Oscar Barnade
08/21/2020 - 12:01
- Clarín.com
- sports
The legacy of Diego Maradona, Osvaldo Ardiles, Jorge Valdano and Diego Simeone, among others, is about to continue this Friday for four Argentines. On the one hand, Lautaro Martínez with Inter of Italy. On the other, the three from Sevilla: Ever Banega, Lucas Ocampos and Franco Vázquez. The concrete thing is that once again, as in the last six editions, an Argentine will be champion . Like 36 others in history.
The UEFA Europa League has been called this way since the 2009/10 season and is a direct heir to the UEFA Cup, organized in 1971 and a successor to the old Fairs Cup that began to be played in the mid-1950s. although as UEFA was not the only organizer of the tournament, it does not consider it official or its own.
Likewise, since then, there have always been Argentine players (33) or coaches (4) celebrating international cups in Europe. Diego Simeone is the only one who celebrated on both sides.
Diego Simeone, champion as a player of the UEFA Cup and twice as coach of the Europa League.
The pioneers
The first champion of the Fairs Cup was Barcelona XI, a team that represented the city of Barcelona, but was made up exclusively of players from the culé team. It was directed by Helenio Herrera, who was born and lived in Argentina until he was 9 years old, trained in Morocco and played a lot in France, which is why in many places he is considered French.
Herrera was the one who gave the go-ahead for the hiring of Carlos Medrano, a goalkeeper who in the 1950s had played mostly in the Second Division (Dock Sud and Tigre), with a stint at Argentinos Juniors in the First Division. From Tigre direct to Barcelona, who was also champion in the second edition (1959-60) and had on his squad this Argentine who later played for River.
In that already so distant and pioneering stage, Francisco Logiácono and Pedro Manfredini were also champions with Roma in 1960/61 and José Sánchez Lage with Valencia in 1962/63, with Alejandro Scopelli as coach. Another Argentine coach, Roque Olsen, celebrated with Barcelona in 1965/66.
Helenio Herrera is considered the seventh best DT in history.
The modern era
In the new UEFA Cup it was English teams that dominated the scene in the 1970s and early 1980s, with 5 champions in 13 seasons. It was a time with few foreigners, times of closed borders.
After the 78 World Cup, Julio Ricardo Villa and Osvaldo Ardiles were signed by Tottenham Hotspur. Ossie was the first in this new stage to win the second most important trophy in Europe, in the 1983/84 season. He played only three games but was in the final against Anderlecht (1-1) and was one of those in charge of kicking one of the penalties in the definition.
Ardiles and Villa at Tottenham.
The following two seasons the title went to Real Madrid, which had Jorge Valdano on its roster, sharing an attacking pair with the Mexican Hugo Sánchez (the only two foreigners). Valdano scored a goal in the first leg final against Videoton of Hungary (3-0) in the 1984/85 edition and another two in the 5-1 against Cologne of Germany, also in the first leg, the following season.
The only southern Italian southern team to win an international trophy was Napoli with Diego Maradona in 1988/89. In the first leg final, played on May 3, 1989, they beat Stuttgart 2-1 with goals from Diego on penalty and Careca. The rematch in Germany was 3-3, without goals from the Argentine but with an Olympic return, the only European one.
In Diego's journey to this final to be played in Cologne, Germany, the Argentines who have won the UEFA Europa League the most times are Federico Fazio and Nicolás Pareja, three times with Sevilla, the first in 2006/07, 2013/14 and 2015/16, and the second the trilogy between 2013 and 2016. Ever Banega can match them, because he already celebrated in 2014/15 and 2015/16. The Sevillian club is the biggest winner under the current name along with Atlético de Madrid, with three each.
On the other hand, Cholo Simeone is the only one who won it as a player and coach. He was first champion of the UEFA Cup with Inter in 1997/98 and then of the UEFA Europa League as a manager with Atlético de Madrid in 2011/12 and 2017/18.
Another who has two titles in this competition is Roberto Sensini, who was champion with Parma in 1994/95 and 1998/99. In the second celebration, Juan Sebastián Verón, Hernán Crespo and Abel Balbo also made up the squad. The only champion with four compatriots in the squad. In the tour of Argentine names, we must also mention those who once won the UEFA Cup version: Javier Zanetti (Inter, 1997/98), Roberto Ayala, Pablo Aimar and Mauricio Pellegrino (Valencia 2003/04), Osmar Ferreyra (CSKA Moscow 2004/05), Javier Saviola (Seville, 2005/06) and Alejandro Domínguez (Zenit, 2006/07.
Sensini and Crespo, in Parma. Photo: Clarín Archive.
Eduardo Salvio also has two celebrations in the modern version of the UEFA Europa League. He was part of the team of the first Atlético de Madrid champion in 2009/10 and repeated in 2011/12, with Cholo as coach. In the first Olympic round there was also Kun Sergio Agüero. In the middle, Porto de Portugal won, which had Nicolás Otamendi, Fernando Belluschi and Mariano González. In 2012/13 Chelsea was champion, which did not have Argentines.
After the Sevilla trilogy, the last champions were: Sergio Romero and Marcos Rojo with Manchester United in 2016/17, Angel Correa and Alex Werner with Atlético de Madrid in 2017/18 and Willy Caballero and Gonzalo Higuaín (played one match) with Chelsea last season. This Friday, August 21, one or two new names (Banega has already won it) will be added to this long list.
MFV