Juanito
Personal information
Full name Juan Gómez González
Date of birth (1954-11-10)10 November 1954
Place of birth Fuengirola, Spain
Date of death 2 April 1992(1992-04-02) (aged 37)
Place of death Calzada de Oropesa, Spain
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Fuengirola
1969–1972 Atlético Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1972–1973 Atlético Madrileño
1973–1977 Burgos 104 (25)
1977–1987 Real Madrid 284 (85)
1987–1989 Málaga 71 (15)
1991 Los Boliches 5 (0)
Total 464 (125)
International career
1970–1972 Spain U18 9 (0)
1976 Spain amateur 2 (0)
1976–1982 Spain 34 (8)
Managerial career
1991–1992 Mérida
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Juan Gómez González (10 November 1954 – 2 April 1992), known as Juanito, was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward.

A player with tremendous dribbling ability whose career was overshadowed by a fierce character, he was best known for his Real Madrid years. He died in a road accident at the age of 37.[1]

Growing up, he supported Real Zaragoza, but as he approached his adulthood he began supporting Real Madrid. Upon his presentation in 1977, he said: "Playing for Real Madrid is like touching the sky, Real Madrid has always been my first choice as a team and Madrid has always been my favorite as a city".[2] Over 13 seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 350 matches and 99 goals.

Juanito earned more than 30 caps for Spain, representing the nation in two World Cups and one European Championship.

Club career

Born in Fuengirola, Province of Málaga, Juanito played as a youth with his local club before joining Atlético Madrid in 1969. While still underage, he allegedly forged his papers so he could play for their under-18 team. He scored twice on his debut, but a fractured tibia ended his career at Atlético and he never played for the senior side.[2]

Juanito would revive his career at Burgos, helping them to win the Segunda División in 1975–76.[3] He made his La Liga debut in a 2–1 win over Español in the following season, and was eventually awarded Spanish Footballer of the Year by Don Balón.[4]

Juanito soon attracted the attention of Real Madrid, which signed the player in June 1977. He became a prominent member of the successful sides during the late 1970s and 1980s, in a squad which also featured Santillana, Uli Stielike, Vicente del Bosque and José Antonio Camacho. Having scored ten goals in his debut season he was instrumental in helping the capital team to five league titles, two Copa del Rey and two UEFA Cups – among his personal highlights were netting twice in the 1980 domestic cup final, incidentally played against Castilla, the club's reserves (6–1).[5] On 11 May 1983 he scored through a penalty in the European Cup Winners' Cup final, a 2–1 loss against Aberdeen, and, in the subsequent league campaign, he won the Pichichi Trophy after finishing as joint top scorer with 17 goals; over ten seasons with the Merengues he played 284 top-flight games and scored 85 times, adding 55 appearances in various European competitions (17 goals).[6]

After leaving Real Madrid, Juanito spent two seasons with Málaga, helping the side to promote from the second tier in his first year, as champions – as legendary László Kubala was the manager[7]– and scoring one of his five goals of the following campaign against former teammate Francisco Buyo,[8] before retiring in 1991 after a very brief spell with amateurs Los Boliches, also in his native Andalusia. He subsequently began a working as a coach with Mérida, leading the team to a seventh place in division two in 1991–92; however, on 2 April 1992, after watching Real play Torino in a UEFA Cup match, he was killed in a road accident in Calzada de Oropesa, Toledo, while returning to Mérida.[9]

International career

Juanito played 34 times for Spain, scoring eight goals. His debut came on 10 October 1976 in a 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Yugoslavia, in Sevilla: at the 30-minute mark, he replaced teammate del Bosque in a 2–0 win;[10] in the second match with this opponent, on 30 November 1977 in Belgrade (1–0 victory), he was hit with a bottle as he was being replaced and made an obscene gesture towards the crowd.[2]

