Joaquin will retire from football in summer – he made a big history part I

Joaquin announced that this season will be his last in his career. The time from which one of the best right wingers of the early 21st century ran so fast down the flank finally caught up with him – even last season, Sanchez was in the top 15 players of Betis in minutes spent on the field, and this time he went out only eight times to replace.

 

Time spent with the player

So much the better for those who spent the time with him on the bench. Joaquin is the world champion in football tales and jokes. Type in YouTube “Joaquin mejores momentos”, and instead of slicing goals scored and spectacular passes, you will stumble upon a stand-up scattered in time.

For example, the presentation of a player in Malaga. Instead of banging the ball, waving his arms or posing for photographers, Joaquin picked up the microphone. He told the anecdote, in general, well-known, but not only the joke is important, but also its presentation, the conditions under which the punchline is issued. This is a presentation of the current top football player in an ambitious club at that time.

– In short, an anecdote. The Champions League final is on, the man is late for the stadium, trying to find a free seat, but everything is packed. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices an unoccupied space. He comes up to him, and a woman sitting next to him says: “Sit down if you want.” The man is very grateful, but burns with curiosity, why is there an empty seat at the Champions League final, whose is it.

 

Close to Champions League final

Malaga, by the way, was not so far from the Champions League final. In 2013, Joaquin Sanchez was substituted in the 86th minute in the return quarter-final. He sat on the bench, looking forward to the next stage – his team won 2-1 on the road after a goalless draw at home. Borussia Dortmund scored twice in stoppage time.

There were a lot of such moments in Joaquin’s career. For 20 years spent far from the last teams in Spain and Italy, he won only two trophies – the Spanish Cup in 2005 and 2008. He brought the first one to his own wedding and placed it on the altar right before the ceremony.

He could go to Chelsea Mourinho and become the champion of England. One of the discoveries of the 2002 World Cup (and a disappointment at the same time, since it was the 20-year-old winger who missed the decisive penalty against South Korea) was to be part of Abramovich’s big project. “Again, this Russian called for your soul,” said Betis president Manuel Ruiz de Lopera.

Chelsea agreed with Betis on the amount of the transfer, representatives of both clubs met at the Alfonso XIII hotel, and Joaquin simply did not show up. Called Mourinho and apologized. The player explained this by saying that if he had come “just to talk” to the meeting, he would have ended up in England, and he wanted to stay at home so that the star disease would not turn his head.