Carlos Alonso Gonzlez ‘Santillana’ was one of the references of Real Madrid (17 seasons and 461 official matches in white) and of Spanish football in those years in which both the national team and the teams found it more difficult to show their heads. With Spain he did not win any title, but I do know that he was one of the players who managed to thrill an entire country with those twelve goals scored against Malta and which were transformed into a Euro Cup final against the host France.
The Federation paid tribute to the heroes of that historic triumph. “How I enjoyed that day. It’s not something easy to explain. It will be very difficult for something like that to be repeated,” he acknowledges forty years after that sporting feat, one of those that can be compared to those achieved by Real Madrid in Europe especially. “Yes, the truth is that they can be similar to what I lived through and those of now,” says the former nine-time Real Madrid player.
Question: Did you think that the twelve goals against Malta was possible or did everything emerge on the fly?
Answer: We were playing against a team that was very, very, very inferior to us. We knew that. We knew that we were always going to have the ball and we also knew that we had to create many chances to try to score as many goals. The rest…
Q. But the script breaks down shortly after starting…
A. It was also complicated for us because we missed a penalty and they scored a goal that we didn’t count on. I remember it as a success of believing in ourselves. At the hotel we would eat the coconut in the concentration during the days before we could do so. Twe have good bandstwo players who finished very well with their heads like Rincn and me, and then we had people in the middle, like Sarabia or Carrasco, who could make individual plays and create a lot.
Q. And suddenly goals start to fall
A. Those kinds of things don’t happen by chance. I mean, I mean, it’s because you have good players, a good team. Logically, knowing that we had a rival that did not exist, our mindset was that we were our own rivals and the clock. Time was of the essence. And that anxiety was what could ruin everything for us.
Q. The goals were reaching number twelve
A. And we achieved it. When we scored goal twelve my legs were shaking. We couldn’t run anymore. Not because we couldn’t score more goals, but because we had managed to achieve something that was practically impossible to achieve. At that moment we said don’t take it away from us for God’s sake, no, don’t take it away from us.
Q. Were you afraid?
R. At that moment you wonder, are these guys going to score a goal? Not even joking, but there could be a rebound, a penalty and there could be something or other and they would kill you. Those last five minutes were criminal for me. He was devastated.
Few people were confident of achieving success, since they had to score nine in half time. Nine!
Q. What is engraved in your head that day?
A. I don’t forget when I enter the locker room at half-time. We had talked about having to score at least five goals to have any chance. We left with three and on top of that with one against. Few people were confident of achieving success, since they had to score nine in half time. Nine! In the locker room we were all quite subdued. I remember Poli screaming. He told me, Charly, let’s go, we’re going to do it, we’re going to achieve it. And most of us told him, but what are you saying, man, what are you telling me?
I remember Poli screaming. He told me, Charly, let’s go, we’re going to do it, we’re going to achieve it.
Q. The deep message
R. I insisted, yes, we can, and I managed to bring out that tiny bit of hope from the bottom. I remember those screams that hit us, that somehow made us believe. We were on our knees a little bit and it made us all wake up. It is not possible to repeat a feat like that in today’s football. Everything is more equal. All countries have more quality, better teams and saying that you have to score 12 goals is practically impossible for any rival. The difficulty is not to score 11 goals a day, which you can do, but it had to be done.
Q. The miracle ended up arriving
A. That day it was not a question of saying you can score 11 goals. Playing with friends you can score 11 goals, but no, it had to be done in the two hours of the game. Then the difficulty and stress we suffer appear. When it was achieved it was crazy. We told ourselves we’ve done it, kid. I remember it and my hair stands on end because I remember what we talked about, what we said to each other. It was a historic event, not for that in itself, for beating that team, but for beating ourselves, because in the end it was our fight, an era of improvement.
Q. Can’t what we experienced against Malta be compared to Real Madrid’s comebacks?
R. That spirit, that desire. Well, there is something similar. It’s different because it was the national team. You had to score a lot of goals and it was a different thing, but there is some similarity. It all started with the coconut food at the hotel, the concentration, the encouragement we gave each other.
