Bilbao2Brooklyn
25 Jan 2005, 02:18 AM
Thttp://www.soccernet.com/images/england/Steve1/jamiemcdonald_Julen_Guerrer.jpghe Lazarus filesPhil Ball
Loads of luverly goals this weekend in La Liga, seven of the thirty-six hitting the net in one particularly amazing match at Athletic Bilbao's San Mamés stadium. Losing to Osasuna, their not-so-distant cousins from Navarre, by 0-3 as late as the 58th minute, the Lions turned the show on its head and won 4-3. Athletic's fans, a noisy and emotional lot at the best of times, went understandably ballistic when the winner was scored in the 89th minute, but there was an extra reason for the decibels. The scorer was none other than Julen 'Lazarus' Guerrero, briefly back from the dead - the forgotten man of Spanish football who once occupied a large percentage of the nation's bedroom poster space - a man so popular in the mid 1990's that there was no escaping his chiselled jowls.
After scoring on his debut against Cádiz in 1992 he could seemingly do no wrong and soon outstripped sliced bread in the popularity stakes. He opened his own restaurant; Basque children were named after him in their thousands; he narrated a wildlife series and played classical piano on TV (not at the same time); was courted by Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United, and even pronounced on political themes.
It was on a comedy programme on Spain's Tele 5 that the spoof news presenter read out that 'The mother of Julen Guerrero announced publicly today that she is the only woman in Spain who does not wish to sleep with her son'. Just as well - since he was hardly short of offers. With his blondish locks, freckles and blue eyes, combined with his dashing, heroic style of play, his face seemed to occupy the covers of straight magazines, gay, male, female, style, and Homes and Gardens.
He played 40 times for Spain, scoring thirteen goals, and pledged his future to his beloved Bilbao. In 1995 he signed a contract committing him to the club until 2007 - a contract whose longevity broke all previous records at the club and which was eventually to prove a millstone around his neck.
Before Saturday's goal, Guerrero had not scored for eleven months, had only played twice, and had to all intents and purposes disappeared from the scene. Luis Fernandez first dropped him back in 2002, causing considerable controversy, but in truth he had not been playing well since the turn of the century. Last season he hardly played at all, giving way to rumours that he would retire, be loaned out, or even more unthinkably, transferred to pastures new.
Still only 31, there were some who dared accuse him of cowardice, sitting out his lucrative contract instead of trying to revive his career elsewhere, but Julen insisted that there was only one place for him. This was enough for most Athletic fans, and perhaps the weekend's events may revive his flagging career. It's certainly hard to think of a similar case in Spanish football; of a player once so feted declining so rapidly, almost as if the whole of his previous successes were based on an illusion.
[
Other recent cases that come to mind are Zaragoza's Javi Moreno, whom I saw make his debut for Spain against England at Villa Park. Wonderful for little Alavés, he was transferred to Milan, disappeared off the map and then seemed half the footballer he was on his return. Gaizka Mendieta, although he has played decently for Middlesbrough since his return from Italy, was once the best player in Spain by miles. Valencia's resurgence would not have happened without him.
But if Ivan de La Peña, so often written off as the mother of all enigmas, can come back from the dead as he has done this season for Espanyol, then maybe Julen can also have a swansong. Athletic's supporters have stuck by him through thin and thinner, his apparent ostracism by the club at times straining their loyalty. Guerrero must have been wanting to pay back their faith in him for some time, and to be fair to the bloke, he never raised a voice either against Luis Fernandez or the present manager, his ex-midfield colleague Ernesto Valverde.
The same cannot be said for Walter 'The Rifle' Pandiani, Deportivo's Uruguayan centre-forward who became the latest in a long line of players to have a go at poor Jabo Irureta, the manager of the Galician club. But Walter 'The Gob' went a little too far this time, basically accusing his boss of incompetence and of 'not caring', for which he was handed a place on the bench this weekend against Espanyol, and for which he will probably be shunted out of the club this week.
