By
The national league championship in the First Division reaches its 91st edition and some of its most important records remain valid. Luis Aragonés Suárez maintains a very particular one, being the professional who between player (360) and coach (756) has played the most games in the history of the competition. A total of 1,116 games in 40 seasons, 16 as a footballer and 24 as a coach.
In second position of this potential classification appears the figure of Javier Iruretagoyena Amiano (Irún, Guipúzcoa, 1948) who has the advantage of being the second most prolific with 956 games in 33 courses, 14 as a player (344) and 19 as a coach (612) . Curiously, Jabo, his football nickname, was first a partner, then a disciple and always a friend of the late Luis. “For me it is a pride and an honor to be able to be second in the ranking of games led by my teacher. It's a lifetime in the League and I can only feel enormous satisfaction looking back and being able to tell it ”.
Irureta will contemplate the beginning of a new football season from his native Irún, where he spends a few days of vacation and from his watchtower of almost a thousand matches in First –He also directed three seasons to Sestao in Segunda (1985-88) and one in Segunda B– he feels supported to analyze how the League has changed since its debut more than 50 years ago.
Do you remember its premiere in Primera?
“The day I made my debut in First Division they gave me several stitches on my forehead. It was a good baptism”
Totally. It was in my first season at Atlético, 67-68, at Calderón, against Las Palmas de Tonono, Guedes, Germán, León… and we lost 1-2. Luis scored first and we came back. Our forward was a classic from Atlético, but with a rookie, which was me. Ufarte-Luis-Gárate-Irureta-Collar. Otto Gloria trained us. In that game I was baptized well baptized, it was like opening the door to show me how it was played then. They gave me a head butt or an elbow and they made a hole in my forehead. They had to give me several stitches on the same field. The reality is that my arrival at Atlético was a bit overwhelmed.
Why?
They gave me the classic medical examination at the Mutual Fund and they told me that I was hypertensive and couldn't play. The file was not registered. They didn't let me play until mid-December, which was when I made my debut against Las Palmas and the gap on my forehead happened to me. I trained, but I didn't play. All very confusing for a 19-year-old boy who had just arrived in the capital from Irún. Besides being so young, he came from playing Third.
Of that Spanish football in which you played in the 60s and 70s, only the memories remain. That was a sport aimed at fans who came to stadiums and this is a show aimed at those who watch it on television …
“In my early days, substitutes sat on the bench, but only the goalkeeper could change”
Correct, it is well seen. Our League has changed a lot in all aspects, like football in general. Before there was no choice but to go to the stadium and we felt closely the passion of the fans. It was exciting. Now, in addition to the conditions of the game, the rules have also changed. In those days we substitutes couldn't play. I always wondered why we were sitting on the bench if the goalkeeper could only be replaced in case of injury. I don't know what we painted there. Then, in the 70s, in Spain, they could already be done. First two, then three, and now up to five.
Those of his time always say that football was much harder then than now, the kicks were aimed where it hurt the most …
Yes, he was more manly, to say the least. It was a more shock football, stronger, it was played on muddy fields sometimes where you couldn't handle the ball and other times dry and hard where you didn't run. Now it is played on rugs and the game is much more technical, more tactical. It is up to the VAR to see the repeated plays and rectify if necessary.
At Atlético he played nine seasons and won two leagues.
“I won two Leagues as a player and one as a coach, but I missed two European Cup and UEFA finals”
Yes, and a Cup… And an Intercontinental in which I scored a goal against Independiente. They still say that it is the most important trophy the club has won in its history. A pity that we missed that European Cup that we had in hand in the final in Brussels against Bayern. I was very angry, also, not being able to play the playoff game because they showed me a yellow for kicking Gerd Muller. As I had been taught another in the semi-finals against Celtic, I stayed out no matter how much the club tried to show that the second final was like a continuation of the first… It was a tiebreaker.
And then he went to Athletic.
There I missed the UEFA Cup final against Juventus in '77. I also scored in the second leg, but we lost by twice the value of the goals. My last game in the First Division was at the Bernabéu against Real Madrid, in 79-80. We lost. Senekowitch trained us. I barely played that season. He suffered from osteopathy of the pubis. He had a lot of pain, terrible. In those days medicine was not as advanced as it is now. I did not have surgery. Then I found out that Breitner, who played for Real Madrid, suffered the same injury, he went to Belgrade for surgery and was beautiful.
