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Row 0, Seat 0: When Spanish football came together for the player who slept
Dear Friend, You won’t be able to read this letter. For the past three years, you haven’t been able to read anything. For the past three years, you have had a son you haven’t even been able to get to know. Unless God works some miracle —you will never read these things, kiss your son,…
From World Series to the waste bin: The extraordinary rise and fall of Leganés president Jeff Luhnow
The baseball men sat there, silently seething. In front of them stood a man in his early sixties with thinning, grey hair with a sketch pad in hand. Behind him was a screen with the lecture title: “Classic Mechanics: A Throwing Model Based on the Construction of the Motions of Great Historic Pitchers.” The man…
When the man who could organise anything nearly met his match: Raimundo Saporta and the 1982 World Cup
He was the man who could organise anything. The man on top of every little detail. That’s why they put him in charge of this. He was the man who changed the course of Spanish football history by signing Alfredo Di Stéfano for Real Madrid from under the noses of Barcelona. The man who then…
El Centenariazo: The night Super Depor gatecrashed the biggest birthday party of all time – and even stole their dinner reservation
Preparations at Asador Donostiarra on Madrid’s Calle de la Infanta Mercedes were in full swing. The labyrinth of dining rooms buzzed as an army of waiters frantically buffed cutlery and polished glasses; sommeliers double checked there were enough bottles of cava on ice and enough reserva for later; while the chefs decided it was about…
Carmen: How Celta Vigo’s Wonder Woman helped change the face of Galicia
A woman hurries her youngest son through Vigo’s Casco Vello on their way to the city’s main market. As she looks up, she notices a man staring at her as he smokes in the doorway of the bar he owns and the pair lock eyes. The woman feels her legs begin to tremble as her…
Testicle tugging and gallivanting goalkeepers: When the cream of Colombia came to Real Valladolid
“Independent of the mistake, he’s brilliant — fundamental and decisive.” He’d said pretty much the exact words a month previous, in the heat of Naples, where he backed his goalkeeper, René Higuita, after the error that would become one of the iconic vignettes in World Cup history. Positioned a lot closer to the halfway line…
La Quinta del Reboot: When the Vulture Squad descended on Mexico
“To suddenly call up a Real Madrid player and ask them to come to your club, when you’re still in the second division — well you have to be a dreamer.” In the summer of 1995, when the Real Madrid office staff told Emilio Butragueño to expect a call at home from a Mexican club,…
‘Paz olímpica’ : How the Barcelona Olympics brought gold and a brief moment of unity to Spanish football
As he climbed to his feet, detaching himself from the celebratory heap of bodies below, Pep Guardiola could see his prediction been wrong. “I’m confident there will be about 60,000 there, but filling it is impossible.” He’d seen it packed before, of course. But this was different, surreal even. The entirety of the 95,000 crowd…
Pig farming, fleeing presidents and Helenio Herrera’s underpants: The bizarre story of Johan Cruyff’s spell at Levante
The shrill ring of a telephone breaks the mid-morning silence in a trendy Amsterdam apartment. Enjoying a restorative lie in after a nasty bout of flu, a woman climbs out of bed, wearily ruffles her blonde, bobbed hair and pads through to the living room to pick up the phone. “Hello?” “Sorry, he’s not here…
Talent, tantrums and tragedy: The story of Canito — once the future of Barça but forever Espanyol
He didn’t particularly like the comparisons with John Travolta but stood there at his presentation, tall and handsome, in an immaculate white jacket and plunging, open-necked shirt, you could see why they made them. He was certainly no stranger to the nightclubs — a regular at the iconic Bocaccio on Carrer Muntaner, always impeccably dressed…
“Rafa no me jodas,” — the human side of the celebrity linesman
Robinson was poignantly remembered as the programme began the new season by looking back over its three decades. As the montages relived moments from the annals of the show, one occasion inevitably featured. A remarkable interaction between a referee and his linesman captured by the Canal+ microphones that would forever be known by a phrase…
“I fell for the club in a really big way” — Howard Kendall’s love affair with Athletic Club Bilbao
The ink was barely dry on Howard Kendall’s two-year contract to coach Athletic Club Bilbao but he was regretting the decision already. “I honestly thought I’d made the biggest mistake of my life.” His new club had flown him out to watch the 1987 Copa del Rey Final between Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad in…
From video shop assistant to Maradona’s agent: Elche owner Christian Bragarnik’s eventful rise to power
Leyland Video Club, close to the intersection of Yerbal and Avenida Boyacá in the Buenos Aires barrio of Flores was a fairly typical neighbourhood video store. Members would pop in, browse the rows of latest releases and take their choice to the counter. A chunky VHS tape was snapped into a generic branded case, the customer paid…
“You can’t judge a person on one mistake” – Palop’s beautiful homage to Arconada
Andrés Palop’s giddy explanation wasn’t necessary, Michel Platini had recognised it straight away. Twenty four years had passed but he hadn’t forgotten the shirt. He hadn’t forgotten its former wearer either — the man that Palop was paying tribute to. “He’s here somewhere, I invited him,” he beamed.
The Gazpacho Game — The night Ronaldinho gave Barcelona back its smile
Given his reputation, it was perhaps appropriate that Ronaldinho announced his arrival in Barcelona with a sway of the hips in the early hours of the morning. Receiving the ball midway inside his own half from a Victor Valdés throwout, two twists took him dancing away from the Sevilla midfield before an arrow of a…
“I have no regrets, nor does Aitor. I did my tiny bit for democracy.” The teammates’ humble gesture of defiance
Amid the clatter of studs and the shouts of encouragement, the players of Racing Santander filed out of the home dressing room and into the tunnel to face their opponents, Elche. All of them, that was, except two. Aitor Aguirre and Sergio Manzanera lingered behind their teammates before ducking furtively into the empty shower area
The strength behind Julen Lopetegui
The beginning had been warm and emotional. The end, though expected, was cold and brutal. Julen Lopetegui’s unveiling as Real Madrid manager had been a poignant affair. “If yesterday was the saddest day of my life, since the death of my mother,” he said, choking back tears, “then today is the happiest”. Madrid and their…
A kidnapping, a failed Real Madrid medical, a piss-up by a brewery team and duelling festivities – the strange weekend in which Sergio Agüero made his professional debut
Here on a chilly Saturday night in Buenos Aires, Ruggeri — no stranger to Argentine football lore as a World Cup winner himself — decided it was time to give the people a little bit of history.
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