Joaquín, 40 years and 40 moments

He was born in the land of poets

Joaquín Sánchez Rodríguez was born on July 21, 1981 in El Puerto de Santa María, the land of Rafael Alberti and Fernán Caballero, of Muñoz Seca and the painters Manolo Prieto and Juan Lara. Son of Aurelio Sánchez and Ana Rodríguez, he is the youngest of eight siblings (Juan José, Isabel, Amalia, Aurelio, Ani, María José, Ricardo and Joaquín).

His first kicks to the ball

His first kicks to the ball were given in the streets of his Porto neighborhood, Fermesa, and also in CD Los Frailes and San Luis, two teams from the town of Cádiz.

With his uncle El Chino, to Betis

“My uncle is the one who is to blame for my being a footballer,” Joaquín said of another Joaquín for whom he received his name, an uncle of his nicknamed El Chino. The man along with his father who encouraged him the most in football. Whoever paid him for the test at Betis, bought him his boots, shin guards … “He always waited for me sitting at the door of his house when he returned from training, that image I do not forget.” He died three months before seeing him make his professional debut.

Juvenile King's Cup in 1999

The portuense entered Betis as a cadet in 1997. On June 28, 1999, as a youth, he won the Copa del Rey in the category by defeating Real Madrid along with a magical Fifth with goalkeeper Doblas, Arzu or Triana Dani Martín Aleixandre. Then they also raised the Super Cup.

Debut with Fernando Vázquez

The following season Betis would go down to the Second Division and in 2000-01 they assembled a team in which two homegrown players stood out, Capi and Joaquín himself. On September 3, 2000, against Compostela in the multipurpose San Lázaro, the Galician Fernando Vázquez makes him officially debut.

Ascent in Jaén

Joaquín plays in 38 of the 42 days of Segunda. Score three goals. Vázquez fights with the boss Lopera and the final stretch of the campaign directs Betis from the bench Luis del Sol, another Verdiblanco myth. On June 17, 2001, the man from Cádiz is one of the starters of the promotion by winning 0-2 in the field of La Victoria de Jaén.

Benjamin's feast

That Betis back to Primera in 2001-02, coached by Juande Ramos, did not start the championship well. Curiously, he straightened the course until he ended up in Europe just after Benjamin Zarandona's famous Halloween party, on October 31, 2001. One of the guests of that guateque was Joaquín, who remembers the anecdote with laughter. “Lopera suddenly stood in front of me and said: 'Man if the child is here. Very soon you are starting.”

Al-Ghandour's nightmare

With 20 years still, Camacho summons the portuense for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. The dream turned into a nightmare during the quarterfinals. Against Korea, the Egyptian Gamal Al-Ghandour annulled a goal by Morientes, a pass from Joaquín himself, when the ball clearly had not left the field. The portuense also missed the penalty of the shoot that eliminated Spain.

The feint and the sprint

Manolo Melado is a hairdresser, writer of erotic and Sevillian literature and poet. For many years, also, Betis speaker. His rhymes to recite the alignment are eternal. Like the one he dedicated to Joaquín, still very young: 'The feint and the sprint'. So universal that the Sevillian journalist Samuel Silva used it when writing a book about the life of the extreme.

The Figo of El Puerto

“Figo was always my idol. The footballer I wanted to be, a reference in my beginnings and still today. I am his friend and he is a guy who, in addition to being a great footballer, is a great person. I have shared important moments of his life “, said Joaquín of the Portuguese player, with whom he has been compared his entire career. To the point of nicknamed him in the beginning 'El Figo de El Puerto'.

Followed by 'his' Real Madrid

Joaquín has never had any problems in recognizing that Real Madrid, only behind Betis, is one of the teams he loves. “It saddens me not to have played there”, has even expressed the footballer, whom Florentino Pérez had in his portfolio several times.

