32 years without Juanito
He won 2 UEFA Cups, 5 LaLiga titles, 2 Copas del Rey and 1 Copa de la Liga with Real Madrid.
Today marks 32 years since the passing of one of Real Madrid's most legendary players: Juan Gómez Juanito. On 2 April 1992, the former madridista lost his life in a road traffic accident as he was heading back to Mérida after attending the match against Torino at the Santiago Bernabéu. He was just 37 years old at the time and working as Mérida head coach.
Juanito was born on 10 November 1954 in Fuengirola (Málaga) and went on to make history at Real Madrid between 1977 and 1987. He made 401 appearances for our club, scoring 121 goals and winning 2 UEFA Cups, 5 LaLiga titles, 2 Copas del Rey and 1 Copa de la Liga, as well as scooping the Pichichi Award on one occasion.
Remembrance
Ever since his fateful accident, madridismo remembers him in the seventh minute of each game played at the Santiago Bernabéu with the famous chant: "Illa, illa, illa, Juanito maravilla." Besides his supreme quality and determination in the way he played the game, Juanito also left us with some of the most memorable images in madridista history, most notably his jumping for joy following the huge comeback against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup.