Zubizarreta: “We did everything we could, but we didn't win”

Disciple of Iribar, relief of Arconada, Andoni Zubizarreta (23-10-1961, Vitoria) was an institution in the Selection. Four World Cups, three Euro Cups and 126 games contemplate him. In addition, it maintains the record of matches played in the League (622).

-You have the privilege of being the first Spanish player to reach 100 games with the National Team.

-They are situations that you do not value when they happen to you. But in the long run they are figures that make you think about the career you have had. Now there are already a few players with 100, but then there were none and it seemed like a very unattainable number. It happened in Armenia, in a stadium that was nothing to write home about. On the other hand, the stage seemed good to me because that is football. On a field like those, popular, with the people on top, that's where you start. One day you play there and another in a big stadium. It was special because it was unique.

-Almost more casual Yerevan than at Wembley.

-Man… Iker equaled my record at Wembley. If I had reached 100 at Wembley I would tell the story differently. Yerevan seemed like a natural place to me. To play the final of the Eurocup you have to earn the classification in those fields. Malta, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein … countries without so much glamor. It seemed fine to me from that point of view.

– He also surpassed the mark for consecutive games: 86. From the second, on 5-26-85 to 2-6-94 that he does not play against Canada. Clemente tells Cañizares that he had to play the first game of the 94 World Cup against Korea because you were sanctioned after being sent off in the Spain-Denmark team that qualifies us.

-I didn't know that. It is included in the part that goalkeepers have more continuity when we play. The same as when we don't play, we don't play. It happened to me when Luis (Arconada) was a starter and I knew that I had no chance to play. Still, it is not normal to play so many games in a row. There were also different coaches: Muñoz, Suárez, Miera and Clemente. That streak reflects what my career is. I have had no injuries, no expulsions. That favors that continuity. Now it would be much more difficult. You have more with the other goalkeepers and you give yourself more opportunities.

-He made his debut against Finland in January 1985. He had already been a starter for three and a half seasons at Athletic. He was 23 years old … It's hard for him to get the job, come on.

-Yes. The situation was very clear. The owner was Luis and that's it. It didn't occur to me that I could be. I played in the sub 21 and it already seemed exceptional. I was a substitute in the Eurocopa de France in 84 and it was like a gift.

-How were those years in the shadow of Arconada?

-Nor was it in the shadows … With Luis, besides him being from Real and I from Athletic, who always has a small connotation, the relationship was good. From him I learned that you had to compete even in the smallest training session. That this was not playing two games. It was training and working every day and showing that if you wanted to start on game day, you had to work all week. That in the field and outside, he was the captain and you see how he stands up for the group and endures the pressure that was focused on him. Luis assumed responsibility inside and out. For me, day to day was an apprenticeship. Talk, talk, we didn't talk much. If anything from the warm-up, how he liked it. Then there were the hobbies that we each have. The color of the sweaters. We tell those special things about goalkeepers to those who are like us. Nor was it a matter of talking about certain things about the goal. Each one has their style and their way of being and playing. In the end we were competitors. I accepted that Luis was the starter and it seemed the most logical thing in the world, but when training came, he tried to be at the best level, and that motivated him to be at the best level.

-By your side he learned to be a captain … A facet in which you stood out especially later.

-I learned things on the field, the personality, the character, the way of playing, how he put the heels of his boots, what shin guards and gloves he used. I was interested in everything. And then outside, as he faced the press in good days and bad. In that facet he always exercised. Or when premiums had to be negotiated. I learned, in short, the assumption of responsibility. That responsibility is not a stop, an action, but it is much more and starts from the moment you arrive at the game, during and after.

-It went a bit unnoticed that he was a substitute in Malta at 12-1. Arconada, injured and Buyo started.

-It was my first official call up with the A. During the 10 days of concentration in Alcalá de Guadaira when I heard that we could score 11 goals against Malta, it seemed crazy to me.

-In the first European Championship in France as third goalkeeper it was a bit of seeing, hearing and shutting up.

