Caminero: “The Atlético-Barça of my time were electric games”

Do you remember what day your unforgettable dribble happened to Nadal …?

No.

Resounding response, adorned with a half smile that forces us to recreate the scene. The protagonists, José Luis Pérez Caminero (Madrid, 1967) and Miguel Ángel Nadal. April 20, 1996. Camp Nou. Day 37 of a Championship of 22 clubs and 42 days. Those of Antic arrived with three points of advantage. Those of Cruyff had to win or win to continue aspiring to the title. The game progressed by the ninth minute …

Are you aware that your dribble is more remembered than the goal itself?

Yes, but it is remembered more because it ended in a goal, otherwise it would not be remembered so much. That helped us to start by winning a game that was vital for us if we wanted to be champions. We ended up winning 1-3. It seems that who scored the goal was me and no, it was Roberto. We are good friends and at some meal he has really pissed off. What really bothers him is not that they talk more about dribbling than about the goal, but that they say “Caminero's goal” because he scored it. He does not blame me, he wears it 'gracefully'.

You also dribbled to the referee, Prados García.

In that play there is an important conditioning factor, that Nadal slips. Together when I do the jog, in the feint, it slips. And I also have to haggle the referee because he didn't think he could go that way either. I almost ran him over. The surprise was tough for both of them. It's a dribble that we trained with Kunovac, Antic's second. Every Wednesday we had half an hour in which we rehearsed dribbling, passes, controls … And that play was one of the ones I did especially. Then, the difficult thing is that the inspiration comes out in a match and it came out perfect. I think I'm going to go inside, towards my goal; He guesses it and then gets into the right position to steal the ball from me. So what I do is a kind of bicycle and I turn backwards. When rectifying is when it drains.

It is the dribble of his life. Where is the credit? How do you protect the ball with your body? How do you lead Nadal towards the band?

Yes, it might be, but it's a bit of everything. It depends on the circumstances of the match, the importance, the rival, whether a goal is finished. I saw a similar Zidane in Valladolid and that was not talked about so much because it did not end in a goal. The truth is that I do not understand what he was painting in that area of ​​the field because it was not mine. He tries to guess what I am going to do and at that moment I decide to do the opposite.

The following Monday he meets again with Nadal in the National Team. What does it tell you?

Nothing at all. As if nothing had happened on Saturday. In that Clemente Selection we had a very good vibe and it was not a matter of …

That dribble was taken to the movies. In a film by Pedro Almodóvar, 'Carne tremula'. The dialogue was short and at the bottom. Liberto Rabal: “Fuck how he breaks his waist”. Javier Bardem “The Caminero is the host … I smelled your eggs”.

They called me from the club to tell me that they had asked for the images. They invited me to the premiere but I couldn't go because we were playing games and I went to see the movie the following week … I guess it would be an ideal complement to the scene they were shooting. It was a bit shocking. I spoke with his brother Carlos, but with Javier, never. It is a good memory. It is gratifying to be in an Almodóvar movie.

The Barça-Atlético and vice versa of their time were all great matches. Goleados by both sides, draws with many goals. One statistic indicates that 35 games were played in that decade and 145 goals were scored, four per game.

People had a lot of fun, of course. They were very fast games, very electric, very attacking, little control of the game, very fast transitions and with very good footballers, of course. We were two very open teams, with a mentality to attack, to get to the goal quickly. We played with the line almost in the middle of the field. They practically the same with their 1-4-3-3. They were even too open parties. Now it is difficult to see encounters like that. In one, I lost 0-3 and we won 4-3. And in another, winning 0-3 and 2-4, with four goals from Pantic, and losing 5-4… Something I remember very well is that in those games both the Camp Nou and the Calderón were always full.

You were very good at Barça. In the League, in nine games he scored five goals and in five in the Cup, another two.

It was no accident. His way of playing suited my qualities very well. Spaces, speed, technique, ball into the hole, one against one … Special conditions. I faced many times and depended on myself, on my ability. In other games he always had two players close by. In those, the truth is that I felt more inspired and that was also the ones I worked on the most because I had to follow my side, who used to be Sergi Barjuán, who was very fast. Then the kilometers that were made were not measured, but in those games he did not stop running, it was a constant round trip.

What did that Atlético have when it came to the double of 96?

