Juanito

Juan Gómez González, better known as Juanito, was a Spanish forward whose brilliant dribbling was often overshadowed by his explosive temperament. Born in Fuengirola, Málaga, he supported Real Zaragoza as a child but switched his allegiance to Real Madrid as he grew older. When he was presented by the club in 1977, he said playing for them was like touching the sky, adding that Madrid had always been his favorite city and Real Madrid his first-choice team. Over 13 seasons in La Liga, he played 350 matches and scored 99 goals. He also earned more than 30 caps for Spain, appearing in two World Cups and one European Championship. He died in a road accident at age 37.

Juanito started his youth career with his local club before joining Atlético Madrid in 1969. Because he was still underage, he allegedly faked his documents to play for their under-18 team. He scored twice on his debut, but a broken tibia ended his time at Atlético without ever playing for the senior side. He revived his career at Burgos, helping them win the Segunda División in 1975–76. He made his La Liga debut the following season in a 2–1 win over Español, and was later named Spanish Footballer of the Year by Don Balón.

Real Madrid signed him in June 1977. He became a key part of the club’s successful late-1970s and 1980s teams, alongside Santillana, Uli Stielike, Vicente del Bosque, and José Antonio Camacho. He scored ten goals in his first season and helped the club win five league titles, two Copa del Rey trophies, and two UEFA Cups. A personal highlight was scoring twice in the 1980 domestic cup final, a 6–1 win over Real Madrid’s own reserve side, Castilla. On 11 May 1983, he scored a penalty in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final, a 2–1 loss to Aberdeen. The following league season, he shared the Pichichi Trophy as joint top scorer with 17 goals. Over ten seasons with Real Madrid, he played 284 league games and scored 85 goals, adding 55 appearances in European competitions with 17 goals.

After leaving Real Madrid, he spent two seasons with Málaga. In his first year, under manager László Kubala, he helped the team win the Segunda División and gain promotion. The next season he scored one of his five goals against former teammate Francisco Buyo. He retired in 1991 after a short spell with amateur side Los Boliches in Andalusia. He then became a coach at Mérida, leading them to seventh place in the second division in 1991–92. On 2 April 1992, after watching Real Madrid play Torino in a UEFA Cup match, he died in a road accident in Calzada de Oropesa, Toledo, while driving back to Mérida.

Internationally, Juanito played 34 times for Spain, scoring eight goals. He debuted on 10 October 1976 in a World Cup qualifier against Yugoslavia in Seville, replacing teammate del Bosque in a 2–0 win. In the return match in Belgrade on 30 November 1977, he was hit by a bottle as he was substituted and made an obscene gesture toward the crowd. He played at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups, and at Euro 1980. During the 1982 tournament in Spain, he scored a penalty against Yugoslavia in another 2–1 win. He also played in the 1976 Olympics.

Many Real Madrid fans saw Juanito as the embodiment of the club’s spirit, often invoking his name before matches that needed a comeback. He led several famous comebacks, including against Celtic in the 1979–80 European Cup quarter-finals, where Real Madrid overturned a 2–0 first-leg loss by winning 3–0 at home, with Juanito scoring the third. Other comebacks included victories over Inter Milan and Anderlecht. After his death, fans continued to remember him by chanting “Illa illa illa, Juanito maravilla” in the seventh minute of every home game.

His career was marked by violent incidents. In 1978, he was banned from European competitions for two years after assaulting referee Adolf Prokop in a match against Grasshoppers. In a UEFA Cup tie against Neuchâtel Xamax, he spat on former teammate Stielike. In 1987, he received a four-year ban (originally thought to be five due to a communication error) for deliberately stamping on Bayern Munich’s Lothar Matthäus’ face. As an apology, he later gave Matthäus a bullfighter’s cape and rapier.