I saw the clock - it was showing 2:14 PM. The trial was going to start in 3 PM. I was in a huge hurry, had to do my stuff quickly. It was a 25, if fast 20 minute drive to the court house where the justice was going to be held. A little kiss on Maria's forehead and off I was.

I got a taxi and told the cab-driver to hit the friekin gas pedal as tough as he could. I reached there 5 minutes before the trial. People asked why wasn't I there before, but I answered with, "I'm not important anyway."

I looked around. Real's advocates had done some hell of a lot of paperwork, but they certainly had to, as our's were very well prepared. I saw around 50 people in the court sitting down to their chairs. I was one of them. It was more than weird to have such sporting rules stuff done in regular court room and almost like the regular case. Eventhough there was going to be no witnesses.

A huge old, greyhaired guy stepped in. It was the judge. I wasn't pleased that the justice is held in Madrid as the percent of possible Real fans is really huge, but I hoped it'll be the Atletico one's here this time.

retired_puly1364

We were asked to get our seats as the process started. Our lawyers first gave in the accusations and our demands. They played the phone-calls, wiretapes, bringed in proofsa and so on.

But then Real Madrid defence started. They were good, too good. The wiretapes went off immediately as there was no such proof that the voice is anyone's from Real Madrid. It didn't smell good, our demand for demotion was definately ruled out.

The process was long, one by one the laywers of two teams came up with new things, it was getting boring to me already, but finally after one and half hour, the judge told that the court will go to the backroom to decide the punishment. I talked with the lawyers and Patricio, they told me that it went good, not best, but good.

The judge stepped back in. Hit the mat with his hammer and shouted the famous, "Order in the court-room!"

"I will now read the verdict. The decision is unappealable. Evidence againist wrong doing from the football club Real Madrid is small. Therefore there is no demotion or points punishments."

I was angry and shaking my head as he continued.

"Verdict for Real Madrid CF is one million euro fine to the UE Lleida SAD. They also have to pay a compensation to every one of the players whose body included the substance. Real Madrid has to pay 100 000 euros damage payment to all of the injuried players which include Alberto Gonzalez, John Jairo Mosquera, Hugo Gimenez, Vincent Enyeama, Jony, Sergio Martinez, Alejandro Acosta and Julian Gonzalez Garcia whose all body included the substance."

That was more pleasing, but definately not matching the crime. But better that than nothing. Eventhough they're not going to cry back that 1,8 million euros obviously. But it didn't help them anyway. But the judge continued...

"Individual punishments will go to two Real officals. Raul Gonzalez is banned from football for 10 years due to unprofessional & unethic behaviour. And Mario Tocas is banned from football for 3 years."

I was okay with the verdict. But that was certainly not near the best option. I shaked the lawyers hands and told that they've done a good job.

I then drove back to the hotel, where Maria and Martin were waiting for me. We decided to spend another day in the hotel and then go away from Spain for our 3 week holiday.

retired_puly1364

23rd of June 2018

I returned to Spain. Things hadn't changed a bit since I left. No big news, only transfer rumours here and there from newspapers to attract some readers eventhough it was known that most of this was bullshit anyway.

Real had paid the fine now and we were happy. I was looking foward to the prospect of playing Champions League football, but I knew there was going to be a long and tough pre-season ahead.

Now, going to my holidays. I spent some nice time in Thailand, Milano and USA. Lots of fun and relaxing. It was actually much more interesting after being in the headache of football world. Just go out, dress free, enjoy myself. The best time was along with Maria's parents, I loved it in Florida. It was fun to talk with them, I discovered more and more similarities with his father as we spent many days together driving around.

In Thailand I more of just relaxed myself, enjoyed the sun and nature as I was worried that Maria's parents may start eating my nerves again, eventhough it didn't happen and it was a great summer.

Milano was also fun. I ran into Adriano, who though had somehwat managed to become the assistant manager of Milan. I was ****ed off at him at the time, but I guess that was the only option. We spent that time mostly grabbing glass of beer and arguing about the World Cup that was going on.

Before I left the club I asked my scouts to go and watch some players in person. So I had the reports in table.

