A Spanish Revolution - a Deportivo De La Coruna Story

[leckuno]

Season 6

Transfers Out

We had a busy transfer window raising funds to help build the team for the future and we were sadly forced into making 2 sales thanks to release clauses being met for Reiss Nelson and Oscar Mingueza but they were both picked up for a combined £6.5million so I guess to make nearly £50million from them alone is a massive piece of business for us if we can spend it wisely. Dani Carvajal was initially sold to save on his wages but whats great is we get £900,000for a player who has decided to retire a week after he moves. Evander was great for us last season but it made sense to sell him as everything that came in for him was pure profit. Miranda had been moaning for a while to leave and he scored every single one of our own goals last season so I wanted rid of him. Thiaw was moaning about a move as well so I cashed in after we only spent £900,000 for him.

We also sold one other player who for some reason doesn't show here but I guess its because he was in the B team was Florin Anghel who we bought last season for £2.9million but then managed to sell for £21.5million to Ulsan Hyundai as he had a really poor season with the B team and we could reinvest the money elsewhere

Transfers In

We have gone a bit heavy in the transfer market again but I was adamant we needed to improve the squad and beef it out a bit to be able to handle league and European football. I also really wanted to add a lot more experience to the team to help balance out the youth.

Sancet joins from Athletic club and has been playing in LaLiga for the last 7 seasons so bring in a wealth of experience for our midfield. Roca comes in and is very versatile as can cover CB/DM/CM. He comes in with a background of playing for Espanyol, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg and has 11 years of top flight experience.

Lodi joins to fill the LB position and is a current Brazil international so can only bring good things after being at Atletico Madrid for the last 7 seasons being their starting LB

Iturbe, Canales and Cruz all come in as great backup options and will get the rare came when needing to rest some players.

The two players I'm really excited about though are:

Txini Aguire who looks like should develop into a great central midfielder

Antony Mertens who is already a world class CB and can go onto great things here

I originally wanted a more experienced head in defence but found it hard to attract somebody of decent quality on the wages we had left and my scouts stumbled across Mertens so figured we would take a chance on him.

I still need a RB but we can cover that until we can arrange for the right player to come in on a sensible wage.

Friendlies

We had a strong preseason with a slight blip in it but we did try and squeeze in as many games as possible so I don't believe its anything to worry about as we integrate the new team members and give some youth players a run out

Expectations

Again the board is asking us less of what I expect and I fully expect us to make it through the group stages in the Europa League and finish in European spots in the League as we try and push into the top 4

August

A much easier start than last season and I fully expect to get 3 wins from 3 here.​

 

[sahajpal97]

Unlucky to not finish in the Champions League spot in the previous season.

 

[leckuno]

Unlucky to not finish in the Champions League spot in the previous season.

yeah tell me about it. I think its probably best though as allows us to continue to build to try and get out the group stages when we finally get there

 

[leckuno]

August

Atheltic Club v Deportivo

A great start to the season for us as we get off to a quick start from a corner before they equalised but thankfully Dossena was here to bang in a couple of goals as Sancet gets one over his former club in his debut

Deportivo v Granada

Roger Lopez has stepped up this season and he rewards us with the only goal of the game here scoring from just outside the area.

Almeria v Deportivo

The early sending off made all the difference here as Salinas scored a curling freekick into the corner before Dossena doubles the lead after another 8 minutes. Sadly we then took our foot off the gas and didn't push for a big score.

League

Barcelona scoring 12 goals in 3 games is just mental and gives them the lead after 3 games

Transfers

We only made the one signing for the rest of August as we still desperately needed a new RB and to fill that we signed Sergio Carreira from Frankfurt for £27.5million

Europa League Group

Newcastle is clearly going to be the biggest test here as I feel we should have enough to get past Anderlecht and FCSB to finish in the top 2 to progress.

September

A straight forward month in the league as we avoid all the big teams. I would of preferred an easier start in the Europa League but at least we get the game out the way first.​

 

[leckuno]

September

Girona v Deportivo

We continue out good start to the season as we hammer Girona. The pick of the goals though was Lodi who hit a cracking free kick from 30 yards out for his first goal for the club.