“My father is with half an ass on the couch”

In 2004, at the age of 23, there was speculation about his transfer to Real Madrid. La Prensa published an alleged meeting of his father and then agent with Jorge Valdano, who was Madrid's general director. “My father is at home lying on the sofa with half his ass out, as always,” the player settled at a press conference.

Closer to Mourinho's Chelsea

However, the whites were never so close to signing him as happened with Mourinho's Chelsea in 2005. “The transfer was already closed, but I looked at my father and he noticed that I did not want to leave. When he spoke with Mou, he realized it. of the same, that it was not a question of money “.

Lopera with the Cup at her wedding

Mou longed for Joaquín who marveled during what many say is the best season of his career, a 2004-05 season in which he gave 15 league assists and scored five goals. A campaign that ended Betis in the Champions League for the first time (and the only one so far) in its history and champion of the Copa del Rey. A long-awaited trophy that took many turns: Manuel Ruiz de Lopera made him preside that summer the wedding between the portuense and the woman of his life, Susana Saborido.

Anderlecht night, playmaker

Joaquín left Betis playing the Champions League and did so with tremendous matches, in the previous one (Monaco had to be eliminated) and also during a very tough league in which he had to deal with Liverpool, Chelsea (whom he defeated at Villamarín) and Anderlecht. The night of the portuense as playmaker in a victory in Brussels (0-1, his assistance to Oliveira) will be remembered as one of the best matches of his career.

The rebellion of Albacete

In the summer of 2006, Valencia was bidding for the winger. But Lopera preferred to make a second team enter the fight for his signing: Albacete. “What does it matter, they wear the same white,” were the words of the then president. In the player's contract it said that Lopera could force him to go to the club of his choice. Joaquín even traveled to the city of La Mancha … But everything remained in a surreal paipe.

The most expensive in Valencia

25 million euros made Joaquín the most expensive signing in Valencia's history at the end of the summer of 2006. He was presented to almost 20,000 fans. The end started shining but with the passage of time everything went wrong. His five seasons at the Mestalla are the worst he remembers of his career.

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The war with Koeman

Few enemies Joaquin has in football but Ronald Koeman is one of them. The now Barcelona coach fined the player for being late for training and that led to the war in Valencia. “He was a player of 25 million that was not worth 25 euros,” the Dutch said about him. “The only thing he worried about was having five or seven bottles of wine at dinner,” replied Joaquín, among other niceties.

Without Euro 2008

The lack of matches in Valencia caused Luis Aragonés to leave him out of Euro 2008 and, therefore, without lifting the first title he achieved in the National Team after 44 years. “It is the great thorn of my career”, has repeated Joaquín resigned.

The smile returned at La Rosaleda

After a five-year period of some sadness in Valencia, Joaquín returned to the south in 2011, to Málaga in the Champions League with Manuel Pellegrini. His two campaigns at La Rosaleda, both dreamlike, caused many to ask for a return to the National Team.

The birth of 'Hulio'

Good football in Malaga and again, the best humor with Joaquín. An interview in La Sexta led to one of his most hilarious moments, when he assured that his hobby was “tennis” while his partner Julio Baptista denied him with laughter. “I don't even know how to take the racket, 'Hulio,” he confessed to the Brazilian. And that of 'Hulio' has become one of his war cries.

A la Fiore in 2011

Málaga's financial problems led to Joaquín's first and only foreign experience in his career, at Fiorentina in Italy in 2011.

Macaroni Italian

“I had been at La Fiore for two days but I told them: 'I speak Italian, you understand me well.' A few days after arriving at Calcio, Joaquín took his first steps with a pseudo-Italian on transalpine television. The scene turned around to the World Genius and figure.

Lane with Montella

Vincenzo Montella, who years later would train the eternal rival Sevilla, directed him as a viola and placed him in an unknown position, as a right-hander. Already with more than 30 years, Joaquín shone with the whole band for him and confirmed the versatility of his football.