There was that one guy from Osasuna who I was really interested in. A 17 year old defender. He had been predicted quite a nice future ahead of him. His name was Alberto Garcia Lopez. He was one of the main players in Spain's U19 teams and he was already defending Osasuna's colours in La Liga playing the second part of the season regulary.

My scouts praised him a lot, so I decided to go to offices. I took the phone and rang to Osasuna president. I asked his price, but it scared me off, they wanted 5 millions for him. But then I also decided to look up for his agent, but there was no-one. So I went through the phone-numbers register in the web and found his father, who I guess was doing that job.

And like usually it was the right person. I asked about his contract, he told me that he has a 2,2 million pound release clause. I told him that I may call back in case I have that money. And told that in case Osasuna may want to higher the clause somehow make them wait until the 15th of July, then I'm sure about this.

Another guy who I had really hots for was Charlton Athletic's winger Javier Romero. He was a 24 year who I had seen on couple of EPL matches this season. I liked him so I sent my scouts out to look at him. They told that he is a good player, but his price was too much to handle as the number ahead of the six zeros will be too big.

Then also, I always like to check internet and try look out for different talents from different countries U21 teams. So I sent guys to check few Croatians and Swedish lads who I had heard during the Euro U21 championship. They gave me few video tapes, but in the end I agreed with their option that they are not going to bring the level of this club higher now or in future. Eventhough I'm not ruling out the possibility for Croatian midfield dynamo Ante Jukic who plays for Hajduk and is the key part of Croatian U21 team at 19 years old.

I had 4 new players coming over in summer, but they all are young so I have my doubts about them strenghening the team. But I needed to negotiate the transfer budget out with our management first before I went spending. I decided to go and analyze the weak spots of the team that cannot be recovered by the players we have.

So I took my laptop, I went out and played some of our important games to analyze the weaknesses. I sat in the park near our house for 5 hours, counting out the breaks that I took for cup of juice & a hamburger.

I watched 3 games on DVD, our second match againist Espanyol, the Valencia embarassement at the end of the season and our 3:1 victory over Sevilla away.

A right-back, atleast as good as Maxime Josse was definately needed as Armando, who we were going to swap for a promising French striker this summer, didn't do the job and now there is no back-up anyway so a right-back was a must. Someone young, and possibily better than Josse if doesen't cost too much money.

I needed to get Jesus Rojas here permanently. Or get another CB, probalby that Osasuna dude. Eventhough I have Martins from Corinthians already coming, but he is a back-up.

The left-back was a small issue and I only get a back-up for Alejandro Acosta in case I have money left. Alessio Grillo seems to handle the job rather well.

Then I had couple of complaints about the wingers and for that I've got few Spanish dudes lined up and writed down on my notebook. One of them is a Spanish international who almost joined with us last winger, but it got canceled. He is somehow transfer listed in Sampdoria. He still sometimes plays for them and he is a former Primera Division young player of the year. And he at the moment is regular at NT also.

Then I need a striker as Mosquera and Jony both are very old and they aren't that good in my opinion. I have loads of striking talents in my team, but they are all very young and need to take the time to develope. I needed to go out and look for someone at the age of 24 or so.

Then a new AMC I would not mind, but it was another small issue. A striker, one or maybe two wingers, Jesus Rojas or some other DC permanently here and a right-back.

The trainings were set to start day after tomorrow.

retired_puly1364

25th of June 2018

We finally met with the players. It was pleasing to see the faces again as those guys had to face Champions League football this year. Yesterday I spent twisting around the squad lists so I could fit all the non-EU's and guys perfectly into the B teams etc.

The guys obviously had gained few pounds during the holidays as it was obvious as they had been resting for 1 month now.

Couple of guys were missing. Those who couldn't join with us before the start of the deadline and those who were still playing in the World Cup. Or actually only one guy was away on WC. John Jairo Mosquera was enjoying his run with Colombia and we obviously had organized our evenings to watch Mosquera play in the USA together.

I set in a pre-season schedule for the next 7 days and then we go on week by week until we set a certain weekly schedule two weeks before the Champions League qualifiers.

