80 years of Amancio: the European Cup and the criminal entry of Pedro Fernández

Amancio Amaro , former player of Deportivo , myth of Real Madrid and one of the best players that the white club has had throughout its history, celebrates this Wednesday 80 years marked by several unforgettable moments that illuminated his career.

Between the 1958/59 and 1975/76 season, his ability, his unlikely dribbles, his goals and his successes walked through the soccer fields: with Real Madrid he added 9 League titles, 3 Cup, 1 European Cup and one Eurocup with Spain. Its 80 years, can be summarized in 8 moments:

1. MAXIMUM SECOND DIVISION GOLEADOR

Before signing for Real Madrid in 1962, Amancio played four seasons in the Second Division in the ranks of Deportivo. From La Coruña he called the attention of Santiago Bernabéu , who insisted on taking the services of a player who in his last course in Deportivo scored 25 goals in 26 games to become the top scorer in the category.

After disbursing a large sum of money, Bernabéu took over the services of one of the jewels of Spanish football that during the 1960s was key in the renewal of an aged Real Madrid that won the European Cup again in 1966 .

2. ANDERLECHT-REAL MADRID: THE DEBUT OF AMANCIO

Amancio debuted with Real Madrid in a European Cup match on August 26, 1962 in the preliminary round against Anderlecht at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. It was a bittersweet debut. On the one hand, he debuted alongside myths such as Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo Di Stéfano or Francisco Gento .

But, on the other, his team signed a bad game that ended 3-3 and that complicated the tie. Then, on the return, on September 12, Real Madrid lost 1-0 and was out of the competition at the first exchange. Before, he was only eliminated by Barcelona in the second round in the 1960/61 course and lost the final against Benfica in 1962. Everything else, since 1955, he won. Amancio, lived a bitter debut, but in his next game, against Betis in the League on September 16, he scored his first goal with the white elastic.

3. THE EUROCOPA OF 1964

With Spain, Amancio lived many disappointments but also many pleasant moments. One of them was to participate in that historic meeting before the Soviet Union after which the team won the European Championship. On June 21, 1964, at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Spain played the title against a team led by the legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin .

Everyone remembers Marcelino's goal, the 2-1 final in the 84th minute, but few Amancio was in the eleven that bent the Soviets. Together with Iribar, Rivilla, Olivella, Calleja, Zoco, Fusté, Pereda, Luis Suárez, Lapetra and the aforementioned Marcelino , Amancio made history in a historical deed that was not repeated until the Eurocopa of Austria and Switzerland of 2008, when Spain returned to Win the tournament

4. DECISION AT THE END OF THE 1966 EUROPEAN CUP

Throughout his 14 seasons at Real Madrid , Amancio played ten editions of the European Cup. In them, he was eliminated from the tournament on one occasion in the preliminary round, twice in the second round, another two in the quarter, three semifinals, lost the final of 1964 against Inter and finally got a title, that of 1966, a May 11 at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.

Without Di Stéfano and still with Gento and Puskas in the squad, Real Madrid, rejuvenated and with a young generation of footballers with first-line names like Pirri or Zoco, planted in the final to face Partizan Belgrade. In it, Amancio began the path of the comeback after Vasovic's goal with a great goal, the best of his career. His goal, in the 70th minute, preceded that of Serena, in 76, which gave the sixth European Cup to Real Madrid.

5. YOUR ONLY PARTICIPATION IN A WORLDWIDE: THE GOAL TO SWITZERLAND

Spain played the 1966 World Cup in England two years after winning the European Championship with a mix of top-level veteran players such as Paco Gento, Luis del Sol and Luis Suarez with young people from Real Madrid who just won the European Cup that same year ( Pirri, Souk, Sanchís and Amancio). For the only World Cup that played Amancio, Spain had high hopes to go far.

However, it did not pass the group stage . Overall, it was a disappointment. Bad premiere with bad game and defeat against Argentina (2-1), irregular game but victory against Switzerland (2-1) and good football and elimination against Federal Germany (2-1). In that match against Switzerland, on July 15, 1966, Amancio, headline, gave hope to the selection with the goal of victory that he scored in the 75th minute. With a spectacular shot of plate after a center of Gento, he celebrated a goal in a World Cup.

6. THE CRIMINAL ENTRY OF PEDRO FÉRNANDEZ

Playing in Granada in the mid-70s was an ordeal for the strikers. Amancio himself said that in those days nobody wanted to go to Los Cármenes: "for something it would be". And it is that the Granada had two very hard defenses, the Paraguayan Pedro Fernández and the Argentine Ramón Aguirre Suárez , who imposed the dictatorship of fear for his strong style. And, Amancio, was one of his victims.

Amancio's injury had a history: a match at Bernabéu in which the Real Madrid player injured Fernández with a shot with which he responded to a tough Paraguayan entry. For two seasons, Amancio did not travel to Granada, but Fernandez was sworn in and on June 8, 1974, in a Cup match, he broke his quadriceps with an entry that doctors compared to a bull horn wound that he needed 150 stitches and a surgical intervention. Amancio was 34 years old and, despite the months he was down, he played again. But it was not the same.

7. YOUR SAD GOODBYE OF THE EUROPEAN CUP

The 1975/76 season was going to be Amancio's last at Real Madrid. Amancio, he knew it and every game his team played in the European Cup could be the last. Then, in the semifinals, Real Madrid met Bayern Munich . In the first leg, he drew 1-1 with the famous "crazy" issue of the Bernabéu. The referee, the Austrian Linemayer, was punched by an amateur who jumped into the field unhappy with his performance.

In the return, with the atmosphere rarefied by that punch, Bayern Munich eliminated Real Madrid on April 14, 1976. He won 2-0, and was left without playing the final. But the iconic image was another. Amancio, desperate, was ejected in the 91st minute for moving the ball. Cabizbajo, on the running track of the Olympic Stadium in Munich, left early for the locker room. That was his last image in the European Cup

8. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE FIFTH OF THE VULTURE

After his retirement, Amancio changed the lawn for the benches . And, in one of his experiences as a coach, he was responsible for creating what was later the "Quinta del Vulture". In charge of Castilla, a subsidiary of Real Madrid, he completed a season, 1983/84, in which he achieved a historic milestone: for the first and only time, a subsidiary was proclaimed champion.

In the ranks of that team several names that journalist Julio César Iglesias, was responsible for baptizing: " Butragueño's scorer series, El Buitre, is a sample of personal quality and is also the result of a sum of efforts. Behind Him Vulture are the work of a coach with imagination, Amancio Amaro, Mr. AA, and the collective ingenuity of Michel, Pardeza, Sanchís and Martín Vázquez, a promotion that fans begin to call The Fifth of The Vulture. (... ) ". Amancio, cooked the Fifth.

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