Categories: Football

What became of Alavés 2001 UEFA finalist?

Martín Herrera

He lives in the Argentine town of Rio Cuarto, in the province of Córdoba. Since 2013 he is a delegate of the Córdoba Sports Agency in Argentina. It develops sports promotion programs. He retired in 2008 at the Estudiantes Rio Cuarto. Previously, and after his time in Vitoria, he was at British Fulham.

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Cosmin Contra

After two seasons at Alavés, he signed for Milan and then played for Atlético Madrid, West Bromwich Albion, Getafe and Timisoara, his hometown in Romania. As a coach, he belonged to Timisoara, Fuenlabrada, Ploiesti, Getafe, Alcorcón, Chinese Guangzhou and is currently the absolute coach of Romania. When he does not reside in his country of origin, he does so in Madrid where he established himself after his steps through Atlético and Getafe.

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JAVIER GANDUL
DAILY AS

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Dan Eggen

He lives in Norway, his native country. After four seasons at Alavés, he signed in 2003 for the Glasgow Rangers of Scotland. He hung up his boots at Le Mans in the French League. He started a career as a coach but currently he is mainly dedicated to music. He is the manager of the band El Caco. It also collaborates with the Norwegian federation within the development department.

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DAILY AS

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Antonio Karmona

Natural del Bermeo (Getxo) belongs to the technical structure of Athletic Bilbao. He is in charge of spying on the rivals of the rojiblancos. He travels to the fields of Spain two weeks before the crossing with the lions and sends reports to Gaizka Garitano. He spent seven years at Alavés and was the captain in the UEFA Cup final. He retired as an Eibar player.

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GAIZKA BILBAO
DAILY AS

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Oscar Tellez

He made a good fortune but soon squandered it and had to do other things. He was a coach in several teams of the Third and Preferred Madrid, he was a baggage picker at Barajas airport, a furniture fitter throughout Spain and, currently, he works in a company that builds buses in the Navarran town of Alsasua. He has lived in Vitoria for a year and a half.

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PAULINO URIBE
DAILY AS

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Delfi Geli

Current president of the Second Division Girona. He was the sad protagonist of the own goal that settled the final. “It is a memory that I do not like to have. I try to pass just a few seconds through my head, “he often says. “I prefer to keep other details of that final,” he adds. He finished his sports career at Girona in 2005 and has been president of this entity since 2015.

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CARLES MELENDEZ
DAILY AS

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Hermes Desio

He lives in Argentina, his native country. He spent six years at Alavés and retired from football in 2003. Since 2013 he has been the sports coordinator of the Club Estudiantes de la Plata in Argentina. He has also collaborated with the technical structure of the Federation of his country and one of the iconic images of that night was carried out by him in the center of the field crying, with his hands in his face and totally devastated after the match ended.

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Jon Buckle – EMPICS
PA Images via Getty Images

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Martín Astudillo

From Mendoza (Argentina). Lover of wine from his region and always linked to football. He was loaned to Osasuna in the middle of the 2008-09 season after nine seasons at Alavés. Then he returned to his country where he played in Rosario Central, Maipú or Deportivo Guaymallén, club in which he retired. Before arriving in Vitoria, he was in Mendoza and in Gymnastics and Fencing in Jujuy. As a coach he belonged to Independiente Rivadavia.

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PAULINO ORIBE
DAILY AS

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Ivan Tomic

Formed in the lower categories of the Partizan in Belgrade, he was a member of the first squad after the Yugoslav wars ended. In 1998 he signed for Roma but did not count much for Zeman or Capello. He arrived at Alavés on loan and carried out a dream campaign. He had a lot of technique and was a key player for Mané. Subsequently, he returned to Rome, had a second stage in Vitoria, played in the Rayo and finished in Partizan again. Until 2009 he was Sports Director of this entity and later, coach of Serbia U19 and coach of Teleoptik and Partizan.

