On days like this and when a loved one leaves you, memories always come flooding back. It is the law of life, but all the experiences, conversations that we could have at a certain moment come to mind. Arsenio once told me “Martín, the slap (the blow) is always just around the corner. It is a phrase that I remember many times, it was almost a philosophy of life for him. He was always alert, he was a winner, but he knew that triumph and joy are often fleeting. He was prepared for everything. He was a very humble person and very didactic, he made himself understood when he spoke. Many times when he wanted to tell you something that you were doing wrong, he used to give you an example from his experience so that you would end up realizing it. The sage and the fox were not by chance.
When we finished training in Riazor we always went to have a drink Zurich, which was a cafeteria that was opposite. There we consumed a coffee, a soft drink or a beer, we played cards. He didn’t like us going at all, he always preferred that we take care of ourselves, that we go home. One day we were all there, we saw him cross the street. Terrified, we verified that he entered. He greeted everyone, ordered something, and said nothing to us for five minutes. Right after he turned around and blurted out: “Well, you know that today is my birthday and you’re all invited.” He disarmed us, we laughed, we began to yell at him and sing to him. You had those things. He was very patronizing, a curmudgeon, but nice. Whenever I talk about him, even under these circumstances, he ends up making me smile. He was unique. He seemed like he was angry, but in the end he was endearing.
On another occasion, I remember that I was on summer vacation one Sunday at home and suddenly the phone rings and my mother answers. She tells me: “Get on, what is Arsenio”. And I say to him: “What do you mean, Arsenio?” Well yes, it was him. He would call me to find out if he was training me, if he was eating well, if he was running. He was always very concerned with all the details, especially with the food. He was very rigorous. He always ate with water, he put the salad first, which was less successful than the rest. Before some clubs even let you eat with soft drinks, he didn’t. Just a little wine. He often served us the food himself.
And at night he went through the rooms with the doctor. He was worried if we were okay, if we needed some medicine or something. And with the walks after eating to get off the food was terrible. Sometimes he would hit the sun in places like Alicante o Elche and there we were walking. Then came players with more names and from other cultures, such as the Brazilians, and it was difficult for them to adapt. He was very rigid in all those customs and positions, but he also led by example. In the early years, when he coached us, he would always go for a run, jog around the field, get into the rondos. You would see him eat and he was all healthy and he did it very frugally. He would commit you by example, with all those funny talks he had with you, with his way of being. With a thousand details.
That hug that we gave each other in Sevilla in the promotion of permanence of 1992 and that sentence of “How much we suffer, Martin!” . He sometimes unloaded like this, he lived it this way, because pressure and sadness surrounded him. The gray hairs were not accidental, he had experienced everything with Dépor. I spoke many times with him and with Carlos Ballesta about all that, about what had happened in that game against him. Vallecano Ray in 1983 or that “Propose it and go” banner, all that also wears out. They are toxic elements that enter inward. Before him Betis We started with problems, we turned it around and he was later able to externalize it like that. And, furthermore, when the party came, in moments of happiness, it was difficult to find him. He was where he belonged, but he was not one to throw flowers. In fact, when someone patted his shoulder, he immediately shunned it. He was ambitious, but humble and simple.
They always talk about how close we were, how we connected and how important I was to him, but the truth is that, at first, I didn’t charm him. I came to Spain older. He was 26 or 27 years old, he had just won an Intercontinental. At first he didn’t play, because maybe it wasn’t what he expected, but he put me in a game where DonostiI played well and since then he always had tremendous confidence in me. He trusted me a lot. He told you simple details, but they were very important in the field. For example, he always insisted that when I passed the midfield with the controlled ball, that I try to cross the ball, because things always happened. And he was right.
I really enjoyed the talks and everything I shared with him. There was never an empty sentence in everything he said, nothing told you or happened randomly. He marked an era and left a tremendous mark on the Deportivo. It is the common thread that has marked the way the club is. Stoically and ethically, he has defined how Deportivo should be.
2023-05-07 19:32:51
#Arsenio #marked #Dépor #stoic #ethical
