Just like messi
Legend of Telmo Zarra
Hailed by many as the greatest striker ever to grace Spanish football, the late Telmo Zarra reigned supreme as the highest goalscorer in La Liga history until Barcelona’s phenomenonal Lionel Messi overtook the former Athletic Bilbao goal-machine at the top of the charts this season – with 270 and still counting at the start of April against Zarra’s 252.
So who was Zarra? He spent a solitary season with second division side SD Erandio, based in the Basque Country, before the region’s big-hitters Athletic Bilbao quickly snapped him up in 1940. It was a match made in heaven, as the 19-year-old local boy embarked upon a long-lasting love affair with the ‘The Lions’ resulting in many accolades for a player with dynamite in his boots.
His debut showcased a natural instinct for goals with a brace against Valencia in a scoring draw; it was certainly a sign of things to come. Though Zarra left briefly to join the Army in 1941, he returned to resume his partnership with Athletic in time to feature in the Copa del Rey final, which he and his team-mates lost agonisingly to FC Barcelona. Not to be deterred, Zarra scored the winner against Real Madrid in the following year’s showpiece event.
Remarkably for a club just getting back on their feet following the mess left behind by the Spanish Civil War, the Basque outfit managed to record a fifth league title victory – the one and only during Zarra’s era – in the very same 1942-43 campaign as the Cup final victory over Real Madrid, thus claiming the double. The striker’s goal-a-game ratio was the catalyst behind one of Bilbao’s most glorious seasons and placed him firmly among the most feared forwards of his generation.
Athletic held on to the King’s Cup for a further two years running, while the personal achievements began to roll in for the Erandio-born star. He received a first call-up to the Spanish national side in March 1945 for an away tie with Portugal in Lisbon, which he followed up by scoring twice in a return fixture against the Portuguese two months on.
Zarra also snatched his first ‘Pichichi’ trophy for being the country’s top league goalscorer; he would go on to hold that honour six times in total throughout his celebrated career.
A famous winner at international level arrived when Spain defeated England 1-0 to reach the semi-finals of the 1950 World Cup in a match hailed by Zarra himself during the build-up as “the game of the century”. Telmo had travelled to Brazil to take part in the competition on the back of bagging a record four goals in the Copa del Rey final defeat of Real Valladolid.
Somewhat surprisingly, the penalty-box predator claimed a meagre 20 caps, but still plundered 20 goals on that very highest stage. Furthermore, that run to the final four was the first in Spain’s history and the nation had to endure a painful 60-year wait to equal or better that showing at a World Cup when finally winning the 2010 tournament outright in South Africa.
In 1951, Zarra surpassed himself when hitting a scarcely credible 38 goals in 30 appearances to beat his personal best tally, which was an unrivalled standard until Mexican superstar Hugo Sánchez equalled the mark by the end of the 1989-90 season in the colours of Real Madrid. Now, it is a record proudly held by modern day hero Messi with his 50-goal haul of 2011-12.
The Bilbao centre-forward suffered a season-ending injury in November 1951, yet returned to his usual spectacular form when grabbing another 25 goals in 1952-53 to wipe away any lingering doubts over his ability to recover. Zarra featured for his beloved Athletic Club until 1955, when he dropped down a division before retiring in 1957.
He finished up with myriad goalscoring records to his name, some of which are still in place including most goals by an individual in a Copa del Rey final, most overall goals in the Copa del Rey competition, fastest player to 200 Spanish league goals, as well as remaining in the privileged position of being the highest goalscorer in Athletic Bilbao’s illustrious history.
Aside from his goalscoring feats, Zarra is fondly remembered by an award in his name handed to the highest-scoring Spaniard each season in La Liga.
A worthy tribute indeed to a widelyrevered man who wore the red-and-white jersey of Athletic Bilbao with such pride and distinction throughout a trophy-laden 15year spell at the club.