We didn't do anything that day which included any hard work, we just talked about the summer, met up etc.

27th of June 2018

We sat down beside the TV with the lads. Opened up our beer cans as we were preparing to watch Mosquera's Colombia play with England. This was the earlier game of the day.

Mosquera was starting in the quarterfinal. The TV picture was cool, the commentators I loved and in the 12th minute we all rised from the chairs of the local cinema! Englishman bringed down Mosqu! A penalty, baby! Colombia went 1:0 up!

England started pressing hard and immediately equalized. Their pressure was non-stop, but Colombia hold on. Mosquera came out, but he gave his all.

The match went on penalties and Colombia showed incredible calmness. They got into the semi's where they'll meet Holland.

1st of July 2018

Bunch of new lads arrived. Eventhough two of them, strikers Moises Fernandez Garcia and Ivan Romero went to train with the youth team. Romero definately has something for the future. They both arrived for free. Garcia's contract with Mallorca ran out, while Ivan Romero was part of the swap deal with right-back Armando where we also earned 700 000 pounds.

But to the first team went Italian attacking midfielder Luca Longo who joined us free from Brescia. He is a talented young player who is probably going to recieve a Italy U21 call-up soon. I've been watching him for some time now and he definately has the qualities that I need. He is a god with the ball and he can pass, dribble around with ease. And also finish if needed.

The other player was much-talked Martins from Corinthians. Center-back was regular for Brazil U20 team until he reached the age limit. He is certainly going to make the difference once he gets used to the league, but it may take some time for him to plend in.

4th of July 2018

A big night for John Jairo Mosquera. World Cup semifinal againist Holland was his only chance to ever play in World Cup final. I made a phone-call to him before the match, wished him good luck beside of the team and you have to score a goal.

Colombia has built their tournament around brilliant defending and it happened again. It was being 1:1. Mosquera was handeled well by the Dutch defenders, but his parter was hot.

In the 86th minute everyone was obviously screaming like crazy, Colombia had got the lead! It seemed like it was a sure one, but immediately, just minute later the screams went down. Holland drawed. "****ing Dutch!" I screamed.

The game went on extra-time again, but it didn't work. Holland scored immediately at the start and Colombia failed to go into attacking style.

Weaker guys were crying along with Mosqu. We all were sad for him. Espescially considering that there was no Dutch guys in our ranks.

Mosqu's final chance to show his class is againist Brazil in the 3rd place match as the first place will be decided between Holland & Uruguay.

retired_puly1364

Authors Note: Due to my game crashing (a reason that I'm common with) I had to play all over again from the day before Mosquera's semifinal clash. So I rewrite that part.

4th of July 2018

A big night for John Jairo Mosquera. World Cup semifinal againist Holland was his only chance to ever play in World Cup final. I made a phone-call to him before the match, wished him good luck beside of the team and you have to score a goal.

Colombia and Holland were rather equal at the start, but it was Holland who for our disappointment grabed the lead. But minutes later Colombia drawed and a huge applause followed.

Some non-Lleida guys joined us to watch too. Most of them were immigrants from Colombia. They asked who do we support and they were pleased to hear our answer.

In the second half a huge roar suddenly was heard from the room. "MOSQUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

He scored a nice goal which was his 3rd of the tournament alongside with 2 assists. But minutes later he had a knock and had to come off the pitch. But Colombia was showing skills.

In the 80th minute they sealed the match by scoring their 3rd goal. Lleida's player was going to be in World Cup final. It was time to put the champagne bottles into cold just in case for Sunday.

We called Mosqu, congratulated him on a goal and getting into finals. He said his injury isn't anything. He just has to go through a big lighter training tomorrow.

8th of July 2018

We gathered around the local cinema once again. Big screen was showing the studio analysis, when I arrived. There were snacks everywhere, a big day for our own Mosquera.

We decided not to call him this time, so not to distrupt him. We didn't know what the pressure of World Cup final was. I've been to many important games, but this is for the games that I have chance to play every year. They can't be compared to the World Cup final, the 2nd biggest sporting event. Billions of people were probably sitting in front of their TV along with us today.

