Only 16 at the time, I had seen Arsenal play many teams; Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich. Never had I witnessed this opponent though.
Deportivo La Coruna. Fran, to Romero, to Valeron, and we were opened up and beaten. Depor, or Super Depor, had come to Highbury and won 2-0. Not only did they win 2-0. They won with ease, controlling the ball beautifully, out passing a side who after all won the English Premier League that season.
Javier Irureta’s side, who won La Liga in 2000, were a joy to watch, with the precocious skills of Juan Carlos Valeron, their playmaker, giving the team the platform on which to decimate their opponents. Mauro Silva and Donato provided steel and control behind him, whilst Fran and Valeron operated from wide areas to supply the deadly Diego Tristan and Roy Makaay.
And that’s without mentioning the talents of temperamental but skilful Brazilian forward Djalminha.
They were one of the best sides of their era, even if they came up short in the Champions League, where they were unfortunate not to win the competition in 2004, being harshly knocked out by Porto in a semi-final they dominated.
One of the most memorable nights for Super Depor was when they won the 100th version of the Spanish Cup in Real Madrid’s backyard, against Real. Real, of course, meaning ‘royal’ in Spanish, and the Copa del Rey being ‘the King’s cup.’ They had taken away the king’s trophy from the royal team in the competition’s 100th season.
And in one of the club’s most remarkable games, it came from 3-0 down to Paris St. Germain in the Champions League to win 4-3.
That’s what Depor were about; upsetting bigger names with team-spirit, collectiveness and no little skill. In fact, perhaps more skill than any side of the last decade in Europe.
Super Depor were one of Europe’s most attractive teams, but after that semi-final defeat, they began to wane. Irureta was sent packing in the 2005-6 season as they finished outside of the top 3 in Spain for the first time in five years.
Decline set in. Money problems took over the club, with their debt spiralling and the golden team breaking up. Only Manuel Pablo and Valeron remain from the side of 10 years ago, and the latter is now 35. The one star of the current side, Andres Guardado, will surely move to a bigger side this summer, and the question will be of when they will return? Straddled with debt, and Spain does not do parachute payments. Not yet.
The current squad was simply not good enough this year, succumbing 2-0 at home to Valencia on a day when their five relegation rivals all claimed points to send them crashing back the Segunda Division.
The team who entertained and thrilled ten years ago is gone. Long live Depor.
