Madrid’s decision to wear black on the day of its 120th anniversary (a marketing action for a somewhat forced celebration) has sparked debate. The event reminds me of the first time a team was seen playing in black at the Bernabأ©u, Juventus. It was also received with surprise and rejection. That match would leave a trail.
It happened in the third round of the VII European Cup, 1961-62 season, which pitted Madrid against Juve, the star team. Madrid had won five, had lost in the sixth against Barça with two tremendous arbitrations and in this one they intended to resume their triumphant march. He had already eliminated Vasas Budapest and Odense. Juve, for their part, had eliminated Panathinaikos and Partiz. Like so many other greats in Europe, this cup was his dream.
The first leg was resolved 0-1 in favor of Madrid, a goal from Di Stefano, after some hectic evenings. A crowd gathered in front of the Madrid hotel to protest against Franco’s regime due to the police assaults on the University, considered inviolable. The protesters demanded to see Di Stأ©fano to deliver a statement of rejection to the Government and he directed them to the vice president, Muأ±oz Lusarreta, who hid behind a column.
Despite the 0-1, the Bernabأ©u registered a great full house, close to No tickets. As the teams left, there was a cry of surprise. Juve wore black from head to toe. A team dressed like that had never been seen in that stadium. That mourning row made a sharp contrast with the very white of Madrid, resplendent under the stadium lights. In the lead was the referee, with black socks and pants and a strange purple shirt.
At the time the referees invariably dressed in black. This match belonged, as could not be less, to one of the greatest, the Frenchman Maurice Guigne, a Marseille gendarme who had already refereed Madrid in the European Cup and who had the World Cup final in Sweden, that Brazil, 5; Sweden, 2. Upon arrival he found that Juve had only brought that kit, which was used as the main kit for a time and abandoned after the collapse of Italian fascism and its nere changes. In Turin, Madrid had worn blue, here Juve chose black.
It would have been enough to change the shorts and socks from white to black and keep his usual shirt, (this is how he played many times later at the Bernabeu, without confusion) but he chose black for everything. And he refused to accept any Madrid kit, he demanded to play with his scudetto on his chest. Guigne had to go out with his street shirt over which he placed a mauve sweater that was part of his street uniform as a French referee. In fact, he carried a rooster as a shield.
The match was brave, it was very close and at half-time it was 0-1 with a goal from Sãvori, a genius, then Ballon d’Or winner. During the break Di Stأ©fano complained that the referee, with that dark purple and the black shorts and socks, he was confused with those of Juve: “We saw him and we dribbled,” he told me one day. When the teams left in the second half, there was an argument in the center of the field, with Di Stأ©fano and Guigne in the center of the huddle. Until he went to the locker room and came out with another pair of brown underwear that someone found in the locker room of the old gym.
And so, mauve sweater, brown pants and black socks, made a chrome, in short, referee the second half. The sticks continued and the game ended without more goals. It was Madrid’s first home defeat in seven years of the European Cup. And also the last game of Maurice Guigne. He returned so embarrassed that he resigned from refereeing.
The tie was resolved in a tiebreaker in Paris, which Madrid won 3-1. The players had beaten each other so much in the three games that they still came to dinner like fighting cocks. At the time, it was customary in the European Cup to have a common dinner after the game, with gifts and speeches. That was the last one. After the incidents in Paris, the tradition disappeared. Madrid lost its desire and since it was the club that set the tone, that ended everywhere.