The nationals anthems were playing as we sat down. We had few Brazilian dude in the roster (Martins & Santos), so we had to stay calm and not curse at their NT.

The match start off lightly for Colombia, they immediately had a chance to score. Mosqu looked cool, but he didn't get into the positions.

Soon it calmed down and by HT there wasn't much to watch. Except from Libis Andres Arenas two miracle saves.

The game was certainly very unpredictable.

Colombia seemed to start the second half well, but then Mosquera was bringed off by Colombia coach. He was rather lost in the pitch to be honoust. Maybe I should've engouraged him.

And minutes after that, a shock arrived as Andreson of Brazil, much of a delight of Santos and Martins, scored a 25 yarder, which Arenas almost saved.

Colombia tried pressure the Brazil, but it didn't work. They almost equalized in the injury time when Arenas also joined their corner, but it didn't work.

Mosquera and Colombia were crying, so were most of us too. Colombia should've taken this game to extra-time atleast. They had even more chances and possession than Brazil.

Except from Santos and Martins who obviously took care that our champagne bottles won't be wasted, everyone left the building in sad mood.

Mosquera was set to return after 2,5 weeks of holidays as it's his life dream to play Champions League and he definately wants to be in form by time for the qualifiers.

9th of July 2018

From Offical Website

10th of July 2018

Financially great news came from the offices. Miquel Pons had lured us a 1,6 million sponsorship deal with a Barcelona placed airplane company and also Spanish FA gave out our annual TV money, which this time was great 10 million pounds which will certainly boost our finances considering the possible Champions League money also and the attendances which will hopefully rise with a new undersoil heating installed.

retired_puly1364

22nd of July 2018

I made an press announcement that Lleida has finished their summer deals for now on. I also announced our shortlist of the players that I will look at to play during the season.

The Shortlist -

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Name | Position | Nat | Height | Weight | Age | Value | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Antonio Fernández GarcÃ*a | GK | ESP | 188 cm | 81 kg | 26 | £2.5M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Brad Guzan | GK | USA | 194 cm | 96 kg | 33 | £1.1M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andreas Hjalmarsson | GK | SWE | 181 cm | 75 kg | 25 | £825K | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Antonio Navas | SW | NED | 180 cm | 77 kg | 19 | £1.2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Martin Christensen | D R | DEN | 189 cm | 82 kg | 24 | £1.3M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alberto GarcÃ*a López | D RC | ESP | 179 cm | 74 kg | 18 | £1.6M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Maxime Josse | D RC | FRA | 184 cm | 83 kg | 31 | £1.8M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alejandro Acosta | D LC | ARG | 185 cm | 83 kg | 21 | £3.3M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Julián González GarcÃ*a | D C | FRA | 184 cm | 79 kg | 25 | £2.5M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Martins | D C | BRA | 181 cm | 77 kg | 22 | £925K | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Rubén Nieto | D C | ESP | 178 cm | 78 kg | 18 | £1.3M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alessio Grillo | D/WB L | ITA | 179 cm | 76 kg | 23 | £2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nhlanhla Davids | D/WB/M L | RSA | 181 cm | 78 kg | 24 | £1.4M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alberto Blanco | D/M C | ESP | 178 cm | 78 kg | 19 | £2.2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Juan Carlos Calderón | DM | ESP | 180 cm | 76 kg | 18 | £2.1M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Fernando DÃ*az | DM | ESP | 180 cm | 72 kg | 25 | £1.4M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Souleymane Faye | DM | SEN | 177 cm | 75 kg | 27 | £3M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Santos | DM | BRA | 183 cm | 79 kg | 23 | £1.5M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Juan Manuel Padilla | M C | ESP | 180 cm | 74 kg | 19 | £2.3M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | José Antonio Villa | M C | ESP | 179 cm | 78 kg | 25 | £2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alberto González | AM R | ARG | 181 cm | 80 kg | 21 | £3.2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jóhann Ingi Rúnarsson | AM RC | ISL | 177 cm | 74 kg | 28 | £2.2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Per Weirauch | AM R | DEN | 181 cm | 78 kg | 30 | £2.2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Karim Elbaï | AM RC, F C | MAR | 180 cm | 77 kg | 22 | £2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Salvador Hernández | AM RLC, F C | MEX | 176 cm | 74 kg | 20 | £3.6M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jorge Merino | AM RC, F C | ESP | 180 cm | 79 kg | 27 | £3.3M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alfonso Jiménez | AM LC | ESP | 178 cm | 72 kg | 23 | £4.8M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Luca Longo | AM/F C | ITA | 177 cm | 75 kg | 20 | £3M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Jairo Mosquera | F C | COL | 189 cm | 85 kg | 30 | £3.5M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Marcos Castro | ST | ESP | 180 cm | 77 kg | 20 | £4.6M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jony | ST | ESP | 177 cm | 74 kg | 31 | £4.2M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Daniel Kuffour | ST | GHA | 178 cm | 75 kg | 22 | £1.1M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Iván Romero | ST | FRA | 181 cm | 73 kg | 18 | £2.7M | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Now I guess it's time to talk about transfers and comment about the lines.