Europa League Group
Newcastle v Deportivo

What a first half as it looked like it could go either when when they equalised for the 2nd time but Dossena was on fire with his hat-trick even though I was worried what could happen half time but it fizzled out

Deportivo v Cadiz

Cadiz gave us a proper fright here as we decided to rest our players after the Newcastle game and it nearly back fired as they took the lead early but some choice words through the 2nd half made all the difference as we won it right at the end.

Deportivo v Real Sporting

The first team come back in and Dossena keeps up his form with another 2 goals as he could be the difference in a lot of game this season.

Celta Vigo v Deportivo

We get one over Celta Vigo again here with all the exiting parts of the game waiting until the final half hour.

League

We're in third spot after 7 games but Barcelona and Real Madrid keep outscoring us.

October

A tough few games for us in the league this month as we face 3 of the teams that finished above us last season​

 

[leckuno]

October

Europa League Group
Deportivo v Anderlecht

We managed to help Mertens get one over his old team so he still holds the bragging rights over them as we make the most of our finishing in the 2nd half.

Deportivo v Espanyol

We seem to have suffered again like last season with a European hangover as we also rested some key players for the next game

Deportivo v Real Madrid

I keep hoping that we'll get a win in this game but sadly it evades us yet again

Europa League Group
FCSB v Deportivo

We rotated a chunk of the squad here as we faced the weakest team in the group and they duly delivered thanks to us racing a 2-0 lead

Sevilla v Deportivo

We really looked like we were going to suffer the usual European fate here with us being 2 down but a great run from Salinas and him cutting off the wing to score got us back in it before Doessena did what he does best and tap it home to get us a point

Real Sociedad v Deportivo

We fell behind again thanks to wonder strike from Isak but thankfully Borja was able to get onto a well placed cross to head home

League

We stay in 3rd but Real and Barca already look like they are going to be the run away challengers yet again

November

A easier month here but we need to get better at the games after our European efforts​

 

[leckuno]

November

Europa League Group
Deportivo v FCSB

We had some real fun here as Roca got us off to a flying start with the quickest goal in the clubs history in the just 27 seconds before Broja got 2 goals in 3 minutes and Fernandes then got 2 in 5 minutes. Took our foot off the gas as we only got one goal in the 2nd half.

Deportivo v Valencia

For once we shook off the European Hangover and Broja continued his good form as he came off the bench to get the winning goal

Levante v Deportivo

We continue with our good form here recording another win in the league.

Europa League Group
Anderlecht v Deportivo

A bit disappointed with this result as we really should have held on here after they went down to 10 men and not let them back into the game.

Deportivo v Real Zaragoza

The good times keep coming as we get another big win.

League

We stay in 3rd spot and just 2 points behind Real Madrid now and opening a good lead over 5th spot as well

December

A tricky opening 3 games this month but at least it gets easier towards the end of the month
​

 

[leckuno]

December

Deportivo v Atletico Madrid

What a start to the month as we continue our run over Atletico Madrid here as they look for another new manager.

Deportivo v Barcelona

We came so close to getting a draw here for the first time but managed to blow it in the final minutes.

Europa League Group
Deportivo v Newcastle

We lose our first game in the group stages as Newcastle gain revenge for the first game but we do progress in 2nd place

Getafe v Deportivo

We rotated the squad here after the Newcastle game and our backups managed to get a win.

Cope del Rey First Round
Peralada v Deportivo

We leave the backups in place here to give them another runout and how can you complain when you have Broja as your 2nd striker and he bangs in 4 goals as we look to see how far we can go this season.

League

We are still in the title race just and increase the lead over 5th now as well

January

An easy month in the league it seems but we will have additional games to squeeze in though if we progress in the cup​

 

[leckuno]

January

Real Betis v Deportivo

Nothing like making it difficult as we have to come from behind twice to rescue a draw.

Copa del Rey 2nd Round
Sanse v Deportivo

We get very lucky here as we are rescued thanks to a penalty right at the end of the first half as our reserves nearly made a mess of it.

Deportivo v Rayo Vallecano

It seems to be the standard struggling here as we need a kick up the backside but thankfully Lopez was able to score for us.