Juanito represented Spain at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups, and at UEFA Euro 1980.[11] During the 1982 competition, on home soil, he netted a penalty against Yugoslavia in another win (2–1).[12] In 1976, he played Olympic football.[13]

Profile

Juanito was considered by most of Real Madrid fans to represent the essence of what the club is about, his spirit often being called upon before matches where the team need to make an unexpected comeback (because of all the comebacks he often led while donning the white shirt). One of these was against Celtic in the quarter-finals of the 1979–80 European Cup, with Real losing 2–0 in the first match in Glasgow: in the second leg the team managed to come from behind after scoring three times without response (the third by him), thus reaching the last four; other comebacks in this period included the downings of Inter Milan and Anderlecht.[14][15][16][2]

Since his death, Juanito continued to be remembered in the seventh minute of every home game, as the Ultras chanted "Illa illa illa, Juanito maravilla".[17]

During his career, Juanito was involved in several violent incidents: in 1978, he received a two-year suspension from European competitions after assaulting referee Adolf Prokop in a match against Grasshoppers.[2] In a UEFA Cup tie against another Swiss side, Neuchâtel Xamax, he spat on former teammate Stielike. He was again banned in 1987, this time for four years – an error in communications from UEFA meant that the sanction was originally thought to be five – after deliberately stamping on Bayern Munich's Lothar Matthäus' face;[2][18][19][20][21] as an apology, he later gave the German a bullfighter's cape and rapier.[22]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[23]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Atlético Madrileño 1971–72 Tercera División — 3 0 — — — 3 0
Total — 3 0 — — — 3 0
Burgos 1973–74 Segunda División 26 3 1 0 — — — 27 3
1974–75 Segunda División 18 7 3 1 — — — 21 8
1975–76 Segunda División 28 6 4 1 — — — 32 7
1976–77 La Liga 32 9 4 0 — — — 36 9
Total 104 25 12 2 — — — 116 27
Real Madrid 1977–78 La Liga 32 10 4 4 — — — 36 14
1978–79 La Liga 29 6 7 0 — 4[a] 4 — 40 10
1979–80 La Liga 31 10 6 4 — 4[a] 1 — 41 15
1980–81 La Liga 33 19 4 2 — 9[a] 3 — 46 24
1981–82 La Liga 30 9 7 2 — 6[b] 1 — 43 12
1982–83 La Liga 28 9 7 1 4 3 9[c] 4 1[d] 0 49 17
1983–84 La Liga 31 17 7 3 0 0 2[b] 1 — 40 21
1984–85 La Liga 17 0 1 0 5 1 7[b] 3 — 30 4
1985–86 La Liga 28 4 4 0 2 0 9[b] 0 — 43 4
1986–87 La Liga 25 1 3 0 — 5[a] 0 — 33 1
Total 284 85 50 16 11 4 55 17 1 0 401 122
Málaga 1987–88 Segunda División 37 10 4 1 — — — 41 11
1988–89 La Liga 34 5 2 0 — — — 36 5
Total 71 15 6 1 — — — 77 16
Los Boliches 1990–91 Segunda División B 5 0 0 0 — — — 5 0
Total 5 0 0 0 — — — 5 0
Career total 464 125 74 19 11 4 55 17 1 0 602 165
  1. ^ a b c d Appearances in European Cup
  2. ^ a b c d Appearances in UEFA Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  4. ^ Appearance(s) in Supercopa de España

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[10]
National team Year Apps Goals
Spain 1976 1 0
1977 4 2
1978 5 0
1979 0 0
1980 10 1
1981 10 4
1982 4 1
Total 34 8
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Juanito goal.
List of international goals scored by Juanito[10]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 27 March 1977 Rico Pérez, Alicante, Spain  Hungary 1–1 1–1 Friendly
2 4 October 1978 Maksimir, Zagreb, Yugoslavia  Yugoslavia 1–0 2–1 Euro 1980 qualifying
3 24 September 1980 Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary  Hungary 1–0 2–2 Friendly
4 18 February 1981 Vicente Calderón, Madrid, Spain  France 1–0 1–0 Friendly
5 23 June 1981 Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico  Mexico 1–0 3–1 Friendly
6 2–0
7 28 June 1981 Olímpico, Caracas, Venezuela  Venezuela 1–0 2–0 Friendly
8 20 June 1982 Luis Casanova, Valencia, Spain  Yugoslavia 1–1 2–1 1982 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Real Madrid