Goalkeepers

Vincent Enyeama left after we decided not to prolong his contract. I'm continuing with the familiar goalkeepers as Hjalmarsson who is going to be our 2nd goalkeeper probably got promoted from the B team as he is a very nice goalkeeper to be honoust.

Defenders

I've already mentioned the captures Martins & Alberto GarcÃ*a López as they are certainly going to strenghten our backline. I'm also keeping my eye on two youngsters Alberto Blanco and Antonio Navas who play for our youth team at the moment. As the back-up right-back I bringed in Martin Christensen from Luton Town. He costed us 400k pounds, but I'm rather sure he can do the job as 2nd choice. The likely starting quartet will be from left to right Acosta - Gonzalez Garcia - Garcia Lopez - Josse. But the center-backs position will certainly be fought hard for as neither Nieto, Blanco or Martins are bad defenders. Our defensive situation is certainly better than last season, eventhough it may take some time until the youngsters reach the level of Jesus Rojas. The backline certainly is very young so there's a hope that we can always improve.

Guys that left were Jesus Rojas who returned to Mallorca, Armando who was mentioned to be part of the deal involving Juan Romero, Kristian Bo Anderson who's contract ran out and Alvaro Meija who retired.

Midfield

I've certainly tried to learn from last year. I've tried to be covered as strong as possible for every position in midfield. For every position I have atleast 5 players that can fill that up, eventhough the left wing may be problemic, but I'm hoping that Jimenez can handle it or I have to put our new guy Hernandez there who I plan to use as a striker.

I've already mentioned Luca Longo who has been fantastic during the pre-season for the AMC position, but I certainly have more new guys available.

Jorge Merino is Spanish NT regular and I wanted him last winter already. He was bringed in from Sampdoria for 1,9 million pounds. He is great for our right wing and no doubt ex-Deportivo lad & former Primera Division young player of the year will be our regular.

But I also spent some bucks to strengthen our central midfield. I have high hopes about defensive midfielder Juan Carlos Calderon who at just 18 years old has showed how great he can play with Tenerife and his skills are already very well developed. He has been given big future ahead. He costed us £1 500 000. The other new guy is Juan Manuel Padilla who I bringed in from Barcelona on loan as I want to see how he does that one season as the "next Sergio" has been also predicted fine footballing career.

The other possibily unknown names are from the B team.

The guys that left were Hugo Gimenez to Alicante, Pereira also to Alicante, Ivan Nieto to Racing and Sergio Martinez to Levante. They were either too old or out of my plans. I earned over 2 millions for selling them.

The likely starting quartet will be Alfonso Jimenez on left wing, Jorge Merino on right wing, Souleymane Faye as defensive midfielder and Luca Longo as the guy behind the strikers.

Strikers

I parted ways with Carlos Marcos in the summer and also some unknown reserve lads, but basically I only improved the attacking force. I bringed in Ivan Romero as he will hopefully make huge developemets during the season and also I'm keeping my eye on Karim Elbai and Daniel Kuffour who I few times used last year also. Jony, Marcos Castro, John Jairo Mosquera were our last years 3 best strikers, but this year they will probably have fight for places 2, 3 & 4 as the new guy Salvatore Fernandez is a hot talent.

