Parejo, the Centennial captain through thick and thin

Juan Ramón Santiago won four titles, the first in Valencia's history, the 1941 Cup, and his first three Leagues. Behind him they raised trophies to heaven World, Monzó, Fives (two), Robert Gil, Paquito, Reel, Saura (two), Mendieta (two), Cañizares, David Albelda (3) and Ruben Baraja. To such a cast of myths he added his name last May Dani Parejo, the Centennial captain of the year, the captain of the Seville final.

Valencia's sports career in the year of its Centennial would surely have been another without the figure of Dani Parejo (Coslada, 1989). His was not a momentous goal, even if he scored 10, nor did he star in any specific feat. His was the regularity (he played up to 56 games), the constancy (53 of those starting games)But above all, what he was is a locker room leader and he always had faith in the team's possibilities.

“I refuse to end the season in January.” That message penetrated the team and also the environment. It even contributed to the club deciding not to make any drastic decision about Marcelino's future when the results were not consistent. In fact one of the images of the Centennial season was that of his hug to the Asturian coach after scoring a goal in the match against Real Valladolid in Mestalla on January 12, days before Anil Murthy and Mateu Alemany traveled to Singapore to meet Peter Lim.

Even, that meets nine seasons at Valencia, During the course he earned the respect and recognition of Mestalla, something that he lacked in his turbulent beginnings in Valencia. Mestalla understands, assumes and respects his style of playing and the team revolved around its captain during the momentous phase of last season.

His explosion of happiness, obviously, came along with that of all Valencianism. Parejo was the protagonist of the photograph that every fan expected, that of King Felipe VI handing him the trophy that accredited the Valencia Cup Champion in his Centennial year, and he also starred in another with which he wanted to pay tribute to David Albelda, leaning out of a hatch of the plane as soon as he landed in Manises with the Cup. In the final, curiously, it was the first and only time that Parejo was injured throughout all season; some inconvenience that did not prevent him from celebrating the title in style.

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But Parejo was not only captain in the mature, he has also been in the tough. Coslada's, because the Centennial year did not end in Seville, has served as a peacemaker in a locker room that was lit with the decision to do without Marcelino. He also did not understand the decision of the property, although he put the shield above and removed from the equation of discomfort the figure of Celades, whom I respect as a captain and soccer person.

Parejo, in this sense, was in charge of breaking the silence of the team in London after the match against Chelsea (the footballers had refused to make statements until the club gave them an explanation), and recently, after the defeat in San Sebastián put the points on the “ies” and asked self-criticism of “all” the club members, from the players to the coaching staff and also the leadership team. So is today Dani Parejo, the captain who raised the Cup in Seville, a footballer who is breaking historical records and gaining ground in the ranking of black and white legends.