Amancio, from the fights with Puskas to his no to Barça and to Fraga

1. Not to Barça.

's list

, he dedicated the summer to leaving Deportivo de la Coruña.

His destiny, Barça.

The textile businessman

the same one who had brought

was now going to bring Amancio.

After a meeting at the Hotel Atlántico they closed the deal until

a Real Madrid player married to the daughter of the owner of

, who he himself would end up presiding over, told

Madrid had just been left out of the European Cup for the first time, the club's financial situation was terrible, and Deportivo was asking for fifteen million pesetas, a nonsense for the time.

The Board of Directors of Real Madrid rejected the signing, but not its president, who alleged personal issues for not showing up for the meeting every Monday and going to La Coruña, to the same Hotel Atlántico where Amancio had met with Tamburini.

There he convinced the player and the directors of Depor, lowering the purchase to ten million, putting into the operation the transfers of

, in addition to the one-year loan of

.

2. 45 euros per month

.

Amancio's first contract with Real Madrid was for three seasons, with a record of 750,000 pesetas per year and 7,500 pesetas per month in salary, which is about 45 euros.

He would end up playing 14 seasons, in which he played 471 games and scored 155 goals.

Santiago Bernabéu and Amancio at the Hotel Atlántico in La Coruña.BRAND

3. The 7 that wanted to be 8.

Over the years, 7 has become an iconic number for the Real Madrid player, and part of the blame lies with Amancio himself.

Although Kopa began wearing it, the Galician was followed by myths such as

The curious thing is that, as Amancio would confess, he did not want the 7 but the 8 with which he played at Deportivo, and that most of his career he did with the 7 by elimination.

4. Ghana, first trip abroad

.

At 22, Amancio, who was already

, it's not that he had never traveled abroad, it's that he only left La Coruña to play soccer.

As fate would have it, his first game with Madrid was also his first trip outside our borders, a friendly in Ghana.

The president,

, was celebrating the anniversary of the country's independence and, since he liked soccer, he managed to bring Real Madrid.

Another of Amancio's most famous anecdotes occurred in a changing room in Ghana, when when he went to get dressed he discovered that his shirt was missing the shield.

"This shield must be earned by sweating the shirt first, boy," Alfredo Di Stéfano told him.

It was no joke, he played without him, although it wouldn't be hard for him to win or end up sitting down to eat at what he himself called the "table of the gods":

5. Sat Puskas.

That the Hungarian Ferenc Puskas had a bad character was already known at Real Madrid, but things worsened with the arrival of Amancio.

Ferenc was in the fall of his career, he was gaining weight, losing steam and Amancio, a dribbler who often had the last pass to spare, came to the squad.

In other words, a hickey.

The entire crowd was witness to his disagreements.

"When we didn't get along in the pass, the vocabulary was... of all kinds," Amancio recalled to the digital

Of those disagreements the one who ended up sitting Miguel Muñoz went to Puskas.

Although Amancio was a forward, Real Madrid had plenty of them and he started playing as a winger.

An injury to Puskas, just before a game against Barça, allowed him to play in his position, and they won 4-1 with three goals from the Galician.

Ten days later they played in the European Cup against Dukla Prague, and they won 4-0 with three from Amancio.

That was the end for Puskas.

Amancio and Di Stéfano would end up visiting him in Budapest in the year 2000, when the Hungarian fell ill with Alzheimer's.

6. Two 'survivors' of the sixth of the 'yeyé'.

With the death of Amancio, Madrid "ye-ye" loses its banner.

Although Amancio won nine leagues and three cups, his greatest achievement was the sixth European Cup, achieved in 1966 at the Heysel stadium in Brussels against Partizan by two goals to one.

That team was made up solely of Spanish players:

The only 'survivors' are only Aranquistáin and Pirri.

Amancio and Pelé in Maracana in 1968.

7. Photo with Pelé.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first World Cup won by Brazil, in 1968 the Maracana hosted a match between the Brazilian team and a FIFA team that summoned Amancio.

Four years earlier, the Galician had already won the European Championship with Spain against the USSR, and was recognized with the bronze ball by France Football.

After his death on December 29, Amancio recalled for EL MUNDO the famous photo of him on the grass with the Brazilian, with him now that he has left, only 72 days later.

8. Death in Granada.

Although he would play two more seasons, Amancio finished as a footballer in Granada.

A destination to which in 1974 players like

refused to go.

The story begins in 1971, with a visit from Granada to Chamartín in which a brawl ensued after a strike by Amancio on the Paraguayan defender

, who had to be removed on a stretcher.

Amancio did not want to go to Granada the following two seasons, but the third time Fernández took 14 minutes to return it.

It wasn't a kick.

The press described it as a goring.

He tore the quadriceps, the strongest muscle in the body, in her right leg.

15 games fell to him, but Amancio never forgave him.

Amancio talking with Michel, from the vulture's villa.

9. Quinta del Vulture.

Amancio had to train Castilla at the best moment in his history.

The only affiliate that up to now has managed to win a Second Division championship, and that gave rise to the so-called Quinta del Buitre:

The success would serve him to train the first team, although he would not finish the season.

10. Fraga tries to sign him.

Between retiring from football and becoming a successful coach, his countryman, Manuel Fraga, tried to sign him for Alianza Popular, the seed of the PP, at that time in the middle of a dispute against

for the presidency of the Government.

Amancio rejected the offer.

"My thing is soccer", he told Don Manuel.

Amancio and Benzemá at the Santiago Bernabéu. JAVIER SORIANOAFP

11. Neighbors of the richest woman in Spain.

Amancio married

, his lifelong girlfriend, from Rianxo.

The woman has a cafeteria in La Coruña and a clothing store in Madrid.

They had six children, none of them a footballer, and five grandchildren.

They spent the summer every year in Santa Cristina, in Oleiros, the richest town by per capita income in Spain, and where they were neighbors of

, the eldest daughter of the second most famous Amancio in La Coruña, owner of 7% of Inditex and the woman richest in Spain.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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