Fernandez I bringed in from Mexican club Toluca for club record £4 400 000 million pounds + 25% for the next sale. I was searching for a pacey, talented, good finisher and young striker for whole summer and he was a great capture. At 20 years old he has already earned 4 caps for Mexico and has been one of the hottest lads in the local league scoring 15 times in 17 games. The hopes of me are very high on him. He gives us a lot versatility also.

The likely starting duo will be John Jairo Mosquera and Fernandez.

Our goals this season are to give in even stronger fight in the Primera Division and try get into the groupstages of Champions League, eventhough we'll probably be unseeded in the draw so it'll be tougher.

I believe overally we've taken a huge step up in the teams talent and skills, but we'll see that once the games will start. At the moment I'm definately feeling comfortable about all the line's and I'm happy that we've maintained nowadays tough "prefer local" touch as atleast 1/3 of our squad is Spanish and likely we'll have over half of the first team of Spanish players.

25th of July 2018

World Cup hero John Jairo Mosquera returned to the training camps after his almost succesful World Cup campaign with Colombia where they were just one win away from becoming the best players of the world.

He scored 3 goals, and created 2 in Colombias run into the final. I shaked his hands and told him that he had a great tournament no doubt.

The club even bought him a present. Aston Martini for rising the club's reputation in the World Cup. It certainly cheered him up. But actually he wasn't sad, but happy that he could start working again...

retired_puly1364

6th of August 2018

Our "legendary" trip to the Alps began. Our Champions League third round opponent was going to be GAK from Austria.

We left for the bus very early in the morning as it drove us to the Madrid international airport. The mood around the bus was positive. I was calm, not the first and definately not the last Champions League tie for me. I was sure that we had a great chance to go through this game.

After a nice long flight by a private jet we had waiting for us, we finally arrived in Austria by 9 PM. The Alps were beatiful, even more than I saw them in France or Italy. I loved it and I got myself a room with a great view in a local hotel which was couple of kilometers away from Genk where we were staying.

I looked out, the sweet summer smell, fresh air, high mountaintops, green grass. It was all great, I took a beer from the fridge. A beatiful sight and beer - what a match! Also a football coach plus beer is another fine match made in heaven, I thought. But hey, I'm a man, I have every right to drink beer.

After sitting there for fifteen minutes, looking at the beatiful sight, I decided to go check does that TV in my room show anything. I first ran into some Austrian and German channels. All showing some cheapass movies, but then I discovered that it also has a satellite. I kept on clicking around sitting on a little couch in the corner of the room with a beer in one hand, the remote in other.

First there were some news channels... BBC... nothing... Fox... nothing. I kept on clicking and thought aren't there anything else, but frieking news channels here, but then I suddenly stoped on CNN. "Breaking News" was the headline. And a beatiful young lady was talking about a thing that made me sorrow.

There was an explosion in Estonia's biggest mall. It destroyed completely, the count of bodies had started already and so far firefighters have bringed out 150 dead bodies with just half a hour. They were showing two firefighters going out with a body...

I droped my beer. I knew him. That face, I recognized immediately. No it couldn't be, a friend. A friend from university times. We used to do wild things together and now he is dead. I last contacted him couple of months ago. Suddenly I couldn't hold back tears. He had a wife and two sons. I had promised to him that I come to Estonia in Christmas, but now I've got no-one to go and visit.

If I will ever know who is behind this I will make sure they'll suffer their whole life, even in jail I'll make sure they'll life will be as **** as possible. That I sweared to myself.

retired_puly1364

Authors Note: We were staying near Graz. Not Genko which isn't an Austrian town even. Little mix-up.

8th of August 2018

The reported dead bodies was over thousand. I was shattered whole yesterday, but I couldn't leave the training as I had to win today's game.

I had called friend's family, sent in my consolations and offered help. Maria also called me, but he didn't know that one of my friends died. She was really sorry obviously.

I had calmed down yesterday and hoped to get a smile to my face today evening. Also the reason why the building blowed up was that terrorists blowed themselves up. Why in Estonia? That was a major question.

