Francisco Gento

Paco Gento in 1965

Gento, Leo Horn , Di Stefano and Wilkes in 1959

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

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. With the team, Gento was a participant of one of the greatest achievements in the history of the team: winning the 1964 European Football Championship.

Following the death of Alfredo Di Stefano, 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 not only for having great speed (he could run 100 meters in 11 seconds flat and was almost as quick with a ball at his feet), but also 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, winning the 1964 European Football Championship.

Gento played in eight European Cup finals (6–2 record) (with a "ninth" appearance in the 1970–1971 Cup Winners' Cup final that Real Madrid lost to Chelsea). He holds this record jointly with A.C. 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 (born in 1940) also played football professionally; the latter played for Real Madrid, too, but they were not as successful as their older brother Francisco.

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.^[2][3]

Career statistics

Club

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	14 October 1959	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain	Poland	3–0	3–0	1960 European Nations' Cup qualifying
2.	2 April 1961	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain	France	2–0	2–0	International Friendly
3.	30 October 1963	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	0–1	0–1	1964 European Nations' Cup qualifying
4.	23 June 1966	Riazor, A Coruña, Spain	Uruguay	1–1	1–1	International Friendly
5.	31 May 1967	San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain	Turkey	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying

Honours

Real Madrid

• 

  Real Madrid before the 1966 European Cup final against FK Partizan
  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
• Latin Cup (2): 1955, 1957

Spain

• European Football Championship: 1964

Individual

• World Soccer World XI: 1960, 1961, 1962^[4]
• Golden Foot Legends Award: 2004^[5]
• World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time

Records

• Most La Liga titles: 12
• Most European Cup titles: 6

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Francisco Gento.

• Francisco Gento at Real Madrid (in English) (in Spanish)
• Francisco Gento – FIFA competition record
• Gento, the only player ever to win six European Cups
• Biography at Real Madrid Fans (in Spanish)
• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (in Spanish)
• Francisco Gento at National-Football-Teams.com
• International Appearances and Goals at RSSSF
• Goals in European Cups at RSSSF

Spain squads

Spain squad – 1962 FIFA World Cup 1 Araquistáin 2 Sadurní 3 Carmelo 4 Collar (c) 5 Del Sol 6 Di Stéfano 7 Echeberría 8 Garay 9 Gento 10 Gràcia 11 Rivilla 12 Peiró 13 Pachín 14 Puskás 15 E. Martínez 16 Reija 17 Rodri 18 Adelardo 19 Santamaría 20 Segarra 21 Suárez 22 Vergés Coach: Herrera Spain squad – 1966 FIFA World Cup 1 Iribar 2 Sanchís 3 Eladio 4 Del Sol 5 Zoco (c) 6 Glaría 7 Ufarte 8 Amancio 9 Marcelino 10 Suárez 11 Gento 12 Betancort 13 Reina 14 Rivilla 15 Reija 16 Olivella 17 Gallego 18 Pirri 19 Fusté 20 Peiró 21 Adelardo 22 Lapetra Coach: Villalonga