Juan Gómez González

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Juan Gómez González (born 10 November 1954 in Fuengirola, Málaga; died 2 April 1992 in Calzada de Oropesa, Toledo), aka Juanito, was a Spanish footballer, who played as a forward.

A player with tremendous dribbling ability whose career was overshadowed by a fierce character, Juanito was best known for his Real Madrid years. He died in a road accident at only 37.

Growing up, Juanito 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".^[1]

[edit] Club career

Juanito played as a youth with local club Fuengirola, before joining Atlético Madrid in 1972. While still underage, he allegedly forged his papers so he could play for the colchoneros' U18 team. He scored twice on his debut, but a fractured tibia ended his career at Atlético and he never played for the senior team.^[1]

Juanito would revive his career at Burgos CF, helping them win the second division in 1975–76. He made his top flight debut in a 2–1 win over RCD Español in the following season, and was eventually awarded Spanish Footballer of the Year by Don Balón.^[2]

Juanito soon attracted the attention of Real Madrid, which signed the player in June 1977. He became a prominent member of the successful Real side during the late 1970s and 1980s, in a squad which also featured Santillana, Uli Stielike, Vicente del Bosque and José Antonio Camacho. Having scored 10 goals in his debut season, he was instrumental in helping the capital team to five league titles, two Spanish Cups and two UEFA Cups. Among his personal highlights were scoring twice in the 1980 cup final, incidentally played against Castilla CF, the club's reserves (6–1). In 1983, he scored a penalty in the Cup Winners' Cup final, in a 1–2 loss 2–1 to Aberdeen FC and, in the subsequent league campaign, won the Pichichi after finishing as joint top goalscorer with 17 goals. During ten seasons at Real, he played 284 first division games and scored 85 goals. He also played 55 games in various European competitions, with a further 17 goals.

After leaving Real Madrid, Juanito played for CD Málaga for two seasons (and scoring once against former teammate Paco Buyo), before retiring in 1989 after a few games as an amateur, with first club Fuengirola. He subsequently began a working as a coach with CP Mérida, in 1991–92. However, on 2 April 1992, after watching Real play Torino F.C. in a UEFA Cup game, he was killed in a road accident while returning to Mérida.

[edit] International career

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

He represented Spain at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups, and at the UEFA Euro 1980. During the 1982 competition, on home soil, he scored a penalty against Yugoslavia, in another triumph (2–1). In 1976, Juanito played Olympic football.

[edit] International goals

#	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	0–1	1–2	UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying
3.	24 September 1980	Nepstadion, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	0–1	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	0–1	1–3	Friendly
6.	23 June 1981	Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico	Mexico	0–2	1–3	Friendly
7.	28 June 1981	Olímpico, Caracas, Venezuela	Venezuela	0–1	0–2	Friendly
8.	20 June 1982	Luis Casanova, Valencia, Spain	Yugoslavia	1–1	2–1	1982 FIFA World Cup

[edit] Profile/temperament

Juanito is 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 FC, in the quarterfinals of the 1979–80 Champions Cup, with Real losing 2–0 in the first match in Glasgow; in the second leg, a Juanito-led side managed to mount a comeback scoring thrice without response (the third goal by Juanito) and reaching the last four. Another comebacks in this period included the downings of Inter Milan and R.S.C. Anderlecht.^[1]

Ever since his death, Juanito is remembered in every home game, in the 7th minute, as the Ultras chant "Illa illa illa, Juanito maravilla".^[3]

During his career, Juanito was a protagonist in several incidents: in 1978, he received a two-year suspension after assaulting linesman Adolf Prokov, in a match against Grasshopper-Club Zürich;^[1] in a UEFA Cup contest against another Swiss side, Neuchâtel Xamax, he spat on former teammate Stielike; in 1988, he was again banned, now for five years, after stepping on FC Bayern Munich Lothar Matthäus' face.^[1]

[edit] Honours

[edit] Team

Real Madrid

• UEFA Cup: 1984–85, 1985–86
• Spanish League: 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1986–87
• Spanish Cup: 1979–80, 1981–82
• Spanish League Cup: 1984–85

[edit] Intdividual

• Best Spanish Player: 1976–77
• Pichichi Trophy: 1983–84

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BDFutbol player profile
• BDFutbol coach profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• NationalFootballTeams data
• Biography at Real Madrid Fans (Spanish)
• Real Madrid biography (Spanish)
• International appearances; at RSSSF
• Matches in European Cups; at RSSSF
• Juan Gómez González FIFA competition record

Spain Squad v • d • e Spain squad – 1976 Summer Olympics 1 Arconada • 2 San José • 3 Camus • 4 Sanjosé • 5 Pulido • 6 Sánchez • 7 Juanito • 8 Saura • 9 Idígoras • 10 Vitoria • 11 Esteban • 12 Cundi • 13 Manzanedo • 14 Olmo • 15 Bermejo • 16 Mir • 17 Juani • Coach: Kubala v • d • e Spain squad – 1978 FIFA World Cup 1 Arconada • 2 de la Cruz • 3 Uría • 4 Asensi • 5 Migueli • 6 Biosca • 7 Dani • 8 Juanito • 9 Quini • 10 Santillana • 11 Cardeñosa • 12 Guzmán • 13 Miguel Ángel • 14 Leal • 15 Marañón • 16 Olmo • 17 Marcelino • 18 Pirri • 19 Rexach • 20 Rubén Cano • 21 San José • 22 Urruti • Coach: Kubala v • d • e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 1980 1 Arconada • 2 Alexanko • 3 Migueli • 4 Diego • 5 Uría • 6 Asensi • 7 Dani • 8 Cardeñosa • 9 Carrasco • 10 Quini • 11 del Bosque • 12 Juanito • 13 Urruti • 14 Gordillo • 15 Olmo • 16 Santillana • 17 Satrústegui • 18 Saura • 19 Cundi • 20 Tendillo • 21 Zamora • 22 Artola • Coach: Kubala v • d • e Spain squad – 1982 FIFA World Cup 1 Arconada • 2 Camacho • 3 Gordillo • 4 Alonso • 5 Tendillo • 6 Alexanko • 7 Juanito • 8 Joaquín • 9 Satrústegui • 10 Zamora • 11 López Ufarte • 12 Urquiaga • 13 Jiménez • 14 Maceda • 15 Saura • 16 Sánchez • 17 Gallego • 18 Uralde • 19 Santillana • 20 Quini • 21 Urruti • 22 Miguel Ángel • Coach: Santamaría

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Hipólito Rincón	Pichichi Trophy 1983–1984	Succeeded by Hugo Sánchez
Preceded by Miguel Ángel	Best Spanish player 1976–77	Succeeded by Migueli