Return to Betis

20,000 Betis fans welcomed him back to Benito Villamarín on September 1, 2015, as a prodigal son. He was 34 years old and few thought he would last at least six more seasons. But they go for seven already because today he turns 40 …

Green-and-white captain

Pepe Mel, then Betic coach, immediately detected his charisma and ascendancy over the rest of the dressing room and decided to make him one of the team captains despite having returned a few days ago. Two campaigns later he was already the first head honcho, as everything indicated.

The 3-5 in Nervión

Back in Heliópolis, the 3-5 at Sánchez Pizjuán against Sevilla on January 6, 2018 is one of his peak moments. And he had his moment of humor too: “I've said it before, whoever gets home today before 5 in the morning I give him a fine that shits. Today you don't drink Nestea, that's for when you're sick”, he said right after that triumph.

Main shareholder …

Prodigal son, captain … And even a shareholder, one of the most important of Betis. After his penultimate renewal, in 2017, the footballer acquired around two percent of the titles of the Heliopolitan entity, which makes him one of the 'owners of the club. “My wife sent me to sleep on the couch for a week to buy Betis shares,” he joked.

… And president?

On more than one occasion, Joaquín has also shown his predisposition to become president of Betis one day: “Yes, it is one of my dreams.”

Her 'Jennifer Lopez' moment

The viral videos of the soccer player have happened in recent years but one of the most remembered is when he imitated the American actress Jennifer López singing 'The ring', barely covered by a towel in the locker room.

It also gets serious

Jokes in and out of the dressing room, seriousness like no one on the pitch. “I am casual, but also serious in my work. I have not been in the elite for 16 years because I am funny. I have learned to carry my work naturally, always enjoying it,” he said in an interview with El País in 2016.

Bull lover

“I am a footballer by profession and a bullfighter at heart”, has come to reveal Joaquín, passionate about the national holiday who has made his first steps with the bullfighting hall. He is a friend of several right-handers, such as El Cid or Morante de la Puebla. The latter has come to say: “Joaquín is more a bullfighter than a footballer.”

Leader of confinement

In the absence of football, Joaquín. Locked up like almost everyone in his house, on social networks, the portuense was one of the great animators of the confinement that the pandemic forced. Especially with his endless nights telling jokes and dressing up on the couch.

Hat-trick to Athletic

But for bullfighting the one that continues to show on the field of play despite being very veteran. On December 8, 2019, already 38 and a half years old, Joaquín achieved the first hat-trick of his career in just 20 minutes, against Athletic at Villamarín.

As Award

His triplet to the Bilbao team was that of the oldest footballer in LaLiga history. The brand, together with others such as the 579 duels that make him the second with the most matches in First (only behind Zubizarreta) make him a legend. This is how he was recognized on December 3 at his Gala. “I love soccer above all things,” he said when he received the award, excited.

Andalusian Ambassador

The awards have been happening these years. After being named the favorite son of Andalusia, in February 2020 the Junta presented him with the community medal and confirmed him as one of its best ambassadors in Spain and around the world.

Reunion with Pellegrini

Manuel Pellegrini had given Joaquín a second youth at Málaga and almost achieved a third a decade later, at Betis. The Chilean coach once again squeezed moments of great quality from the Porto soccer player like that hat-trick to take Betis back to Europe.

Overtake Esnaola

On May 11, 2021, the player from Cádiz became the footballer with the most official matches in the history of Betis by beating José Ramón Esnaola. 461 official duels, against 460 of the Basque goalkeeper. The objective of this season, with the Europa League included, is to pass 500.

Renewal until 40

A few days after surpassing the Esnaola mark, just finished LaLiga, Betis announced the renewal of its captain until June 2022, which will allow him to play green and white after 40 years. With him in the team, those from Heliópolis have never dropped to the Second Division.

Beyond football

The signs now are that Joaquín will complete one last season as a professional, although it will depend on the sensations. In any case, the winger already has a life beyond football that includes his role as a showman, of course. Atresmedia has prepared several programs with him since September.