Q. Is the teammate’s message so important in football?
R. You know what it’s like to have your teammates next door tell you, Charly, I need you, man, you have to be there, come, go get all the shots, go to the area, go to the area, don’t go down too much because you have to make the goals. When your own teammates give you that confidence, you can’t fail. Everyone is waiting for me to do this. I can’t fail, I can’t fail. That was happening at the Bernabu when Camacho and Juanito They told me: “cheer up, look for it, you’re going to score” like what happened on Inter’s day. “You’re always up there finishing, we trust you.” So, when a colleague tells you that, you try not to disappoint and in the end you have to have a bit of fortune. In these games you have to be lucky, but something similar to what was achieved with the national team was achieved.
I still don’t know how he did it. I don’t know what he did either. I didn’t prepare much to jump more than the others. I think it was an innate condition, apart from jumping, it was a matter of measuring times
Q. You were not a striker with an above-average height, but Santillana flew and flew until he finished with a header.
A. I still don’t know how he did it. I don’t know what he did either. I didn’t prepare much to jump more than the others. I think it was an innate condition, apart from jumping, it was a matter of timing. He wasn’t tall, rather short. So to look for a ball at the highest point, in the highest area, I had to anticipate the defenders because I had one-ninety defenses. It was the intuition to start when I had to start, waiting for the ball to reach me at that moment. That was what I had, which not many players had.
Q. Talk about something innate…
A. It’s the first thing I lost when I left football. I retired and didn’t even see the veterans. Where has this gone? I did it as a natural part of my football and my game, not because I was rehearsing it every day. It’s like someone who is fast or someone who dribbles well. You don’t need anyone to teach you. He does it and that’s it.
P. Pirri, honorary president of Real Madrid.
R. Pepe is a phenomenon. For me it was my idol. When Pepe left Madrid I became depressed. I said and now who is going to guide us in this matter of playing for Real Madrid? It seemed like the end to us, but no one is irreplaceable. Then Fernando Hierro arrived, Ramos, but for us Pepe was the flagship of Real Madrid at that time. It seems to me that he is the best honorary president we can have.
We have a great team, a spectacular squad and we have a coach who understands the player
Q. What do you think of the current Real Madrid?
A. We have a great team, a spectacular squad and we have a coach who understands the player. From the times we have gone to dinner with him, with Carletto, you realize that he is a man who understands footballers perfectly. First because he has been, because he knows what he feels, he knows what he feels when they take you away, when they put you in, when they take you out. He runs the locker room very well and he knows a lot about football.
Q. Should you follow Ancelotti?
A. I love him as a person. He is a man you will never see do strange things on the bench. He is always calm. That calm is conveyed by the players and then, of course, we have a squad that is technically and physically beastly. He doesn’t play one, he plays another. It doesn’t matter, nothing happens.
Bellingham is a ten as a footballer. He has youth, physically he is a marvel. Technically he is fantastic
P. Bellingham arrives and becomes a reference.
R. He is a ten as a footballer. He has youth, physically he is a marvel. Technically he is fantastic and then he has a lot of intelligence because he plays in positions on the field in which he is always unmarked, he always tries to find positions in which he is facing the goal to reach shooting situations or to make plays.
Q. Have you been surprised?
A. You have to be very intelligent and know where to be and have a physique. And he has it because he also defends very well, he defends many plays, he is in all positions on the field. He plays with a lot of freedom and since he has that physical power and that technique there is no problem. He is going to be a player who is going to score a little for Real Madrid if he doesn’t get lost and you start thinking strange things.
It’s just that when Vinicius is well… and don’t forget Rodrygo, because Rodrygo plays better and better, Rodrygo is a dagger. We have a great team
Q. Do you seem convinced of the current Real Madrid?
A. It’s that when it’s good Vinicius…and don’t forget Rodrygo, because Rodrygo plays better and better, Rodrygo is a dagger. We have a great team and if you look at the people in the midfield… you end up saying. Who do I put here if I have players to bore in the midfield, all with an incredible technique, with incredible know-how?
Q. Is there any Carlos Santillana in today’s football, with that ability to finish with a header?
A. I don’t know. I see Sevilla’s center forward, En-Nesyri. That’s right, he’s six feet tall, but he finishes very well. In other words, he is a player who keeps time very well. Bellingham also finishes very well. He has the advantage over me of being much taller, but I don’t judge him by height, I judge him by the type of shot he has and then the movements he has and it seems to me that he is a great header. Even Benzema when he was at Real Madrid ended up finishing very well. He said a few years ago, this guy doesn’t score a goal with his head, but suddenly it was shown that he finished in a fantastic way. Joselu is a player who finishes very well with his head. He is also very tall, he also has physical power, but he finishes very well.