-We came from the U21 final that we lost against England. Francisco, Roberto, Butragueño and me. There were the Acornada, Gordillo, Camacho, Santillana… who had traveled many kilometers. It was about taking advantage of the opportunity and having your ears wide open to learn from all the things that happen, from the whys. Pure learning.

-Debut against Finland. Friendly. The Rico Pérez of Alicante. Come in after the break.

-After lunch, in the elevator, Luis told me “today you are going to play the second half.” I suppose the coach had discussed it with him because then if you were a starter you were a starter, as it happened to me later. It was not used to change goalkeepers. There was no custom. I played in blue because Luis played in blue. There was little to scratch. He was conveniently nervous. It was to replace a myth of then. In our football it was the goalkeeper who decided to play with socks of a different color from the rest of the team, which at that time seemed a sacrilege. There were generations of goalkeepers who played in those socks for him. Arconada was a lot of Arconada, a lot of goalkeeper. It was also my first game. It was a goal, an illusion, but also a responsibility. Let's not screw it up! The same as the first time I played with Athletic.

–He has always recognized that the National Team was always in his head, from a very young age.

-I had an explanation. For me, without forgetting other goalkeepers, the National Team was Iribar, who was always my idol of reference and later Acornada because he was closer and I had a coexistence with him. In the Basque Country the position of goalkeeper always had a special, enormous weight. After all that, playing for the National Team meant meeting expectations.

-All those who have had the international record until Camacho, whom you surpass, had been goalkeepers. Zamora, Iribar, Arconada, then Casillas. Only two outfield players with Sergio now.

-The goalkeepers have more continuity than the players if we respect injuries. Luis without the knee injury possibly would have played many more games and would have reached the World Cup in Mexico 86 than I did. In the goal there is a line that leads from the oldest football to the most current.

-In his time, from a very young age, in the National Team, in the important Championships many things happened and not purely football … It was the house of trouble.

-Ha, ha, ha … I came from Athletic, which was a very organized club. What was discussed was done at home. We didn't have much to talk about outside. There was everything is true. In '84, the physical trainer who left after the first game, the meetings that the players had after Muñoz's talks, the discussion of premiums … If the World Cup in Mexico had caught me without having lived through the European Championship in France, I would more things would have surprised. There was a kind of trajectory that helped you put all situations in perspective. In 86 there was everything. From the hotels, to the point of sharing the round of 16 with Denmark, to the training camps, the meals, the publicity… It was a long concentration that gave an opportunity for many things. Within the group there were two generations and two very different worlds. Those of us who came from the under 21s and the fifth from the Buitre and the most veteran. Even so, we put together a good team, which had just been a finalist in the European Championship and the pity was that we stayed in the quarterfinals as always. It was a World Cup with many things on the field and many things off the field.

– Four World Cups, three European Cups … Which one do you choose?

-I stay with Italy 90 and USA 94. In the first we had a very good team, with many things to do and we were left hanging against Yugoslavia. I was always left with the feeling that we had a lot to do more. In the United States, it was even more unfair. We competed well. Nobody wanted to play against Spain because they knew we could beat anyone, even if we always stayed there.

-Worldwide 98.

-I had thought that this was my last season as a professional unless I had an adventure in England at the last moment. In October I told Javi (Clemente) that I would make it to the World Cup and I was leaving. He didn't buy it. I had in my head the experience of Zoff who retired in the World Cup in Spain as world champion. We had a good team again. We had also come from doing a great European Championship in England. I thought that France was a good country to play, win and retire.

-And then the Nigerian goal comes.

-Everything starts badly. He had never been injured and came in with discomfort. It is not an apology but it is a reality that was not exactly known at the time. I was confident that it was okay to play. Then came the goal. One of the things that I did very well as a goalkeeper was to read the game in advance, to anticipate the movement and that allowed me to be a tenth of a second before and solve things without having to make big saves. In that play what happened is that I did not anticipate a tenth, I anticipated a second. And in that second everything that happened happened.

– You one day defined the mistakes of a doorman as a work accident.

