Daniel Izeddin (text and video) / Javier Barbancho (photographs)

Updated Saturday, March 30, 2024-23:59

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If his life were

one of those operas that he likes so much

, we could surely frame it

within the

Grand Opéra genre:

abundance of characters, huge orchestra, luxurious sets, sumptuous costumes and spectacular scenic effects. An opera whose plot would be

inexorably linked to destiny

, predestination, cabala. "If it's about looking for a script for a cool movie, then my life is not bad," says

Manolo Sanchís, the third man who has played the most games for Real Madrid

and who has been

its great captain on the most occasions.

So far, he is also

one of four who have been

one club man

(only one shirt in his entire professional career).

And like almost every great story, his begins with a great event that accompanies the day of his birth,

in the O'Donnell maternity hospital, on May 23, 1965.

That Sunday

his father, Manuel Sanchís

Martínez, also a Real player Madrid

played a derby against Atlético de Madrid at the Bernabéu,

a match they won 1-0. "They never told me that in the second leg Madrid went to play at the Calderón and Atlético beat them in the tie," says Sanchís, who

met us in the Salamanca neighborhood, where he spent his childhood and adolescence and where he continues to live. nowadays.

«When I was little it was mostly the street. I have always lived in Narváez, and from O'Donnell downwards it is Retiro and from O'Donnell upwards it is Salamanca, but I know that now. At that time I had no idea," he admits.

The former Real Madrid player, on Alcalá street, the longest in the city.Javier Barbancho

Sanchís Sr. had arrived in Madrid from Valladolid. Born in Alberique (Valencia), a scout

had discovered him at the age of 16 and took him to Barça,

where he played eight seasons. «When he was 24, Barcelona decided to sign a player from Valladolid and pay him with two players, and one was him. He is there for three years, then seven in Madrid and the last in Córdoba," he says while smiling at the photographer of this report, a native of Córdoba.

A few years ago, in 2017, Real Madrid veterans honored Manuel Sanchís with a match in Alberique on the day they

named the town's stadium after him.

"It was a game with a great emotional charge," he remembers of a father who was very present throughout the entire interview. "Only a couple of times I brought him a note that he didn't like, and then he

would take away football from me, since he was a footballer and wanted me to be one

, and of course, he craved to be able to play."

The first school in Sanchís was Nuestra Señora de la Almudena, where he stayed for a year, and then he moved to the Sagrada Familia (Safa). "He is the one who has served as my guide," he says, because although

he changed cities following his father

- "la Salle in Córdoba, Rodríguez Campos in Tenerife" -, whenever he returned he did so in Safa, "which "True, it no longer exists, now it is a huge apartment building." He has been thinking about it lately:

two of his two main references, the school and the sports city, have disappeared.

«Now there are four towers. Five, with the new one. But let's go by steps.

Sanchís, leaning on a fence in Retiro, where he played soccer as a child.Javier Barbancho

Real Madrid had what was known as the Social Tournament. "Children who were not from the quarry, but from the Community of Madrid," he explains.

"When I was 7 or 8 years old, my father took me a little forcedly, along with a cousin."

But since at that moment what he wanted was to play with his friends, he told him that he no longer wanted to continue. "That day we had a collision."

After some time, at the age of 13, he joined a Tenerife club for the first time, since his father coached CD Tenerife.

«As soon as I returned to Madrid I presented the form at the Bernabéu and did a test at La Chopera.

There I met

for the first time with someone from Quinta del Buitre, because Pardeza was in that test.

"That was when I was 15." He begins his youth stage, then spends three years as a youth player and

joins the first team at 18

, where he remains for 18 seasons. History of the club. What not everyone knows is that

Sanchís started as a forward

, then moved to the center of the field as a free player and

it was Molowny who decided to put him in central defense.

Sanchís and Martín Vázquez, on the day of their debut with Real Madrid, December 4, 1983. El Mundo archive

All those years, while he rose to the first team,

Sanchís continued going to train on the subway after school,

he explains while walking through the Plaza de Gaudí, in front of the Wizink Center, before arriving at 38 Narváez, which was his home.

He lived there until he got married at the age of 26.

"In the neighborhood there were three or four bars occupied by people from Safa, and in one of them I met my wife."

The wedding was held in the Jerónimos church, and Sanchís negotiated an agreement with the press whereby they would give up some snapshots in exchange for the photographers not entering the church until the ceremony was over. In fact,

he also negotiated his renewal with Real Madrid himself, even when Juventus wanted to sign him.

When he married, he moved with his wife to Príncipe de Vergara to return, three years later, to Alcalá Street, three blocks from where he lived when he was little.

In his father's bar, in front of the photo of his father's most famous goal, scored against Switzerland in 1966.Javier Barbancho

Meanwhile, the Quinta del Buitre had become a social phenomenon in Spain in the 80s and 90s. «There was movement in the world of art, in politics and

in sports, with the Quinta del Buitre, which meant a change of cycle

», explains who was one of the first defenders to come out with the ball at his feet. With a lot of class.

"Beenhakker called me 'my Swede', because he said that he couldn't be so cold-blooded at 20 years old."

