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Luis Aragonés

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Luis Aragonés
Personal information
Full name José Luis Aragonés Suárez
Position(s) Striker (retired)
Team information
Current team
 None

Template:Spanish name 2 José Luis Aragonés Suárez (Spanish pronunciation: [xo'se 'lujs araγo'nes 'swareθ]; born July 28, 1938), usually referred to as Luis Aragonés and sometimes simply as Luis, is a former Spanish footballer and national coach.

Aragonés has spent the majority of his career as a player and coach at Atlético Madrid. He was a prominent player and then coach of the successful Atlético team of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The team won La Liga four times, reached the final of the European Cup and won the Intercontinental Cup. Between 1964 and 1974 he played 265 La Liga games for Atlético and scored 123 goals. Aragonés has coached the club on four separate occasions. He has also played with several other clubs, most notably Real Betis, and played 11 times for Spain, scoring three goals. Apart from Atlético he has also coached seven other La Liga clubs as well as the Spanish national football team who he led to their 2nd European Championship title in 2008. He became the head coach of the Turkish football team Fenerbahçe after Euro 2008, and this is the first time that Aragonés has coached outside of his native Spain.

Playing career

Early career

Aragonés began his playing career with CD Getafe in 1957 and that was also where he picked up his nickname "the elf". In 1958 he signed for Real Madrid but never made it into the senior team. He spent most of his time at Real Madrid on loan to other clubs, including Recreativo de Huelva and Hércules CF and Úbeda CF and playing for AD Plus Ultra, the Real Madrid reserve team. In 1960 he joined Real Oviedo and made his debut in the Primera Division. Between 1961 and 1964 he played for Real Betis, making 86 league appearances and scoring 33 goals. He was part of the team champion of Euro 1964, being reserve in the quarterfinals against Ireland.

Atlético de Madrid

While at Atlético, Aragonés acquired the nickname Zapatones, meaning big boots and he was known as a free kick specialist. He was a regular goalscorer and in 1970 he shared the Pichichi with his fellow Atlético forward José Eulogio Gárate and Amancio. In 1974 he scored in the 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich as Atlético held the German team in the European Cup final before losing 4-0 in the replay. After retiring as a player Aragonés was appointed Atlético coach for the first time in 1974. He soon earned himself a new nickname, El Sabio de Hortaleza (The Wise Man from Hortaleza). But after Aragones started going to the gym he changed it to the "Ogre" because of his appearance and maximum trained muscles.

Managerial career

Spanish national football team

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Spain won all three group games before facing France in the Second Round. After taking the lead through David Villa, they lost 3-1 following goals from Franck Ribéry, Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane. At Euro 2008, Spain also won all three group games, beat 2006 World Cup champion Italy on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals, beat Russia 3-0 in the semifinal, and in the final defeated Germany 1-0 through a Fernando Torres goal, giving Aragonés his first trophy as Spain's manager, and the first for the country in 44 years.

Aragonés, apparently a superstitious person, made known his dislike for Spain's away kit which they had to wear during the crucial semifinal match against Russia. He insisted that the jerseys were "mustard" and not "yellow".

Thierry Henry incident

In 2004 Aragonés was appointed coach of Spain. During a training session in the same year, a Spanish TV crew filmed Aragonés trying to motivate José Antonio Reyes by making offensive references about Reyes' Arsenal F.C. black team-mate, Thierry Henry, saying:

Tell that negro de mierda that you are much better than him. Don't hold back, tell him. Tell him from me. You have to believe in yourself, you're better than that negro de mierda.[1]

The incident caused uproar in the British media with calls for Aragonés to be sacked. [citation needed] After an investigation into the events during the match, UEFA fined the RFEF 100,000 Swiss francs/87,000 USD and warned that any future incidents would be punished more severely. UEFA noted that possible punishments could include suspension from major international tournaments or the closure of Spain's home international matches to supporters.

In response to this, Aragones has said in public that he is not a racist, and claimed that he had black friends. Brazilian-born black midfielder Marcos Senna stated:

He is not a racist. 'Aragonés is a spectacular person. [Former Spain defender] Donato, who is black, is one of his best friends. Maybe something escaped, a word, and he was misinterpreted. He helped a lot bringing me to the Spain team, and the fact people thought he was racist was minimised by the fact he called me. I see the way he treats me and how he likes me. 'He calls me "The Brazilian". Sometimes I take a free-kick in training and he shouts, "Hey Brazilian, don't take it that way, hit a folha seca [falling leaf] like Nelinho [scorer of one of the World Cup's greatest goals in 1978]." He is a surprising guy, because he is really serious, but then he comes with jokes. The guys adore Aragonés.' [2]

Statistics

Manager

Team Nat From To Record
P W D L Win %
Atlético Madrid Spain 1974 1980 207 90 55 62 043.48
Real Betis Spain 1981 1982 34 15 6 13 044.12
Atlético Madrid Spain 1982 1987 173 86 42 45 049.71
Barcelona Spain 1987 1988 39 16 9 14 041.03
Espanyol Spain 1990 1991 38 12 10 16 031.58
Atlético Madrid Spain 1991 1993 77 41 16 20 053.25
Sevilla Spain 1993 1995 76 31 23 22 040.79
Valencia Spain 1995 1997 84 41 16 27 048.81
Real Betis Spain 1997 1998 38 17 8 13 044.74
Real Oviedo Spain 1999 2000 38 11 12 15 028.95
Mallorca Spain 2000 2001 38 20 11 7 052.63
Atlético Madrid Spain 2001 2003 80 35 21 24 043.75
Mallorca Spain 2003 2004 38 15 6 17 039.47
Spain Spain 2004 2008 54 38 12 4 070.37
Fenerbahce Turkey 2008 2009 34 18 7 9 052.94
Total 1048 486 254 308 46.37

Honours

Club

Manager

Individual

References

Source: http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/450301.asp

  1. ^ Lowe, Sid (October 7, 2004). "Spain coach in mire over Henry jibe". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
  2. ^ Senna steals show, Duncan Castles, Guardian Online, June 29, 2008

External links

Preceded by UEFA Euro 2008 Winning Coach
2008 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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