– Ha ha ha… It is still true. When someone at work makes a mistake about something, they have a mistake. What happens is that those of the goalkeepers are very evident. There are few ways to hide. The question comes after the work accident. You have to take responsibility for those mistakes. When a goalkeeper makes a mistake it is very evident and then you try to explain it. On Nigeria's day you can't start looking for an apology, because the Nigerian player didn't want to shoot… In the end it was a goal. The problem was mine. You have to accept that you have made a mistake and from there get out of the work accident. I always used to say: okay, it's over. Minute ten. They have scored a goal because of you. It is done. You have to continue playing the next 80 minutes as if that had not happened. That was the most important thing. Then in the locker room you will think what happened on that play. That, seeing on the scoreboard that you lose for that goal, and staying focused is enormously difficult for a goalkeeper.

-What happened is that since you failed so little, you were so regular, when you had an error it seemed more voluminous than the others.

– That usually happens with great goalkeepers, which does not mean that I have been a great goalkeeper. It happened to Arconada at Euro 84. He did a competition to frame, to teach the kids and tell them to play goalkeeper is this, there is nothing better. Well, people only remember Platini's free-kick goal, who has even said that the goal hurt him. And then there are moments, such as the World Cups that attract attention, and that is what you have left in your career. In my case it was at the end and I had no chance for revenge.

-And he also had to live with the trauma of not stopping penalties.

-Especially with the National Team. Belgium eliminated us on penalties in 86 and they began to say that. Then we went to Italia 90, they threw two at me and they didn't put any of them in, but then nobody said otherwise. The elements of criticism are always there. When you are in the window of a large club or the National Team there is always something you do not do well or someone is looking for something for you. It is a highly demanded position, we already have that.

-And the solo farewell.

– I had promised Clemente that the last shirt would be for him and at the end of the game I went to give it to him and he doesn't take it. He didn't believe it … Come on, come on, this is it, he said to me. I reminded him that I had already told him. And then I decide to go outside because I wanted to be with myself for a while. I had already done it the last day at San Mamés, at the Camp Nou, in Valencia … I wanted to enjoy my last little while with the National Team. I went out through the tunnel of the Lens field and at the end there was a bench and a big tree and there I spent my last ten minutes as an active player because later when I read the farewell note to the press I was already a retired player.

– Better memory with the Selection?

-Against England at Wembley in Euro 96. We played an impressive match. Seeing the English fans in the last half hour asking their players to resist back is not something very normal. It seemed like a 'chapeau' game to me. Sovereign in an extraordinary stadium. It was a soccer game with everything you must have. We had to win. A shame But that also happens in football. And I also have great memories of the first match of the World Cup in Mexico 86 against Brazil at the Jalisco stadium. We lost 1-0. With the VAR we would have tied. I had the memory of Brazil from 70 who played in Jalisco, which was like his home garden. Being there 16 years later to play against them. That seemed like a dream to me. We didn't win either.

– The worst game, the worst memory.

-The last 20 minutes of the Lens match, we knew we were no longer qualifying, that it was my last match of all. It gave me time to think about many things. The feeling of thinking, home again. As in Mexico, as in Italy …

-And over time, you, who are a thoughtful man, have some logical explanation for what happened to the National Team … Playing like never before and losing like always.

-Not. It just happened. I always think of Euro 2008, the match against Italy and we got to penalties. A normal game, 0-0, without much play. We could have lost or won. You get to penalties. Now what? In that round we won because we had a goalkeeper who saved penalties like Iker (ha ha ha …) and there it seems as if something psychological was breaking. I had that feeling and knowing Luis Aragonés I know there was something in that kind of psychological thing. But nothing else.

I thought of the England game we talked about earlier. In my time we always went home with the feeling that they had not won us, but that we had lost, which are two different things. But for example in England we had been at the level of the best …

What were we missing? I guess a little conviction in ourselves. The teams that win are then more convinced that they can win. And Spain has precisely shown it. It has happened. You win and you feel strong in moments of doubt, in penalty shootouts, in one-on-one. It is the conviction of being able to do it. And there we could fail. All those years we tried many options, many styles and the pieces fit together from 2008 and from then on we had some exceptional years. This type of dominance is not usual in the world of selections. You can win a European Championship or a World Cup, but not three in a row.

