“In the match in Glasgow they ‘rubbished’ Calderón”

The semi-final against Celtic in Glasgow, semi-final of the 1973-74 European Cup. The 1985 Copa del Rey. The Double. One of the talks at the Cultura en Rojo y Blanco festival held at the Metropolitano this afternoon was about those three great moments in the history of Atlético, in celebration of its 119th anniversary. A talk that also served to honor a second anniversary, that of the 75th anniversary of the name Atlético de Madrid. Peton moderated. Five footballers spoke who lived those moments from the grass, and took it to the museum, and recorded it forever in the red and white hearts: Adelardo, Cacho Heredia, Juan Carlos Pedraza, Clemente Villaverde, and Roberto Fresnedoso. Emotional, interesting, with anecdotes in the light that had never been revealed before and a closing that could only be made by a hilarious Roberto Fresnedoso, immense, who left the auditorium of the rojiblanco stadium with a smile and a deep ovation.

the battle of glasgow

Adelardo: “The European Cup that we made that team (in 1974), we played very well. We arrived at the games as if we had won it because of the morale that we had among all the teammates. Perhaps the coach with the “Arriba España”, who carried a giant radio to the concentrations, on his shoulder. The day before, training, there was a small setback between the teammates. Two of them touched…”

Cacho Heredia: “They were two Argentines (“Petón and Panadero”, pointed out Petón). And that motivated us a lot, because we were worried. We wanted to win the most important thing, that match, to then reach the final of the competition. The two of them were like two mastiffs hooked together and wouldn’t let go. Once that ended and we arrived at seven in the evening and the stadium was already full. Oops, these are going to kill us. We lived through a match that was achieved by epic”.

Adelardo: “I have said, of course, that we kicked, otherwise they kill us. As soon as you enter the grass, Garate. And we said: how? The Argentine ship, Panadero, left. That if we don’t give those kicks they kill us, no one comes out alive there “.

Cacho Heredia: “When the game ended it was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. I didn’t think they were going to play like that. It ends and we are happy because we had taken a point that meant a lot to us. The war breaks out between the players and, when I go to go to the locker room, there was a policeman who was hitting a player and I hit him and the policeman fell to the ground and I ran to the locker room and he came looking for me there the Police, and me taking a shower. But what hurt me the most was when they hit the president. The president was in front, I was behind and they kicked Vicente Calderón in the ass, they stepped on his passport, you can’t let them trash you, I told him.

Intercontinental

Adelardo: “It’s a dream you’ve had since you were little, to lift a title, and look where the World Cup went. Thanks to my teammates it was a team, to the European Cup so great that we did. We lost the final because we always get the worst. We tied and UEFA, instead of continuing, send another game in 48 hours. We were devastated. There is an anecdote that I told the doctor, when he finished the second game: “Enrique, go see the German who puts on the white coat because this is impossible”. How they ran two days later… It seemed that they had not played. It was horrible.

1985 Cup

Stone: “In the first place, apologize because Miguel Ángel Ruiz was going to come, who lifted that Cup but due to a personal problem he could not. He was one of the right people. At that time we had a team with eight from the academy in the starting team. Today it would be unthinkable. With that, Luis armed himself”.

Gracious: “We were a gang of kids who had all climbed, from youth and we climbed Madrileño from Second B to Second. The truth is that it was a big responsibility. The club had gone through a pretty bad time, at the level of titles, level of governance, quite a few problems. We felt the club from the roots, from below, and we were trying to recover that situation that Adelardo and Heredia had maintained at a previous level. Ten years without titles. And Athletic the favorite (in that final). There were many more people from Athletic in the final, in the stands of the stadium, than people from Atlético”.

Peiro

Stone: “Peiró had a lot to do with the successes, when he arrived in Madrid after Máximo Hernández, the gentleman, he came from Italy and it was a show. It was an important point in the history of this stage. Eight from the quarry in a starting team, I insist, complicated today”.

Adelardo: “Peiró as a footballer should not be discovered. He was the best for me but as a friend… When I arrived from Badajoz I didn’t know anything about Madrid. He welcomed me as if I were his son or his little brother. It was a coexistence that we had, so great, that for me he was my older brother. My brother, my friend, my father, my everything.”

Talk by Luis before playing the final against Athletic

Gracious: “How was the talk before that game? Like all the ones Luis always did, he always emphasized it. He had known us since we were little, all the notes he had, he was ahead of his time in terms of coaching. He knew how to take many ways to get to the game. The day of the final I remember that we always played with four defenders and there was a moment in the game when Athletic put in two forwards and Luis put in one more central defender, three. That already gives you an idea of ​​what he thought. Once a week, on Thursdays, he made us go to the field just to make moves with what were the possible variants that could occur during the game. He had a character that transmitted a lot to the player. We know the country house by the names of the trees!”

Hugo Sanchez

Gracious: “I can only speak well of him. We share a room. He was finishing dentistry and I was studying law. What I can tell you as an anecdote is that the last year he was with us, the last few months were unbearable. We constantly received calls from Barcelona first and then from Madrid, the figure of the agent did not exist then. As a player the best finisher I’ve ever seen. Is awesome. In training we started to make centers and out of ten Chileans I put nine in you”.

Stone: “He was the first player I saw with two shin guards, one in front and one behind because he played a lot with his back to him and they gave him a few axes…”.

Doublet

Ashy: “My arrival (from Espanyol) was a bit like Paco Martínez Soria with chicken. I remember Clemente in the locker room, that he explained to me, and I looked with wide eyes. For me it was a dream. My father is from Atleti, he is from here in Carabanchel. And I was from Atleti when I was little, there are photos that prove it (laughs), for me it was a real dream. In the preseason, what you mention was that team from two years before as a base, which only lacked credibility”.

ancient

Ashy: “For me, Radomir was the ideal coach at that time. The greatest virtue was that he knew how to get the most out of each player, he knew how to place you in the position. I was a First Division player and he had me throwing touches against a piece of wood, a wall. Indoors, outdoors… And I thank you very much. He made me a better player. I have never taken it badly. The message was clear, that it had to improve. And I got better.”

Cup, Pantic goal

Ashy: “That play is a play that we had worked on in training. Geli, inside support… What was not working was that Pantic finished off with a header. But Milinko appeared there and scored the only goal he has scored in his history with a header”.

Gracious: “The signing of Milinko was fireworks. One day Radomir appears there with videos. A guy who did nothing but throw fouls and all inside. I went to negotiate with Panionios and it was a club that had no offices. I took my computer! And at the Intercontinental in Athens we closed the deal. Of those were 40 million pesetas. He was a gifted player. And then look at the performance he gave”.

Fresnedoso’s goal, Caminero’s move

Ashy: “(Laughing) That partner has already said it: “He scored Caminero’s goal”. It’s that if you see the goal I have to throw myself on the iron. All the people stared at Caminero’s play, the goalkeeper, Nadal… And I was more attentive: “This has to be finished.” Delighted that Caminero made that play. The luck of being in that match and having participated in that historic point for this great club”.