Images of Valerón in tears following Deportivo’s La Corona’s relegation signaled the sad state of the Galician club. It also signaled perhaps the end of a great career for the legendary Valerón. Injuries have deprived us one of the best midfielders Spain produced the past 25 years. As the heart broken Valerón walked off the pitch, part of me thought that he would get a proper farewell with a proper testimonial match. However, the sad realization is that this event will never take place since it is not relevant for Spanish clubs as it is for clubs in other domestic leagues.
Club legends always seem to receive testimonials when they call it a day; unless they are Ryan Giggs who received his over a decade ago. Dennis Bergkamp’s testimonial match christened Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Paul Scholes had his at Old Trafford back in August 2011 before he decided to opt out of retirement and return to Manchester United. Demetrio Albertini had his testimonial match with Milan back in 2006. Phillip Cocu will have his testimonial later on this month by PSV. Rio Ferdinand’s testimonial match will take place next month when Manchester United will host Sevilla on August 9th while Steven Gerrard will have his a few days earlier at Anfield when Liverpool host Olympiakos. Coincidentally, Real Madrid legend Raul will also be honored with a testimonial on July 27th.
However, that testimonial will be held in Germany thanks to his former club FC Schalke 04. Yet, what is even more mind boggling is that Raul will have a testimonial held in his honor by FC Schalke 04 and not by Real Madrid. It is unfathomable that one of the greatest players to ever represent Los Blancos has not received a testimonial. For some reason, La Liga clubs do not hold testimonials for their players; just participate in them. FC Barcelona played in Albertini’s testimonial in 2006 while Real Madrid participated in Majed Ahmed Abdullah’s testimonial match in Saudi Arabia back in 2008. Yet, former legends for both Madrid and Barça have not had any testimonial matches held in their honor recently.
You have to go back to the mid 90’s to recall any testimonials for legends of either club. Hugo Sanchez had his testimonial back in 1997while Johan Cruyff had one testimonial at the Camp Nou, and another at Amsterdam Arena in the late 90’s. However, the chances of seeing a testimonial for legends of either club who had retired last decade won’t be happening anytime soon. Pep Guardiola never got one when he retired. Redondo, Luis Enrique, Michel Salgado, Gabri and Morientes are just a few of who also never got a testimonial when they quit playing too.
I asked a friend of mine, Angel Iturriaga, why testimonials are not held more often for La Liga players. He informed me that they were common in the past but most Spanish clubs decided not to have them anymore. As for why, he was not sure but the basic explanation was there wasn’t enough time for clubs to host these kinds of games. Angel believes that this was a big mistake but indicated that that the mindset of the fans in Spain tend to focus only the players presently playing for their clubs and not look back on past players. So the chances that Valerón will have a testimonial held in his honor are pretty much slim to none.
Former Madrid captain Hierro did get some sort of tribute from Real Madrid after he retired in 2005. However, that tribute was a brief ceremony prior to the Madrid derby kicking off. Lately, we have seen retired Madrid stars team up in friendly matches against other clubs’ retired stars. There are also a La Liga Indoor Football league which features retired players. Those are great for brief moments of nostalgia in the same manner as watching retired tennis and golf players playing on the senior tour circuit.
Hopefully La Liga clubs will change their attitudes towards testimonials when the likes of Puyol, Xavi, Valerón, Marchena, Albelda, Marcos Senna, and Palop retire one day. There was a testimonial held recently in memory of deceased Espanyol captain, Daniel Jarque, who was unexpectedly taken from us too soon back in 2009. Hopefully those types of testimonials become scarce and prevented as players’ health concerns will spotted by club’s medical staff. Perhaps though, it might kick start the trend of testimonial matches again to celebrate La Liga players and bid them farewell in a proper manner. Nevertheless, Raul cannot be ignored and Real Madrid should do the right thing and hold a testimonial match in his honor someday. The same applies to all those players in Spain who have served their clubs well over the years. They do deserve one final send off before they ride out into the sunset.
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