– And didn't you ever think what those players had that those of your generation hadn't?

-I've never thought of that. When we got back on the plane we talked, you went around it, which we haven't done. What we never had any doubts about is that we had done everything we could, we knew in all aspects: training sessions, match preparation… Then we didn't win and we can't go any further. They found that moment, that situation and from there they won. It was a group that had just won the U-20 World Cup, plus the experiences in their clubs with Madrid and Barça dominating Leagues and Champions, and that has to be noticed. I think there may also have been a kind of inheritance. We passed on to Raúl's generation the best we knew and the little things in which we could have been wrong and they to those who have won. Maybe something has influenced.

– And how do you look at players who achieve what someone like you has pursued for so many years?

-With simple joy, that of any fan. In 2008 I was at the Prater. At no point did I have negative thoughts that we hadn't done it. In the World Cup I start working at Barcelona and many of those players have won it. You are happy with the goals of Puyol, Iniesta …

– After so many experiences and troubles with the National Team, what is the balance? Were those 13 years worth it?

-Yes. Of course they have been worth it. It was something you never imagined as a child. Being in the National Team and playing Euro and World Cups means that you are up to what is required in those competitions. Life is lived forward, not backward. I am satisfied with everything I have achieved. I don't give it much thought. That doesn't make you better than anyone. I make you have been a good professional. I have lived up to the expectations that I have set for myself. Of course I would have liked to win something, it's obvious.

– In the National Team he never had a goalkeeping coach.

-Never. It didn't happen then. At Athletic I had Ángel (Iribar) who was very important to me. When I went to Barça there wasn't because Cruyff didn't consider it appropriate. In Valencia with Luis I had Abelardo. Furthermore, it happened that coaches like Luis Suárez or Clemente enjoyed shooting goalkeepers and we worked with them directly.

– What he learned from Cruyff's style of play in relation to goal, also served him well for the National Team: he played with his foot, more advanced position …

– Yes, although Javi and Cruyff viewed football in different ways, it did serve me well because with Clemente the National Team also had great tactical wealth and there were times when he took advantage of what we did at Barça. He also had many teammates who were in the National Team. It helped me in positioning when we didn't have the ball, when I was way up high and I could get ahead and anticipate.

Miguel Muñoz. Your first coach

The wisdom of knowing the world of football and the players. He had the peace of mind to manage conflicts from his experience. It was not disturbed. Not that he didn't see the problems. He saw them and managed them in his own way, with his left hand.

Vicente Miera. Little time

The qualifying phase for Euro 92, which is the only one we did not reach. He was Muñoz's field coach. Closer from the pitch. He had a very difficult moment: the transition between generations.

I had known Luis Suárez since he was under 21 …

He knew us all from a very young age, before starting on our teams. He had a sense of the game that suited our characteristics very well. It fit very well. I wanted happy football. It was the first time that I experienced that the coach was much more famous than the players. Especially in Italy. The autographs were asked of him, not Butragueño, Míchel or me. It was football, he breathed football. Everything explained how he had been as a footballer. Attacking game with a slight Italian touch. We had a lot of complicity with him. With the captains always good relationship. Everything was going very smoothly off the pitch as well, that's why I say that that World Cup could have been ours.

Zubi and ten more played with Clemente

-They also said that when I started at Athletic. I met him very young. He was a totem at the club and I was a starting boy, but in the national team it was a bit the other way around. I had already played many games and knew better the environment of the team and the Federation. We always get along because I never tried to coach, nor did I talk to him about the game. What I tried was to explain to him everything that I had learned there in the previous years. What he had learned from Arconada, from Camacho … Questions of organization, concentrations, management. Put at your service that the Selection was different. It was with him that he was the only coach who had the possibility to discuss and have totally different points of view and tell them without any kind of problem and he told me things without any problem. We would leave the room where we had argued and went to work in the fields as if nothing had happened. Then he did what he saw fit, of course.