One-on-one: Gaizka Mendieta on European heartache, his rift with Southgate, and guitars
I knew Pep would become a manager. I’d be having a pre-game meal and he’d be talking tactics. I’d think, ‘Go away, I’m eating lunch!’
It’s a weekday afternoon in central London, and passers-by are being treated to an unusual sight: former midfielder Gaizka Mendieta playing the guitar in a first-floor window.
“They’re probably thinking, ‘What’s he doing? Don’t jump!’” says Mendieta, laughing, as he poses for Fourfourtwo. Soon he leaps high into the air, although thankfully he’d moved to the middle of the room first. He’s pretending to be a rock star, and with great enthusiasm.
The Spaniard spent a good minute admiring the Gibson LP Gold Top that we brought along for this photoshoot in The London Edition hotel, Soho. He’s a huge rock fan, who once played the guitar on stage alongside Los Planetas at the Benicassim Festival in Spain.
“I like Wolf Alice at the moment,” he beams. “British music is so rich. When I played in Spain, no one had the same taste in music as me. They’d put on rap in the dressing room and I’d think, ‘OK, come on, that’s enough now!’ I do like that as well, but I really like rock.”
Mendieta had success in Spain and England as a player, captaining Valencia to two Champions League finals before helping Middlesbrough to win the only major trophy in their 143-year history.
Now, following a few more minutes of jumping around, the guitar hero is ready to sit down and talk football...
Could you have won an Olympic gold medal in athletics? Tomas Reyes, Castellon I would’ve loved to! I did compete in the Olympics in football in 1996, but at one point I’d dropped football to focus more on athletics. At around 14, I was doing both cross-country and middle-distance events. I was a Spanish champion and had Spanish records. I was pretty good. One day, my dad woke me up to play a football match and I told him, “I don’t want to play any more; I just want to do athletics.” I’m sure my dad was thinking, ‘OK…’ I stopped playing football and did only athletics for almost two years, then said, “Can I go and play football again?” My dad probably thought, ‘What?!’
He helped me get into a small club in Castellon, where I lived, and then gave me a year as a test, almost to say, ‘OK, you’ve changed twice now – let’s see how this goes’. I did a season, joined Castellon’s academy, then the next year I was in the first team. There were only three or four years between me going back to football and signing for Valencia. In 1995 you were sent off in the Copa del Rey final for two yellow cards that were three days apart. How?! Ellen Parsons, Harrogate It sounds stupid but yes, I was! [Laughs] It was the only red card of my career. We played the final against Deportivo in Madrid and it started to hail really badly, so the game was abandoned with about 10 minutes left and we played the end a few days later. I got one yellow card in the first match, and when we came back to finish it, I got a second yellow and was off. I couldn’t believe it! I knew the first yellow card counted, but I never would have thought something like that could actually happen!
You played alongside Pep Guardiola for Spain, and with Diego Simeone at Lazio. Who looked the more likely to become a manager? Shaun Hudson, Manchester Both of them. It was clear because of their passion for football – and not just playing football. You knew straight away that these two guys were going to be managers. With Guardiola, I’d be having the pre-game meal and he’d be talking tactics. I’d think, ‘Go away, I’m eating my lunch here!’ [Laughs] He was really passionate, and so was Simeone. They were the type of player that you always wanted in your side, because they knew everything about everyone.
Valencia’s last match before you left was against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, when Rivaldo scored an amazing overhead kick to complete a hat-trick and steal the last Champions League qualification spot from you. Would you have stopped that goal if you had been on the pitch? Terry Keeley, Dublin Could I have? I don’t know! Rivaldo was unstoppable back then, and it was an incredible game. I was injured, so had to watch, but I remember it like it was yesterday. The way he put the ball up into the air, I thought, ‘OK, he can’t do anything’. Then he chested it, but was
still surrounded by players. Then he just went ‘Bang’ and I thought, ‘Oh my God’. It was incredible to watch – but painful for us, because it meant we were out of the Champions League.
Is it true that you began your career as a right-back? Ryan White, Darlington I actually started out as a midfielder, but when I got to Valencia, for different managerial reasons my chances came as a right-back. Guus Hiddink was the manager and he put me there. Being in the team meant playing at right-back, so I did until the second season when I started to play in midfield.
Right-back was a position I hated! A lot of running and little involvement on the ball. At that stage of my career it made sense, though, because, looking at the players Valencia had in midfield, they wanted to put someone technical in there. It was kind of a constant in my career: even later on, most managers preferred to put me on the right side of midfield, but I always felt that I played better in the centre.
