50 honors the “example”, the nobility and the leadership of Arteche

“It’s okay to lose, Maria, but you’re wearing boots”she said to one of her daughters Juan Carlos Artechelegend, “courage and heart” of Atletico Madrida “noble” man, an “example”, a leader in the 80s of the rojiblanco team, according to his teammates in the tribute paid to him by La Peña this Thursday the 50 in an emotional act, on the twelfth anniversary of his death in 2010.

Arteche, ‘The monkfish’, as they called him in the Vicente Calderón locker room, he played 420 games, scored 28 goals and won two titles between 1978 and 1989 with Atlético de Madrid. “He gave us an example of life every day, as a player and after a player. An example of loyalty, sacrifice, resilience in the face of adversity, friendship, dedication… And people appreciate all that . No one gave him anything . He had a huge personality”, appreciated Miguel Angel Ruizhis friend and partner in the defense center until 1987.

“He is one of the footballers I have seen with the greatest capacity for improvement since he arrived, who arrived in a difficult place, because the Atlético de Madrid shirt weighs a lot. It is not easy to develop what he did at the time that is. until he became the team leader,” he added.

“He comes from Racing de Santander. He didn’t grow up in Atlético’s quarry, but we immediately realized he was one of us, with a sense of belonging to the team. He made his energy available to the group. Once inside the group there is no excitement without commitment. Commitment gave everything,” he added.

“He is very big and very strong. The physical preparation we have is brutal. We train more as athletes than as soccer players. He is the first to suffer and he comes first. He is an example for everyone,” said Ruiz.

“I was captain and Juan Carlos was another one of the captains. Juan Carlos came in the 77-78 season, a year after I came to the first team. Then they Luiz Pereira, Leivinha, Leal, Alberto, who immediately left. That’s why I immediately became the captain. We formed a family, we all became one and we knew what to do”, continued Ruiz, who had 357 games between 1977 and 1987 with the rojiblanco first team, in addition to 25 goals.

“Miguel Ángel (Ruiz) and Juan Carlos (Arteche) were leading the group and we paid attention. We had a very interesting group, we were all very committed. The two have a voice of command”, explained Juan Carlos Pedrazaalso a teammate of Arteche at Atlético, where he played 121 games and scored 14 goals in the 1980s, in three different spells.

His partner and friend Quique Setién

When Arteche arrived from Racing de Santander, there was “an economic difference”. “But Juan Carlos got through. If they didn’t give him what he wanted, he said ‘I’ll go to Santander’. The president of Racing gave him a difference that Atleti didn’t give him,” said his wife, Rosa Lopez Mateos, from the moment he signed for the rojiblanco club to start an eleven-year career, between 1978 and 1989. With his first cousin, for a victory in Racing in Baracaldo, he bought a washing machine from his mother, who “always called him the baracaldesa “.

“He was a very dear person and friend, who in my case was a comrade in the battle in Santander. I still have some memories that he left me in one of those fields. I will not forget him. He was a beautiful person. on the field he never reflected outside of it. That’s why we love him so much. An extraordinary boy and a great player, who will remain in the memory of all of us”, he expressed. Quique Setiencurrent coach of Villarreal, from afar, via a video, due to his inability to attend the event.

“I had a lot of fun playing with him. Arteche is a little lacking in composure. One is committed and the other is withdrawn. He was a wonderful, charming man. I had a good friendship with him,” explained Luis Pereira, another Atlético legend. “He was a gladiator. A man of great integrity and courage,” recalled Argentine goalkeeper Ubaldo Fillol.

A “noble, strong and tough” defender

It’s a different football. “It was another time, more were allowed and all teams marked the person, not in the zone like today. Juan Carlos was tough, but he did his business. He was a starter for ten seasons. He was never injured. In the end, from the knee,” explained Ruiz. “It’s hard. When Andoni (Goicoechea, also present at the event) arrived, we gave them a name, which we always say is ‘Madrid command’. Yes, they gave it,” said Pedraza.

“I remember what it was like that they didn’t call us… They told us everything, but football has changed. There is a premise that what is on the pitch stays on the pitch, now things have changed a lot in the world of football. I arrived in 1987, when Jesus Gil and I’m in Athletic. What I liked the most was that he was an honorable person. He is a Champions footballer. He was a friend of his friends, had a strong character and commanded respect. He’s a leader in the locker room,” explained Goicoechea.

