Saturday 29th May 2021
EM countdown: Cold War
The humiliated star never forgave the dictator
Posted by Ben Redelings
The second European Championship in Spain in 1964 was a complete success – also for the Spanish General Franco and his supporters. He uses the triumph of his team in a shameful way politically. The star of the team never forgave him for this humiliation!
At least one German team almost made it to the finals of the “European Cup of Nations” (predecessor of the EM) in Spain in 1964, but the GDR was unlucky enough to be eliminated from the eventual third of the tournament, Hungary, in the round of 16 for reasons that are still mysterious to this day. A lost goal by Roland Ducke prevented the strong selection from East Germany against the World Cup runner-up from 1954 from advancing. In qualifying, the CSSR had already been eliminated, which had been in the 1962 World Cup final against Brazil a year before.
The German team, on the other hand, had once again pinched it – although 29 of 33 nations had now registered with UEFA for the tournament. Only Cyprus, Finland and Scotland had also decided not to take part in the second European Championship. A scandal for the “kicker”: “Germany stands apart!” The competition, which had quickly gained renown thanks to its first successful implementation four years earlier, was still under the radar of the public in Germany. But meanwhile it dawned on the DFB officials that the negative attitude towards a European Championship would inevitably lead German football internationally to a dead end. Because the success of the European tournament was unstoppable. Not even with a politically highly explosive finale in the middle of the Cold War – as it should show.
Slap in the face di Stefano
In the spring of 1960, Spain’s General Franco had personally forbidden his national team to travel to Moscow for the quarter-final against the Soviet Union. The old rivalry between the Spanish fascists and the Russian communists, he pretended, would have made the game impossible. When the USSR rejected a compromise proposal by UEFA, Spain was disqualified. For one of the greatest footballers of all time, Alfredo di Stefano, that decision was a slap in the face at the time. Internationally in the jersey of “La Furia Roja” he remained “the unfinished”.
Because now, four years later, when the final match kicked off at the Estadio Bernabeu in Madrid in front of an official 79,000 spectators – observers speak of an unbelievable 130,000 fans in the legendary round – di Stefano was no longer there. In his absence, an old comrade, Luis Suarez, known as the “sorcerer” should come into focus. The Italian legionnaire, who moved from FC Barcelona to Inter Milan in 1961 for the record transfer of 2.8 million marks, was known in Spain as the “white Pelé”. Technically well-versed, extremely fast on the ball and, above all, equipped with a sensational overview, Suarez conducted the Spanish team confidently and in a captivating manner easily and easily on the day of this final – of all things against the team of the Soviet Union around their star keeper Lew Yashin took place.
For the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco a game that had to be won under all circumstances. There could be no disgrace against the hated communists. The simple game of 22 people on a green lawn was hyped up to a kind of proxy war on June 21, 1964. It is hard to imagine what would have happened if the Spanish team had lost that day. But it did not get to that. Probably thank goodness.
“Cost more strength than …”
In a varied and high-class encounter, Jesus Maria Pereda managed to overcome the once again brilliant goalkeeper of the Soviets, Lev Yashin, after just six minutes. Coach José Villalonga had made the Spaniards hot with an extraordinary trick before the game. During a training session, the coach set up eleven stones in the sand and then juxtaposed them with eleven pine cones. Of course, the stones should symbolize the Spaniards. And indeed. In the case of the goal scorer of the first goal, Pereda, the motivational aid seemed to have worked: “Villalonga kept hammering into us that the stones are of course much harder than the tenons.”
Ben Redelings is a passionate “chronicler of football madness” and a supporter of the glorious VfL Bochum. The bestselling author and comedian lives in the Ruhr area and maintains his legendary treasure trove of anecdotes. For ntv.de he writes down the most exciting and funniest stories on Tuesdays and Saturdays. More information about Ben Redelings, his current dates and his book with the best columns (“Between Puff and Barcelona”) can be found on his website www.scudetto.de.
After Chussainow’s 1-1 equalizer from the Soviet Union two minutes after the Spaniards took the lead, Jesus Maria Pereda could have become the second great hero of the final – alongside Luis Suarez – but he found his master in the English referee Arthur Holland . This denied Pereda not only another hit, but also a clear penalty. Little consolation: almost forty years after the final, he was finally credited with the cross to the decisive 2-1 winner by Marcelino. Because an inaccurate compilation of the final was circulating in Spain for a long time, a teammate Peredas was incorrectly listed in all statistics as the flank giver.
That the victory of the strong Spaniards was deserved that day – there was nothing to be shaken about. But something else has caused a stir and outrage to this day. Franco and his supporters celebrated the European Championship title far beyond sporting success. And the players – whether they wanted to or not – had to attend this spectacle. Luis Suarez never forgave the dictator for these degrading scenes: “When we were awarded a medal for victory, my smile cost me more energy than all the games in my life put together.” The humiliation and instrumentalisation by the dictator at that time remained so unforgotten.
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