Francisco Gento

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.

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]

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]

Real Madrid before the 1966 European Cup Final against FK Partizan

Real Madrid

• La Liga (12): 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69
• Copa del Rey (2): 1961–62, 1969–70
• European Cup (6): 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1965–66
• Intercontinental Cup (1): 1960
• Small Club World Cup (1): 1956
• Latin Cup (2): 1955, 1957

Individual

• World Soccer World XI: 1960, 1961, 1962[6]
• Golden Foot Legends Award: 2004[7]
• World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time
• IFFHS Legends[8]

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Francisco Gento.

• Francisco Gento – FIFA competition record
• Francisco Gento at BDFutbol
• Francisco Gento at National-Football-Teams.com
• Francisco Gento at Real Madrid (in English and Spanish)
• Biography at Real Madrid Fans (in Spanish)
• National team data (in Spanish)
• International Appearances and Goals at RSSSF
• Goals in European Cups at RSSSF