But I needed to blank my mind. I needed to concentrate on the game as we arrived in the Arnold-Schwazeneger-Stadium a hour and a half before the match.

I decided to test out my probable starting line up which consisted of - Antonio Fernandez Garcia; Maxime Josse, Julian Gonzalez Garcia, Alberto Garcia Lopez, Alejandro Acosta; Souleymane Faye; Jorge Merino, Alfonso Jimenez; Luca Longo; Salvatore Fernandez, John Jairo Mosquera.

There were four new lads in that starting line-up. They were all excited and so was I after 3 years of not hearing the Champions League anthemn. It was a big day in Lleida history, probably the biggest so far and we had to make it even more memorable.

The anthemn ended, I decided not to sit down to the bench at the start. I was tamping around nervously, scratching the back of my head while thinking. As the game started I looked at the sky and said, "For you."

Champions League, Third Qualifying Round, Leg 1
GAK 1:2 Lleida (Luca Longo, Salvatore Fernandez)

It certainly brought a smile to my face. We opened up our season with a win in Champions League. New buys looked rather promising as Luca Longo and Salvatore Fernandez both scored and assisted eachother as a promising partnership was going to born between our strikers and attacking midfielder.

Some guys were disappointment. Jorge Merino failed to do much in the game, and Julian Gonzalez Garcia was so disappointing that I had to bring him out at half-time for Martins who certainly earned himself a place in line-up for the next game.

Otherwise the display was pleasing. After the match though I didn't join the celebrations, but asked for a spacial permission to go to Estonia for five days and see the situation there.

13th of August 2018

I returned from Estonia.

It was ugly sight. There was smell of dead corps, everything nearby had been destroyed, people crying. And what made it even worse was soem idiot tourists who had come to picture this thing from Finland, Latvia, Russia, Sweden and so on.

It was two square miles totally destroyed. I went to see my friends family. I don't know how they'll get over it. Whole nation was shocked. For a country that has 1,5 million inhabitants this was a giant hit.

The emotions, sadness and so on - everything was undescribable.

zipman

Viva Espana Nice to see the magician back on track!

retired_puly1364

It's not Salvatore Fernandez, but Salvador Fernandez. New names, takes time to get used to.

22nd of August 2018

Lots of fans were welcoming us at Camp D'Esports. Our team-bus was sent by a huge roar as the legendary game againist GAK was going to be played.

The explosion in Estonia I had sort of left behind as my mind was only concentrated on one goal. To get into Champions League.

I had taken few tips from our last game and worked to improve the squad for this game. I changed few players and their positions.

I though had some of my first injury problems also as Luca Longo got injuried during the last match we had, Jorge Merino was moved into center and Alberto Gonzalez started on the right wing of midfield.

The chants were already heared when we are in the locker rooms as the fans had prepared early.

Champions League, 3rd Qualifying Round, Leg 2
Lleida 4:0 GAK (Salvador Hernandez 3, Jorge Merino)

We were simply brilliant. Salvador Hernandez is already proving to be worth his 4,4 million pounds as he has scored four goals in those two ties. We gave very little away in the first half where we simply owned them, but in second half our goalkeeper Antonio Fernandez Garcia got a chance to shine too. So our defence has some places to improve.

But overally we showed improvement as a team and our passing play looked quite a lot better this time.

23rd of August 2018

Our chairman Miquel Pons went to the UEFA CL draw of groupstages which I was watching from TV.

The Champions League would look really weak if it'd be at the start of my coaching career. This years competitors show that lot has changed over past years. There are many former powerhouses missing. Lyon, Monaco, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Chelsea, Liverpool. New countries are rising, it's hard to guess favourite to win it. Maybe defending champions Lazio can repeat the trick, but I doubt.

They were starting the draw from the highest group as possible. I had to wait until 3rd round to get our opponent as we were in the Pot 3.

Our time arrived as we got together with Schalke 04 of Germany and Anderlecht of Belgium. It was certainly a nice group for us and next draw of Basel from Switzerland made our job even more easier. So we have to travel three times to Central-Europe.

Hours later they announced that our first opponent is going to be Anderlecht away.