Deportivo won on home soil for the first time in two months, two goals being scored by another semi-forgotten man, Diego Tristán. He was once considered amongst Spain's finest centre-forwards, until he wasted too much energy on also criticising Irureta. Another player who scored in this game, Juan Carlos Valerón, has also been lining himself up to join the ranks of the discarded greats, but may have also given himself that little boost that makes all the difference.
Of course, whilst on this theme of decline and fall, Raúl should at least warrant mention. He still isn't playing particularly well, but Spain seems to have taken a collectively unconscious decision to ignore this fact and pretend that he's fine. There's a touch of the emperor's new clothes about Raúl these days - 'But daddy! The one with the beaky nose isn't really playing very well. Why is he in the team?' It's as if the country has long since assimilated the fact that he is an untouchable, and that nothing can relegate him to the bench. Maybe it's sort of comforting that he's always there, like an emblematic statue in some resonant city plaza.
But returning to San Mamés, the Spanish press has a particular love of the 'remontada' or 'comeback', as it means in English. The phrase became fashionable in the 1980's when Real Madrid staged a succession of unlikely Lazarus acts during a series of European adventures, usually in two-legged episodes.
One of the most amazing that I witnessed in La Liga, before this weekend, was a game in the Copa Del Rey of 1997, when Bobby Robson's Barcelona turned around a 0-3 deficit at home to Atlético Madrid, eventually winning the game 5-4. If my memory serves me correctly, Pantic scored all four for Atlético, and Ronaldo helped himself to a hat-trick for Barça, with one from Figo for good measure. How times and affiliations change! But I remember it as one of the most exciting games I've seen in this country.
Some great goals this weekend too, in what was effectively the first game of the second half of the season. Valencia's defeat at in-form Villarreal means that the season may soon become a two-horse race, but an interesting one nevertheless. Alavés have taken over at the top of the Second Division, which increases the promise of a return of the entertaining Mr Piterman to the top flight next season.
Whatever - nice to see a blast from the past this weekend, as those grown-up folks who were teenagers in 1992 dust off their Julen posters, search out the blu-tac and return ol' blue eyes to his rightful place. Can it last? Don't miss next week's instalment.
Loads of luverly goals this weekend in La Liga, seven of the thirty-six hitting the net in one particularly amazing match at Athletic Bilbao's San Mamés stadium. Losing to Osasuna, their not-so-distant cousins from Navarre, by 0-3 as late as the 58th minute, the Lions turned the show on its head and won 4-3. Athletic's fans, a noisy and emotional lot at the best of times, went understandably ballistic when the winner was scored in the 89th minute, but there was an extra reason for the decibels. The scorer was none other than Julen 'Lazarus' Guerrero, briefly back from the dead - the forgotten man of Spanish football who once occupied a large percentage of the nation's bedroom poster space - a man so popular in the mid 1990's that there was no escaping his chiselled jowls.
After scoring on his debut against Cádiz in 1992 he could seemingly do no wrong and soon outstripped sliced bread in the popularity stakes. He opened his own restaurant; Basque children were named after him in their thousands; he narrated a wildlife series and played classical piano on TV (not at the same time); was courted by Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United, and even pronounced on political themes.
It was on a comedy programme on Spain's Tele 5 that the spoof news presenter read out that 'The mother of Julen Guerrero announced publicly today that she is the only woman in Spain who does not wish to sleep with her son'. Just as well - since he was hardly short of offers. With his blondish locks, freckles and blue eyes, combined with his dashing, heroic style of play, his face seemed to occupy the covers of straight magazines, gay, male, female, style, and Homes and Gardens.
He played 40 times for Spain, scoring thirteen goals, and pledged his future to his beloved Bilbao. In 1995 he signed a contract committing him to the club until 2007 - a contract whose longevity broke all previous records at the club and which was eventually to prove a millstone around his neck.
Before Saturday's goal, Guerrero had not scored for eleven months, had only played twice, and had to all intents and purposes disappeared from the scene. Luis Fernandez first dropped him back in 2002, causing considerable controversy, but in truth he had not been playing well since the turn of the century. Last season he hardly played at all, giving way to rumours that he would retire, be loaned out, or even more unthinkably, transferred to pastures new.