Talk us through your famous goal against Barcelona – that seemingly impossible volley from a corner. Was that the best goal you ever scored? Kevin van Betlem, via Twitter It was certainly one of them. For me, a goal I scored against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames in 1998 and one I scored in the Copa del Rey final the following season were probably better. They were more complete in terms of skill, talent and vision. But the volley against Barça was spectacular, so I can understand why people like it.
Adrian Ilie chipped the corner straight to me on the edge of the box, but we had never planned it beforehand. I just realised I was on my own outside the box, so I looked towards Ilie to make eye contact. He saw me, but because we had never done it before, I thought, ‘The ball might come, but it might not come’. Then he kicked it and I thought, ‘OK, it’s coming’. I just thought, ‘Don’t smack it into the stand’, and the rest is history. It was the way the ball went exactly into the corner, and the power of it – Sergi on the post was thinking, ‘I have to jump to try to stop the ball, but please don’t touch me!’ [Laughs]
That game was part of when we won the Copa del Rey, which was amazing. In the next round we beat Real Madrid 6-0 at home, but in the second leg at the Bernabeu, Madrid were in beast mode – they went 2-0 up and we were shitting ourselves! We were panicking, thinking, ‘They’re going to beat us!’ But come on, guys, it’s still 6-2! [Laughs] Which coach had the biggest influence on your career? Andy Jowett, via Facebook I’d have to pick two: Luis Aragones and Claudio Ranieri. I was young at Valencia and Luis was honest and knowledgeable. If you wanted to have your eyes opened, you took everything in and learned from how he managed players, the dressing room, the media and the club. He was so good for the players in that he would always defend and protect you, but in the dressing room tell you to your face what you had to do.
With Ranieri, we won the Copa del Rey, we finished 4th in La Liga and I became a crucial player, scoring more goals. As captain, I started to have the relevance I’d always wanted. But I must mention Guus Hiddink, too. I didn’t always play regularly under him, but Guus was the coach who saw something in me and said, “OK, bring this guy to Valencia.” You lost two Champions League finals: to Real Madrid in 2000 and to Bayern Munich in 2001. Which hurt more? Ronney Dellamare Jr, via Facebook Both, a lot, let’s make that clear… But probably the second one, because of the way we were playing. From minute one we were attacking well, defending well, controlling possession – all the things you want to happen in a final, and all the things we didn’t do when we lost 3-0 to Madrid. Against Bayern, I thought, ‘This is looking good’, so it hurts more than the other one because it was really close – we lost in a penalty shootout. I would love to have lifted the Champions League trophy as captain, and it was painful to lose. But for a club like Valencia to reach two finals was an amazing achievement.
You were UEFA’S best midfielder in both 1999-00 and 2000-01. Did you believe you were the best midfielder in the world at that point? Enrique Gonzalez, Valencia I don’t know. When I think back – and I talk about this sometimes with other ex-players – in those days you looked at the Champions League and every team had world-class players. I’m not saying that nowadays they don’t, but I don’t think it’s at the level that it used to be. Every team then would have at least two world-class players. Did I feel like the best one? Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Rivaldo… anyone could have been the best midfielder in the world. David Beckham won it the season before me. Obviously it helped that we got to the final in both years. I was honoured to win the award twice.
How much pressure did you feel when you stepped up to take the deciding penalty in Spain’s last 16 shootout against the Republic of Ireland at the 2002 World Cup? Brian O’riordan, Cork It was like any other penalty, really – whenever I took one, there was a huge responsibility to score. I had a good method with penalties: I used to wait and wait until the goalkeeper moved and then put the ball either side or, if he stood still, choose one side and go for it. It worked! I’m not sure how many penalties I took throughout my career, but I only missed two.
The penalty I took against Ireland was probably one of the closest to missing, though. I tried to put it to the right but it went quite central and I was thinking, ‘No!’ It was quite an intense moment, but thankfully it went in. That was my most special moment playing for Spain.
Could Spain have won the 2002 World Cup if it hadn’t been for the refereeing decisions in the quarter-final against co-hosts South Korea? Maks Chudzik, via Facebook I don’t know about winning the World Cup, but if things hadn’t gone the way they did with the referee, we would’ve had a really good chance to reach the final. We’ve always had unbelievable players. If you look at the Spain team during that period, we had a younger team with some experienced players, so the balance was perfect.
We were playing well, so we definitely could have reached the final in 2002. It was the same situation at Euro 2000 when we lost in the quarter-finals to France, who went on to be champions. In that game, I equalised with a penalty and then we got another one, but by that point I’d been substituted. Maybe people were thinking, ‘Oh, Mendieta is on the bench now, so he can’t take the penalty – that might not be good’. It was Raul who was taking the penalty, so I had 100 per cent confidence that he’d score. He put it over the crossbar, but that’s football, unfortunately.