Burgos

Málaga

Individual

References

  1. ^ Murray, Andrew (25 April 2018). "Bullfighter, stamper… legend: why Juanito is an all-time Real Madrid hero". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Juanito" (in Spanish). Real Madrid Fans. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Martínez Laredo habla sobre el fútbol burgalés" [Martínez Laredo speaks about football in Burgos] (in Spanish). Castilla y León Es Deporte. 7 June 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b Pla Díaz, Emilio. "Spain – Footballer of the Year". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 August 2006.
  5. ^ Martín, Agustín (4 June 2020). "Un Castilla para la historia" [A Castilla for the ages]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  6. ^ Pla Díaz, Emilio. "Juan Gómez González, 'Juanito¹ – Matches in European Cups". RSSSF. Retrieved 1 August 2006.
  7. ^ a b "Juanito: 28 años del adiós al mito" [Juanito: 28th anniversary of farewell to the myth] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  8. ^ Mancera, José (5 June 1989). "El Málaga logró el punto más difícil" [Málaga got their most difficult point]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  9. ^ Paradinas, Juan José (3 April 1992). "La muerte de Juanito conmociona al fútbol español" [Juanito's death sends shock waves through Spanish football]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Pla Díaz, Emilio. "Juan Gómez González, 'Juanito' – International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 1 August 2006.
  11. ^ Gámez, Miguel (2 April 2012). "Veinte años sin Juanito" [Twenty years without Juanito]. La Nueva España (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  12. ^ Rovira, Ramón (21 June 1982). "2–1: Victoria de infarto" [2–1: Heart-stopping win]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  13. ^ G. Parajón, Marcos (14 July 2012). "Esteban y Juanito, los espejos de Isco" [Esteban and Juanito, Isco's mirrors]. Málaga Hoy (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  14. ^ Vanaclocha, Carlos (14 January 2015). "El miedo escénico que nunca llegó" [The stage fright that never was]. El Economista (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  15. ^ Núñez, Paola (31 August 2018). "El '7', un número que evoca el espíritu de Juanito" [The '7', a number that calls on the spirit of Juanito] (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  16. ^ "Down but not out: great Europa League comebacks". UEFA. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  17. ^ "Minuto 7" [7th minute] (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 November 2007 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ González, José Damian (3 May 1987). "La UEFA cierra el Bernabéu por dos partidos e inhabilita a Juanito por cinco años" [UEFA closes the Bernabéu for two games and bans Juanito for five years]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  19. ^ González, José Damian (5 May 1987). "La sanción de la UEFA a Juanito es por cuatro años" [UEFA's sanction to Juanito is for four years]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  20. ^ Murray, Scott (23 April 2014). "Real Madrid v Bayern: the night Juanito kicked Matthäus in the face". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  21. ^ Hunter, Graham (11 April 2017). "Bayern Munich v Real Madrid is the European Clásico – let the Champions League battle commence". Daily Record. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  22. ^ Muñoz, Julio. "Juanito's stomp on Lothar Matthaus". Colgados por el Fútbol. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  23. ^ Juanito at BDFutbol
  24. ^ a b c d "Juanito" (in Spanish). Real Madrid. Archived from the original on 25 December 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
  25. ^ Bravo, Luis Javier; Sillipp, Bernhard; Torre, Raúl; Di Maggio, Roberto. "Spain – List of Topscorers ("Pichichi") 1929–2015". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.

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