Paco Gento to be named Real Madrid's new Honorary President
Club delegates acknowledge the Cantabrian ex-player - the only person to have won six European Cups, who turns 83 today.
Emotional week
What a week it is turning out to be for Paco Gento. The former Real Madrid player celebrates his 83rd birthday in fine health and during Sunday's Representative Members Assembly, he will named Real Madrid's new Honrary President - a role which has been vacant since Alfredo Di Stéfano passed away in July 2014.
Great tribute
It's an acknowledgement which is fully deserved - Gento has a record and honours list which would be extremely difficult for any player to reach; he is the the only person in possession of six European Cup winners' medals. Gento, always humble and cheerful, told AS last year: "I give thanks to madridismo. If the club members want me to be Honorary President, I'd be delighted”.
Three previous tributes: in 1965, 1972 and 2007
It won't be the first time that Real Madrid have paid tribute to La Galerna del Cantábrico ('The Cantabrian Storm'): on September 1st 1965, little over a year after winning the club's sixth European Cup, Madrid celebrated Gento's 12 years at the club with a friendly against River Plate - a match with Los Blancos won 3-1 with the night's protagonist on the scoresheet alongside Grosso and Pirri. After the game he was awarded the Sporting Merit medal by president Santiago Bernabéu.
Seven years later, on December 14th 1972, Real Madrid laid on another tribute match with Portuguese outfit Os Belenenses as guests, on the stadium's 25th anniversary. Madrid's line-up that night inlcuded four stars who were invited to pull on the white shirt especially for the occasion - Portuguese legend Eusébio, Hungarian forward Ferenc Bene, Romanian Nicolae Dobrin and Yugoslav ace Dragan Džajić. Gento scored a penalty in the 2-1 win. The last tribute was in 2007 to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the 1966 European Cup final - Partizan were guests in the Trofeo Bernabéu and Gento was filled with emotion as he strode out to the centre of the pitch with 55,000 on their feet applauding him...
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