Juan Gómez González (10 November 1954 – 2 April 1992), known as Juanito, was a Spanish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward. A player with tremendous dribbling ability whose career was overshadowed by a fierce character, he was best known for his

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

years. He died in a

road accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

at the age of 37. Growing up, he supported

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, but as he approached his adulthood he began supporting Real Madrid. Upon his presentation in 1977, he said: "Playing for Real Madrid is like touching the sky, Real Madrid has always been my first choice as a team and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

has always been my favorite as a city". Over 13 seasons, he amassed

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 350 matches and 99 goals. Juanito earned more than 30

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, representing the nation in two

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and one

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Club career

Born in

Fuengirola Fuengirola () is a city on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is located on the central coast of the province and integrated into the region of the Costa del Sol and the Com ...

Province of Málaga The province of Málaga ( ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to the east. The province ...

, Juanito played as a youth with his local club before joining

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in 1969. While still underage, he allegedly forged his papers so he could play for their under-18 team. He scored twice on his debut, but a fractured

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

ended his career at Atlético and he never played for the senior side. Juanito would revive his career at

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

, helping them to win the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

in 1975–76. He made his

debut in a 2–1 win over Español in the following season, and was eventually awarded Spanish Footballer of the Year by '' Don Balón''. Juanito soon attracted the attention of

, which signed the player in June 1977. He became a prominent member of the successful sides during the late 1970s and 1980s, in a squad which also featured Santillana,

Uli Stielike Ulrich "Uli" Stielike (born 15 November 1954) is a German former footballer and manager. Usually a central midfielder or sweeper, Stielike was well known for his stamina and footballing intelligence.Radnedge, Keir. (2004). The Complete Encyclop ...

Vicente del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

and

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and a former manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major ti ...

. Having scored ten goals in his debut season he was instrumental in helping the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

team to five league titles, two

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

and two UEFA Cups – among his personal highlights were netting twice in the 1980 domestic cup final, incidentally played against Castilla, the club's reserves (6–1). On 11 May 1983 he scored through a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, a 2–1 loss against

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, and, in the subsequent league campaign, he won the

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish Association football, football, the Pichichi Trophy () is awarded by the sports newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Pichichi (footballer), Rafael ...

after finishing as joint top scorer with 17 goals; over ten seasons with the ''Merengues'' he played 284 top-flight games and scored 85 times, adding 55 appearances in various European competitions (17 goals). After leaving Real Madrid, Juanito spent two seasons with

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, helping the side to promote from the second tier in his first year, as champions – as legendary

László Kubala László Kubala (10 June 1927 – 17 May 2002) was a Hungarian professional association football, footballer. He played as a forward (association football), forward for Ferencvárosi TC, Ferencváros, ŠK Slovan Bratislava, Slovan Bratislava, F ...

was the manager– and scoring one of his five goals of the following campaign against former teammate

Francisco Buyo Francisco "Paco" Buyo Sánchez (born 13 January 1958) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Best known for his Sevilla and Real Madrid spells, he appeared in 542 La Liga matches, third all-time highest at the time of his r ...

, before retiring in 1991 after a very brief spell with amateurs Los Boliches, also in his native

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

. He subsequently began a working as a coach with Mérida, leading the team to a seventh place in division two in 1991–92; however, on 2 April 1992, after watching Real play

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

in a UEFA Cup match, he was killed in a road accident in Calzada de Oropesa, Toledo, while returning to Mérida.

International career

Juanito played 34 times for

, scoring eight goals. His debut came on 10 October 1976 in a

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

qualifier against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, in

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

: at the 30-minute mark, he replaced teammate del Bosque in a 2–0 win; in the second match with this opponent, on 30 November 1977 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

(1–0 victory), he was hit with a bottle as he was being replaced and made an obscene gesture towards the crowd. Juanito represented Spain at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups, and at

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams ...

. During the 1982 competition, on home soil, he netted a penalty against Yugoslavia in another win (2–1). In

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, he played Olympic football.

Profile

Juanito was considered by most of Real Madrid fans to represent the essence of what the club is about, his spirit often being called upon before matches where the team need to make an unexpected comeback (because of all the comebacks he often led while donning the white shirt). One of these was against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in the quarter-finals of the

1979–80 European Cup The 1979–80 European Cup was the 25th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football competition. The tournament was won by holders Nottingham Forest in the final against Hamburg. The winning goal was scored by John Robertson, who d ...

, with Real losing 2–0 in the first match in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

: in the second leg the team managed to come from behind after scoring three times without response (the third by him), thus reaching the last four; other comebacks in this period included the downings of

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

and

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

. Since his death, Juanito continued to be remembered in the seventh minute of every home game, as the ''Ultras'' chanted "Illa illa illa, Juanito maravilla". During his career, Juanito was involved in several violent incidents: in 1978, he received a two-year suspension from European competitions after assaulting

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

Adolf Prokop in a match against

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

. In a UEFA Cup tie against another

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

side,

Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

, he spat on former teammate Stielike. He was again banned in 1987, this time for four years – an error in communications from

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

meant that the sanction was originally thought to be five – after deliberately stamping on

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. He captained Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and was ...

' face; as an apology, he later gave the German a bullfighter's cape and rapier.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Juanito goal.''

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

: 1979–80, 1981–82 *

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 1984–85, 1985–86 Burgos *

: 1975–76 Málaga *Segunda División: 1987–88 Individual * Don Balón Award – Best Spanish Player: 1976–77 *La Liga Team of The Year: 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80 *

: 1983–84 *

UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll The UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll is the popular name for an Opinion poll, online poll conducted in 2004 by UEFA as part of their Golden Jubilee celebrations, celebrating the best European Association football, footballers from the fifty previous years. ...

: 2004

References

External links

* * * * *
Stats at Amigos Malaguistas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juanito 1954 births 1992 deaths People from Fuengirola 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Málaga Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Fuengirola players Atlético Madrid B players Burgos CF (1936) footballers Real Madrid CF players CD Málaga footballers UEFA Europa League–winning players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spain men's international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1980 players 1982 FIFA World Cup players Olympic footballers for Spain Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Pichichi Trophy winners Spanish football managers Segunda División managers CP Mérida managers Road incident deaths in Spain