Former Madrid striker remembers losing to Liverpool was terrifying: “The fans were lying on the ground at the airport”

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The first time was a traumatic experience. It’s been a long time, but I still remember it with pain. I was the captain, I had made up my mind to lift the cup at the Parc des Princes. After losing sometimes you feel that it is not worth reaching the final. I remember that The return to Madrid was terribleAt the airport, the fans are lying on the ground. They didn’t blame us for anything, but you can tell they were very disappointed.

the end of desperation still shakes Carlos Alonso Santilana (Santillana del Mar, 1952). This Friday marks the 41st anniversary of Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss against Liverpool (Parse, May 27, 1981), which was resolved by a goal. Alan Kennedy generated in the throw-in and driven by an error of Rafa Garca Courts, It had been 15 years since Real Madrid reached the Continental Final. There were three situations that affected us negatively. the first was that cunningham Reappeared after toe injury. He was very fast, but he was not in material primacy. we players miss a lot boskov I put that in the title. the second was that steely He had recently recovered from a fiber break and was not 100%. the third was juanito Suffering from osteoarthritis in the knee, EL Mundo remembers for Santilana, then, at 29, the best header in Europe.

We had few chances. was one of the best camakowho took advantage of a response and first appeared alone clemens, The goal was scored by the mistake of Garca Cortés. The final is decided by small details. An unforeseen event could have affected the result, as happened to us in the 1984 European Championship final Arconadaexplains the scorer, who now enjoys golf and with his grandchildren.

We don’t play well. He set the pace for us and we were in tow. As the match progressed, we were content to reach extra time, but it did not happen. It could not have been due to the fault of García Cortés. When I was going to clear, the ball bounced badly inside the area and I lost my position. The ball went to Kennedy, who controlled it and fired to hit. augustRemember the side. The British defender later said, “I just lowered my head and hit him as hard as I could.”

At the time, Liverpool were on a roll and full of confidence, which is essential, according to Santilana: You need mental fortitude and confidence to win the final. This is what is happening with Real Madrid now, no matter how they play, but you know they are always the favorites if they reach the finals. Rivals fear him for his ability to make it to the finals. So, that winning dynamic was Liverpool, not Real Madrid. they had very good players like dalglish, McDermott hey sounessAnd they came from winning the 1977 and 1978 finals. He was the swamp player of Europe at that time.

“Boskov was an innovator”

that was coached by real madrid Vujadin Boskov, a charismatic Yugoslavian, innovative in training, with lots of ball and mixed concepts of basketball and handball. He was comfortable with young people. Shortly after coming I relied on domestic players like gallego hey pineda, I say Garcia Team ,Garka Relic, Garca Courts, Garka Nawazsi, dear garka, Garcia Hernandez), a name that has a certain derogatory touch that bothers Santalana: In Garcia Team The high quality players were: forest, juanito, steely, cunningham… you have to have a good team to get to the final, and that was, what happens is we get to the final game. In addition to giants, such as benitoDel Bosque, Juanito or me, there were a lot of character guys like Camacho in that squad, and young guys who pushed: gallego, Portugal, corner… Boskov was an innovator, a great Madridista. Those were tough times for Spanish football, with only two foreigners per team and they could not compete financially with other European clubs.

Santilana also recognizes little recognized merit for that team: in a way, we were the custodians of Quinta del Buitre, we paved the way for them. I spent several seasons with him and I thought we would be European champions. I still can’t find an explanation as to how that generation didn’t get this title. History was not fair to them.

The striker, who spent 17 seasons at Real Madrid, believes his team is the favorite for Saturday’s final: we have a better bench, people like camavinga, Rodrigo hey valverde, speed of vinicius And Rodrigo could hurt Liverpool’s central defenders, who are big and slow, he explains.