Remembering the Legends – Guti Haz, the unsung hero of Real Madrid!
José María Gutiérrez Hernández, commonly known as Guti (born 31 October 1976), is a Spanish retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
His star studded professional career survived predominantly in the European Giants, Real Madrid. Having played more than 500 matches, his tenure remains notable for his contribution in sealing 3 UEFA Champions League titles and 5 La liga titles.
Guti ignited his international career with a debut on 1999 and displayed a total of 13 appearances for his nation.
He made his official Real Madrid debut on December 2 , 1995 against Sevilla when his side rallied to a 4-1 win; later Guti moved on to end that season with 9 goals.
In 1997 Guti added two trophies to his cabinet, La Liga and the Supercopa de espana, playing 17 games during the season and scoring once. In 1997-98, he helped the Merengues lift the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, while the player himself added the UEFA U-21 Championship.
The Madrid star was shown marching orders for 8 times in his entire career. It began on 1999-2000 season when he was red-carded for a falling adversary.
After the purchase of Ronaldo in 2002, Guti returned to midfield from forward, and his goal scoring rate went down drastically. During the next two seasons combined he would net eight goals in 63 games, contributing with three in nine matches as the 2001-02 Champions league ended in conquest.
During the 2004-05 campaign, Guti had his lowest season in terms of goal scoring, as he failed to score for the first time in seven seasons with the first team. He only managed to net one official goal, in an international against San Marino in February 2005; in 2005-06, he played 43 games and scored six goals (four in the league and two in European Champion).
With Roman Calderon being elected as Real Madrid President, his vows to lure in Kaka alarmed threats to Guti’s career at Madrid. Despite linked with local rivals, Atletico Madrid, Guti stayed in Real once Kaka opted to stay in Italy.
One of his notable performances includes the one on 10 February 2008 when Guti scored two goals and three assists in a home game against Real Valladolid, for which he was awarded the Man of the match– Real Madrid won the game 7–0 and ultimately lifted another champions trophy. On 14 September he netted the club’s 5000th league goal, in a 4–3 win over Numancia.
In 2009-10, already with Kaká on board, Guti still managed to appear significantly in the early stages of the season, netting twice in the league. However, in late October, following the 0–4 shock defeat at Alcorcon for the campaign’s Cpoa del Rey, he allegedly insulted coach Manuel Pellegrini at half time, being then left out of the playing squads for a lengthy period; after being reinstated he suffered with some injuries but, due to the Brazilian also having physical problems, managed to appear regularly until the season’s end.
On 25 July 2010, Guti left Madrid after nearly 25 years of service for the club. His statement was as follows,
“I have an offer from Besiktas, but I haven’t decided yet”.
The deal was concluded the following day, with the player signing a two-year contract. He started in his first official match for the Istanbul-based club, assisting in the game’s only goal against Bucaspor.
On 28 November 2010, Guti contributed to Beşiktaş’ victory against Galatasaray with one goal and one assist. It was the team’s first win at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in eight years.On 11 May 2011, he started as his team won the Turkish Cup against Istanbul on penalties (4–3, 2–2 after extra time); it was the first domestic cup of his professional career.
Guti announced his retirement from football on 21 September 2012.
But still Guti pursued his Real service with a statement,
“I’m going to train to become a sporting director or a coach and I’d like to train youngsters… I’d really like to coach the Real Madrid youth team. That’s my dream.”
Despite retiring as a non-Madrid star, Guti’s glorious contributions to his former club will survive for ever in the hearts of Madridistas and arguably he is one of the unsung heroes of Real Madrid.