And how did you decide to become a coach after hanging up your boots?
I had studied to be an expert, but I saw myself closer to football than to other professions. Soccer had been my whole life and, almost by chance, a couple of months after I retired I found out that there were some coaching courses in Bilbao and I was encouraged. Iribar, Uriarte and Barasoain were with me, who coached Eibar for a long time. We took the national title in Seville. Luis del Sol was one of my class. Doing it a bit to do something after I quit playing became my profession for 25 years. I went step by step, yes, juveniles, Third, Second B, Second, First …
All coaches say that playing is more exciting than training.
I have been happy in both facets, but of course you enjoy much more as a player. As a coach you have your own responsibility and that of the team. Everything is centered on you. They all look at you. I am not complaining about either of the two stages because as a coach I also won the League, a Cup and two Super Cups with Deportivo. We stayed in the semifinals of the Champions League against Porto …
He spent seven years at Deportivo and the seven lived in the same room at the María Pita hotel …
“I lived in a hotel the seven years I was at Deportivo, but they will always be unique and unforgettable”
Life and family circumstances. They had their daughters, the boy, it was more difficult for everyone to go to La Coruña. From time to time they would go. They treated me well there. They pampered me after so long. When they ask me I always say that it was my best stage because of the titles and because I came from Celta and my arrival was a bit strange and there were their revolts. But I also remember my time in Oviedo. We qualify for the UEFA Cup, when I go people remind me … The supporters' clubs invite me to go. But I'm grateful to all the clubs I've been through.
However, he could not be a prophet in his land, neither in Athletic, nor Real Sociedad.
It is painful because you are at home, everyone knows you, everyone tells you, they are the clubs of your land and it is enough that this is so so that things do not turn out.
Let's move on to the present… La Liga is fading away. Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, now Messi left us …
“The League has weakened with the departure of Neymar, Cristiano, Ramos, Messi … we have to admit it”
We will accuse him. We must be clear it will be a lower level League. Both for the quality of the players who have left and for what they represented in their respective clubs. Sergio and Messi were the captains of Real Madrid and Barcelona. We are going to have a less competitive championship, it may be more even, but we have to miss the quality of those players.
Without Messi magic is lost …
Magic, game, dribbling, goal, your free kick shots are lost …
You can boast that one day he scored Pelé… It goes without saying that he knows about players. Is Messi the best you have seen?
That is a question-debate. The Pele thing is something that I always keep in mind and that I have sometimes talked about it with my players when I saw someone who was worried or nervous because he had to mark big players, as can be the case with Messi now. To cheer them up and take the pressure off I told them that I had marked Pelé and hadn't touched her … The truth was that he finished off a couple of times on goal and they weren't miraculous goals, but it was about what it was all about, that he didn't they will cower before the rival.
How was Pelé?
It was in the tribute match to Rivilla, an international side that Atlético had and who won the Euro '64. It was at the beginning of the 1969-70 season, shortly after arriving at Atlético. The coach was Marcel Domingo and he told me not to separate from Pelé and I would not separate and if he did he would yell at me to hit me again… Santos won the match, but I was happy because Pelé at least hadn't scored. I remember so many things because that year we won the League.
So we agreed that Messi is the best player his eyes have seen or he stays with others …
Whenever they ask me something similar, I want to start from the basis that they are different times, different styles of football, different characteristics of the player. The team you play for, the teammates next to you, also has a lot to do with it. It's not that I don't want to answer. Yes, it may be that yes, that Messi is the best ever. Since then with the ball at his feet, it is indisputable. In addition, he has many things and that is important for a player. It is not just dribbling, he has a goal, and he plays for his partner, he does not hide. I already saw Di Stéfano play in his last years in Spanish, which was not the same. But they say that he played all over the field, that he was everywhere, that he was a hard worker for the team and also scored goals. I played against Puskas and it was tremendous… Possibly, Pelé had more strength and had a jump and header that Messi does not have. Maradona was technically extraordinary, but he had less goal than Messi … The pity is that he is no longer in the league.
Needless to say, Jabo.