What was it like, just missing out on Spain’s era of success in the European Championship and World Cup? Alexander Picken, via Facebook I don’t really know what the word is to describe that. I don’t want to use the wrong one. It’s kind of a healthy envy, because obviously I wish that we had done it, but I still felt part of it and very happy. Spain winning the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships was the best thing to happen to Spanish football in its entire history. Of course it would have been great to be involved in those teams, but it was still something that everyone in the country felt part of and happy about. What was Romario like to play with during your Valencia days? Andre Mota, via Facebook He was brilliant. It was just like watching a Playstation game – in training, he was unbelievable. The guy was from another planet, with the things he could do and the goals he scored, but I don’t think Valencia’s system suited him in the way that Barcelona and other teams suited him. It was hard for us to bring out the best in a striker who lived around the penalty area. A different type of striker worked for Valencia. [FFT: Did you ever party with him?] I never went out with him, no. He didn’t drink – not a drop of alcohol at all – but he loved his partying, dancing and whatever he did.
Valencia isn’t a very big city, so when you saw three black vans driving around the city, that was Romario. People saw that most nights! Before his first game for us, a journalist said to him in a press conference, “People here are concerned because you’re going out a lot and it might affect your game.” Romario said, “Look, people want me to score goals, right? If I have to score goals, I need to go out – that’s the way I do things! In the next game, I’ll score two goals.” He scored two goals! He was unbelievable.
“I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE STAYED AT BARCELONA, BUT A LOAN DEAL WAS THE ONLY OPTION BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T WANT TO PAY A FEE”
Did you really sneak into nightclubs in disguise and DJ after matches? Angel Moya, Northolt Well, when I put it into context, yes... the way it sounds, no! I’ve got a friend who owns a record shop in Valencia and he’s a DJ, so if we ever played on a Saturday or Sunday and it coincided with a night when he was Dj-ing, I’d go to the club with him and DJ a little bit. I wasn’t a DJ back then – I’d just play a few songs, then let him do his job – although since then I have done a bit more as a DJ myself. But if I went there, I’d wear a hat and they’d turn down the lights so the crowd wouldn’t realise it was me! If the game that day hadn’t gone well and I was then seen out in a nightclub, I didn’t want to be accused of being a party boy! [Laughs]
Are you afraid of bats? Kevin Friars, Southend No! [Laughs] For some people they’re a bit scary, but they’re really popular in Valencia so you see them everywhere. Anyone who’s been to the city in the summer has seen them flying around. That’s why a bat is on the club badge.
Did you ever come close to signing for Real Madrid? Ugo Pelloni, via Facebook Just before I went to Italy, Real Madrid made a move to sign me, although in those days I knew that going to Madrid was a very tiny possibility. Years before that, Predrag Mijatovic had gone to Real Madrid from Valencia, and the way that he left – Madrid kind of sneaked around the club to sign him – really ruined the relationship between the two of them. If the Valencia fans needed any more excuses to hate Real Madrid, that was definitely another. I knew that unless Real Madrid paid the full release clause in my contract, it wouldn’t happen – and they wouldn’t pay it. They had only just signed Zinedine Zidane from Juventus, so they wouldn’t pay another big fee. Madrid wanted to play me and Zidane together, which would have been nice, but Valencia never wanted to enter negotiations with them.
Lazio and Milan were the other clubs interested. Milan signed Rui Costa, and because Juventus had the money from Zidane, they signed Pavel Nedved from Lazio, so Lazio signed me and sold Juan Sebastian Veron to Manchester United. What went wrong for you at Lazio? Mick Mulvaney, via Facebook Quite a lot of things. They had just won a few trophies, but then sold some key players and made several new signings. Lazio had two managers that season, two presidents, and – to summarise – I didn’t get the continuity of playing in every match, which you really need to adapt to a new team and completely different league.
You joined Lazio for £28m, but during your time there some fans held up a banner saying ‘Mendieta, you’re not worth one peseta’. Did that hurt? Salvatore Bertuzzi, Rome I can hold my head up high, because I trained as much as I could there. I did everything I could to give my best for the club. The transfer fee was never an issue for me – whether Lazio had paid £100m or £10m, I was a professional. I understood the frustration, but it was a combination of things. And, actually, when I left to go to Barcelona, a lot of fans came to say goodbye. Seeing as you played regularly while you were on loan there, why didn’t Barcelona sign you permanently at the end of that season? Harry Nolan, Swansea I would love to have stayed there, but a loan was the only option Barça would accept when they signed me, because they didn’t want to pay a transfer fee and I don’t think Lazio wanted to sell me at that stage. I took it as it was: a year on loan, and see what happens. But at the end of that season there had been a lot of changes at Barcelona, including a new president, and they wanted to change things. So it was difficult for me to stay. The season I spent there was a difficult year for the club as well: we came 6th and then Louis van Gaal left. At both Lazio and Barcelona, it turned out to be the wrong timing for me.