“He seemed like a very good person to me. Being friends with his friends caused him problems. We tried to solve some problems (the conflict between him and Jesús Gil in 1988). One of our meetings in Arteche had a problem with the club is in my house, that I live near the (old) sports city of Real Madrid. He is a nice person,” he added.

“He is very strong and very dignified. When he arrived, Leivinha told me ‘the greatest joy that gave me was that we signed Arteche, because last year he sewed me there (kick). He was not hurt. He is noble and strong”, intervened Pepe Navarro, goalkeeper of Atlético between 1978 and 1982 and joined the Burgos team at the same time as Arteche from Racing.

“Proud to have shared those years at Atlético de Madrid with Juan Carlos and most of my teammates. They were difficult years, because the club is going through a transition stage. We had difficult years. Some years to be able to get paid at the end of the season we had to accept bills of exchange that was later given to us with a due date in November… These are things that brought us all together. We were friends,” he recalled Clement Villaverdewith 127 meetings between 1981 and 1987.

Artechenbauer’s return against Betis

Arteche and Ruiz are the highest scoring central defenders in Atlético’s history, with 28 and 25 goals, respectively. “I always say that more than half of the goals I score are passes Dirceu, Quique Ramos, Rubio or Landaburu. We have very good players,” explained Ruiz.

“Fortunate to have partnered with him for six seasons at Atlético de Madrid and even more fortunate to be with him during the time we spent in the judiciary (job, after being fired by Jesús Gil, president of Atlético). His dedication and friendship. The big contributed to the good atmosphere that was there in the Atleti dressing room in the 80s”, Chus Landuburuwho also remembered the “tute” games at the team’s concentrations back then in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Among his goals, the two from which Atlético came against Betis on November 6, 1983 at the Vicente Calderón (4-3) remain forever in the collective memory. “It’s a manifestation of what Juan Carlos is, in wanting to overcome adversity. That’s when he tore his meniscus (he scored 4-3 in extra time and left the pitch on a stretcher). It’s raining. Last he scored two. goals in the south end goal”, recalled Ruiz.

0-4 at the Bernabéu and leaving in police vans

A Paul Futre, the signing that made Jesús Gil y Gil the president of the club, who called him “the boy”, relieved him of the pressure to become the star reinforcement of the rojiblanco team. “For me, this genius was very important when I came as a hero. He was young and he always treated me like a child. He knew his responsibility,” recalled de Arteche. “And he is the big culprit of having a great mania for Real Madrid. ‘Son, here you have to sweat the shirt until the last drop, but against Real Madrid you have to sweat blood’. My first derby was on November 7, 35 years ago, and we won 0-4. We had to leave the Bernabéu at one in the morning. We couldn’t get off the bus. We left the stadium with the police vans. I had never seen him as happy as he was that day. A historic day,” Futre recalled.

“In the first year, the center on duty (of the rival) told me that ‘I will kill you’… And I told him that ‘you have to kill Arteche first’. I remember it fondly. When the unjust started the war to him as president (Jesús Gil y Gil), who became a father to me, when he publicly said something that I did not like, which was a lie, I went to the press conference and spoke against the president for the first time. of the president is a lie”, continued the Portuguese legend, who described the Cantabrian centre-back as “a great man and a great captain”.

“Nano I kill you”, Arteche said to Roberto Simón Marina when he joked with him in the locker room. “For me he is a piece of bread. He loves me very much. I messed with him a lot. When they brought the balls to give him the referee, we raised them and played with them and I said to him, ‘But, Arteche, where are you going? What are you going to? to touch the ball, if you just give it up?’. And another day ‘Arteche will change the ball for us, ten years to get the touch on ‘ adidas’ and they change it for you”, said the former midfielder before the absolutely full capacity Eduardo Úrculo cultural center in Madrid.

“When I went up to the first team, I was one of the first kids that we were doing the preseason, the next day I showed up with a slightly different shirt than usual. He said to me: ‘Son, come here; who do you think you are ?. I will explain to you what Atlético de Madrid is. It is so. Give up painting. To work, to work. For me, it kind of guided me,” said Pedro Pablo Matesanz, Former player and current first team delegate.

In 1988, a long dispute with Jesús Gil y Gil, then president of Atlético, on most occasions for coming out in defense of his rojiblanco teammates ended with him outside Atlético de Madrid and in court. “He had a bad life. He barely slept. You have to forget about it. It’s over,” said his wife Rosa. In April 1990, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arteche, in the process for unfair dismissal.