This is for you James, hope you like it

With the other teams around us dropping points, 4th spot was in our hands. We just had to keep this form going and this lot of party animals were in the Champions League.

It had made a big difference to the mood around the place, it seemed like the pressure had lifted a little and we had some breathing space. Our biggest enemy now was going to be complacency.

The media spotlight had never really left Rossi this season but it was burning brighter than ever now. It seemed less and less likely that we were going to keep hold of one of Europe's top marksman. The temptation for Roig was to sell him whilst he was in top form - his form at the start of this season was dismal and a repeat of that might send his value tumbling.

Out on the training field the players were working harder than normal. The starting eleven was becoming more and more predictable so players on the outside of that were having to work harder than ever to earn a place.

On the Wednesday Roig was off on 'official duties' - the Copa del Rey final between Real Madrid and Valencia. The rest of us watched it on TV.

Our fans celebrated thier rivals loss in the bars around town.

The following day and Roig was still in Madrid, Yanker was working like a maniac on financial reports and transfer projections, so I spent the day keeping a low profile and chatting to Lucy on the phone.

By the end of the week I had to name my squad for the Mallorca match on Sunday - another win and 4th place was becoming more and more in the bag.

Saturday saw Ruben move back to the east coast. His wife had hated life away from the town and they were glad to be back. He'd visited the training ground to see how everything was going and had to endure a fair amount of stick about his Recreativo disaster.

They were heading over to England in a weeks time to see Lucy which just made me miss her more.

With Ruben around it was too much of an opportunity to miss, so I asked him his opinion on the Mallorca game and which players were best suited for thier style of play. He suggested that natural wingers had always worked well against them and Mati and Cani would enjoy plenty of freedom.

I'd been thinking along the same lines, Escudero and Fernandez had not worked well at the same time, it was one or the other.

.....................................

v Mallorca

Lopez (GK)
Josemi (DR) Fuentes (DC) Godin (DC) Capdevila (DL)
Senna (DM) Bruno (DM)
Cani (AMR) Nihat (AMC) Fernandez (AML)
Rossi (ST)

...................................

The 2 games that evening saw the title race take yet another turn, it was now a 3 way battle for the league.

...................................

Athletic 1 Real Madrid 0
Barcelona 4 Osasuna 0

It was enough for the axe to fall on Osasuna's boss Goikoetxea.

As Mallorca rolled into town the stadium began to fill up and the crowd carried with them an air of expectation. They had been spoilt by recent results and expected another win today.

The scoreline suggested it was closer than it was. We controlled the game and although young Rossi was marked out of the game the others around him did the business.

Cani made 2 and scored the 3rd in a performance that had Lazio singing his praises after the game. He was another one we were going to have to try and cling onto.

Fuentes' goal was a header from a corner, the others were 2 very different freekicks. Nihat from 30yards, the other a brilliantly worked move with Nihat and Senna feeding a ball to Cani who buried it pass the keeper and in off the post.

The players were understandbly happy with themselves after the match, every win taking us closer to securing 4th place.

.....................................

Almeria 1 Getafe 2
Ath. Madrid 3 Deportivo 1
Murcia 3 Espanyol 0
Racing 1 Levante 1
Sevilla 1 Betis 0
Valladolid 0 Recreativo 0
Valencia 3 Zaragoza 1

The media were still labelling us title challengers but that was a joke - although trying to pick a winner out of the top 3 impossible.

5 fixtures left - we just had to keep this going.

This is for you James, hope you like it

Here you go Josh.....they are doing ok!

This is for you James, hope you like it

Not surprisingly the main attention of the press was being poured on the battle for the title. Everyone was analyzing who had the easiest run-in and who would buckle under pressure.

I found myself becoming drawn in by the hype and was pleased to see that most of the papers were printing our last 5 fixtures too, including us with the challengers.

...............................

Valencia
v Betis (h)
v Deportivo (a)
v Osasuna (a)
v Getafe (h)
v Villarreal (a)

Real Madrid
v Ath. Madrid (a)
v Sevilla (h)
v Racing (h)
v Murcia (a)
v Valladolid (h)

Barcelona
v Deportivo (h)
v Zaragoza (a)
v Getafe (a)
v Villarreal (h)
v Almeria (a)

Villarreal
v Osasuna (h)
v Getafe (a)
v Almeria (h)
v Barcelona (a)
v Valencia (h)

........................................

