Quique Setin, the 'cruyffista' to whom Pel sent home in a disco

Quique Setin, Valverde's relay in front of Bara and declared admirer of Johan Cruyff, took a whole jug of water for the day he met the Brazilian star

Quique Setin (Santander, September 27, 1958) is the favorite to relieve Ernesto Valverde on the bench of Bara. In the retina of many Barca fans, sure, there is still the exhibition that he signed with Betis at the Camp Nou last season. The Verdiblanco team, with a high pressure, three centrals and a blatantly offensive game, achieved a tight win at the end by 3-4. Two goals from Leo Messi and one of Arturo vidal They made a little makeup for the locals. Many, then, envied the forms of the Bicos. To such an extent, that the name of Setin, struck by the Helipolis club in May of last year, has already sounded like a possible relief from Valverde if the Barcelona players fall in the final of the Copa del Rey. Seven and a half months later, that option is about to become a reality.

In the last months, the name of Quique Setin, the last visiting coach capable of winning at the Camp Nou, has been planning over several benches with tightropes, such as Villarreal de Javi Calleja and even, oddly enough, the Betis of Ruby. No option, however, came to fruition and the Centabro will now have the opportunity to lead a Bara who had been in his sights for a long time. Not in vain, Johan Cruyff It has always been one of its great references. He likes to attack, either with four defenses, just as he started in Betis, or with three, with that 'ajacied' seal of influence that he likes so much in the Barca environment. As a player, he defended the Racing jerseys, in two stages, the Atletico, the Achievements and the Levante. As a coach, his debut was already brilliant: he took command of Racing, which he had joined as general sports director at the beginning of the 2001-02 season, after the dismissal of Gustavo Bentez and took the team to Primera to return immediately to the offices. A sweet taste that was followed by two bitter drinks: his dismissal as a technician of the Poli Ejido in the 2003-04 campaign, after achieving only two wins in 15 games, and a brief stage as coach of Equatorial Guinea, in which only I directed a meeting, as he will explain later, due to the lack of seriousness of the sports leaders of that country.

His next experiences, in Lugo, Las Palmas and Betis, will be characterized by a series of ups and downs that will culminate in the first two cases with his voluntary departure from the club and a dismissal without palliatives in the second, however much the verdiblancos were capable to prevail over Bara and Real Madrid both at Camp Nou and at Bernabu. His ideas have always been very clear. But not for that reason completely non-negotiable. “I am not arrogant, and in fact my technical body has an enormous influence on me, I usually surround myself with people much smarter than me because it is the way to renew, to move forward”, confesses the technician in an interview granted to THE WORLD last Month of May. A conversation in which you also trust that he had a little abandoned his other great passion: chess. To such an extent, that he even had the chance to play games with two great masters: Anatoly Karpov Y Garri Kasparov.

They are not the only two dolos that Quique Setin He had the opportunity to meet in person. Much more rocambolesca was the way I exchanged a few words with one of the great stars of football: Pel. According to confess the new Barca coach in an interview with El Peridico, he saw him at a night out, late in the morning, taking advantage that he could not play a game with the Atletico for sanction. At the end, he took courage and approached to ask for an autograph, explaining that he was also a footballer. “And if you play football, what are you doing at this time in the disco?”, The Brazilian star will answer. A whole jug of water fra. Something that, of course, with the perspective of time, remembers now with a smile on the lips.