Hola! and welcome to the finale of season 3 with the Basque Boys. We won’t be defending our Copa Del Rey crown, but we’re 4th in the league and in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final. 3rd spot is still achievable, and if we can secure that and win our 1st European title, that would be a great season. Let the story continue…

We begin at home to Deportivo. It’s 2-1 at half time after Etxebe’s 9th and 10th goals of the season with a Kanu goal for Depor in between. Etxebe isn’t finished and gets his hat trick after the restart and adds a 4th just past the hour. He seems to do better in a 2-3-1-2-2 so this may be something to look at, but the other end where I have concerns.

2nd-placed Sociedad lost to Celta Vigo, so we’re now a point behind them with a game in hand.

We now fly to Tel Aviv for the Cup Winners’ Cup final against Napoli. Napoli have struggled in Serie A this year and face a relegation play-off with Parma, but they’ve found form in this competition, beating Gornik Zabrze, Honved, Brøndby and Marseille to reach this final. They’ve a decent side which includes Roberto Ayala, Olivier Dacourt and Igor Protti.

The 1st half couldn’t be closer, with the score 1-1 after Laslandes cancels out Gola’s early headed goal. Ezquerro gives us the lead just past the hour before our skipper and man for a big occasion, Rafa Alkorta seals the win 10 minutes later. He was immense today and is rightly named man of the match.

The boys were fantastic in this tournament from start to finish and never looked like losing, so to win it is no more than they deserve and it’s our 3rd piece of silverware in as many seasons, joining the Copa Del Rey and Supercopa Española in the San Mamés trophy cabinet.

The board are delighted and we’re awarded a whopping £1m in prize money!

I’d like to stay in Israel and celebrate but there’s no rest for the wicked and we face the old enemy Oviedo 3 days later. Loinaz gives us a half time lead but Oviedo haven’t been without chances, and get their reward in the 2nd half to ensure another season for us without a league win against them. The only silver lining was Sociedad losing to Gijon, so we’re 3rd on goal difference with a game in hand.

Our penultimate game is at home to Mallorca, who are in a relegation battle, so they’ll be full of fight. We’re all over them for the first 20 minutes, and then they score with their first attempt but thankfully it’s disallowed. A goal eventually comes, and Etxebe sends us in for half time a goal to the good. Mallorca look like they might score in the 2nd half but Laslandes allays my fears of dropped points in the last minute.

So that’s our game in hand out of the way and we’re still 3rd, 3 points ahead of Sociedad with a goal difference of +21 compared to their +18, which means we can afford to lose our last game, as long as they don’t better our goal difference by 4 goals, but they’re away to Barcelona.

One piece of news before we go to our last games as the Euro 2000 squads are announced. Lizarazu is called up by Les Bleus, and Etxeberria (keeper), Rios, Guerrero, Ezquerro, Larrainzar and Alkorta all make the Spain squad, well done boys!

We finish at home to Espanyol, who we beat in the final of last season’s Copa Del Rey, and again earlier in the season 3-2. We’re behind after 23 minutes and never really get going in the match, failing to register a single shot on target and the season ends with a whimper. Sociedad beat Barca 2-1, but we scrape 3rd spot by a single goal.

Despite this defeat, we end the season by breaking a record, with the average attendance reaching a new high, so we must be playing an entertaining brand of football.

Here’s the final table. It’s nice to improve on last season and finish 3rd, but we’re still miles behind Barca and Real. Sorting the defence out has been high on my agenda since season 1, but we could do with turning some of those draws into wins.

So to the stats, starting with average ratings. Our keeper and Ríos were the star performers, but too many averaged below 7.

Here are the goals. Laslandes was also top scorer in the league as well as our team. Many of Guerrero’s goals were penalties, but 26 goals from midfield is quite remarkable.

Laslandes’ talents don’t stop at scoring goals, as he also provided the most assists.

Rios and Etxeberria also received the most Man of the match awards. Where would we be without them?

Guerrero’s disciplinary record went under the radar but I’ll let him off because of his goal tally.

A quick check to see how our loanees did, starting with Bastida at Salamanca.

Carlos Perez had a slightly more pivotal role for Recreativo it would seem.

Palacios did well at Cordoba and chipped in with a few goals as well.

In England, Man Utd won the premier league, league cup and champions league. Leeds won the FA Cup. In Italy, Juventus won the Serie A, and Inter claimed the Coppa Italia. Parma won the UEFA Cup, and Barcelona added the European Super Cup to their La Liga title. Speaking of awards, I’m named manager of the month for May, which is my 1st of the season.

Just as Santi Ezquerro was celebrating being called up to Spain’s Euro 2000 squad, he withdraws through injury but recovers just 4 days into the tournament, so maybe Mr. Capello was a bit premature in sending him home. Italy won the tournament, beating France 2-0 in a repeat of the real-life final.

We receive £5.6m for finishing 3rd in the league and hopefully I’ll put it to good use as I plan to buy and sell a few before the new season.

So that’s it for another season, I hope you’ve enjoyed it. All that’s left for me to say is Feliz Navidad! I hope you all have a great Christmas and I’ll be back in the new year for season 3 with the CM01/02 Aces. Adios, amigos!