Francisco Gento

Francisco Gento López (born 21 October 1933), usually referred as Paco Gento, is a former Spanish football player, who played as a left winger.

Paco Gento
Gento with Real Madrid in 1967
Personal information
Full name Francisco Gento López
Date of birth (1933-10-21) 21 October 1933
Place of birth Guarnizo, El Astillero, Spain
Position(s) Outside-left
Youth career
S.D. Nueva Montaña
Union Club Astillero
Rayo Cantabria
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1952–1953 Racing Santander 10 (2)
1953–1971 Real Madrid 428 (128)
Total 438 (130)
National team
1956 Spain B 1 (0)
1955–1969 Spain 43 (5)
Teams managed
Real Madrid Castilla
1974 Castellón
1977–1980 Palencia
1980–1981 Granada
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
Paco Gento in 1965

Gento began his career at Racing Santander in 1952 and moved to Real Madrid the following season. He appeared in a joint record eight European Cup finals, winning a record six, as well as winning 12 La Liga titles.

In a 14-year international career, Gento earned 43 caps for Spain, playing at the World Cup in 1962 and 1966.

Following the death of Alfredo Di Stéfano, Gento was appointed as the Honorary President of Real Madrid.[1]

Career

He débuted in the Primera División with Racing Santander in the 1952–53 season. In the following year, he signed with Real Madrid and became a legendary player of that club, wearing the number 11 shirt.

La Galerna del Cantábrico (The Gale of the Cantabrian Sea), as he was known, played outside-left and was noted for his skills with the ball and his scoring prowess from the midfield position. He captained a young side, known in Spain as Ye-yé, because of the popularity of The Beatles at that time. He is regarded as one of Spain's greatest players.

Among other honors, Gento won the European Cup a record 6 times with Real Madrid (an unmatched record), scoring 30 goals in 89 European Cup career matches. He also played for Spain from 1955 to 1969, winning 43 caps and scoring 5 times.

Gento played in eight European Cup finals (6–2 record) (with a ninth European final appearance in the 1970–1971 Cup Winners' Cup final that Real Madrid lost to Chelsea). He holds this record jointly with Milan's Paolo Maldini (with an inferior 5–3 record). Gento's legendary Real Madrid teammate, Alfredo Di Stéfano (5–2 record) comes third with 7.

After he retired from football in 1971, he decided to take up coaching. He took charge of various lower-league teams, such as Castilla, Castellón, Palencia, and Granada. In the end, he accepted a post working as an ambassador for Real Madrid throughout Europe.

Personal life

Gento's two younger brothers, Julio (1939–2016) and Antonio (1940–2020) also played football professionally; the latter played for Real Madrid, too, but they were not as successful as their older brother Francisco.

His nephews were also athletes – José Luis Llorente and Toñín Llorente played basketball, whilst Paco Llorente and Julio Llorente were footballers.[2] Grand-nephew Marcos Llorente, son of Paco Llorente, is also a footballer.[3]

Style of play

Regarded as one of the greatest Spanish players of all time and one of the greatest ever players in his position, Gento was an extremely fast left-winger, with excellent vision and technical ability, which made him an effective assist provider. In addition to his control and creative ability, he was also a goalscoring threat due to his striking ability from distance.[4][5]

Career statistics

Club

Club Season Division League Copa del Rey Europe Total
AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Racing Santander 1952–53 Primera División 1024000142
Real Madrid 1953–54 Primera División 1704000210
1954–55 2463000276
1955–56 29763714211
1956–57 2772081378
1957–58 28751633912
1958–59 21752813410
1959–60 271463623818
1960–61 28983213813
1961–62 256941024412
1962–63 2574121319
1963–64 241220933515
1964–65 2343065329
1965–66 281033934015
1966–67 201150402911
1967–68 24800753113
1968–69 2682120309
1969–70 2535132336
1970–71 702060150
Total 42812874229530606178
Career total 43813078229530620180

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
114 October 1959Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain Poland3–03–01960 European Nations' Cup qualifying
22 April 1961Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain France2–02–0International Friendly
330 October 1963Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland0–10–11964 European Nations' Cup qualifying
423 June 1966Riazor, A Coruña, Spain Uruguay1–11–1International Friendly
531 May 1967San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain Turkey2–02–0UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying

Honours

Real Madrid
Individual
Records
  • Most La Liga titles: 12
  • Most European Cup titles: 6[9]
  • Most European Cup final appearances: 8 (tied with Paolo Maldini)[10]
  • Most major trophies with Real Madrid: 24

References

  1. "Paco Gento, Honorary President of Real Madrid". 23 October 2016.
  2. AS, Diario (10 January 2003). "Fallece María Antonia Gento, madre de la saga Llorente". AS.com.
  3. AS, Diario (17 October 2015). "Real Madrid - Levante: Debutó con el Madrid Marcos Llorente, sobrino-nieto de Gento". AS.com.
  4. "Full-throttle Paco, Real's winning legend". FIFA.com. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  5. "Francisco "Paco" Gento" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  6. "ERIC BATTY’S WORLD XI – THE SIXTIES" Retrieved on 29 November 2015
  7. "Legends". Golden Foot. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  8. "IFFHS announce the 48 football legend players". IFFHS. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  9. Saffer, Paul (18 May 2016). "Reyes's fifth win: top UEFA club cup winners". UEFA. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  10. "Champions League final records and statistics". UEFA. 1 June 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Zárraga
Real Madrid C.F. captain
1962–1971
Succeeded by
Zoco
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