*faps* I can hook you up with some crazy shit, if you want

AaronHJFT96: Selena Gomez...what a babe

Pauker: Oh dear

After their surprise fourth place finish in La Liga last season, Real Sociedad had qualified for the UEFA Champions League Best Placed Playoff. With a number of teams competing to reach the group stage, Los Txuri-Urdin knew the task would be hard, but now things look rather bleak.

With teams like Pacos de Ferreira, Red Bull Salzburg, and PAOK Salonika all available to be drawn for these crucial playoff fixtures, Sociedad fans have been thrown a wrench in the shape of German Bundesliga side Schalke 04.

Jens Keller's side are favorites to triumph over the two legs, even though they now have sold superstar striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to English side Chelsea for €15M. The Dutch striker is obviously a huge loss for the club, but the likes of Julian Draxler and Jefferson Farfan are expected to see Schalke through.



It will be an emotion reunion for Anthony Annan, who just two weeks ago made a €925k switch from the VELTENS-Arena to the Anoeta in San Sebastian. The new Sociedad defensive midfielder will hope to make a strong showing very early in the season for new manager Neal Hasan and prove his worth to his old club.

"It's a very tough draw, but we think we can give a good account of ourselves," said Hasan in a press conference yesterday. "They have a very good team, but so do we, and we are quietly optimistic of making it to the group stage."

Real Sociedad will look to take advantage of the home crowd in leg two as the first leg will take place on the 21st of August in Germany, with the return leg a week later in Spain.

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mEH

Ooh!! Tough draw...Will be sad to see you go out so early

Pauker:

AaronHJFT96: I'm taking that as a challenge to prove you wrong

I'd been to football matches before. Quite a few Chicago Fire matches back in America, and I'd seen the US national team on a couple of occasions. Each time, the atmosphere had seemed electric. Now, I couldn't hear anything over the roar of the crowd as my players took the pitch.

Matchday one was upon us at last.

We were to start the campaign at home, entertaining Getafe. Most of the newspapers around San Sebastian were saying that under a normal manager, this would be a simple victory, but they were all touting Los Azulones for the win instead because of me. Pricks.

I opted for a relatively standard starting eleven. Jon Gaztanaga had been impressing me in training of late, and due to my commitment to youth, I chose to give the 21 year old a start alongside Inigo Martinez. Our front four was key, however; Prieto, Canales, Griezmann, and Vela were one of the most dangerous combinations in the country.


I hardly remembered anything from the pre-match talk I gave the team, but I do remember telling them one thing: "Let's make this the beginning of a new era; let's go out there and win this football match."

I'll never forget the look in Xabi Prieto's eyes after I said that. He riled up the squad, and led them out into the tunnel and onto the field. The next thing I remember is hearing a whistle, and things were underway.

Three minutes later, another whistle, and I was jumping up and down.

Sergio Canales had broken free from the center of midfield, and managed to scythe a reverse pass through to Carlos Vela. The Mexican striker held off the defender on his back and lashed the ball into the bottom corner, and just like that, in three minutes, we were winning 1-0.


Seven minutes later, Antoine Griezmann had doubled the advantage. Carlos Martinez's cross had been hilariously dropped by the goalkeeper, and Griezmann was the quickest to react, poking home from a yard away. Hardly five minutes after that, Griezmann was at it again, flying down the left wing and whipping in a delightful cross to Carlos Vela to head home, getting his second of the game.

I could hardly believe it; 15 minutes into the game, my side was up 3-0. The Anoeta was rocking, the fans bellowing out their approval as I urged my players on. No reason to stop just yet!

On the half hour mark, Sergio Canales went across to the left to whip in a corner kick. Jon Gaztanaga met it in the air, only for it to crash off of the post. Suddenly I understood how easy it was to look like a fool on the touchline like Tim Sherwood as my celebrations were cut short.

Even better, Inigo Martinez managed to bumble in the rebound off of the bar, so my joy-turned-sadness turned right back into joy as we extended our lead to 4-0. It seemed as though things couldn't get any better!


On the stroke of half time, however, the perfect day thus far did start to get nicked away at; one of Getafe's long balls forward managed to bounce over Gaztanaga, leaving Adrian Colunga unmakred and through on goal. The striker made no mistake, chipping Bravo easily and making it 4-1 heading into the locker room.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." I looked at the men breathing heavily around me, one or two older than me, waiting for my instructions. The respect that had been lacking in training before was there now; this team was mine, and we were going places. "Let's get back out there and finish this, and finish it with aplomb."

Evidently, that 'respect' wasn't actually there, and I was just being optimistic; Adrian Colunga headed on a long ball to Ciprian Marica in behind our defense, who rounded Claudio Bravo and slotted into the empty net just five minutes into the second half. 4-2, and I started to get worried.

Over the next half hour, I introduced Ruben Pardo to central midfield, Ion Ansotegi to the back line, and Imanol Agirretxe up top in an attempt to regain control of the match, and thankfully it worked. Getafe hardly bothered us after that. In fact, Antoine Griezmann managed to head down Xabi Prieto's cross right to the feet of Agirretxe to ping home in injury time, to give us a final score of 5-2.

We'd won, and we'd won with style.

"Well done today boys." I could feel the pride; I hadn't expected such a powerful win in my very first game in charge of a professional club. "We don't stop here, though. This is just the beginning. Keep fighting for me, for the fans, for the club, and believe me, time will remember us."


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Marica = Fag in spanish, just letting you know, c'mment whore

Suddenly I understood how easy it was to look like a fool on the touchline like Tim Sherwood as my celebrations were cut short.

This story deserves SOTY for this bit and this bit only.

In all seriousness, nice update and great win! It's a shame Vela couldn't get his hat-trick and that you couldn't keep a clean sheet.

Nice update and great start! Vela is actually a lot better in Fm than I thought he was!

Wd Nealão

Nick: Let's be honest, Sherwood looks like an idiot on the touchline sometimes

AaronHJFT96: Yes his attributes are really fantastic, he's been attracting attention from Arsenal and Tottenham in my save as well!

Walter: Cheers buddy

Why did you ignore me? Anyways, forgot to say this buuutt... JEFFERSON FARFAN IS HOT AND DANGEROUUSS

Pauker: Oh man, sorry, totally missed your comment!! Yeah, Farfan is a great player, hopefully we can handle him, though!

Very good update as always Neal, love the little bit about Tim Sherwood xD