He is very much from Sporting and Rayo, but the detail that Abelardo sits on the rojiblanco bench, says that makes him opt for the Cup match that will be played on Tuesday at El Molinón. Ángel Luis Alcázar Gutiérrez (Madrid, 1967) was a footballer for the last Sporting to compete in Europe. Pitu’s roommate, with whom he made the leap from the subsidiary – he shared a generation with Luis Enrique and Manjarín -, in Vallecas he is a legend. He joined Rayo in 1993, was promoted to the First Division twice and was the team’s captain during a historic UEFA Cup quarterfinal. “I would like them both to go through the round, but out of affinity I am going with Pitu this time. You have to give him a hand,” he says.
He lives in Herrera del Duque, a town in Badajoz where he is in charge of the football school linked to the City Council. “We have about eighty children between the ages of 9 and 15. I miss the adrenaline of professional football, but the satisfaction of seeing the kids progress also gives you a special energy. It pays off,” says Ángel Alcázar. The former coach of Extremadura, Cacereño and Mérida, among other teams, keeps abreast of the dynamics of the two clubs that marked his sports career: Sporting and Rayo. “I try to watch all the games I can and I also follow the information through the newspapers. I won’t miss Tuesday’s game,” he says. He regrets not being able to do it in Molinón itself. “Between the pandemic and obligations, I have not gone to Gijón since 2018,” he explains. In any case, he sees the two strong teams after a first round in which they seem to have gone from more to less in their performance.
“Sporting will go up the ranks little by little. As the days go by you can see the football that Abelardo likes. Rayo started very strong. They play very well on the counter and have great players. Not only in the eleven. You look at the bench and there are important names. In the last tie they had a bad time, because it was a small field. But on a pitch like El Molinón, the wingers fly”, he points out as one of the dangers of the rojiblancos’ rival. An admirer of the quality of Trejo, or of names like Isi and Álvaro, he also does not hide his interest in the new project at the Gijón club through the Orlegi Group. Alcázar sees in this movement an opportunity to recover the European Sporting that he enjoyed in the future.
“You have to go little by little. To get promoted to First Division, you first have to compete with the teams in the upper zone. You can’t want to go up all of a sudden. It takes time. You have to trust a game system and the people who support it. They direct. Patience is needed. This is not going to go in to sign great players and that’s it”, stressed Alcázar. He sees in Gijón “many wickers to achieve it.” “The quarry itself must once again be one of the hallmarks. That’s why I like Abelardo to be there. He knows the club, the team and its needs. He is the ideal man for the team to get out of there,” he defends the.
Father of two children –Ángel, the youngest, 25 years old, plays soccer while studying at university in Dallas (United States)–, Alcázar has a pending appointment with Abelardo on his agenda. “Whenever he went to Gijón we tried to see each other or have contact. The last time we met was in Las Rozas, in a coaches’ meeting. So, he was training at Alavés,” says the owner of the secrets of that shared room in Sporting with Abelardo. “Anecdotes together? Many, but none confessable,” concludes, laughing, the good old man from Alcázar.
The other “Pitu” in Vallecas’ dressing room
His sportinguista past and his good relationship with Abelardo made him the “Pitu” of the Vallecas dressing room. Alcázar inherited the nickname of the one who had been his teammate as soon as he started his eight years at Rayo. The culprit, Antonio Calderón, then a Rayista footballer and a great friend of Extremadura. “He started calling me ‘Pitu’ and since then, he’s been like that. But only he does it, eh!” Alcázar confesses, laughing. Today, on Calderón’s mobile phone, Alcázar’s contact still appears along with the nickname “Pitu”. The relationship between the two narrowed after hanging up their boots. Together they shared a stage on the Cádiz bench. Calderón took over the reins of the Cadiz team in 2007-08, in Segunda, joining Ángel Alcázar as second coach. They then replaced another name with a past at Sporting, García Remón.