But the coach who had formed the Fifth a couple of years before had been Alfredo di Stéfano. «My father told me Pelé was incredible, but that the total player was Di Stéfano.

"You would have to be half a poet to be able to describe what that man was to his players

," he confesses. Another of the references that marked him was Jorge

Valdano. "The pleasure of talent within a structure."

Another, Fabio Capello, «another type of relationship proposed in the locker room. "Both with very clear ideas and knew how to transmit them," reflects this business graduate who

studied the first year of his degree in Alcalá de Henares and the rest at the Complutense University.

Sanchís, along with the rest of the members of the Quinta del Buitre. El Mundo archive

Over the years,

La Quinta won six Leagues - five consecutive - and two UEFA Cups,

among other championships, as well as a record of 121 unbeaten home games. Something unheard of. Butragueño, Míchel, Pardeza and Martín Vázquez accompanied him in that formation along with others like

Chendo, "the sixth Beatle", or veterans like Camacho, Santillana or Gordillo.

Then reinforcements arrived like Hierro, Buyo and Hugo Sánchez, among the enormous list of players with whom he coincided. "Camacho and Juanito were brutal motivators," he says when asked about the famous white comebacks. «After finishing the Anderlecht game, which we lost 3-0, I came to the locker room saying: 'Oh my God.' And suddenly I start hearing screams. It was them coming from the field shouting:

'We are going to eat these.' These people don't know what the Bernabéu is.

Kids, don't worry, we're going to run over you.'” At that moment he thought they were crazy, because of the bath they had given them, but when they played the round he no longer thought the same. "I knew we were going to win, it couldn't be any other way."

THE FOUR CAPTAINS

Sanchís ended up becoming the

captain of the team, an honor he held for 11 years.

On the way to his father's bar, located in front of the Retiro, and where he goes to show some gigantic photos

of the most famous goal that his father scored, against Switzerland in the 1966 World Cup,

he explains

why he decided to establish the figure of the four captains.

"They closed the Bernabéu for two games due to suspension and we had to go to Valencia to play against Porto," he remembers. The expedition arrived three days before the match to prepare for it, and one morning they asked the coach if they could go to the cinema. He agreed, asking them

what movie they wanted to see. "'Hamburger Hill,'" Camacho answered.

«I will remember all my life.

"I asked if we were going to vote for it." «There is no voting here! Let's go see 'Hamburger Hill,'"

responded the then team captain. «Do you know what a hill is like with some guys from above shooting at those below and those below shooting those above for two hours? “It was a pain,” he explains, laughing. «So, when it was my turn to be captain I thought:

'Are they going to have to put up with my hamburger hills?

'. And I decided no, that the most logical thing was for four of us to think. Since then, the bracelet has been worn by one, but there are four captains. «Always the oldest and always with a common position.

And that's how 'Hamburger Hill' turned the captaincy into four.

Manolo Sanchís celebrates with his father, Manuel Sanchís, the seventh European Cup, won in May 1998. El Mundo archive

With all the members of the Quinta del Buitre retired except Manolo Sanchís, destiny,

which had marked his birth and his incorporation into the first team at the age of 18,

continued to weave the libretto of this

Grand Opera

,

and after 32 years of drought in Europe, Manolo Sanchís, Madrid's captain,

won the long-awaited seventh European Cup at the age of 32.

It was on May 20, 1988 in Amsterdam, three days before his birthday, with a goal by Mijatovic against Juventus, the team that had wanted to sign him on two occasions.

The sixth European Cup, 32 years earlier, had been won by the team where his father played.

"The day we got the seventh I had the feeling that he had already done everything he had to do." And although he won the eighth shortly after, he will always remember that match

as the most important of his career, along with his debut in Murcia, in December 1983,

more than 40 years ago. «That day, the day of the seventh European Cup, the Madrid fans compare it to the birth of a child, to the day of his wedding, or his second wedding, or his third wedding...», he concludes. .

CASTIZO QUESTIONNAIRE

1. A meal.

The calluses. My favorite food is paella, but it is Valencian. From Madrid, the tripe. I often eat them at Nagú, a restaurant on Fernán González Street, and at Gran Barril on Goya Street. In both places they are delicious.

2. Favorite corner.

I have been lucky enough to travel a lot, and I realize more and more that we have a spectacular city, and also, lately, they have treated it very well. The Governments have improved it greatly with projects such as the burying of the M-30 or the green corridor. It meets the conditions to be the best city in the world to live in.

3. Sunday plan.

There has to be gastronomy and football. I love cooking. People say that I cook many social dishes well, such as paella, fideuá, black rice or cocochas. My father made mainly Valencian dishes, but I have already tried more things, like the Manchego migas, which I find outrageous, or the wood-fired lamb.

5. And at night?

A plan that has changed my life. Go to Aurora Madrid, in Alberto Alcocer, to listen to Picoco's. Live music while you have a drink. The singer is David Ascanio, the guitarist is Tolo Pueyo, who plays with Miguel Bosé, and on keyboards is Pedro Roncero, from Olé Olé.