Copa del Rey 3rd Round
Alcorcon v Deportivo

Jesus it happens again as we get through to the next round by the skin of our teeth.

Deportivo v Athletic Club

Its taken 5 games this month but we finally put in a decent performance here and run riot for the first 90 minutes as Dossena gets 4 goals.

Granada v Deportivo

Back to struggling again as we get a draw but we really need to be doing better in these games and it was disappointing after the last performance

Copa del Rey 4th Round
Osasuna v Deportivo

We have been really bad at dropping out at this stage and it looked like we could be going out again if it wasn't for a final half hour double from Canales.

Deportivo v Almeria

A better performance here again as we rely on two youngsters to get us the 3 points from 2 set pieces.

League

We again manage to hold onto 3rd spot again and have 9 points between us and 4th

Transfers

We have been busy in the transfer market with letting go of 5 players for just under £70million

Broja had done well for us but we brought in him on a free then sold him 6 months later for £45million profit so we can reinvest it all in the squad again.

We then went on to sign three new players to replace people who left.

Lewis Heylen

We came across Heylen when we were signing Mertens in the summer and we just needed to wait until we had the funds to add another class defender to our ranks and he will be a heavily used rotation option going forward as we sign him from Antwerp for £34.5million

Nick Grafina

We needed a new RB and Grafina makes the cut and in my eyes is a bargain at only £6.5million from Dinamo Zagreb and again he will be a good rotation option going forward

Ezekiel Babalola

Already an established Togo international yet we probably still overpaid Lille on the £18.75million transfer feee but I want to try swapping up my formation so needed an extra AMC to give us good cover and hopefully he develops well for us.

February

We've probably done well with the draw here as we've avoided a lot of the big teams that have fallen into the competition now so need to make the most of it this month​

 

[leckuno]

February

Copa del Rey Quarter Final
Real Sociedad v Deportivo

We had matched where we got last season and for the first time we make it through to the semi finals as Salinas was able to get onto the end of a cross and head home.

Cadiz v Deportivo

We had to rotate the squad here with it coming in-between two cup games and it cost us as we were lucky to walk away with the draw in the end.

Copa del Rey Semi Final 1st Leg
Real Madrid v Deportivo

We were instantly put on the back foot here as Jovic was allowed to make his way through our defence and get the opening goal within 2 minutes. We're still in with a slim chance though thanks to the game being over 2 legs.

Deportivo v Girona

We are then able to run riot against the worst team in the league to get our confidence back up and get 3 points on the board

Europa League 1st Knockout Round 1st Leg
Porto v Deportivo

I couldn't of asked for a better performance here if I tried as we have one foot in the next round but Salinas was unplayable for us and he showed that with a great hat-trick.

Deportivo v Celta Vigo

We had to rotate the squad here for fitness reasons and it backfired as are on the losing end of the derby game for the first time.

Europa League 1st Knockout Round 2nd Leg
Deportivo v Porto

Even though we won and are through to the next round we found it a lot more difficult at home and struggled to a 1-0 win.

Real Sporting v Deportivo

We rotated the squad again here for the next match and they played well this time. Babalola got his 2nd goal of the month to justify the hefty fee we paid for him.

League

We have a 10 point swing either side of use just now so plenty of wiggle room behind us.

March

It seems we stay in Portugal for the Europa League before we have a double header with Real Madrid​

 

[leckuno]

March

Europa League 2nd Knockout Round 1st Leg
Deportivo v Benfica

What a game for us as Dossena got two first half goals before we really put them to the sword with the final 7 minutes and now have one foot in the quarter final

Espanyol v Deportivo

The usual rotation after Europe and we drop points yet again so its something we will need to look at in the summer

Europa League 2nd Knockout Round 2nd Leg
Benfica v Deportivo

We were able to relax here and we comfortably make it through.

Real Madrid v Deportivo

Out usual form against Real Madrid comes back as they beat us easily

Copa del Rey Semi Final 2nd Leg
Deportivo v Real Madrid

What a game for us as we had to come from behind twice before finally getting our first win over Real and it only took 9 games to do it as we reach our first final.

