“Football gives us back what it took from us in a bad way”

From June 5, 2015 to August 20, 2020. Five years after becoming the first First Club subject to a controversial administrative decline due to non-payments to the Treasury, Elche has regained its place in a dramatic promotion promotion in which they beat Zaragoza and Girona. This new stage in the elite invokes to remember his brilliant stage in the 60s and 70s.

Pere Milla's goal in 96 against Girona is for Elche and Sergio Ramos's for Real Madrid in the Lisbon final. It meant promotion to Primera and a return to life after five uncertain years, including relegation to Segunda B in 2016-17. All of this was suffered by Nino on the pitch and Lico and Marcial from their franjiverde heart. Now together they take stock.

They end up believing it, Elche is once again a First Division team.

Martial. Not to believe it after everything that has happened to us. It is a huge illusion to be back in the top competition. It hurt a lot when they took us down without rhyme or reason for office issues. I have not returned to football since then, although now in First I will return. I felt very bad that the leaders made the big mistake of not negotiating with LaLiga. The others all negotiated. Going back to First is like recovering what was taken from us in a bad way. It was the only club that was relegated four dollars due to duty. Others have had bigger debts and nothing ever happened. Here it was not known to do well. You have to talk everything before going down to a club. It was everyone's fault. Now life is brought back to us.

Child. I go back to Elche already in Second. Now I finally see the dream of playing in the First Division with this club fulfilled. I would have preferred it a lot earlier. I have fought and worked it, but this is like life. Things come when they have to. I get rid of a thorn with the promotion and now I want to help the team achieve the goal of permanence. For the city, the club and the fans, which is the greatest thing we have, it is a unique moment. We are where we deserve. Now I have almost all my homework done. At the age of 40, achieving it allows me to look the other way with the satisfaction of having fulfilled my duty.

Liqueur. I subscribe to everything that Marcial has said. We have suffered a lot all these years. We were on the verge of disappearing. It was dramatic, but I've never stopped coming to see the team. In Second, in Second B. We always played with Elche in First and seeing him in Second B was very hard. Getting out of there was very difficult then. We had a really bad time. Seeing the club in Primera rejuvenates us. We feel the same illusion that we felt back then, in the 60s, when we were a full-fledged Primera club. Now we just need to be allowed to come to the stadium to see our team in First Division and keep us this first year, which is the most difficult.

Nino, what do you know about Elche de Marcial and Lico, about that great team that was in the First Division from 59-60 to 70-71 and then from 73 to 78.

Martial. But if he was not born, what will he know about us …

Child. It is true. I was born in 1980, but I know exactly who they were. I've been in this city long enough to have listened to the deeds of that team. They were international. They are living history of our shirt, but I have not been able to enjoy them or on television. I have had both of them as coaches so I have had the opportunity to get the best of them, absorb their experience and that is already important to me.

Martial. You have been able to absorb little of me. I was a bad coach for you. I took you out a little and maybe you were or are a little hurt with me. Surely now you would play much more. So you were a kid, I was 18 or 19 years old. It was the 2000-01 season.

Liqueur. Nino has always been very respectful to all the coaches. I've been at the club my whole life and I know their behavior perfectly. He has had no problems with anyone. That is why, in addition to his football conditions, he is so loved by everyone in the city.

Martial. I agree, very polite and respectful, even when I didn't call him … Ha, ha, ha …

Liqueur. I was his coach several times. They had me as a boy for everything and if they dismissed a coach, they would put Lico there. Sometimes it was one or two games, but there it was.

Child. We were also in Julián Rubio's stage as coach. In this sport you always learn from everyone close to you. At least I always tried to learn from my coaches, whether you play or not. I understand what happened to me in the time of Marcial. It started and I had to wait and absorb like a sponge for the future.

Martial. He would shit on the mother who gave me birth for not putting him on … But we are friends and he knows that they are football things, stages that one makes mistakes or not. There were other footballers. He played less, but he also played.

Child. It encouraged me a lot. He began to play with us with his left foot and came out well from the sets. I was not about shooting fouls, he threw them wonderfully and encouraged me to shoot them in training. With Lico I had more contacts. I was with Julián Rubio, who was also a good shotgun. He had things very clear. A lot of intensity. In the end, what football requires is demand and intensity.

