In Cأ،diz there is still talk and talk about the Mأ،gico Gonzأ،lez, that Salvadoran striker who stepped on Spain with his national team during the 82 World Cup. Within a minor team, which conceded a 10- 1 against Hungary, he gave off unforgettable flashes. Offers fell to him (Atlأ©tico de Madrid, Los أپngeles Aztecas and PSG among others) but he chose Cأ،diz out of some strange instinct. There he dazzled. Inconceivable skill, imaginative football… A gift from heaven for the castes, among whom his informality did not arouse the slightest reproach. He wandered at night, slept during the day, drove his president, Irigoyen, to despair, but he filled the stadium and monopolized the gatherings. In 82-83 he scored 14 goals, in the next he repeated. Cأ،diz went down to Second Division that year, but it didn’t matter.
So the city suffered a shock when it was announced that he would be going on loan to tour the United States with Barça. Precisely against the Blaugrana he had played one of his best games. We were in the second year (which would be the last) of Maradona with the Culأ©s and Barça had arranged a tour of the US and Canada, which was tied to the League Cup and had to be distributed the template. Migueli, Clos and Maradona were suspended after the tremendous mess in the Cup final against Clemente’s Athletic, so they could go on tour. Other good names from the first team joined them without weakening the League Cup team too much and some boys from Barcelona B were added plus two forwards on loan: Husillos, Argentine, from Murcia (who arrived Spain for Castilla and would have a great career in Mأ،laga) and Mأ،gico Gonzأ،lez.
After the first training session, Maradona declared that Mأ،gico had better technique than him, who had never seen anything like it. He performed miracles neither seen before nor since, like ‘shingles’, something like Romario’s cow’s tail but in the air, or the way with a single touch he made the ball pass over his own head and that of the rival.
At the head of the group was Nicolau Casaus and as coach, Poncini, Menotti’s second. The premiere was against the New York Cosmos, where Neeskens played. It was a so-called ‘Transatlantic’ Cup, whose table was completed by Udinese, whose claim was Zico, and Fluminense. A lot of rain, fewer fans and a 5-3 defeat, all three from Husillos. Barcelona started very well, with excellent combinations between Maradona and Mأ،gico, but the rain, the artificial grass and the very biased referee managed to discourage them.
Before the losing final, Barça refused a friendly in Toronto, because instead of the 60,000 dollars they expected, they wanted to give them 20,000. By then, Maradona and Barcelona were fed up with each other and their transfer to Naples was in the works. In the boredom of concentration, Maradona came up with a prank: to set off the hotel’s fire alarm in the middle of the night. Everyone went out into the street except Mأ،gico Gonzأ،lez, who stayed bedridden in occasional sweet company. Casaus, already surprised by the man’s ease of falling asleep (at first he attributed it to jet lag), would report it upon his return. The club had indeed considered the tempting idea of replacing Maradona with Mأ،gico, but that experience…
And that was what he scored in the match against Fluminense (in which that Romerito played, whom Cruyff would later make famous here), which ended 2-2, with the other goal scored by Estella. He also scored his penalty in the shootout that would give him third place.
But by then Venables had already signed as coach and he did not want to know anything about South Americans. Neither from Mأ،gico nor from Hugo Sأ،nchez, whom Gaspart had convinced. So when the Barأ§a returned to the Mأ،gico on his return, the castes sighed peacefully. The tantrum came when Irigoyen, fed up with his indiscipline, sold him in the winter market to Valladolid. There he would play the second half of 84-85, limp, chilled by the cold and with the same nocturnal habits as his beloved Tacita de Plata. In the summer, Valladolid returned him to Cadiz, where Irigoyen assumed that neither the player nor the fans could stand the divorce. Although during his absence Cأ،diz had returned to First Division, the fans did not stop missing him for even a minute. With his definitive return, everything was back in its place.
