Luis Aragonés would have turned 82 today

Luis Aragonés (July 28, 1938) He was a person whose name will be associated forever with Atlético de Madrid (and the Spanish National Team of course). He was an institution as a footballer and as a coach at the mattress club. As a player the story began in 1964, when Luis came to the entity from Betis after disassociating himself from Real Madrid. He was a midfielder with an exceptional touch (it would not have clashed in the Spain of the tiqui-taca) and was characterized by having a high-level strike to a set piece and a lot of goal. He was on the roster for 10 seasons. (until 1974) and at that time he won several titles: three Leagues (1965-66, 1969-70 and 1972-73), two Cups of the Generalissimo (1964-65 and 1971-72) and an Intercontinental Cup (1974-75), competition in the rojiblancos participated after the resignation of Bayern, winner in the tiebreaker match of the sadly remembered final of the European Cup that season. Furthermore, fue pichichi of the league championship in the 1969-70 campaign with 16 goals, tied with his teammate Gárate and Amancio. Total he played 370 games in which he scored 171 goals and gave 40 assists. That allowed him to be the top scorer in club history Today.

After hanging up his boots in the middle of the 1974-1975 season, decided to start his career on the bench in the team of his loves. He managed his Atleti for six seasons (with some intermittency in the final seasons) until his departure in the 1979-80 academic year. In this first stage he won the Copa del Rey in 1976 and his only league as a coach in 1977. His red and white heart prevented him from being away from the club for a long time and in the 1982-83 campaign he returned to take the reins of the mattresses to stay another five seasons on the rojiblanco bench (until 1987).

It would not be the last time that Luis would sit on the Vicente Calderón bench. In 1991 he decided to return and in his premiere he gave the mattress makers a well-remembered triumph, the Copa del Rey won against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. He only stayed two seasons before making a long journey through different clubs in our country. The final chapter of the history of Luis and Atlético took place in 2001 and it is a sign that, whatever happens, Luis's affection for Atlético was unconditional.

A year earlier the club had consummated the saddest episode of its recent era (relegation to the Second Division) and, after a first attempt to ascend in which it remained at the gates, Gil offered to return to his home to take his Athlete to his rightful place.. Luis fulfilled the objective, winning the League of the silver category and going up to First. The following year he continued on the rojiblanco bench and managed to keep him in the elite of our football, after which he decided to close his stage at the club by signing for Mallorca as step prior to his arrival to the National Team in 2004. As a coach he developed the tiqui-taca model and led La Roja to win the 2008 European Championship in Austria and Switzerland.

Unfortunately, on February 1, 2014 came the sad news that ‘El Sabio de Hortaleza’ died of leukemia, leaving a huge void not only in the hearts of the athletes, but in those of all Spaniards, who returned the illusion for a Selection that we had resigned ourselves to not seeing win anything. Definitely, Luis put the seed of La Roja's future successes, a team that made history in the world of soccer between 2008 and 2012 with a World Cup and two Euro Cups.