“We did not have football left over, but we did have faith.

It was the most emotional game of my life, even ahead of the World Cup final with Argentina.

On December 11, 1985,

Jorge Valdano

(Las Parejas, 1955) scored two header goals for Real Madrid and participated in the other two for

Carlos Alonso Santillana

"at a time when that was not yet classified as assistance."

In the 89th minute, when the Spaniard beat, it is still not known how,

Uli Sude

, Borussia Moenchedgladbac goalkeeper

h, Valdano felt something so different that even today, 35 years later, a singular vibration awakens in his voice.

«I have never witnessed such a great emotional disconnection.

I ran and crossed the whole field to hug

Jose Manuel Ochotorena

.

I remember myself without destiny, pushed by something deafening, like the shaking of an earthquake. »Among those scenes of mass hysteria, one survives above the rest.

An image that, by itself, justifies the 114 years of the most successful club in Europe: the image of

Juan Gomez

,

Juanito

, leaving the meadow in an ecstasy of jumps, hugs and communion with the 120,000 souls that populated the Bernabéu.

In vain tried to hold him

Cholo

on the run, so when Juan reached the band,

Rafael Martin Vazquez

(Madrid, 1965) should have limited himself to a pat on the back: “Juan was very expressive, very spontaneous, with all his heart.

Without a doubt it is an image that has remained in history, ”reveals the former white midfielder.

«Young people always listened to him, as to

Jose Antonio Camacho

.

For us they represented tremendous teachings.

I still remember the voices in the locker room: "These guys can't get out of here alive. They have to be crushed."

The poster of the Sports City

The germ of those cries had sprouted two weeks earlier in another booth, that of the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf, where Madrid was humiliated by the team of

Jupp heynckes

(5-1).

'Everyone was sunk, half dead.

But between Juanito and Camacho they set the route to follow.

From words to journalists to appeals to our fans.

You had to go out from the first minute bare-chested, to intimidate.

Take the ball out of the center and put the first ball into the area, test the goalkeeper and keep them from leaving his field, ”recalls Martín Vázquez. On December 7, on the 15th day of the League, a 4-0 against Celta pointed the way.

And during the last training session, someone scored another 4-0 on the Ciudad Deportiva billboard.

"It was a gesture of those workers who knew so well the main characteristic of this club: never give up," Valdano emphasizes. Already on Wednesday morning, he himself had received another message at the Hotel Monterreal concentration camp.

«Camacho went through all the rooms, waking up the companions.

When he entered mine, he grabbed me by the chest and asked "How are you going to jump for the shot?"

And I drew the movement for him.

But it wasn't enough for him and he made me repeat it several times.

That gesture was part of his competitive madness, "adds Valdano, laughing.

There was no logic in believing in the comeback, but those foolish people believed and so did we.

Jorge Valdano

It was all part of a ritual.

«From Monday we met to motivate ourselves.

They said that we made the alignments there, but it was a lie, "says Martín Vázquez.

«You had to fill the tank with emotion.

When we finished I entered

Luis Molowny

with the arrows on the board.

No one was invading his area.

We all recognized his authority ”, Valdano develops.

"There was no logic in believing in the comeback, but those foolish people believed and so did we."

Francisco Marrollo

(Madrid, 1957), secretary and treasurer of the Peña Ramón Mendoza, founded in 1988. He had arrived from Zaragoza, after a five-hour drive and a one-day leave from the barracks.

His brother had gotten him a ticket in row eight, under the box, located on the opposite side of the current location.

“You couldn't park nearby, so we had to resort to one of the clandestine valet parking that swarmed one of the cross streets to the South Fund.

You would leave them the keys and give them 20 duros to take care of everything, ”Marrollo recalls.

The avalanches of the South Fund

At that time, the Bernabéu was a simple sketch of the futuristic coliseum designed by

Florentino Pérez

.

The roof at the level of the second amphitheater opened on the side of Paseo de la Castellana, leaving space for the famous chicken coop.

“That which looked up there like the end of the world was a permanent uproar, without rest.

The avalanches at the South End were also impressive, with people descending seven or eight steps on each scoring occasion.

The rest of the stadium animated more to the rhythm of the play, "says Marrollo, as if nothing had been erased from his retina 35 years later." A fifth of the capacity had crept in.

People were milling about on the stairs and in the vomitories.

Half an hour after the game, most of them were still there, celebrating.

Of all the comebacks, that one was the craziest, "admits Valdano.

The breath had cooked during the bus ride as well.

The sepulchral silence of the interior contrasted with the roar of throats and the sea of ​​flags. “At the exit of the hotel, with so many people in the street, the adrenaline began to boil.

When we went down, two hours before the start, we couldn't even get through.

It was like a religion ”, emphasizes Martín Vázquez.

Santillana's agonizing auction would be the insurmountable climax to one of the most triumphant nights of a club that made glory its flag.

«Borussia arrived at the end exhausted, without strength.

I still remember how one of his forwards received with a free field and instead of advancing or holding the ball he preferred to hit another pitch.

We gained ground little by little and in the last serve of Camacho the goal arrived », concludes Valdano.

In his opinion, the definitive phrase about that environment in Chamartín was coined six months later,

Pierre Littbarski

, after 5-1 against Cologne in the final: «It is impossible to play here.

When the ball goes out, the public takes the throw-in ».

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