Talking to José Emilio Santamaría (92 years old) is listening to history. Pepe, as the Bernabéu and Di Stéfano called him in confidence, is the last legend of that Real Madrid that, with the birth of the European Cup, became a world icon. The last banner of a team that established the winning idiosyncrasy in the entity. He was the first central defender to take the ball from behind. An authorized voice to put in context the 120 years that the club celebrates on Sunday.
As soon as he arrived at Real Madrid, Di Stéfano advised his hiring.
I’ve always been told, but he never confirmed it to me. I was a center back who touched the ball, strong, hard, but without
kick.
He signed in 1957 and won three consecutive European Cups, four in total with the one obtained in 1966.
And there weren’t five because when I came in ’57 I didn’t have the passport to prove that I was the son of Spaniards (my parents were Galician from Ribadavia) and that I could play as a Spaniard. I saw that final at the Bernabéu against Fiorentina, who had also been interested in me. Look, I came here for four years and I’ve been here 65, almost my whole life.
Together with Di Stéfano, Puskas, Rial, Gento and other players, you formed the team that made the European Cup great and that made Real Madrid a legend. The 120-year history of the club is based on those five consecutive titles.
The key to that constant success is that there were great players, but we all worked hard to be a team together and win. Alfredo ran everywhere, Gento imposed his speed down the flank, Rial was a very technical footballer, Puskas ran through his area and had a devastating shot. And do you know another very important factor? Each victory fueled our ambition to win the next title. We all knew what we had to do in the field, each one had a mission, and we fought to the maximum because we wanted to win more.
He played 337 games for Real Madrid and celebrated twelve titles. He was international with Uruguay and with Spain. The best game he has experienced?
The Glasgow final in 1960, the fifth European Cup, was the best match in history. We were up against Eintracht Frankfurt, who were a young team that had won everything. Many believed that they would beat us, because we were already a veteran team. And, in fact, they scored the first goal, with the stadium full. Then we got seven goals in a row, four from Puskas and three from Di Stéfano. The Germans made two goals in the end. We won 7-3 and the public was tremendous.
That game has been considered the best in history. Unforgettable Marquitos with his Scottish skirt on the plane back to Madrid.
I’m going to tell you one thing. Already in the hotel we wanted to go out to celebrate at night. And Bernabéu prevented us. He stood on the stairs of the floor where we all had rooms and no one came out of there. And at night he put two black giants of two meters and 120 kilos for us so that we could not leave. We told them both to bring us drinks and food to celebrate in the rooms. And do you know what they brought us? Juices and cookies. It’s the only thing there was. Bernabéu didn’t want us to go out because the reception he was expecting us in Madrid was impressive, from Barajas to the City Hall, and he wanted us all to be in good shape. Bernabéu, as always, was right.
Bernabéu was called crazy for building the stadium in the boonies, on the outskirts of Madrid, and the works were financed with promissory notes from the partners.
Don Santiago was a great leader, a visionary. Together with Antonio Calderón and Raimundo Saporta, he formed an impressive leadership. He built the stadium in the middle of melon and vegetable fields, surrounded by orchards. Notice if the stadium was far away that the taxi drivers didn’t want to go there because they got robbed.
Hey, you guys won it all, but don’t tell me you were saints. Did they go out at night?
Yeah, there were some pirates out there, ha ha ha. We were young… He would go out from time to time. But to perform in a team like the level of Real Madrid you have to take good care of yourself. In those days there were four or five nightclubs and the club knew who was going out and where. I had the information. I tell you one thing. One night Di Stéfano and I went with our wives to see a show. The next day I went to the club to get my fan letters, which asked for signed photos and things like that, and Antonio Calderón saw me and said: «Nice show last night». I stayed on alert. Calderón added: “That’s very good, that you go out with your women.” What the club didn’t want is for singles to go from nightclub to nightclub every night to flirt. But after those words from Calderón, I no longer wanted to go out with my wife. They knew where you were going. My wife always told me that we could go out together whenever we wanted, but I refused.
Has Gento really been recognized as the great player he was?
Paco must be given his place and he has not been given it, because he was a great footballer, but then he lived his life and he did not like to be the target of everything. He was a magnificent winger, who overflowed with speed, who scored many goals and gave many with his incursions and his passes. When we had problems, Alfredo and I used to say: «Balls to Gento». And we breathed.
Gento, Di Stéfano, for many the best in history, with Pelé, and Puskas, the culmination of that great team.
You can’t compare players from different eras to say who was the best in the world. Alfredo and Pelé were very great, but the times are different. And the case of Pancho Puskas was unique. He had escaped from Hungary and was living for more than a year in a refugee camp in Italy, as a stateless person, until Madrid got him to come. In Italy he did nothing but eat pasta and when he arrived here he had a belly… The coach, Carniglia, said that he was too fat and didn’t take him out to play. One day Bernabeú came, he spoke with Carniglia and told him: “We have signed him to play. Well, if he is fat, train him to get in shape, but to play ». The coach put him on the following Sunday and scored two goals. Thus he began his great career in Madrid.
Miguel Muñoz was his coach and before that he had already won European Cups as a player. What stands out about him?
Miguel Muñoz made a team, an eleven, as a base, and did not change it, except for injuries or sanctions. He was clear. He didn’t make changes.
Real Madrid turns 120 and continues to be at the forefront of the world elite that you consecrated.
Because today we have a president who takes the club to the highest level, like the one we reached in those days with the Bernabéu. What Florentino is doing is incredible. The current sports city has a lot of training fields, residences for players and there is a large piece of land that is still unused, waiting to build other things there. And the new stadium is going to be number one in the world, but not only as a field, but it will have restaurants and a lot of things to generate income every day. Something awesome.
With the money produced by the future stadium, big signings can be made, because what Florentino Pérez is worried about is competing with state clubs, supported by countries.
Yes, those clubs will be supported by the States, but there is Real Madrid, at the forefront, with this new stadium and this sports city that are an example for others.
Do you support the European Super League?
Of course I want the Super League. Real Madrid must face the best teams in Europe, and the Super League will arrive, whether in five or 15 years. And when that happens, which will happen, the club will have to have two squads, one with top players and another with younger men who will be joined by those chosen from the quarry, in order to compete in the two tournaments. Look, it’s been 120 years for Real Madrid and the club is laying the foundations, with its stadium, its sports complex, with its accounts reorganized, to be in the front line for another 120 million, to be in the elite forever.