Still only 31, there were some who dared accuse him of cowardice, sitting out his lucrative contract instead of trying to revive his career elsewhere, but Julen insisted that there was only one place for him. This was enough for most Athletic fans, and perhaps the weekend's events may revive his flagging career. It's certainly hard to think of a similar case in Spanish football; of a player once so feted declining so rapidly, almost as if the whole of his previous successes were based on an illusion.
[
Other recent cases that come to mind are Zaragoza's Javi Moreno, whom I saw make his debut for Spain against England at Villa Park. Wonderful for little Alavés, he was transferred to Milan, disappeared off the map and then seemed half the footballer he was on his return. Gaizka Mendieta, although he has played decently for Middlesbrough since his return from Italy, was once the best player in Spain by miles. Valencia's resurgence would not have happened without him.
But if Ivan de La Peña, so often written off as the mother of all enigmas, can come back from the dead as he has done this season for Espanyol, then maybe Julen can also have a swansong. Athletic's supporters have stuck by him through thin and thinner, his apparent ostracism by the club at times straining their loyalty. Guerrero must have been wanting to pay back their faith in him for some time, and to be fair to the bloke, he never raised a voice either against Luis Fernandez or the present manager, his ex-midfield colleague Ernesto Valverde.
The same cannot be said for Walter 'The Rifle' Pandiani, Deportivo's Uruguayan centre-forward who became the latest in a long line of players to have a go at poor Jabo Irureta, the manager of the Galician club. But Walter 'The Gob' went a little too far this time, basically accusing his boss of incompetence and of 'not caring', for which he was handed a place on the bench this weekend against Espanyol, and for which he will probably be shunted out of the club this week.
Deportivo won on home soil for the first time in two months, two goals being scored by another semi-forgotten man, Diego Tristán. He was once considered amongst Spain's finest centre-forwards, until he wasted too much energy on also criticising Irureta. Another player who scored in this game, Juan Carlos Valerón, has also been lining himself up to join the ranks of the discarded greats, but may have also given himself that little boost that makes all the difference.
Of course, whilst on this theme of decline and fall, Raúl should at least warrant mention. He still isn't playing particularly well, but Spain seems to have taken a collectively unconscious decision to ignore this fact and pretend that he's fine. There's a touch of the emperor's new clothes about Raúl these days - 'But daddy! The one with the beaky nose isn't really playing very well. Why is he in the team?' It's as if the country has long since assimilated the fact that he is an untouchable, and that nothing can relegate him to the bench. Maybe it's sort of comforting that he's always there, like an emblematic statue in some resonant city plaza.
But returning to San Mamés, the Spanish press has a particular love of the 'remontada' or 'comeback', as it means in English. The phrase became fashionable in the 1980's when Real Madrid staged a succession of unlikely Lazarus acts during a series of European adventures, usually in two-legged episodes.
One of the most amazing that I witnessed in La Liga, before this weekend, was a game in the Copa Del Rey of 1997, when Bobby Robson's Barcelona turned around a 0-3 deficit at home to Atlético Madrid, eventually winning the game 5-4. If my memory serves me correctly, Pantic scored all four for Atlético, and Ronaldo helped himself to a hat-trick for Barça, with one from Figo for good measure. How times and affiliations change! But I remember it as one of the most exciting games I've seen in this country.
Some great goals this weekend too, in what was effectively the first game of the second half of the season. Valencia's defeat at in-form Villarreal means that the season may soon become a two-horse race, but an interesting one nevertheless. Alavés have taken over at the top of the Second Division, which increases the promise of a return of the entertaining Mr Piterman to the top flight next season.
Whatever - nice to see a blast from the past this weekend, as those grown-up folks who were teenagers in 1992 dust off their Julen posters, search out the blu-tac and return ol' blue eyes to his rightful place. Can it last? Don't miss next week's instalment.