Deportivo v Sevilla

I thought the high of beating Real Madrid might have got us through it but sadly we drop more points as Sevilla outplayed us

League

Atletico Madrid are closing the gap on us now and Sevilla are also just 5 points behind us now as well

Youth Intake

Our youth intake is ok but its nothing special as even our standout player from the intake doesn't seem like he'll be a world beater

Emilio Pereira

He looks ok but for a winger to only have a crossing stat of 5 isn't great so we'll see how he goes and might look to sell him after a bit.

April

We've got a big couple of games against Sevilla in the Europa League the only issue though is that we have the Copa del Rey 3 days after the 2nd leg against Sevilla​

 

[leckuno]

April

Deportivo v Real Sociedad

Dossena got on the end of a long ball from Lafont and slots home for the only goal of the game.

Europa League Quarter Final 1st Leg
Sevilla v Deportivo

What a game as we raced to a 2-0 lead in the opening 16 minutes thanks to some great play from Dossena before Oscar continued his scoring run against us but Mertens was able to hit right back before Sevilla got it back to 3-2 for going into the 2nd leg.

Valencia v Deportivo

We rotated the squad here for resting our key players for Europe and it backfired as Lein comes back to haunt us after us having him on loan for 2 seasons.

Europa League Quarter Final 2nd Leg
Deportivo v Sevilla

We make it through to the Semi final thanks to a couple of well worked set pieces as we come back from a goal down

Copa del Rey Final
Deportivo v Barcelona

We finally beat barcelona for the first time in 7 games and what a time to beat them as we lift our first piece of silverware for the club. Dossena has been key for us all season and continued that here with an opening goal an assist for the Garcia goal.

Deportivo v Levante

We had to rotate the squad here thanks to fitness levels and it cost us as we conceded late on to drop 2 points.

Real Zaragoza v Deportivo

We left the reserves out here to see if they could redeem themselves and it paid off here as we managed to get the 3 points this time

Europa League Semi Final 1st Leg
Arsenal v Deportivo

77

Well we didn't give our best performance here and it cost us as a 37 year old Immobile tore our defence to shreds and Arsenal now have one foot in the final.

League

We've dropped down to 4th spot but hopefully have a big enough lead over 5th and 6th to get Champions League football next season.

May

A couple of tough games to see us out with the added complication of a tough game against Arsenal where we need a big performance.​

 

[leckuno]

May

Atletico Madrid v Deportivo

We sacrficed this game to try and keep our best players fresh going into the 2nd leg against Arsenal so I didn't expect a win here.

Europa League Semi Final 2nd Leg
Deportivo v Arsenal

We did so well to get back into the game through Garcia's well placed shot to get us back in the game but our concentration lapsed after 60 minutes and Arsenal took full advantage for 2 quick goals which sadly put the game out of reach for us.

Deportivo v Getafe

Really disappointed with this one but our legs had gone and we sadly couldn't keep going as Getafe scored with the final kick of the ball.

Barcelona v Deportivo

Barcelona made sure they got revenge on us for beating them in the Copa del Rey final but luckily for them I'd much rather have won that game anyway

Deportivo v Real Betis

A proper ended to end game here as Betis fight for their survival and we scrap through with a draw thanks to a very late penalty

Rayo Vallecano v Deportivo

What a performance from Dossena to finish the season with an incredible 5 goals which sadly will draw some attention to him in the transfer window I'm sure.

League

We just manage to make the top 4 thanks to Dossena's final day heroics and it means we will be plying our trade in the Champions League next season and hopefully the prize money from it will bring us even better players

Budgets

Not going to lie I really hopped for a bigger transfer budget as we're really going to struggle to bring decent players in without selling anybody so we're going to have to be careful this summer.​

 

[leckuno]

Season 7

Transfers Out

So to try an up our budget we needed to let some players leave the club. Berrocal had been a great servant to the club but had fallen down the pecking order so we decided to move him on and we got a decent price for him. Next we sold Carreira to Barcelona for a loss from what we paid for him last season but he didn't really perform and was one of the highest earners so was good to get his £75,000 pw off the wage bill. Sancet also didn't perform and wasn't happy to not be playing so was sold for a loss but also got his wages off the wage bill.


