Luis Landero: “Otherwise we Madridistas are going to win”

Luis Landero, 72-year-old from Extremadura, artist of the guitar and of the literature, one of the great Spanish writers, author of books of the excellence of The balcony in winter, fine rain Y Emerson's orchard (all in Tusquets), keep for football passion that he had in childhood. The Classic It is the apex of his season as a Madridista, and from that point of view, white serves AS.

What led you to football?

The schoolyard, with eight years. One Sunday they took us to the Metropolitano and the other to Chamartín. I will never forget at the end of Sunday the string of results. It was the announcement of the sadness that Monday was already there. There was a priest who played the radio when we went to dinner. As a teenager I played for Clesa, in white, as it has to be. We competed with other companies. There I became Madrid. He was a bit of Bilbao, like almost everyone, but at that age we thought about signing for the Madrid youth players.

What did belonging to Real Madrid convey to you?

The fascination of names. A Uruguayan colleague named Arguedas spoke to me about names. Amancio loomed around. Di Stéfano was already history. Those names reached a mythical resonance, like the heroes of the Songs of Gesta … He idealized them: they were wonderful. In my town, Albuquerque, my father made me broadcast games, and I was eight or nine years old! I would go into the cupboard, because I was ashamed, and I would invent Di Stéfano's passes and Puskas's shots… And everyone was applauding me, proud! Rial, Kopa, Santamaría… all that was milk!

Did you perceive that football was about losing and winning, envying or congratulating yourself?

That was a little later. I dedicated myself to the guitar and other entertainment and put football aside … At home there was no television. But I remember when Madrid won the Sixth in '66. 2-1 to Partizan Belgrade. Araquistain because Betancort was injured. Sanchís, De Felipe, Pachín, Velázquez, Pirri was, of course, there was Zoco, and in front Amancio, Serena, Grosso and Gento… Amancio has been one of the greats of Madrid, and I don't remember why he is so forgotten now. He was the true successor to Di Stéfano! A class, an elegance! They called it The Wizard, and he was indeed a sorcerer.

How did you experience the farewells of the greats of your team?

With love. The so-called Ye-yé generation, with a lot of nostalgia. He followed their lives. Pirri married Sonia Bruno, Zoco married María Ostiz… One of those years I met Velázquez in Atocha. I was walking, I was about to tell him how happy he had made me. He was so elegant, how that man played. And I remember the first two foreigners: Netzer, Óscar Mas… They are all incorporated as characters in wonderful novels.

Do you react to victory and defeat in the same way, as advised by Rudyard Kipling?

Not at all. Not me, not you, not anyone! There have been defeats that have hurt me forever, like those leagues that we lost in Tenerife. Fortunately those penalties pass soon, but there are days very screwed up. From taking tranquilizers.

How is your relationship with Barça? On Saturday they want you to lose, personally …

I don't think they want me to lose! When it comes to playing, of course, friendship is in parentheses … It's a game! In addition, there is the mass, the fights, and I don't like that at all … This game? I see it with a certain calm: we Madridistas are going to win in any way. If we win, well look how good. And if we lose… Well, good too: we have to renew the team, a new coach, new players. A very promising summer! A new cycle! All football fans have a moment when we say: “Better to have lost!” And how are we going to miss the Modric, the Kroos, the Ramos…! We football fans do not have years, we always live longing and then missing heroes. We are the children that we were, especially in soccer.