Robí di Lathamé was enjoying a delicious, undoubtedly extremely expensive glass of Rioja deep in the bowels of the majestic Santiago Bernabeú. And he couldn't help but reflect on how quickly things had changed.
After seven seasons in Aswijan, we'd just led Khaliza Unidi to a third successive Liga Regale title and become the fictional nation's first Champions of Europe.
I'm the kind of Football Manager player that usually starts with a club and sticks with it in an attempt to build it into the world's greatest. But after six seasons in Portugal and five in Spain, I was reeling from being given the sack by Valencia and down the job centre.
On the back of a second successive league and cup double, Valencia CF's efforts to rebuild were somewhat hampered by a lack of finances. That meant putting our trust in youth while the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid went on made spending sprees. Things were about to get a bit tricky...
With 12 games remaining of Valencia CF's title defence, a tense title battle looked to be in store. Despite still being unbeaten we were just one point ahead of Barcelona, who just so happen to be our first opponents in this post.
Twelve games into a first title defence since 2004, Valencia CF were unbeaten and just one point off pacesetters Barcelona moving into November 2028.
Our exciting Valencia CF side were riding high on the wave of a first La Liga title in 24 years in the 2027/28 campaign. But we knew a wounded Barcelona and Real Madrid would come back fighting.
Heading into the final two months of the 2027/28 campaign, Valencia CF were tantalisingly close to their first La Liga title since 2004. But Real Betis were hot on our tails, just 2 points behind in the league and our opponents in the upcoming cup final.
After 10 games of their 2027/28 La Liga campaign, Valencia CF were sitting pretty at the top of the table and a club record unbeaten run of 13 matches in all competitions.
Our second season with Valencia CF had gone very well, securing the club's highest finish in the save thus far by coming in 2nd behind a dominant Real Madrid. But plenty of rebuilding was going to be required during our third summer in Valencia.
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