Nostalgia, that glorious past that is still so present no matter how far away it is, is The consolation these days for Deportivo’s fans. The same happy yesterday also to whom any strange football fan suddenly travels when he hears about Depor today, news after snatching his Albacete on Saturday promotion to Second. The Galician team must endure at least one more year in the First Federation.
We remember in chronological order the best moments of that Super Sport of the 90s and early 2000s that dazzled everyone. Not only for his exploits, but also for his football: for that team they paraded Bebeto, Djalminha, Djukic, Liaño, Fran, Mauro Silva, Donato, Manuel Pablo, Makaay, Valerón…
1
1992
Madrid, witness to the birth of the Super Depor
The Madrid of the Fifth of the Vulturewith Benito Floro at the controls, was the one who attended the birth of that Super Depor that would live for more than a decade with the comeback set in the blue and white feud in 1992 after winning 0-2. Bebeto (2) and Rocha’s own goal would make it 3-2. was barely fulfilled a year after Deportivo’s return to Primera, but something big was beginning to be guessed.
2
1994
The Djukic penalty
Tears and not smiles are the ones that cover the first great peak moment of the Super Dépor in the fight for titles. He cried with that League runner-up, but it served to make him respect. The famous penalty against Valencia in the last minute of the last day marked by Djukic -the stopped by Jose Luis Vazquez, propitiated the fleeting trip of the League towards the other end of the Peninsula when Barça fulfilled its part and beat Sevilla. He lost Dépor but made the team suffer Dream Team of Cruyff.
3
1995
The cup of rain
The first ecstasy came at the Bernabéu and it would not be the only one. The witness, the same Valencia that a year before left the illusion of the first title in ruins. A Cup final surrounded by the mystique of rain, which interrupted the match in the 79th minute with the score at 1-1. The match was resumed three days later and a goal by Alfredo in added time opened Depor’s record of honors. Idyllic farewell for Arsenio Iglesias, the instigator of that great team of the 90s.
4
1995
The first title stolen from Madrid
Deportivo has three Super Cups in Spain in its record, the three won in its Golden Age and the first against Real Madrid de Buyo, Sanchís, Hierro, Redondo… directed by George Valdano. Triumph 3-0 in the first leg and 1-2 in the second leg with Little Begiristain as the author of the second goal. Toshack was the coach of a Depor team that made Madrid lose its first title. The next one that would make him lose would be much more painful…
5
2000
the first league
Javier Irureta He resumed the beautiful story started by Iglesias with his arrival on the bench in 1998 and added chapters and more chapters. The first of them, that of the 2000 League, the competition that seems only reserved for the upper class due to the requirement of regularity. But in the lack of points in that championship – 69 were enough for Depor in a League already with victories by three points – the Galicians were the best, beating Barça (64) and Valencia (64). Roy Makaay he kissed the nets 22 times. Deportivo’s first and only Liga to date and the first at that time not won by Barça, Real Madrid or Barcelona since Athletic’s 1984 title.
6
2000
Djalminha’s lambretta
In the story of that same League of 2000, it was told a spooky freak created by an outrageous player like Djalminha, as if that night he had decided to condense all the genius of Brazilian football into a single action with his lambretta to assist Víctor, who ultimately failed to score. The privileged spectator, again a Real Madrid blushing doubly with the 5-2 and the divine resource of the midfielder. Djalminha converted another work of art that day with a free kick, but the goal of his that is most remembered is the one that was never scored, something only within the reach of the chosen ones.
7
2002
The guest who took the Madrid Cup from the showcases
A drink at home to celebrate 100 years. Everything was ready for the ceremony and Depor, more than a contender in the final, seemed destined to be at the Bernabéu something like the witness who went up to the altar to deliver the ring to those in white. But Irureta’s team turned out to be a rude guest, the most rude, Diego Tristán, who reacted to the rudeness of Madrid’s rejection two years earlier with a goal before the break that followed Sergio’s. Raúl’s goal was sterile and what was going to be a Bone Wedding was what was baptized as the ‘Centenariazo’.
8
2002
Tristan’s hat-trick in 12 minutes
The Super Depor of the early 2000s had among its spearheads a Diego Tristan devastating player who scored 110 goals for the Blue and Whites between 2000 and 2006, proclaiming himself top scorer of the league in 2002 with 22 goals. But among the Andalusian striker’s most memorable performances is the fleeting scoring power exhibited against Mallorca in the 01/02 season: a hat-trick in just 12 minutes (21′, 27′ and 33′) in the 5-0 of the Depor in front of the vermilions.
9
2004
The pinnacle of comebacks
The pinnacle of Super Depor. The 4-1 of San Siro in the first leg with the great Milan of Ancelotti, current European champion, on the other side of the pitch suggested something like the paradigm of comebacks to play the semifinals of the Champions League. And it happened. That night of April 7, 2004, Deportivo drove Riazor and all of Spain crazy with a 4-0 scoreline signed by Pandiani, Valeron, Luque and Fran.
After the 3-0 break, it couldn’t be a cradle sportsman like ‘o neno’ who gave the romantic final touch on a night of unfortunate memories for the Shevchenko, Maldini, Seedorf and company. That monument to the comebacks was the final work and the top of the Super Depor, eliminated in the semifinals by the Port by Mourinho. The following season, away from the team in the first phase, was the last in the Champions League for a Deportivo that got used to smiling against the greats of Europe: Milan, Juventus, Bayern, Manchester United…
10
1991-2010
Riazor, 20 years of unhappiness for Madrid
Beyond the Centenariazo and the 1992 comeback, there was a time when Riazor meant misfortune for Real Madrid, even beyond the Super Depor years. Between 1991 and 2010, whites accumulated of the decades no victory on that shore of the Atlantic, including severe rout in the League: 4-0 in 93-94, 3-0 in 95-96 with a hat-trick from Baby5-2 in 99-00 and 3-0 in 01-02.