Guti

Real Madrid

Born in Torrejón de Ardoz, Community of Madrid, Guti began playing for Real Madrid's cantera in 1986, initially as a striker but being later moved to midfield, and remained there for the vast majority of his career. He made his first-team debut on 2 December 1995, in a 4–1 home win against Sevilla FC; he finished the season with one goal in nine appearances. Guti added two trophies to his cabinet in 1997, La Liga and the Supercopa de España, playing 17 competitive games during the campaign. In 1997–98, he was part of the squad that lifted the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, with the player also adding the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. 1999–2000 started badly for Guti: struggling with the responsibility of replacing Clarence Seedorf, he was sent off for kicking a fallen adversary in a home fixture against Real Sociedad; this negative trait was often recurrent, as he was given his marching orders eight times during his career in the league alone. In the season, in which he also captured the Champions League, he scored six goals in 28 games. He had his best individual input the following year, netting 14 times and playing mostly as a striker due to injuries to Fernando Morientes, and contributing greatly to the team's 27th league title and the subsequent domestic Supercup. Guti totalled eight goals in 63 games from 2001 to 2003, contributing three in nine matches as the 2001–02 Champions League ended in victory. After the purchase…

A Spain international since 5 May 1999 (Spain–Croatia, 3–1), Guti nevertheless failed to appear in any tournament's final stage for his country, winning a total of 13 caps in six years. Previously, he won the UEFA European Under-18 Championship in 1995, followed by the under-21 one in 1998.

Guti announced his retirement from football on 21 September 2012, and said "I'm going to train to become a sporting director or a coach and I'd like to train youngsters... I'd really like to coach the Real Madrid youth team. That's my dream." He started working as a manager in 2013, going on to work with Real Madrid's youths for several years. On 4 July 2018, Guti was named Şenol Güneş's assistant at former club Beşiktaş. On 5 November 2019, he was appointed head coach of Spanish Segunda División's UD Almería. The following February, he offered to resign and to refund his salary if rumours that he attended a nightclub with players after a defeat could be proven; on 26 June, he was sacked after a 0–1 home defeat to AD Alcorcón and replaced by Mário Silva.

Originally a striker, Guti later developed into a talented playmaker, who was known in particular for his vision, technique, creativity, passing range and ability to provide assists for teammates; he also possessed an eye for goal courtesy of his ability to make late runs into the box. A versatile player, he was usually deployed as an attacking midfielder behind the forwards, which was his preferred position, but was also capable of playing as a second striker, a winger or in a defensive midfield role as a deep-lying playmaker. Despite his talent, Guti was known to be injury prone and also had a controversial character, which along with his turbulent personal life off the pitch led him to have difficulties with several of his managers throughout his career. He was also accused by certain pundits of being inconsistent and of having a poor work-rate.