MADRID, 18 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid fans were able to say their last goodbye to Francisco Gento, a former soccer player who spent 18 seasons at the club and with whom he won six European Cups and twelve Leagues, in a funeral chapel installed in the Santiago Bernabéu’s Palco de Honor where authorities, former players and former teammates of the Cantabrian, who died this Tuesday at 88 years of age, also passed.
The merengue coliseum was the place chosen for all those who wish to say goodbye to ‘La Galerna del Cantábrico’, a legend of the 13-time European champion, almost half the time with Guarnizo’s on the team, and who was his Honorary President.
The burning chapel opened this Tuesday from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and will do so again this Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. so that later the body of Paco Gento can be transferred to his hometown to be buried “in the strictest privacy at the express wish of the family”, announced the white entity.
The club placed the coffin of the European champion with the Spanish team in 1964 in its Box of Honour, accompanied by a Real Madrid flag, a photo of him, the shirt with his inseparable number 11 and the six European Cups he won.
Gento’s relatives, led by his widow, Mari Luz, fans, sports personalities and authorities such as the mayors of Madrid and Santander, José Luis Martínez Almeida and Gema Igual, or the president of the Council Sports Superior (CSD), José Manuel Franco.
In addition, they could see former teammates from the player’s last years at Real Madrid such as Amancio Amaro or José Luis Martínez Pirri, from other times such as Carlos Alonso Santillana, Jorge Valdano, Manolo Sanchís or Rafa Martín Vázquez, or more current such as Iker Casillas, president of the Real Madrid Foundation, or Álvaro Arbeloa, club ambassador.
On behalf of the first team, both the coach Carlo Ancelotti and the first captain, Marcelo Vieira, who precisely last Sunday equaled Paco Gento’s 23 titles with the conquest of the Spanish Super Cup, while Alberto Toril and Ivana Andrés They represented the women’s section.