Lionel Scaloni’s other great love: Deportivo La Coruña seeking resurrection

Nothing, if not the tenacity of its people, remains of that Deportivo La Coruña that for two cycles (in the 90s with Arsenio Iglesias and in the 2000s with Javier Irureta, one of the promoters of the trainer Scaloni) was encouraged to sit at the table of the greats, to be champion of all local trophies (Lega, Copa del Rey and Supercoppa) and even to be a protagonist in Europe (reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2004).

The Galician team is now trapped in the third category of Spanish football -the now called First RFEF or First Federation-, a semi-professional division, far from the millions managed by the usual giants, the perpetual First.

This last season he was about to move up to the Second Division. But he couldn’t make the leap. Lost 2-1 in the extension of the Repechage against Albacete. Riazor’s draw – his stadium, almost unbeatable on happy days – was enough to cheer him up. Hand.

On the crowded stands, incredibly anonymous, was an idol of the institution: Lionel Scaloni, the coach of the Argentine team, who he spent nine seasons at the club in his prime, appearing in 301 games and scoring 18 goals. A feature that always saved him from that moment: his ability to adapt to different positions. The link between Scaloni and the city and its identification with the shirt remains intact. A Galician love, a beautiful and reduced version of the relationship between Diego Maradona and Naples.

Now, the Coruña team will continue another year in the third category (for the first time in its 116-year history), in which it was relegated on 20 July 2020. Two years earlier, on 29 April 2018, it had lost its place in First . No residue of the days in which Scaloni, with the number 12 on his shoulders, generated acclaim and applause for his dedication and commitment.

Scaloni was in town and at the stadium and was treated with homage. He took pictures, signed autographs, felt at home. love lasts. Even the desire of those days as a footballer. He has heard praise and congratulations for his journey, in these immaculate days, in the national team.

the golden age

Everyone knows Javier Iruretagoyena Amiano as Javier Irureta and the most intimate call him Jabo. He was born in Irun, in the Basque Country, but in Galicia they love it as if it were a neighbor of San Vicente de Elviña or San Pedro de Visma, small and charming territories of A Coruña. Like Scaloni.

Irureta, the DT who directed the Argentine in 223 games and coincided in the four Depor titles, points out: “Scaloni is my greatest pride as a coach. I talked to him. He contributed a lot to the team. When we were on the bench, he was able to go all the way to the corner flag to protest to the referee. I had to contain it a little, huh. He was a player who in the matches, in the locker room was an excellent teammate and who helped a lot in that trajectory he experienced at Dépor. I think the club has served him well also for his current experience as a manager. “

He added in a 90-minute interview: “I remember bringing songs from Argentina into the locker room. When we were champions, they played the La Mosca song that said something like ‘I want to give you something from my heart‘… He always put him on the bus. She was very lively and I liked that because she didn’t get mad when she wasn’t playing. For me, these are values ​​that are very useful to lead a team to achieve important things. “

The portrait continues: “In the locker room he was the first to put a hand in the middle to encourage his teammates. He is very aware of the game, very aware of all the problems. The ball was on one side and he was watching what the opponent was doing. He has always helped me as a coach and always said to me “look”.. He was very attentive, I think he served him well and that he transfers him to the national team “.

Irureta was and is the most successful manager in the history of Deportivo. He was there from 1998 to 2005 and won a championship (the only time in the club’s centennial life), a Copa del Rey (at the Bernabéu, on the date of Real Madrid’s Centenary, with Scaloni present for 90 minutes) and two Super Cups. of Spain.

He achieved what seemed impossible: cancel the desire for that SuperSport by Arsenio Iglesiaswho had been a great protagonist in the first five years of the 90s. With Irureta everything seemed possible: for five consecutive seasons he included La Coruña on the podium of the First Division. Not only that: it has also built miracles in Europe. And one of them was the most incredible comeback in Champions League history.

In the first leg of the quarter-finals, at Giuseppe Meazza, Milan had celebrated good football and had beaten 4-1. Depor had to reverse a story that everyone had written an ending to. Irureta was also the one who made a promise: He promised to walk the Camino de Santiago if his team made it through the round.

He had to do it, Deportivo beat 4-0 and went to the semifinals. There he was stopped by the Port of Mourinho – then champion in the final against Monaco – with an aggregate result of 1-0. However, no one forgets that day that well tells the story of that precious team, in which the current technical director of the national team began to forge. Nothing less.