An Ode to Paco Gento and his 9 European finals | Part 2

Barcelona halted Madrid’s undefeated run in the round of 16 in the 1960/61 European Cup, but Madrid were back playing their sixth final in the seventh iteration of the tournament. A 28-year-old Paco Gento was captaining Los Blancos against Guttman’s feared Benfica, the reigning champions. The evergreen Puskas scored a hat-trick, but it was Benfica that prevailed 5-3. Madrid were leading 2-0 by the middle of the first half, but Benfica soon pulled level. Madrid would take the lead once more late in the first and carry that lead into the break, but Benfica would level soon after the second half began. Eusebio then scored twice in quick succession to condemn Madrid to their first European Cup final defeat. 

Real Madrid were knocked out in the preliminary round of the 1962/63 European Cup, but they were back with a bang the next year, humiliating Rangers 7-0 over two legs, with Puskas scoring four. Gento netted once. He followed that up with another goal against Dinamo Bucharest in the next round. In the quarter-finals, Gento scored his third and final goal of this European campaign against reigning champions AC Milan, matching his highest goal tally yet in a European campaign. The Inter Milan side coached by Helenio Herrera were successful in neutralising Madrid’s glittering, if old, front three with their legendary defensive solidity. Milan dominated Madrid and secured a 3-1 victory against the side led by Gento. This would be the last time that Puskas and Di Stefano would participate in a European final. 

Gento captained a rather young Real Madrid side to the final of the 1965/66 European Cup. Madrid were up against Partizan Belgrade in Heysel, where they had defeated AC Milan in the European Cup final eight years ago. After a goalless first half, Partizan had taken the lead only to be undone by two Real Madrid goals coming in the 70th and 76th minutes. Gento became, for the next five and a half decades, the only player to win six European Cups. 

 The 1966/67 season saw Madrid dumped out of the competition in the quarter-finals. That was followed by a semifinal heartbreak in what turned out to be Gento’s most prolific season in Europe. He scored against Ajax in the opening round and against Danish champions Hvidovre in the next round. He found the net again in a quarter-final clash with Sparta Prague, scoring his third in as many games. They lost a tightly contested match at Old Trafford in the first leg of the semifinal, with Best scoring the only goal. The second leg of the match is another European Cup classic. It ended 3-3 with Gento scoring the second goal for his side to claim a short-lived lead, but Matt Busby’s boys would score thrice to claim a spot in the final that they would go on to win. 

A shock defeat in the pre-quarter-finals in the 1968/69 season was followed by another exit in the same round against Standard Liege. In the second leg of that match, which Madrid would go on to lose 3-2, Gento scored a penalty. This was his final European Cup goal, but it turned out to be little more than a consolation. Gento never played another European Cup game. The curtains had fallen on one of the best performers that the tournament had ever seen. 

Real Madrid qualified for the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1970/71 season as the champions of the domestic cup competition. Gento turned 37 during the campaign. As a winger whose speed and physicality had been his prime weapons, it would be much more difficult for Gento to contribute like he had so consistently done for so long. He didn’t score a single goal across the season, making only 15 appearances in total. But he still played six times in the Cup Winners’ Cup. This Madrid side was a far cry from their frightening glory days, but they still had enough to reach the final in Athens against Chelsea. 

The Blues broke the deadlock early in the second half, but Madrid survived, just about, with an injury-time goal from Zoco. Gento, wearing the captain’s armband, had started the final, but he was subbed off by the 70th minute. The extra time saw no goals, and a replay had to be arranged. Chelsea scored twice in the first half, and Fleitas managed a consolation goal for Madrid in the 75th minute. Paco Gento had played the last fifteen minutes of the game but had to endure his third European final defeat. 

Paco Gento, the man who played more European finals than anyone else, has been one of the most effective and successful left-wingers in the history of the game. In a position historically associated with much more creative and exhilarating footballers, Gento will not be in contention to make my all-time XI, but he would neither be a long way off it.