“One year in Vallecas I scored three goals from corners, I trained them”

He made his debut with Valladolid in the Second Division when he was 17 years old and there, during six campaigns, he showed that he was going to be a good footballer. Exquisite technique. Game vision. Set pieces specialist. With 22 ‘Januaries’ he reached Rayo on the rebound because he had to have signed for Sevilla, as he himself will tell later. Two seasons in Vallecas, already in the First Division, the Camp Nou doors opened for him. Dressed as a Barça player, from more to less, he fulfilled his three-year contract. With the letter of freedom from his pocket he signed for Atlético where he played another half dozen seasons before retiring prematurely due to his disagreements with President Gil and Gil.

The eve of a Athletic-Lightning It is a perfect alibi to rescue this Guardo from Palencia from the tunnel of time, who also made his debut in the National Team, even if it was only one game (Spain-Holland, 23-1-80, 0-0).

With Valladolid struggling to get into the promotion positions, its other three teams are in vogue, each one for its own.

Although I do not follow football with intensity, it gives me to know that Rayo is doing very well, like that Ray of ours matagigantes from 78; that Atlético is weaker than could be expected and, as for Barça, what happens to them falls within the norm when a player like Messi has left. It was predictable and logical. It has been a team that has depended on Messi in a beastly way, especially since Xavi and Iniesta left and he has to notice it now. It will cost him more to recover than Atlético.

The change of the rojiblancos from one year to the next does not seem normal.

It is not. Above all, considering that Simeone is on the bench. It may be normal for teams that have a great season and win a title to relax the next, but that with Simeone is unthinkable. Anything but that can happen. He has already shown that he knows how to maintain tension year after year.

Your launching pad as a player was Rayo, but you were really going to sign for Sevilla.

And I signed for Sevilla. It was all done. They paid 18 million to Valladolid, but in the medical examination they found an arrhythmia at rest. We already knew he had it and he had played six seasons without problems. They gave me a catheterization. All the tests came back negative in the sense that he had no problem playing football, but Sevilla broke the agreement.

And there came the Lightning.

Yes, but a month passed every other. In the end they paid three million less, but Valladolid needed money. My experience in Vallecas was fantastic. It was the first year in Primera and except for Fermín, none of the players in that squad had played in Primera before. We made Vallecas a fort. We beat all the big ones, one by one and also the little ones. In addition, we got several comebacks and we were growing. Our game was very physical and the measurements of the field gave us a hand. Carlos Álvarez del Villar, who was the physical trainer, had us like rockets.

His were the goals from direct corner kicks.

Yes that season I scored six goals and three were from corners. To Valencia, Hercules and Barcelona. They were not by chance. He trained him a lot and tried to score. I think it surprised the goalkeepers, the field was narrower and possibly those close shots came to them earlier than they thought … Then I kept trying on the other teams, but they already knew me and it was more difficult. There was only the one in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic, which Urtubi took out with his hand when he entered.

And nothing less than Barcelona looks at you.

Well, as always happens. Rayo was also saved that second season, but with more problems than the previous one and as he needed money, he did not waste Barcelona’s offer, which was good: 15 million pesetas in cash and another 15 if he played 20 games per season. For my part I did not hesitate. My goal had always been to play First in a team that fought to win the League, not to save itself. It was the culmination of my career.

The adventure did not turn out as well as you had imagined.

I was there for three years. The first, with Rifé first and then with Helenio Herrera as coaches, I played all 34 league games and scored nine goals. In the second, I didn’t play with Kubala and until HH came back I practically didn’t play. Then the following year Udo Lattek came along and I only played five games. He wanted a football more physical than talent and he thought that with Schuster’s talent he had plenty. Surprisingly, the club gave me the letter of freedom. My contract was ending, but they could have retained me as they did with other players who did not count for the first team and they had them even out of training, but they were not allowed to leave either. Lattek did let me go.

And free as the wind he signed for Atlético.

On the one hand, I was very lucky, but on the other I found that Atlético was in a very delicate situation. Head was gone, there was a manager. Luckily Vicente Calderón returned to the club and Luis to the bench. I was with him for five years and the last was when Gil arrived at the club and brought Menotti with him. They were six very good years in three seasons I played more than 50 games and in the other three I was over 40… but then what happened happened.

What happened was that he was fired by Gil and Gil, despite the fact that in his contract there was a clause that would be extended for another year if he played 25 official matches: he played 42. He finally left the club after winning the trial and withdrew from the football.