THE REPORT | “Madrid and Cruyff taught me to want to be the best in the world”

Gica Hagi (Sacele, Romania, 56 years old) is one of those privileged people who are part of the small club of footballers who have played for Real Madrid and Barcelona. In his case, he first went through the Bernabéu, two seasons and after a short stop and dine in Italian football, at Brescia, he jumped to the Camp Nou where he ended up for another two seasons. Considered the best Romanian player of all time, since his nickname of ‘Maradona of the Carpathians’, Hagi maintains a passionate relationship with football now as president and coach of a club he owns, Viitorul Constanza.

With a Classic on the horizon, a phone call to Hagi is synonymous with a good football conversation. He has a good memory and remembers the adventures and misadventures of his signing for Real Madrid back in May 1990, before the World Cup in Italy. The president of the white club at the time was Ramón Mendoza and his preferences pointed to John Barnes, a Liverpool inside-winger recommended by then-coach John Benjamin Toshack. The Yugoslavs Prosinecki and Savicevic also dazzled the Madrid rector, but when Hagi got within range, the negotiations were unlocked with some speed and that Milan had a pre-agreement with Steaua. Ramón Mendoza wanted to close the operation before the World Cup in case the player revalued even more in Italian lands.

Gica, 30 years have passed, but I remember him absolutely moved at the Brussels airport when his signing for Real Madrid was finalized.

It was to be. It was very easy for me. I didn't have to give it much thought, I was there to sign the president of Real Madrid himself. That happens is not so normal in football. That Real Madrid, the best club in the world, loves you, is not to think twice. It was an honor for me …

He took it as a personal challenge …

I took it as I had to take it. He came to learn, to keep learning. I knew where I was coming from, I knew there was going to be an internal competition in the locker room to play and I knew my life was going to change completely. It was clear to him that he had to be focused every day, his head had to be in football and nothing more than football.

It was only two years, I have read that over time he regretted leaving Real Madrid.

They were two very intense years for me and for the team. Coach changes. Antic left, Beenhakker arrived. The second year happened with Tenerife, losing the League in the last game. It was not normal. In the first season I have to admit that it was difficult for me to adapt. Everything was new to me. The language, the meals. The first two months were not easy. The injury also split me in half. But the second year was very good, even if it ended badly. I scored a lot of goals. It may have influenced my decision that we lost the League and the Cup.

So many years later it can be said exactly why he left.

They are decisions that are made and that later you can also regret. I wanted another experience, I wanted to play in Italy. Then Italian football was attractive for the footballer who wants to improve. Physical, tactical, Brescia was not a great club like Juventus, Milan, Inter … but to learn, everything I wanted to learn was good. Then Guardiola, Roberto Baggio, Pirlo played there … It was a club that always liked good players, very good players, I would say. In that season I learned a lot about tactics, preparation, food diets, which I later used as a player and especially as a coach.

And then Barça crosses his head.

We are in the 94 World Cup. It is that then who calls me is Johan Cruyff, who was my idol when I was young. Ajax had a Romanian coach, Kovacs, and we followed Ajax. If Ramón Mendoza had come looking for me the first time, the second was Johan himself. I had other offers, but I didn't hesitate. Tottenham offered me more money, I was very close to going to England, but Barça was already the Barça that had just won the European Cup. I wanted to meet my idol, talk to him, work with him. Have it close and I fulfilled it. There were also adaptation problems, but he is possibly the one who has learned the most as a player. At Real Madrid I learned to always want to be the best and with Cruyff, the same. It was the mentality of the club and of Johan as a coach. At Barça, I also learned a lot about a specific style of play that was the one I liked the most at the time and which continues to be the one I like the most.

You already defended that type of football …

Yes, but it was on an individual level. I was a forward, I liked having the ball, dribbling, shooting on goal. Throw the fouls. Being called the Maradona of the Carpathians was a tremendous honor for me. As a coach, I have always relied on that type of game that I learned at Barcelona: a lot of ball, attack, dominate the games. Spanish football has always been very methodical and I have always liked that concept. At Real Madrid I also had Beenhakker, another Dutchman who proposed the same. For such a small country, the Netherlands has always set the times with both the coaches and the players. That total football from the 70s had it all, as its name said. Individual quality, but also organization, order. A lot of versatility.

So whoever signs Hagi coach already knows what awaits him.

As it should be, as it is already in my club. Within the limitations, we try to progress with the ball, make a good defense-attack balance, take care of transitions, control the game.

I have to ask him who he's going with tomorrow.

And I have to say to him that I have a broken heart. I'm already joking with my brother-in-law Popescu, he does go with Barça, but I can't. It is an honor to have played in those two jerseys, to have been to those two cities and to those two clubs. There I became a better person and a better player. I remember that while at Madrid, Ferrer, el Chapi, marked the man all over the field. He followed me everywhere, even when I was going to take a foul in my field. Cruyff was the theory that he lost a player, but Madrid lost the best and then to play 10 against 10 … Cruyff was unique.

Why?

