Guti Haz. - A Tribute

Roughly about a month ago, I was in Madrid and as any football fan would, I found myself roaming around the Mecca of football, Santiago Bernabeu. Love them or hate them, you cannot deny that Real Madrid F.C. is the place where every footballer worth his salt dreams to be. They are what Led Zeppelin was to rock n roll, what the Lakers are to the NBA, what arguably Austin was to WWE... they are in short, THE Franchise. So there I was, in the Bernabeu, and I happened to walk into the player's section of the museum where all the kits and details of the players are archived. Everyone was taking pictures of the kits of their favorite players and I immediately looked around for mine fearing that there may be a lot of people there. After all this player, along with a cetain Raul Gonzales, has been here for more than two decades and is arguably synonymous with the club. Then I realized... the crowd was somewhere else.

Now the thing that struck me most was not the fact that all people were crowded around Cristiano Ronaldo's or Kaka's boots and kit, but the fact that this person's kit stood alone, and almost to a certain extent, neglected. Was I merely lucky or was it a sign of the times ?

Jose Maria Gutierrez Hernandez, or Guti to all Real Madrid fans, joined the club at the age of 9 and came through all the youth structures till he broke into the first team at the age of 19. With his amazing skill and talent, he could have been one of the best players ever.. but he was always overshadowed. Anyone who has seen his backheel pass to Zidane against Sevilla will have that piece of play forever etched in memory... and more recently his blind pass to Benzema at the Riazor, which helped Madrid break a two decade duck against Deportivo La Coruna, flatteringly called "the Heel of God". Maybe words cannot do justice to the amazing piece of brilliance.. as Goal.com put it..

"No one saw it coming... no one. When Enzo Maresca cleared the ball away from the penalty area, he must have thought that the danger was over for Sevilla. Cicinho had put in a cross that Zinedine Zidane had failed to control and the Sevilla midfielder hoofed the ball away, but only as far as Guti. 25 yards out, with a host of bodies blocking his view and with his back to goal, surely Guti couldn't do anything except spread it wide?

Wrong. Guti did a 'taconazo', the outrageous back-heel split the Sevilla defence, Zidane was at the end of it and Real Madrid were on their way to bagging all three points. Guti conjured up the unimaginable, that one moment of genius that etched itself forever in an observer's memory. That pass, and that pass alone, defines Guti, the temperamental genius who could never fulfill his gift, the "eternal promise".

One of the best final passers that the game has seen, maybe he was always destined to be overshadowed by names like Figo, Zidane , Beckham and more recently Ronaldo, Kaka et all. Today after 20 years at the club to which he gave his all, he is deemed surplus to requirements, his kit stands alone... not appreciated by the younger fans, the neo-galactico supporters. But this is a man about whom Zidane and Ronaldo (the Brazilian legend) had nothing but praise. Maybe he represents a dying breed of players, those that believe that, in the words of Danny Blanchflower, ‎"the game is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom"..for whom its as much an art as a sport. Maybe he is too old for the fast paced game that is championed today. Maybe. Maybe not. As he moves on to Besiktas for his swan-song, it is heartening to see that atleast he gets recognition while leaving... the eternal curse of the genius. Till then I'm happy I got the time to take a good pic... :)

From the amazing solo goal against Bilbao or the delightful volley cum lob against Villareal to coming on as a substitute and single handedly beating Sevilla to that amazing night against Valladolid where he scored 2 and created 4 in a 7-0 mauling...you can't help but wonder what he could have accomplished had he the same dedication and determination as Raul, another legend. Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder who ? But sometimes its just not meant to be...

Here's to one of the most talented players of his generation. Take a bow Jose Maria Gutierrez Hernandez !