Transfers In

With the funds we had available we needed to make sure that we were signing the right players and we manage to bring in 6 players.

Our first signing was Bruno Iglesias who we arrange on a precontract deal from Real Madrid to keep our Spanish player numbers up. We also signed Jeremy Doku who hasn't realised his potential yet but we wanted a bit more cover for the wings so we've taken a punt in the hope that we can get him up to scratch and sell him on.

Imanol Larrazabal is an attacking midfielder who looks like has a lot of potential and will play with our B team to try and get some experience

Silvio Diana is another midfielder who has plenty of experience with Fiorentina and Italy U21's and will hopefully slot into our midfield nicely

Alan Aguilar is a pacey striker who should be able to play backup to Dossena and comfortably step into his shoes when needed and he even has 2 caps for Argentina and is a proper bargin.

Alessandro Conte is a young defender with defender with a lot of potential and great physical stats but still needs a lot of work elsewhere

Friendlies

A strong preseason even if we did play against smaller sides but it should help with the confidence going into the season


Expectations

Nothing out of the ordinary here as the board expect us to finish in the top 7 which will hopefully be easy enough for us

August

Not the best start to the month against 3 teams that we always struggle to beat
​

 

[leckuno]

August

Real Sociedad v Deportivo

A brilliant start to our season as Dossena picks up where he left off last season with an excellent 2 goals

Deportivo v Barcelona

Aguilar has a debut to remember here as he came on with half an hour to go then managed to win the game for us with a well placed shot from just inside the area.

Real Madrid v Deportivo

And we're brought crashing back to earth as Real remind us of our place in the league.

League

So nobody has managed to win their opening 3 games this season as we sit down in 7th

Transfers

We let one final player go on deadline day as we sold Cristian Canales to Lille for £4.3million. We then used that fee to sign 16 year old Carsten Wrobel from Holstein Kiel for £5million as he's somebody we've had our eye on since last season and our scouts think very highly of him so hopefully he can develop well at the club

Champions League

Not the worst group thats out there as we have managed to beat Benfica last season but Ajax and Leipzig could cause a bigger challenge so we will probably be aiming at 3rd spot and anything better is a bonus for us.

September

We get stuck into the Champions League this month and a nice mix of games in the league for us as well​

 

[leckuno]

September

Deportivo v Villarreal

A very dominant win against newly promoted Villarreal as Dossena gets a hat-trick to add to his brace from the first game of the season.

Champions League Group Stages
Ajax v Deportivo

I knew this was going to be a tough game but I feel we should of done better as we start our first time in the Champions League with a loss.

Deportivo v Alaves

We struggled to get past Alaves here after we gave away a cheap penalty but Doku took his chance with a well placed finish to show us he still has a lot to offer.

Almeria v Deportivo

We rotated the squad here for a players to get a break and Fuchs got us off to a flying start in the opening minute. Iglesias got the 2nd to give us a good win.

Sevilla v Deportivo

There isn't much to say here apart from that was one of the most embarrassing performances we've ever given.

Champions League Group Stages
Deportivo v Benfica

We needed a big performance after the Sevilla hammering and sadly Benfica were on the other side of it as Dossena tore them to pieces with a great solo performance

League

We're still in the hunt for the title and top 4 after 7 games.

October

A straight forward month for the league with a huge game against Leipzig thrown into the middle of it all​

 

[leckuno]

October

Deportivo v Cadiz

We get a bit lucky here as Garcia scored a lovely goal which looked like it was a cross more than anything before Torres got us the winner from a well placed shot from just inside the area.

Mallorca v Deportivo

A much more convincing win as Doku took his chance as he got a good double as he shows glimpses of what is possible from him

Champions League Group Stage
Deportivo v RB Leipzig

I'm not sure if I should be happy or disappointed by this result but at least we walked away with a point to keep us in the race for qualification

Deportivo v Granada

We rotated the squad here where possible and Aguilar stepped up for Dossena as he was rewarded with a stunning chip over the keeper

Athletic Club v Deportivo

We get very lucky here as we scrape by with the thanks to an own goal and Athletic even had 2 goals disallowed for offside as well.

League

We're only 2 points off of top spot now as there looks to be a small breakaway at the moment so lets see how long it lasts.

November

We're going to throw everything at the Champions League this month and let some rotation happen in the league​

 

[leckuno]

November

Champions League Group Stage
RB Leipzig v Deportivo

Turns out the secret to our European dream is the away fixture as we dominate Leipzig here as we have a great half hour

Deportivo v Espanyol

Dossena with his second brace in 2 games to show he's one of the worlds best at only 21 and hopefully earn us a small fortune one day

Atletico Madrid v Deportivo

A good result here against an improved Atletico team this season as we have to fight back from a goal down before conceding and walking away with a point.

Champions League Group Stage
Benfica v Deportivo

Our away form gets us out of the champions league group thanks to Dossena scoring a nice chip over the keeper to get us the win.

Deportivo v Getafe

An early penalty gives us the win as we get lucky as Getafe had a goal chopped off with 10 minutes to go.

League

We move up to 2nd in the league with only 4 points in it between us and Real

December

The big derby game to look forward to this month before a big game against Ajax as well to decide who goes through in top spot.​

 

[leckuno]

December

Deportivo v Levante

A terrible start to the game and we just never recovered after it

Deportivo v Celta Vigo

A really dull game where there weren't any real chances for either team and a draw was a fair result

Champions League Group
Deportivo v Ajax

A disappointing end to the group stages as Ajax get the double over us here as I expected to put up a better fight at home but we go through in 2nd anyway

Real Zaragoza v Deportivo

Another rocky start to the game but we're able to fight back through 2 first half goals of our own as they assisted each other as well.

Deportivo v Real Sporting

Finally a dominant performance we can be proud of as Lopez gets us off as he shows he still has it even though he's been with us since the start before Dossena comes on in the 2nd half and runs riot.

League

We've fallen back a bit now and letting Real run away with it as usual

January

A really busy month to look forward to as we have the Supercopa to play in along with the Copa del Rey never mind the league games against Real and Barca as well just to make it even more interesting​

 

[leckuno]

January

Deportivo v Valencia

Garcia gets the only goal from AMC as her scores a nice tap in for the only goal.

Supercopa Semi Final
Barcelona v Deportivo

Barca didn't stand a chance here as Aguilar got us off to a great start as he scored a great solo goal. Garcia's goal right on the edge of half time was what we needed and set the scene for the second half as we progress to the final

Supercopa Final
Deportivo v Real Madrid

Real continue their dominance over us here even though we did come very close but sadly fell at the final hurdle.

Deportivo v Real Sociedad

The extra games caught up with us here as we really struggled fitness wise and we never got going.

Copa del Rey 3rd Round
Cordoba v Deportivo

We rotate the squad here and they give a great showing. Tchamba was the stand out player though with his goal and an assist for Doku.

Deportivo v Real Madrid

Garcia seems to be a regular in the goals now which is great as he gets another early goal for us before Real pull ahead as usual but super sub Aguilar is brought down in the area before slotting home from the spot.

Barcelona v Deportivo

Aguilar seems to enjoy the big stages as he gets another huge goal before we needed to rely on Noel Lopez to show why the fans love him as he scores a huge winner for us.

Copa del Rey 4th Round
Ibiza v Villarreal

We got a big fright here in the final minutes as we nearly threw a 3 goal lead away but our 2nd string did us proud in the end as we move to the next round.

Villarreal v Deportivo

Aguilar comes back into the team with an excellent double to keep our run going.

League

We still sit in 3rd but Seville now sit top of the league to shake things up a little.

Transfers

We only had the one outgoing this month as Bruno Iglesias leaves the club after just 6 months but we make a huge £9million profit as he joins Marseille.

We had 2 players join the club though:

Luciano Parada joins from Colo-Colo for £5million and he goes straight out on loan to Shakhtar as we need to move on another non-EU player from the squad or wait for one of them to take up Spanish citizenship. Parada is a young player who looks like could go right to the top and will be a key player for us.

Juan Antonio Galvez joins from Valencia for £3.8million as we bolster the youth team with a player who looks like could develop well if the scouts reports are right

February

We're back to European action this month as we have to overcome Dortmund to progress. We also have another derby game thanks to the Copa del Rey.​