Lico played with 38 years in the first team. Boy with 40.

Liqueur. I did the tour in reverse. I ended up in Albacete and returned to the subsidiary for six years. They convinced me to play for Elche a few games in the middle of the season. He was going to turn 39 years old. We were in Second. Carriega was the coach. I didn't have them all with me because if I played upstairs I couldn't go back to Illicitano and I was happy playing every week. I only played two games and retired. Against Cádiz and Castilla. It was the 82-83 season. From 65-66 that I debuted here, it's not bad at all.

How do Lico and Marcial see Nino?

Martial. I admire him very much. Reaching 40 is something extraordinary in today's times. Those of Lico, were other times. I was a shit at 33 and I had to retire. His ankles were crushed, his knees too. One day I went to the doctor and he told me that all my menisci were torn, chipped and calcified. Where are you going? He told me he was putting on a prosthesis and there I am. Now he trains very well, the players take care of themselves much more and if you are lucky enough to not have major injuries, that is key, because you are tough like Nino. But if you are like I was, you have to go. Nino is strong, this phenomenon.

Child. He's right, I've been lucky with the injuries. The most serious I had it with 33 years in Osasuna. In preseason I broke my crusader. I recovered phenomenally. The surgeon told me that I was not going to have any problems. At four months he was practically with the team.

Liqueur. It was a bad age for such a serious injury …

Del Bosque told me a couple of days ago that the boy he remembers who arrived at the Sports City when he was 15 years old looks a lot like the boy he is now… who is the same type of player.

Child. I was two years at Real Madrid. Cadet and youth. Vicente may be right and was the way I am now. I do not remember exactly. Was a kid. I don't think much has changed. Then I loved scoring goals and now more. I lived for it and I have not varied much. I remember an anecdote I had with him. He was our responsible and we always went with flip-flops up and down and he always told me to put my feet up. He was always dragging them. He became serious as a demon and of course to see who did not obey him. For me he was an educator in every way. He had a correct and warm treatment with us. He emphasized that we were people before footballers. It was the ideal place to learn.

It is said soon but it was the quarry of Real Madrid. I learned a lot in those two years. Vicente told me that they wanted to give me to another team in the capital. I was far from home and I wanted to be closer. The possibility arose with Pedro Pablo, who is now a delegate at Atlético, and then he was a scout for Elche and I didn't think twice. I went back to Vera, home, three or four days and I came here to join the subsidiary and then I was promoted to the first team in 99 in Second B and in 2000 in Second I stayed in the first team.

Liqueur. We went the other way around. I spent three years at Elche, from 65 to 68 and Espanyol signed me, three years and then four at Valencia. I was only here with Marcial for one year, in '66, when we were sixth. And then at Espanyol in 69.

Martial. I arrived a year before the first team, with 18 springs. I'm only two years old because they also transfer me to Espanyol. It was said that Inter and Real Madrid loved me, but I'm going to Sarriá, which should offer more money. They said 10 million. I am three years old and Barcelona signs me, where I spent eight years, which must have been more, but Michels, the Dutch coach, took me out of the way because they caught us on a night out. We no longer had anything to do in the League. It was silly. Rexach was there, but since he was from there, no one touched him; Neeskes also, who as he was Dutch, nobody touched him either and the only one they kicked out was me. I was the asshole in the movie. I paid for the duck. I do not regret anything. I went to Atlético and I had three wonderful years. It would have been more if it hadn't been for the ankles. I screwed it up in a basketball game we had the eve of games.

Liqueur. And then he took revenge on Barcelona and one day he scored two free-kick goals at the Camp Nou, one with each leg. Is that the 'golden blonde', as it was called then, was very good. It was not known if he was left-handed or right-handed.

Martial. Yes, Artola in 78. We won 4-2. I had been kicked out and it was a little warm. I remembered Michels that day, yes.

I suppose that Nino will be tired of being asked what his secret is to reaching 40 years in that state of form, but surely there is something that escapes us and that you do know but do not reveal.

