Míchel, a piece of Rayo history and now his Copa rival

The eighth of the Cup will promote the crossroads between Míchel and Rayo. The current Girona coach is a symbol of the Strip, As a player he got four promotions – three of them to First: 94-95, 98-99 and 10-11 – and was a participant in historical moments such as UEFA (00-01). Nevertheless, the boy continued to make history from the bench: He raised the team to the highest category as Second Champion (17-18). Something unheard of in Vallecas. That promotion was followed by another with Huesca (19-20) and now aspires to repeat his destiny with the Catalan team.

For Míchel it will be a strange feeling to face the Ray. Although being rare, it is not new. He already did it directing Huesca (19-20) and, then, the team coached by Paco Jémez won 0-2 in El Alcoraz (Pozo double) and 2-0 in Vallecas (with goals from Mario Suárez and De Frutos). Jémez was his maestro when he hung up his boots and served as director of the methodology area at the franjirrojo club. His mission was to transmit that philosophy of the game of the first team to the entire quarry. Where did he come from.

Míchel (Madrid, 1975) is a Vallecano, born and born in the heart. He was born in the neighborhood, played in its streets and studied at Raimundo Lulio. There, with seven years, he signed up for the tickets that Rayo distributed to go to football on Sundays at 12:00. It was not lacking, because if he did not get a ticket he would manage to sneak into a building with a view with your friends. Any window on the stairs would do. The son of fruit growers, Candela and Benjamin, he treasured one of the most legendary left-handers in the Strip.

He started training with the first team in 92-93, under Camacho, when he was 17 years old. and together with teammates such as Wilfred, Cota, Jémez, Pedro Riesco, Polster … His debut – at the hand of Zambrano – dates from 93-94 against Barça. He only left Vallecas three times throughout his career, with a loan to Almería (96-97) and two brief incursions in Murcia and Málaga, at the beginning of 2000. Rayo was always his life. That’s why he returned, to get him out of the well of Second B (07-08) and he lived through the serious economic and institutional crisis which ended with the departure of the Ruiz-Mateos. That little boy he had become the captain of that squad plagued by defaults.

When Míchel retired in the summer of 2012, he had defended the Strip for 17 seasons. and a gap had been made in the club’s history, establishing itself as the third player with the most games on his legs (425, only surpassed by 458 from Cota and 429 from Uceda) and the one with the most goal in his boots (67, the same as another rayista icon, Potele). The Vallecano continued in the entity, first in the methodology area, later on the Youth A bench, but the crisis of the first team forced him to take the reins (16-17). His name was endorsed by other Rayista veterans (Felines, Potele and Cota) and he did not disappoint. He caught it being sixteenth and one point above relegation to Second B and fifteen months later, in his first full project at the helm, he took him to First.

The experience in the top flight was not easy. The poor results ended in dismissal on matchday 28, after seven consecutive defeats, despite the fact that the stands were to death with the coach. A support that went viral thanks to a video, where Bukaneros I sang to him: “He took us out of Second, from the Ray to the grave, Míchel with you alwaysHis tears, embraced by some of his players, showed what the Strip means to him. He still has friendship (and a WhatsApp group) with Lopetegui, Pablo Sanz, Bolo, Cembranos … Colleagues with whom you also exchange advice.

At the head of Huesca, he confirmed that his was not a flower of a day and, as there are not two without three, he aspires to repeat with Girona. There he has earned respect in sports – he is in the playoffs and has chained five games without losing, four of them winning – and personal affection, with gestures like the language. He has already started speaking in Catalan. “I want to know the culture and tradition here. Since I arrived I have felt well treated and loved. They have taught me that, that I have to adapt to the environment and culture where they are giving me work“said in a press conference applauded by its fans and those of Vallecas, who recognize in Míchel those values ​​that they display. Values ​​that he raised in one of the most emotional proclamations that are remembered in the neighborhood: “An example of welcoming families“.