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BOGDAN CRISTEL
REUTERS

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Jordi Cruyff

Current Ecuador coach and commentator for Cadena SER. Son of the mythical Johan Cruyff. As a footballer, he ended his journey at Espanyol, Metalurg of Ukraine and Malta. He was Sports Director of AEK Larnaka of Cyprus and Maccabi of Tel Aviv. He was the author of the tie at 4 in Dortmund with a superb header that allowed Alavés to force extra time.

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RODRIGO BUENDIA
AFP

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Javi Moreno

The party revolved around him. He scored two goals as soon as the second half began and was substituted when the game had gone mad. Mané tried to tie the midfield after Smicer's entry into the medullar net. The sacrificed was the player who was more sweet. He played, after his tour of Vitoria, in Milan, Atlético de Madrid, Bolton, Zaragoza, Córdoba, Ibiza, Eivissa and Lucena. He has been a coach for Utiel, Novelda or Córdoba among others. Valencian by birth, he currently resides in Ibiza.

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FITO GONZALEZ
DAILY AS

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Iván Alonso

Author of Alavés' first goal in the German final. He came off the bench and got a precious thing. He had an enviable jumping ability and was very dangerous in the air game. After passing through Vitoria, he signed for Murcia, Espanyol, Toluca in Mexico, Nacional de Uruguay (his native country), River Plate in Argentina. In his record there is an Apertura Tournament with Nacional de Uruguay, a championship from his country with the same team, an Argentine Cup with River, a South American Cup with the same entity and a Catalonia Cup with Espanyol.

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DAILY AS

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Pablo Gomez

Vitorian and belonging to a family linked to the hospitality industry. Currently he runs the bar-restaurant Parliament, located next to the New Cathedral of the capital of Alava. He played in Aurrera, Lleida, Rayo Vallecano, Valladolid, Levante and Ciudad de Murcia and Alavés and belonged to the albiazul club's technical structure, training the Juvenil. He is considered to be the most talented player from Vitoria in Alavés' history, having an enviable left-foot. He retired from active football in 2005 in the City of Murcia.

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PAULINO ORIBE
DAILY AS

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Magno Mocelin

Brazilian. He entered the field in the second half but was sent off in the 98th minute. He was fast and had a good shot. Golf lover. He played a lot when he was in Vitoria and he also does it now at his home in Bahia. He spent six years in Vitoria and then emigrated to Dutch and Cypriot soccer (Omonia and AEK). He hung up his boots in Larnaka in 2009, at the age of 35.

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David Aguilar
EFE

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Other players on that team

Kike Burgos, Ibón Begoña, Iosu Sarriegui, Raúl Gañán, Pablo Brandán, Jorge Azkoitia, Mario Rosas, Jurica Vucko, Josete Valdeolmillos, Vlatko Djolonga, Asier Salcedo, Nacho Zaragoza and Juan Epitié.

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Steve Mitchell – EMPICS
PA Images via Getty Images

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José Manuel Esnal “Mané”

He trained Levante, Espanyol and Athletic after their journey from Vitoria and then retired from football. He stayed to live in Vitoria instead of returning to Balmaseda (Vizcaya), where he was born or to Figueras (his wife's hometown). He did not train again, he was a newspaper columnist as a soccer observer and he loves to walk. He has made the Camino de Santiago several times from different starting points.

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PAULINO ORIBE
DAILY AS

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Garitan Angel

Mané's second coach and personal friend. He was in charge of spying on the rivals that were coming and passed the reports to the head coach. He lives in Bilbao, frequents Ondárroa, his native town, and is a commentator from Euskadi Irratia. Broadcast in Basque. Gaizka's father and Ander's brother. It has nothing to do with Aiser Garitano, current coach of Alavés even if they share a surname.

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EDUARDO GONZALEZ
DAILY AS

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Gabby Barker

Gabby is someone who is interested in all types of sports, she loves to attend watching matches live. Whenever there is a match being played in her city, she makes sure to get the tickets in advance. Due to the love for sports, she joined Sportsfinding, and started writing general sports news. Apart from writing the news, she is also the editor for the website who checks and edits every news content before they go live.

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