De la Fuente recalls Athletic’s 1983 gabarra chaos and hails San Mamés and its fans | OneFootball

De la Fuente has relived Athletic Club’s 1983 title party, recalling the scramble to launch the gabarra after clinching the league in Las Palmas. “Playing for Athletic is the greatest thing,” he said, speaking to the club’s official channel.

He returned to San Mamés on 22 August as world champion, when the stadium honoured Simón, Laporte and Nico, and the coach himself, for successes in the United States.

He reflected on 18 years at the club, from Lezama to first-team delegate with Joaquín Caparrós, but said his playing days meant most. “Playing at San Mamés is the greatest thing that can happen to you as a footballer.” As a child he first watched an Athletic-Granada game with his father, later debuting there against Osasuna and admitting, “I came out terrified.”

“The crowd never whistled me, they always showed me affection and respect,” he said. He won the league in 83 and 84 under Javier Clemente. “He said we would be champions, and repeating it with the Cup the next year was incredible, 50 years later it shows how historic that was.”

“Champions in Las Palmas, we slept there, then spent the next day in Madrid. We reached Bilbao two days later and seeing all Bizkaia by the Ría was overwhelming,” he said. The squad even dived in fully clothed and “until we launched the gabarra we could not get changed”.

Two years ago he could not attend the gabarra, watching from abroad with “tremendous emotion” as former team-mates accompanied it.

Source: El Correo

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”