Child. It is not very common to be playing when you are 40 years old. Maybe a doorman, I'll buy it. A striker is not normal. It is reality and you have to live it. From there: enjoy, give the most and live the experience. It is very difficult yes. And more with the demand that you have in front of you. You fight against players between 20 and 30 years old, who are physically bulls. There are no hidden secrets. Injuries have respected me, as we said before. Coaches have regularly trusted me. I feel valued by my teammates and that does a long time. Another important reason is to enter the field and never get bored. Illusion, passion. It's okay to take care of yourself, but almost all professionals do that. It is the minimum. But then there's everything I'm saying. Wanting. Waking up every day with the same illusion. That may be the summary of why I am here at 40 years old and enchanted with life. Everything that can help and enjoy on the field is unique because when I get out of there, I'm no longer back and the story ends. That is why I am delighted with what I do and what is happening to me.

It has always been said that to play, in the broadest sense of the word, the First is better than the Second.

Child. Luckily I have played in both categories. The First is another movie. We all want to be here, but it is very demanding, complicated, competitive. There is no margin for error at any time. If they give me the choice, I'll take the First, but you also have to know that everything goes faster. The ball runs more. Players run more. Those in First are handpicked. More precision, more technical, more tactical. Everything changes.

Has the forward Nino of ten years ago changed a lot with the Nino of now?

Child. I'm reinventing myself. You are losing details and you gain others. I don't have the same 30-40 meters as before, but I try to understand the game better, win those two meters that give you an advantage by anticipating the action. I have to be more alive and attentive to the game. Now I like to be more in contact with the ball. Get more support, to participate. Before it was more a forward of reference. These last three four years, lower more, I come from behind.

Martial. I would have seen Nino perfectly in our time. I agree with the analysis that he has made of himself. He has been a very intelligent player, who has surpassed himself, who has tried to improve day by day, year by year and he has succeeded. He is smart, alive, he knows how to do things with the effort he demands. He knows how to stand out. It has good one touch control. The best it has. The auction is left prepared in advantage. He knows how to look for the back, the anticipation. Keep it up because it is turning out perfect.

Liqueur. His targeted control has always been his specialty. The second move is ready. It is admirable with the ease that it does. We had Vavá who was Pichichi in First Division, but he did not start from behind like Nino, he was more from the area. It is good for Nino to come from behind, to have a reference in front. As it does now. Zaragoza's goal was the best test. At Espanyol we played with Cayetano Ré, who was even smaller than Nino, he had great technique.

Child. What I really like more and more is being in contact with the ball. I don't care if I have a reference above or not. I have been a pure nine and now I play more from behind as a second forward or midfielder. Wherever it is there is a nice competition in the team and I will try to play as much as possible.

Martial. That is better for you than breaking directly with the centrals, arriving from behind.

Which defense has made your life more bitter?

Child. Uffff … In Second there were many who were very scary. Now with the issue of VAR they are more controlled. It has changed a bit. There were moments that gave me good. Much danger to say, I'm not going that way. For example, a defense with Javi Navarro and Prieto was to say be careful the afternoon that awaits me today. Where I go? Against this one or against this one? Two cabinets, two beasts. They were difficult moments. I don't usually complain. I don't usually talk, It's worth nothing. If you speak, they will give you even stronger, so I shut up. If they hit me, let the referee see it and follow the play. I do not speak but I do not hide. Never. I am to compete. It is the requirement. Those things await you in the ring and luckily less and less, because before it was excessive.

Let's finish by remembering what that Elche of the 60s was like in which Lico and Marcial played.

Liqueur. So we were playing 1-4-3-3. It was a very offensive team. In '64, before we arrived, they had been fifth with Heriberto Herrera, the best classification in history, but it was another kind of team. We were sixth but it was nice to see us play attack. Marcial with 19, I with 21. Seven starters with 20 years and little. It was wonderful.

You two were the perfect match. Lico defended more and did not stop running and Marcial was the personified technique.

Martial. I played more in the midfielder, Lico was more pivot, but he came and went.

Liqueur. We had Lezcano who was the most defensive. I ran but I liked to arrive. I liked it easy, very easy. Marcial had a goal. A great shot with both legs.

It is curious that Lico only played three years at Elche and Marcial, two and yet everyone recognizes them as legends of the club.

Martial. Because we've been from the house since we were juveniles and we came back here when we stopped playing.

Liqueur. Marcial and I have been together since we were juveniles. In Barcelona, ​​we were in a different club, but we lived next door and we were almost always together. Then coaches. He first and I his second and vice versa. I was a sports director and he was a coach. We are couples in fact.