It was flattering to be included in the list but those last 2 games for us would mean we needed to try and secure 4th place before we reached them.

Tuesday night and Ruben was leaving for England to visit Lucy in the morning. The guy didn't really drink so I was confident that the night on the town he'd invited me on was going to be a tame affair, possibly back home by 10.

What did I know.....

It had been ages since Roig had a reason to shout at me but he was making up for lost time this morning. On the table between us was a copy of a newspaper, open at a double page picture of me standing outside a casino with an un-naturally large chested girl on my arm.

To be honest, Roig was the least of my worries. It was only a matter of time before Lucy got to see the picture and then I was going to suffer. In the meantime I was sat in his office, head pounding, taste of vomit still in my mouth, trying to remember as much of what had happened as I could.

I remember going for a fairly normal meal with Ruben, nothing too bad there. But there was a missing link between leaving the restaraunt and falling out of the casino. He had left at some point, he had an early flight in the morning and I remember turning down his offer of a lift home. I'd stayed in town for a night cap.

As for the girl, I kind of remember leaving the place on my own and looking for a cab. Some guys approached me and began talking really fast Spanish at me, and before I knew it they had pushed this girl next to me as the papparrazi appeared from nowhere.

It sounded pretty unlikely and I was going to have trouble convincing Lucy of it all.

Roig shook me out of my hazy recollections by smacking me round the back of the head with the rolled up newspaper. I headed for the door and just about made it into the toilet to throw up. As I did Ruben called on my mobile - he and his wife had arrived in England and were currently stood next to a very tearful Lucy.

It was around Friday that things had started to calm down. My wife had not let up in her fury at me and for once I was glad there were a fair few miles between us. In the end she had been convinced of my version of events thanks to the same girl being photographed with someone else later that night.

As far as the squad were concerned, morale was still high. Altidore and Franco were both involved now in full training and Insua's back injury was not nearly as bad as first thought.

The Osasuna game, as far as the media were concerned was going to be a walkover, they were 10/1 to beat us and it was starting to rub off on everyone. Well, apart from Rossi. The lad was below par in training and it took a while for anyone to find out what was wrong. It seemed that all the expectation was too much for him. He had never been one to handle pressure well and the more we talked to him the less ready he seemed to take to the pitch on Sunday.

Leaving him out was a massive gamble but he said his confidence was shot, so onto the bench he went.

I named my squad for what should be a straightforward game.

...................................

v Osasuna

Lopez (GK)
Josemi (DR) Rodriguez (DC) Fuentes (DC) Capdevila (DL)
Senna (DM) Josico (DM)
Cani (AMR) Pjanic (AMC) Fernandez (AML)
Nihat (ST)

.....................................

Once the press had got wind of Rossi not starting the game they immediatly jumped to the conclusion that he was in talks with Arsenal already...despite being named as one of the substitutes.

Meanwhile later that evening the title race took another unexpected twist.

.................................

Valencia 0 Betis 1
Barcelona 2 Deportivo 0

This is for you James, hope you like it

Once my line up had gone official, everyone began to speculate not only about Rossi's future but also my sanity.

Was it a sign of over confidence to leave him out or was it a clever piece of man-management that would show everyone that I had tactical ability.

The closer to kick off we got the more I began to wonder if we hadn't taken this game a little too lightly. They were playing for survival and I remember from my days at Bournemouth, sometimes you manage to find that little bit extra when relegation is waiting for you if you fail.

This was one of those games where even when we went a goal down you somehow knew it would be ok. When Fuentes headed in the corner to level things up I relaxed and waited for the winner. No-one expected it to come from Osasuna but in truth they looked hungrier for much of the game.

Afterwards Senna took much of the blame for failing to rally the troops on the pitch. The fans would be blaming me for waiting until 70 minutes before sending on a reluctant Rossi.

The unbeaten run was over, I just hoped it didn't point towards a losing run at the worst possible time.

I left Spain for a 3 day break in England immediatly after the game, which was just as well as apparently a very angry Roig was looking for me.

.....................................

Almeria 1 Zaragoza 4
Ath. Madrid 1 Real Madrid 2
Athletic 4 Espanyol 2
Getafe 0 Mallorca 1
Murcia 2 Valladolid 0
Racing 0 Recreativo 2
Sevilla 3 Levante 0

This is for you James, hope you like it