Because he knew how to look for the advantages, he was a ‘alive’, you say that, right? As a player he had been the best and he took advantage of it as a coach. He did not speak much, but what he said to you, you liked. My way of understanding the game and watching football changed after being with him. I began to understand it better, easier. My mindset also changed. I began to discover that nothing is impossible and that you can become the best if you put your mind to it. My personality totally changed.

Do you follow Spanish football closely?

Yes, of course, every week. Not because there is now a Classic. I feel part of Spanish football. I like creativity, technique. I have never regretted playing there, even though I had other better offers financially.

Although his heart is broken, who thinks is in a better moment, Real Madrid or Barcelona.

They both have great templates. They are both on a roll, they both have great coaches, they both have a very similar philosophy of play… The game will be decided in moments, in details.

Who are the Hagi of the two teams?

Ha ha ha… Benzema and Messi. French has great versatility. Has it all. Is very complete. It is not just a goal, it is also a game. He is creative, he knows how to move around large areas. And about Messi I can no longer say anything that has not been said. He has a lot of goal. Their passes are impossible… Are we finished? Well then, give the Vulture a hug from me. He has always been a lord to me.

The transfer of players between Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​Barcelona and Real Madrid, has been a constant throughout the history of the League. Nano Soler represents the example of the footballer who first played at the Camp Nou for four seasons (1988-93) with a loan to Atlético every other (91-92) and later played for Real Madrid, a single season (95-96).

As a Barça player he faced the white team eight times, but as a Real Madrid player he did not make his debut against his former team. “It would have been a great coincidence that of the 14 league games that I played, one would have been against Barcelona. I was on the bench at the Bernabéu (1-1) but I didn't play. Everyone knows what happened to me later, that I stayed in the 19 games in total, because if I played 20, I would be automatically renewed and the club gave the coach, Arsenio, an order not to take me out. Occupational hazards”.

I was in the foreground next to Stoichkov and Urizar, but I didn't even notice

to usually do

In his time at the Camp Nou he especially remembers two classics. “The Super Cup from Stoichkov's stomp on Urizar. There I was, in the foreground, next to the Bulgarian. I didn't even know that I had stepped on it. He approached the referee looking him in the eye, but of course I didn't notice what he was doing with his feet. I also have quite a few memories of the final of the Copa del Rey in Valencia (1989). I went out for Love, who had scored, in the second half and gave the pass for the second goal to Julio Salinas. If that day we had not won, they possibly would have fired Cruyff. It was on the wire. It had already been the previous season and was also saved by a final, the Recopa ”.

In his case, the four Barça seasons weigh more than the only one dressed in white. “Of the year at the Bernabéu, I have in mind that we had a great squad, with very good players in all positions. I never understood why that season ended so badly. The previous year they had won the League, but that season they fired Valdano and Arsenio came ”.

On where he found more motivation when they faced each other, Soler does not find a big difference. “I lack the experience of Madrid, but the desire of one to beat the other was similar. Then Madrid was more favorite and then the great time of Barça arrived. It is true that when the calendar came out we always looked when we faced Madrid or Barça. I have seen a game from then and I have the feeling that many tackles were made, there was no speculation, the ball changed possession quickly. Those games between us were played at a great pace ”.

Alfonso Pérez Muñoz represents the other side of the coin. He grew up at Real Madrid (1989-95) and after five years at Betis, he landed at the Camp Nou, where he spent a season and a half (2000-02). As a Madrid player, he faced Barcelona seven times, four victories, one draw and two defeats, and vice versa there were only two clashes, in both he entered as a substitute replacing Luis Enrique. A win and a draw.

As a Barça player I replaced Luis Enrique at the Bernabéu and we took a huge whistle

Alfonso

“The classics bring me good and bad memories. Bad because I was injured at the Camp Nou on the day of the first 5-0 with Romario's three goals. It was in a clash with Guardiola, cruciate ligaments. The good news was that in a Super Cup (93-94) in the first leg at the Bernabéu I scored two goals at 3-1. Then there we tied (1-1). We were champions. At 5-0 the following year, I entered the second half for Zamorano, who had scored three goals and was about to score the sixth. “

In his Barça stage, Alfonso played two games against Madrid and his memory has recorded a row at the Bernabéu when he jumped onto the pitch to replace Luis Enrique. “It was tremendous. He has just gone to Barça and I, although he had gone from Betis because, of course, the Madrid fans would not forgive me for seeing me as a Barça player. I would swear that the fight was more for Luis Enrique than for me, but the fact is that we both took it ”.

Alfonso summarizes his experiences in the two clubs, with an anecdote from his childhood. “When I was nine years old I was from Barcelona because my best friend was and those things for kids. One day we were in Valladolid and we passed President José Luis Núñez on the street, we asked him for an autograph and he wanted to give us a badge, but he only had one and my friend kept it. Of course, as far as I started playing for Real Madrid, my team became the target and then over time I became a partner, as I am also a member of Betis. When I signed for Barça I was already from Madrid, but as a professional that I was, as Betis descended, I accepted the offer of Serra Ferrer who was the one who did what was possible and impossible for me to sign there ”.