Something that the previous two years, in which I was already, we had not had. We wanted to play football well. Antic put that idea in our blood. Handle the ball, make plays like the one we've been talking about. Play, as is done now, from goalkeeper to striker. He did not like the pitch. What he liked was that we had the ball, that we did splits, swaps, triangulations …

Atlético-Barça tonight aims high …

Atlético is a clear candidate to win the League. It has a lot of good to choose from. Barça raises many questions for me, it is in a process of change, with financial problems and this type of problem has a great impact on the squads. We come from a pandemic. All the clubs are resetting and in some way it can even help football. You are going to live from a reality. Not of what you can have tomorrow, but of what you have today.

You, who have been at Atlético as a sports director (2011-18), can attest that you have never had a squad like the current one.

The richest clubs are the ones that can make the best squads and especially those that do the penny accounts, as is the case. When I came to the club in 2011 I had a budget of € 90-92 million. Now it is around 500. The template is related to the budget. The more money you have to sign you will surely sign better players.

You were Simeone's partner. Could you imagine that you would get where you have reached as a coach?

Yes. They are things that are seen. You could see him handle everything, how he lived it, managed the times, asked, corrected, understood how the team played. He is passionate about soccer, it is a profession that is in his blood. That is why it is so successful. Live 24 hours for football.

He was also a teammate of Luis Enrique, did you also see that he had a coach inside?

No not at all. What I do have very clear now is that he has his own ideas, he knows what he wants, what he is looking for, but then I did not see him as Simeone, or as Guardiola. Pep wrote everything down, asked everything. He spoke a lot with the coaches, with the physical trainers, with the seconds. Luis Enrique surprised me a lot and for the better when he took the subsidiary. I started to see him and I loved his way of understanding football, his way of wearing the dressing room, how he handled the players, the times.

However, Caminero never hit the bench …

Never. I have all the titles that can be had, but I always liked the management from the offices more. Everyone sees the skills they have and I have no aptitude to handle 25 bastards. My way of understanding football, of feeling it, my temperament, allows me to know if I can manage a dressing room or not and that is very complicated. I don't have those skills.

I always thought that you were a very good player, that you won titles, that you played a World Cup (1994) and a European Championship (1996), that you could play a second World Cup (1998) … but it gave me the impression that something was left inside, that he did not give everything he could give for his great qualities … That he was not all that he could be.

I also have that feeling …

And if he felt it, why didn't he give it back then?

I do not know. At worst at the moment, in the maelstrom that you are, you do not realize what is happening. Now I look back, I talk to people, I deal with the players, and I tell myself that if I had wanted Cristiano, that knowledge, that wanting, that showing what you have, surely I would have shown more and achieved things that were In my scope.

Gamers have always been like this. Somewhat anarchic, indolent, half-genius; one day yes, tomorrow, no …

We are not constant. That is the word. We do not pose this to ourselves every day as a challenge. I thought of soccer as fun, having fun myself and amusing the fans. I did not understand many things. I did not like to press, I did not like to throw myself to the ground and if I threw myself it is because there was no other. I just liked having the ball and attacking, that the ball circulated fast, dribbling, throwing walls, pipes, hats … Making a jelly for the goalkeeper, making high-heeled passes.

We are talking about a very technical, gamer style of player… and it turns out that at the Vicente Calderón they sang to him: “Caminero, Caminero, you have more balls than Espartero's horse.” All this to the rhythm of the flamenco singer Antonio Molina …

It would be because the lyrics and the music hit … I was not a kicker, quite the opposite, but when I got warmed up, I would kick left and right and I was sent off too many times for the kind of player I was (18).

If I could choose a wish, I would ask to be able to play a game in this current football.

I would choose to play with a series of players that I couldn't play. With Messi, or rather against Messi, against Cristiano … Better as a rival. As partners, too, but when you value them the most is when you have them against you, not when you have them in your favor.

What do you do now?

After being the sports director of Malaga (2018-19) I have not done anything else in football. The pandemic arrived and now I'm getting back into it. I want to remain linked in those management positions. I'm going to start working with Manuel García Quilón, my soccer father, who has always been with me and I can always learn. I have never stopped watching games, players. You see more football almost when you are outside than inside. I have never left it. I ask everything. Now I am a questioner. As a player I was not, but now I spend the day looking at the why, the why, the methods. I see ways to train, to make a squad. Soccer is evolving day by day. What was good six months ago is not good now. You have to rely on new technologies.