You appeared alongside your Lazio team-mates, Claudio Lopez and Hernan Crespo, in one of the teams for the Nike cage advert before the 2002 World Cup. What was it like to take on some of the biggest stars, with Eric Cantona watching on? Jason Holroyd, Bolton It was an unbelievable advert. At the time I was in Italy, and it was funny
because the studios were right next to my home! They filmed it in this massive industrial place. Obviously not all the stars were there at the same time, but you would always be there with some of the guys, playing a match. It was so crazy to be part of it!
Did you ever have the chance to sign for Athletic Bilbao, and do you wish that you could have played for your hometown team? Tom Wardle, via Twitter There were lots of rumours about that, many times. Valencia wanted to sell me but I didn’t want to go anywhere, and it was suggested that one of the clubs trying to sign me was Athletic Bilbao. The only time I really know about that myself, because I spoke to them, was after I’d moved to Lazio in 2001. I spoke to Athletic ahead of the winter transfer window. They were keen to sign me and we had an agreement, but then Lazio messed it up and it never went through. That’s the only time I know that it could have happened. I would’ve loved to play for Athletic, of course – it would have been an honour. I have always been a big fan of them and their philosophy, but unfortunately it never happened.
What were the reasons behind your move to Middlesbrough? Richard Smith, via Twitter After my Barcelona loan I went back to Italy, but I knew being there wasn’t an option because I didn’t want to stay at Lazio and risk spending another season not playing. Steve Mcclaren came out to talk to me and showed me the project at Middlesbrough. It was really exciting, and I thought that after two years of moving around, I needed some stability and somewhere I could play every week and get back to the love of the game. So, rather than waiting for a big club to come, that was what I decided to do.
There was interest from other English teams around the same sort of level as Boro, but I picked them because of the interesting project and ambition of the club, and also because of the guys they had already brought in, such as Juninho and Boudewijn Zenden. I thought they would help me to play the football that I wanted to play.
What was it like to go from living in Barcelona to living in the North East of England within the space of just a few months? Matthew King, via Instagram It was an experience! [Laughs] I went to live in Yarm – and I really enjoyed it, to be honest. Steve Mcclaren was very clever in the way he’d give me days off for a break. It was a big change for me, of course, but I think that whenever things go well on the pitch for a player, the rest of it will soon follow. And, because things were going very well on the pitch, it was a great time for all my family. Life was very good, so I can’t complain. [FFT: Would you go as far as saying you enjoyed living in Middlesbrough more than living in Barcelona...?] I love the area and the people, but if I’m honest, no! Barcelona and Boro are slightly different places!
What’s the biggest highlight of your playing career, and why is it the Carling Cup win in 2004? Middlesbrough’s official Twitter account [Laughs] Obviously it’s not the highlight of my career, although it’s certainly one of them, but it was massively crucial for me to win the Carling Cup. After I had been at Valencia, Lazio and Barcelona, I went to Middlesbrough and a lot of people thought, ‘What the hell? What’s going on here?!’ It was tremendously important for me to show the world that I felt valued in that Middlesbrough side – a key player – and that we could win games, and winning this cup in my first year there did that.
I moved to Lazio and Barcelona and didn’t win any titles, and then I went to Middlesbrough and we reached two cup finals. Football can be funny sometimes. It was amazing to win that Carling Cup final against Bolton in Cardiff. Why did Gareth Southgate never play you when he was Boro’s manager? To this day, I can’t get my head around it. Did he ever give you a reason? Ian Yates, via Twitter No, he never gave me a reason. That was a period when I didn’t like the way I was being treated by Middlesbrough and consequently by Gareth. He wasn’t honest with me. We were team-mates for four years and it would have been easier to just tell me, “Look, this is what the club wants” or, “This is what they’ve told me”. I felt like I was mistreated, training and playing with the reserves. Why didn’t he play me? You’d have to ask him. But Middlesbrough did the same with Juninho, despite what he’d done for the club, and with Massimo Maccarone. They did it with a few players. I wasn’t happy about it, and went to talk to Gareth about it face-to-face on a few occasions. He was never very clear with me.
I saw Gareth at a charity match recently. He didn’t apologise but he did say, “If it was now, I’d do things differently.” That is fine, although I’d have liked things to have been different at the time. I could have left and played for someone else.