he was Real Madrid's fan on the pitch and a combustible player remembered for his goals but also a shocking assault on an opposing player and even an attack on a referee decades after the end of his career and his untimely death fans still sing about him in the seventh minute of every game at the bnab no it's not the ronaldos Zinedine zidan or even Raul this is the story of [Music] Juanito if you listen listen carefully during the seventh minute of matches at the bernabo you'll hear a chant hey hey hey Juanito the Wonder to
many fans Juanito juang Gomez Gonzalez a stocky skillful and tenacious Winger who wore their number seven shirt Remains the most Vivid embodiment of the club Spirit he won five League titles with raal between 1977 and 1987 in 1984 he won the pachichi trophy as the League's top scorer too but while those achievements are crucial to his legacy they're not solely what he's remembered for quenito might never have made it to Madrid at all or had fate been different he might have been an Atletico player born in CAD Del Soul he joined the club's Academy in
1969 and was still a teenager when in a friendly against Benfica he fractured his tibia and fibula in a collision with the opposition goalkeeper it would take a year and a half for him to recover and he would play again but never for atleti instead he would be released and would fight for his career at saunda division buros where during Four Seasons he would help helped to win promotion and also the first of 34 caps for Spain in 1977 despite interest from Barcelona he signed for Real Madrid where despite being just 5'7 he would build
a reputation as one of the fiercest competitors the club had ever known and there was a darker side to his playing personality too in 1978 the first of several incidents occurred that would partially Define him eliminated by Swiss Club grasshoppers in the second round of that Year's European Cup Juanito enraged by a late offside decision that had gone grasshopper's way confronted the referee what happened next has never been entirely clear a shove a push or a punch whatever the case Juanito was banned from European football for 2 years albeit with the sanction later reduced on
appeal it was a terrible moment but worse was to come ironically however it came at the end of a game in which Rael had thrown away a lead they'd won the first leg 3-1 only to lose the second 2-0 and be eliminated on away goals and that was ironic because Juanito's career would for the most part acquire its resonance from miraculous comebacks between 1977 and 1980 he and ryel would win three consecutive League titles it was a team full of greats of their era Center forward santiana who averaged more than a goal every two games
during those three years Peri the midfielder who played in the 1971 cup winers Cup Final with his arm in a cast Vincent delbosque who would one day coach Los Blancos and go Bonito the indomitable undersized Center back but it was in Europe in the next decade that Juanito and Rael forged their Legend in March 1980 having lost the first leg of a European Cup quarterfinal 2-n to Glasgow Celtic Rael performed a ferocious comeback winning 3-0 of the bernabo with Juanito scoring a decisive goal four minutes from time in 1985 in the UEFA Cup today the
Europa League quanito LED one of the great revivals in European football history roal faced barusso Munch and gladbach in the third round and were thrashed losing 5-1 in Germany to face almost certain elimination but no Juanito created the first two goals in the return leg each time with perfect crosses for J valdano and Rael won 4-n to progress again on away goals Juanito was substituted shortly before the end and when he came off the pitch the Undisputed man of the match he jumped and punched the air in celebration as he made his way to the
touch line to Roars of the crowd in the bnab the previous season although without quite as much influence from quenito ra had performed similar comebacks against Andel and Inter Milan in the Cup winners cup it was the birth of a legend after the first leg of the intergame which Rael lost 3-1 Juanito gave the quote with which he is most often Associated 90 minutes in the bernabo is a long time he said in Pigeon Italian and so it proved raal won the second leg 5-1 to advance they were the team that was never truly beaten
and Juanito a wonderful player but a ferociously emotional competitor was one of the symbols of that indomitability and he still is when Madrid face adversity their supporters urged their team to invoke the spirit of Juanito but of course there was that other side to his career and that flared worst of all in one of the most shocking incidents European football has ever seen in 1987 ryel faced Bayern Munich in the European Cup semi-final first leg in Germany after a bad foul by lotar Matias Juanito lost control stamping first on matias's chest and then with force
on his face he was sent off he was then banned from European football for 5 years and he was fined heavily by roale by then 32 it effectively ended his career at the bnab and he left the club at the end of the 8687 season he would play for two more years with Malaga before moving into coaching but in 1992 tragedy intervened quenito was managing marid in the second division he'd been to watch Real Madrid face Torino in the UEFA cup and traveling back after the game he was killed in a car crash reporting the
accident and Juanito's passing P the Spanish newspaper wrote that death came between the two passions of his life meaning Marita and the second act of his career but also of course Real Madrid if you like this video please consider subscribing to the channel the athletic is home to some of the world's best sports journalists including David onstein Daniel Taylor Ole K Amy Lawrence and James horncastle with the latest transfer news and insight on every Premier League Football story that matters theathletic.com puts you inside football and you can try it for free now for 30 days
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