Españeta, the mythical Valencia utility man, dies

Dragging a slight limp and tapping a ball.

That is the image of

linked to that of Valencia CF for more than 60 years.

(Valencia, 1938) has died at the age of 82, being the best known utility man in the League, a friend of Mario Alberto

,

,

or

.

His figure has been essential in a changing room that he entered in 1969 to never leave again.

A generation after another of Valencianists saw him endure, almost like the shield.

Españeta was going for a fine footballer, touch, but a motorcycle accident cut off his career.

He broke the Achilles tendon and killed the football bug by acting as a ball boy until

offered him to work as a utility worker helping Ricardo de la Virgen, his first 'boss'.

From that moment on, his life passed more in Mestalla than in the family home he built with

.

He hit tacos, washed clothes by hand in the same stadium after training and even chauffeured a player like

, who got him a nickname that he would never lose.

His figure transcended that of a mere employee.

"One day I went to the doctor and said 'I come to recognize me', and he answered 'of course I recognized you, you are Españeta'", he remembered with laughter a few years ago, when they 'forced' him to retire at 78 years old .

He had to stop coming every day to prepare the training tools.

He did the same for Di Stefano as for

or

in their stages at the head of the team.

Through thick and thin, Bernardo was there.

Even to save them from signing autographs.

One of his skills was learning the signature of players with exquisite calligraphy.

Balls and shirts that came to the dressing room to be signed ended up in his hands.

Also a check made out to Kempes, waiting for him at the bank door, stunned.

With the Argentine he established a special relationship that has lasted for years.

They challenged each other and the footballer did not always win.

"He threw the ball at me from the corner and I had to lower it with my foot. And if I put it on well, I did it," he recalled in interviews on the occasion of the club's centenary, celebrated in 2019.

Any player who passed through Valencia knew that he could confirm in Españeta.

left him alone the Rolex of two million pesetas that he took away for the games.

From

,

,

, Fernando Gómez or Fernando Giner, he keeps the secrets of an accomplice and a kind of father, who also knew how to put up with the mischief of

or Piojo López.

Even his admired

, whom he recognized as a leader and for whom he had a predilection.

In his long stage there were moments of pain, such as relegation to Second in 86 or the Champions League finals, but also of enjoyment.

The last, the two Liga and the 2004 UEFA Cup.

His work has crossed the walls of the Mestalla and the

honored him last year as a leading figure among the greatest Valencians.

The only shadow in that act is that no one representing Valencia accompanied him.

The Covid pandemic will leave Españeta without the farewell ovation of his Mestalla, but it will always be linked to the history of the club for which he always said he lived and would die.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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